New 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are expected to launch “early next year.” According to Mark Gurman, internal delays scuppered the plans to release them this year.
But in the first few months of next year, that much sought-after spec bump is finally coming. This all means one thing: you’d be mad to buy a MacBook Pro now, right?
I wrote about this recently in my guide to when you should buy a MacBook. The rule is simple: if you are within four-five months of the next generation Mac coming out, save your money and see what’s coming.
Every rumor and leak is pointing to a refresh of the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models hitting store shelves in early 2023, so we are now in that window where you should hold out just a little longer.
Why should you wait?
There’s a new generation of Apple silicon on the horizon. You don’t want to buy a laptop now and see a brand-new model drop in just a few months at the (expected) same price.
While that older MacBook Pro will still work fine, you’ll feel that twang of disappointment in yourself and your machine — asking yourself “why didn’t I just wait?”
And the fruits of your waiting will be oh-so glorious. Need proof? Just take a look at some of the leaks and rumors that have been circulating about the 2023 models of the 14 and 16-inch Pros:
- They appeared in a recent Steam database with beasty benchmarks and specs up to a whopping 96GB of RAM. Now, if Apple could take a second to give a damn about MacBook gaming, that would be great.
- The M2 Max chip is going up to 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores — up from the previous iterations 10 and 32 respectively. A M2 Max leak also shows off its alleged performance.
- They could have Face ID. This one is more pie in the sky, but the timing matches up and that notch is just begging for some facial recognition.
All of this with the same utilitarian design and (my hope) some more efficiency cores to keep that battery life going longer for productivity sessions would make it a dream laptop.
But what about the deals?
The M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro deals look good, and I get that I’m arguing the inverse of what I recently said about gaming laptops — that the RTX 40 Series systems aren’t going to be that big of a performance increase, which means you’ll get better value for money buying a gaming laptop now.
So I’ll throw the deal-hunting side of my brain a bone. The current M1 Pro MacBook Pro systems are still absolute powerhouses when it comes to creative tasks. They can crush 4K video editing and many more power-intensive processes, which is further improved by more and more developers rebuilding their apps to work directly with Apple Silicon (rather than through the Rosetta compatibility layer).
And as we all know, Apple drops prices to their lowest just before something new comes out, so if Gurman is to be believed, now would be an ideal time to bag a bargain. Here are the biggest cost-effective savings we could find.
Outlook
I’ve always had one rule for Apple products — skip the first generation. Not to say they’re overtly bad gadgets, but it’s a good system to follow when you look back.
- The first iPhone was a revolution, but only had 2G/EDGE. The next minor upgrade came with a price cut and 3G.
- The first Apple Watch was another important step in the company’s portable gadget aspirations, but it was far too slow. The second-gen model sped things up and improved the battery life.
I could go on for days about these, but you get the point. MacBooks are a little different, but you can apply the same rule. Historically speaking, Apple has just started on its journey of building laptop and desktop chipsets, and I think it’s fair to say the team is already knocking it out the park.
And so, we are entering that period where you really shouldn’t buy the current MacBook Pro, lest you want to get hit with the envy of not having the latest and greatest just a couple months after. If this is an emotion you’ve learnt to ignore, then I applaud you. For the rest of you (like me), save that money just a little bit longer.
