January 2023 Mac Announcement: M2 MacBook Pros & Mac Mini

[Superbogey]

I think Tim needs to relax a bit and stop sending products to the sycophants because we’re all getting a bit bored of hearing it. He needs to think ‘fun’ and ‘different’, back to where it started.

It has pretty much become "The Emperor's New Mac".

 

[CaseySJ]

Max Tech’s videos are already living up to high expectations.

 

[pastrychef]

Gaming performance of new M2 Pro and M2 Max...

 

[c-o-pr]

So is the word on the slower SSD to buy the 1TB+ SSD?

IMO judging from M2 performance increment based entirely on clock speed, is Apple gaslighting on frequency/power to suit treadmill, or is that new efficiency a confirmed Si generational enhancement?

I sort of a troll here, but I am asking because I haven't been tracking the detailed progress of AppleSi, while at same time I lazily believe Apple had one chance in 15 years to shine as it kicked off its own chips, which their marketing carefully curates by leaving increments off the table to supply appearance of continued radical advances which are just enough to sustain the buzz cycle.

What I think I am seeing with M2 is back to previous patterns of line increments, which are to be expected given the underlying physics.

In short, Apple has handed the transition to AppleSi gracefully and back to business as usual. 4K HDR is turning out to be a significant step for the industry and the machines are now powerful enough to make the crossing for youtubers. Unfortunately for me this means having to endure way more over-hyped blather on fanboi channels.

 

[craighazan]

So is the word on the slower SSD is to buy the 1TB+ SSD?

IMO judging from performance increment based entirely on clock speed, is Apple gaslighting on frequency/power to suit treadmill or is that new efficiency a confirmed Si generational enhancement?

I sort of a troll here but I am asking because I haven't been tracking the detailed progress of AppleSi, while at same time I lazily believe Apple had one chance in 15 years to shine as it kicked off its own chips, which their marketing carefully curates and curves, by leaving increments off the table to supply appearance of continued radical advances which are just enough to sustain the buzz cycle.

What I think I am seeing with M2 is back to previous patterns of line increments, which are to be expected given the underlying physics.

In short Apple has handed the transition to AppleSi well and back to business as usual. 4K HDR is turning out to be a significant step for the industry and the machines are now powerful enough to make the crossing for youtubers Unfortunately for me this just means having to endure way more over-hyped blather on fanboi channels.

Well, the initial M1 release was a game changer, every other laptop manufacturer realized that they had to up there game if they were going to compete with M1. But it just seems odd that now Apple has released M2 they're slowing it down, is this a heat issue?.

 

[etorix]

What I think I am seeing with M2 is back to previous patterns of line increments, which are to be expected given the underlying physics.

You said it: Apple successfully switched to a new CPU architecture. The M2 performs as a mid-high x86 CPU, but uses a lot less power to achieve that.

M2 Pro Mac mini review: Apple’s Goldilocks desktop for semi-professionals

Outstanding power efficiency is a highlight of this in-betweener desktop.

arstechnica.com

The M2 Pro mini is a nice addition to the line up between the base mini and the Studio. Other than that, the M2 generation is a boring incremental update over the M1, which gives present M1 users any reason to keep enjoying their machines and wait for the M3 or M4. And this is what we want!

If this review seems short, that’s because there's not too much to talk about; this is essentially the 2021 MacBook Pro but 20–30 percent faster at some tasks, and with a few connectivity options upgraded to better match what is expected from a pricey laptop like this.

And that’s OK because the 2021 MacBook Pro was excellent. The 2023 version is the same but slightly better.

To keep base price down Apple uses less, denser, NAND chips. Nothing new or unusual:

512GB version of the new MacBook Pro has a slower SSD than the Mac it replaces

Apple is using fewer chips in M2 Macs to provide the same amount of storage.

arstechnica.com

Wise buyers are advised to bump storage up a notch, and then rely on an external SSD (USB-C 10 Gbps) for one or two computers (e.g. desktop+laptop on the go) or on a 10 GbE NAS for multiple desktops.

 

[craighazan]

Ouch!, Apple just killed the Mac Pro!.

https://wccftech.com/m2-mac-mini-beats-intel-mac-pro-in-benchmark-while-costing-10x-less/

 

[craighazan]

Ooof!, So you can still buy a maxed out Intel based Mac Pro, with wheels!, for just a little over $52K. And Apple offering up to $1250 trade in, Instantly losing over $50K in value.

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, Macs, and More

After announcing new Mac and HomePod models last week, Apple adjusted its trade-in values for select devices in the United States. iPhone trade-in...

www.macrumors.com

 

[trs96]

So you can still buy a maxed out Intel based Mac Pro, with wheels!, for just a little over $52K

Just think, about 5-7 years from now you'll be able to buy an Intel 2019 MP for next to nothing, mod the case and put your hackintosh hardware in it. Will certainly have enough PSU power for any graphics card. Best of all, rounded handles to pick it up. No more sliced up hands when picking up a classic G5 or Mac Pro case.

 

[craighazan]

This guy obviously saw the trade in price!, knocked $4000 off!.