Apple’s svelte new M2 MacBook Air will reportedly go on for sale starting July 15.
Announced at WWDC22, pre-orders for the redesigned Air should commence on July 8, a week before the retail launch.
Apple’s new M2 MacBook Pro ships with a notably slower SSD than its predecessor. Tests show the speed difference is as big as 50% in some scenarios.
Announced at WWDC22, the M2 MacBook Pro went on sale June 24.
Apple could launch a new MacBook Air powered by a faster M3 processor as soon as next year.
The company also has a bunch of other Macs due for launch later in 2022 or early 2023. They will run on Apple’s new M2 chip, which powers the new 13-inch MacBook Pro as well as the upcoming M2 MacBook Air set for July launch, or the M2’s more powerful Pro/Ultra/Extreme variations.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first reviews for the new M2 MacBook Pro are … not good.
Also on The CultCast:
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CleanMyMac X, from Ukrainian developer MacPaw, is a decluttering app for Mac that can keep your computer in tip-top shape. It includes 49 tools to find and delete invisible junk clogging your hard drive. Cult of Mac publisher Leander Kahney swears by CleanMyMac X (instead of swearing at it, as he does with most apps).
Get CleanMyMac X today with 5% off at macpaw.app/cultcast. Discount valid until June 30.
An updated MacBook Pro – the first laptop to run on the powerful new Apple M2 processor – hit store shelves Friday morning. The chip makes it the fastest 13-inch notebook in Apple’s lineup.
The company unveiled the M2 chip three weeks ago at its Worldwide Developers Conference. It also took the wraps off the first two laptops to run on it: the just-launched MacBook Pro and a redesigned MacBook Air that is coming in July.
The first real-world benchmark tests of Apple’s M2 chip show that the just-launched processor is about 20% faster than the original M1. That’s welcome news for anyone in the market for a MacBook or iPad in the next few years.
But the newest chip does not offer better performance than Apple’s M1 Pro or M1 Max from 2021. That will have to wait for advanced versions of the M2 expected to launch in 2023.
The first reviews of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with an Apple M2 processor are not kind. It gets called a “Pro in name only” and “literally a processor update and nothing more.”
Still, the M2 provides a pleasant increase in speed over the M1, making the new MBP the best-performing 13-inch Mac notebook.
A 15-inch MacBook will debut in less than a year that offers either an M2 or an M2 Pro processor, according to a reliable Apple analyst. That could make it one of the first with the upgraded version of the M2.
Note that the notebook might not be branded as a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air. It could be a “MacBook.”
Although one reliable Apple tipster recently said a 12-inch M2 MacBook is on the drawing board, another is skeptical that any such device is in development.
If released, the small notebook would be a change of strategy for Apple.
Everybody knows Macs don’t set the gaming world on fire, though Apple silicon has made some inroads. So while plenty of Mac users enjoy Apple Arcade and use Apple hardware to play games, many turn to other means. We’ve seen plenty a hybrid Mac – PC computer setups out there.
But today’s featured setup takes another course to gaming satisfaction. It’s owner, who describes himself as an “old gamer,” divides his time between work via an M1 MacBook Pro and gaming on a Valve Steam Deck.