Today I’m reviewing my Macbook Pro M2 2023, I about it just as it was announced in early 2023. I had bought an M1 and a day later apple announced this one, so I cancelled the order for my M1 and placed an order for the M2. they where shipped straight from China.
This review will not focus on specs or anything technical, just how I’ve felt with it and what I like and don’t like.
Design & Looks
OK, this design is not going to turn anyone’s head, aside from the “Macbook Pro” branding on the bottom, it looks like yesterday’s Jam. That out of the way I have to say I like the rounded edges, it gives me that same satisfying grippy feeling the iphone gives me and I hope they don’t take it away.
It weighs about the same of previous macbooks
Apple did away with the touch-bar, and I have to say I’m not going to miss it. I mainly used the thing to increase or lower the volume.
Display
The screen is just as good as ever, it’s bright, colorful and with it’s 120mhz refresh rate, it’s as smooth as laptop screens can get. It’s easy to see that the bezels are considerably reduced. The top edge goes almost all the way up, yet they there is now a notch just like in the iPhone but I don’t find it distracting or bothersome. The window menus work perfectly with it.
On the other side apple still has that same rubber edging on the screen which from my macbook pro 2019 experience it tends to crack over time.
Battery
I’ve read about how the new M processors are improved to be more energy efficient, but I was not ready for this.
This is simply the best battery I’ve experienced on a Macbook, I’ve used the laptop all day unplugged, writing, Youtube, listening to music, you name it. And the battery level is still above 80% hours later. Heck, I’ve been sitting at this café for almost 45 minutes browsing the internet, listening to Gary Numan and writing and it still says 100%, which just blows my mind.
Performance
This thing is powerful, I have worked with DAWs for music production, video rendering/editing, light gaming, coding you name it. I have never seen it go into overdrive, fans full power like with my previous one. It’s like there’s no limit to this computer.
Obviously gaming is a thing for PCs not for mac so don’t even think about it. I got a 1tb hard drive and I have at least half of it waiting to be used. In today’s streaming world you don’t need much space, unless you’re some sort of media producer be it video, music or whatnot.
Keyboard & Track-pad
The track-pad seems to be the same as every single mac I’ve ever had, no complains here if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The keyboard on the other side is different than my previous mac’s one where it now seems that keys are not individual and are all part of one package.
The feel on the keys I have to say is still just as good, I don’t sense any major differences.
The touch ID reader is an indentation and not a small surface now that touch ID is gone.
No complains here
Ports & Connections
Here It took me some getting used to, In my 2019 Macbook pro I had a headphone jack and 4 USB C ports (which apple calls lightning) that I could use for whatever I wanted, charging, connections, whatever. I used one for charging and two for my two monitors, the last one was used for my USB dongle that connected a mouse and a bunch of things.
Now I have a headphone jack 3 USB C ports, an HDMI port, a charge port and a card reader. I use the charging port for charging, and HDMI port for one monitor, a USB C port for the other monitor and the second USB C port for my USB dongle. the third USB port is left for whatever pops up
Having a separate charger than the old USB C one took me some time to get used to, luckily the charging is very fast.
Audio & speakers
In terms of speakers, they are positioned where they always were yet they are a bit louder than before. It’s funny because with my 2019, a friend that doesn’t uses mac told me that they were loud for a laptop, imagine now.
Price & Value
They are not giving these away. I had to pay over USD$2,500 for my 1tb 32GB ram one. Compared to other US$700~ laptops it seems insane. However if you’re a mac user you know what you are paying for. I used to be a PC user for over 15 years and when I bought my first one I loved it. The stability, performance, style plus a terminal and the perks of a Unix based system? I was home.
If you have never owned an apple machine then you’re not going to understand the price, but If you’ve had an apple before, you know what the deal is.
Upgradeability & Servicing
Year after year apple makes their hardware less upgradable and serviceable. If you’ve had a mac accident before you know how horrible this is. Repair is not cheap.
All I can suggest is to get Apple Care, not the two year one, the annual one so that you’re not forced to upgrade your laptop once it’s out of warranty.
If you don’t want to pay for apple care, set up time-machine and a good backup plan (though you should set it up wether you have apple care or not), look up Louis Rossman on Youtube or know a real macbook repair technician and just hope the day your macbook breaks is not today. But now that the day when it breaks will come.
Overall
Overall, I have to say I’m quite happy with my purchase this Macbook is a looker. On the other side you don’t have to worry about the laptop nor any issues while using it. It allows me to do what I want to do without having to worry about what I’m doing it with.