Apple’s 2023 MacBook Pro range includes the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the same design. Those who wanted the company to add some aesthetic changes will be sorely disappointed, but as most of you know, what truly matters is what is present on the inside. In this review roundup, critics are thoroughly impressed with the ‘overkill’ performance and battery endurance of the new MacBook Pro models, though some of them also took the opportunity to nitpick Apple for failing to add some features.
Britta o’Boyle’s review published on Pocket-lint praises several aspects of the 14-inch 2023 MacBook Pro, stating that its performance is more than what people will actually require. As he makes lauding remarks about the battery life, build quality, and display, he does state that experiencing all of these upgrades will come at a price, which was expected.
“The 14-inch MacBook Pro leaves little - if anything - to be desired. It's an incredible laptop with more power and performance than most will ever need or utilise, a fantastic build quality, an incredible display and a great battery life (from our experience so far).
Its biggest downfall is of course that all this greatness comes at a price - which ranges from $1999/£2149 to a whopping $6499/£6749 fully specced. It would also have been nice to see Face ID, and while we are on our wishlist, a touchscreen wouldn't have gone amiss either. But even without those things, it's still impossible not to adore this machine.”
Michelle Ehrhardt from Gizmodo offers sound advice for those looking to upgrade. She says that if you do not own an existing Apple Silicon MacBook Pro, then you should try the latest and greatest, otherwise, it makes little sense for consumers to pick these up.
“All that said, this year’s refresh is skippable for most. Go for it if you don’t yet have a MacBook Pro and are interested, especially over the 13-inch model. That much improved battery life is tempting. But there’s no pressing need to upgrade. The notch is still here, OLED and touchscreens aren’t, and the colorways are still boring. 2023’s MacBook Pro lineup is likely going to feel like it was a stopgap a few years from now.”
The review published on Macworld by Roman Loyola also recommends that consumers skip this generation unless that small 20 percent performance increase is important to them. Also, if they appreciate the little upgrades like the improved HDMI and if they can bear the required price, then it will be a worthwhile investment.
“If you already invested in an M1 Pro or M1 Max MacBook Pro, you can probably wait for the M3 or M4 model to arrive, unless that 20 percent performance boost is absolutely what you need. While the HDMI upgrade is important, you’ve probably already adjusted to make your display setup work. And you won’t feel the need for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth upgrades for a while. But if you have a few thousand bucks saved and have been waiting for this generation to arrive, your money will absolutely be well spent.”
Brian Westover’s review published on PCMag does nitpick Apple’s most powerful portable Macs over the lack of touchscreen capability. Even then, he states that the dominant levels of performance and insane battery life are the 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro’s strongest attributes. We have included some video reviews for our readers too, so after you are done reading, check out those videos below.
“We've been testing and reviewing laptops for a long time, and it's rare that one leaves us this impressed. This latest rev of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 Max simply has it all, from a refined design and rich feature set to astonishing battery life and truly dominant levels of performance.
Sure, we can nitpick about the screen notch or the lack of touch capability, but the fact of the matter is that this is as close to perfect as any laptop we have reviewed. The machine looks and feels fantastic, and it will rip through the most demanding computing tasks like a buzzsaw.
The only drawback is the price in its upper-echelon configurations. However, if you're a professional that needs the power to match the demands of your job and your talents, it's hard to argue that this isn't worth the outlay. For absolutely topping the charts among laptops in an already winning design, this MacBook Pro earns our Editors' Choice award and a rare perfect score.”
