At its WWDC 2022 keynote presentation today (June 6) Apple unveiled a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model. In this article, we’ll talk about the launch, launch date, specs, design, and more.
The new Pro was unveiled alongside the 2022 M2 MacBook Air.
Publication date
The new MacBook Pro was announced, somewhat out of the blue, at WWDC on June 6, 2022. But it’s not yet available to buy. At this point, the relevant button in the Apple Store is labeled “View Prices” instead of “Buy.”
We don’t know exactly when this will change, but Apple says it will arrive “next month.” So free up some space in your July 2022 budget.
Design
Here’s the first disappointment. Unlike the MacBook Air that launched at the same event, Apple’s new Pro is visually unchanged. It is the same design as before.
You get the same ports, the same weight and dimensions, the same screen size as before.
On the plus side, that means no notch. On the negative side, that means yet another Touch Bar, at a time when we thought the feature was dead and buried. (Although some rumor makers saw this coming.)
Apple
Technical specifications
Not much has changed on the outside, but a lot has changed on the inside.
Most notably, the 2022 MacBook Pro will get Apple’s new M2 processor chip, which many observers weren’t expecting until later in the year. In terms of cores, the M2 has an 8-core CPU, the same as the M1 in the previous model, and has been upgraded from 8 to 10 GPU cores. But those numbers don’t detract from what Apple promises with this new generation of chips.
“M2 takes M1’s industry-leading performance per watt even further with an 18 percent faster CPU, a 35 percent more powerful GPU, and a 40 percent faster Neural Engine,” Apple says. “It also delivers 50 percent more memory bandwidth compared to M1.” Of course, it’s easy to get around such numbers, and we’ll have to run a review sample through our lab benchmarks to see for ourselves.
You can read more about the M2 in our guide to the new MacBook Air, which has the same processor.
The new Pro also goes much higher in RAM allocation than its predecessor: you can now go as high as 24 GB, up from 16 GB in 2020. While the battery size is the same as before, the machine comes with a slightly faster USB-C charger: 67W, higher than 61W. Finally, the new Pro supports Spatial Audio, while its predecessor did not.
- M2 processor
- 8GB RAM (configurable up to 16GB or 24GB)
- 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB SSD storage
- 13.3-inch (2560×1600 at 227ppi) Retina display, 500 nits brightness, True Tone
- 720p FaceTime Camera
- 58.2 Wh battery (claimed battery life up to 20 hours of movie playback)
- Touch Bar and Touch ID
- 2 x Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Stereo speakers (with Spatial Audio support)
- 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth 5.0
- 30.41 x 21.24 x 1.56 cm; 1.4 kg
Price
A solid rather than spectacular update for the MacBook Pro. But how much will it cost you back? These are the prices for the two starting configurations:
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) with M2, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD: $1,299 / £1,349
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) with M2.8 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD: $1,499 / £1,549
As mentioned above, these are not yet available to purchase. But once they hit stores, we’re optimistic that third-party retailers will find a way to offer a discount, and you’ll find the lowest prices in our roundup of the best MacBook Pro deals.
