The M2 MacBook Pro and Air were the second generation refresh in an entry level Pro lineup of ‘Books based on Apple Silicon. For $1299, you get a couple noteworthy upgrades over the M1 – bumped performance core clock speeds from 3.2 to 3.49 Ghz, 2 additional GPU cores, 100GB/s memory bandwidth vs the M1’s 68.25, and an increased efficiency core clock from 2.06 to 2.42 Ghz. Overall, this is an “s” model year ‘Book, where the upgrades were at the heart of the machine. On the exterior, the M2 MacBook Pro looks identical to the 2016-20 Touch Bar model, as well as the M1 13″ MacBook Pro. This machine’s design dates back to when Skylake CPUs were still being made, macOS Sierra, and AMD was on the cusp of releasing their Polaris architecture. Time flies.

What You Need to Know

• If you’re someone who’s transitioning over from an Intel Mac, or will be using Intel Mac apps, Apple has an app called Rosetta 2 for Apple Silicon Macs. Once installed, this isn’t something you directly interact with. Rather, you may simply open an Intel app, and it’ll open. Rosetta 2 does an Intel to Arm “ahead of time” translation, using an instruction set in the M2 chip. The first time the Intel app launches it’ll be noticeably slow, as Rosetta caches and stores code. Once this process is done, the App should work just as normal.
• These ‘Books shipped with 8 GB of RAM which is fine for basic tasks, but is increasingly impractical these days. For a serious speed boost, opt for 16 GB of RAM, and more storage. Multiple NANDs allow for parallel processing/RAID, increasing Read/Write speeds.

Closed Lid Mode: All ‘Books support “lid closed” (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To used closed lid mode, your ‘Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your ‘Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your ‘Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display.

To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your ‘Book and restore use of the built-in display.

Battery life is claimed to be 17 hours of wireless productivity, 20 hours Apple TV App movie playback.

Details

• Announced 2022.06.06
  • Discontinued: 2023.10.30
• Model Identifier: Mac14,7
• Model: A2338 (EMC 8162)
• Order Number: MNEH3LL/A* (256GB Space Gray)
  • MNEJ3LL/A. (512GB Space Gray)
  • MNEP3LL/A (256GB Silver)
  • MNEQ3LL/A (512GB Silver)

Mac OS

• Requires macOS 12.4 Monterey (Build 21F2092) or later

Core System

• CPU: 8 Cores, 4x 3.49 GHz “Avalanche” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache
  • 4x 2.42 GHz “Blizzard” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• 16-Core Neural Engine
• 8/16/24 GB 3200 MHz LPDDR5-6400 SDRAM (102.4 GB/s)

Video

• Integrated Apple M2 with 10-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
• 16:10 13.3″ TFT IPS LED-Backlit LCD, 2560 x 1600 @227ppi, 500 nits
  • P3 Color
  • True Tone
• Simultaneous support for: internal display @native resolution and:
  • a single 6K60 display

Drives

• Drive Bus: 256GB PCIe SSD ~3.3 GB/s, 2x 128GB NANDs in Parallel
• Configurable to: 512GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB

Expansion

• 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 (up to 1.2 Gb/s)
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Two USB-C style Thunderbolt 3 Ports
  • Support for: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 720p Facetime HD camera
• Up to 20 hrs battery life

Physical

• size: 8.36 x 11.97 x 0.59″ (212.4 x 304.1 x 14.9 mm)
• Weight: 3.02 pounds (1.37 kg)
• Power supply: 61W USB-C charging Brick