The 13-inch MacBook Pro gets an M2 upgrade and nothing else

During this year’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) opening keynote, Apple announced two new M2-powered MacBooks. The redesigned MacBook Air was the highlight of the show, sporting not only an M2-boost but a completely refreshed look, MagSafe 3 charging, a Liquid Retina display and 1080p FaceTime HD webcam. Then there was the less transformative 13-inch MacBook Pro, which gets the M2 chip upgrade and nothing more.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,199 for the 256GB SSD model and $2,299 for the 512GB SSD model. As always, you can pay to expand the MacBook Pro’s memory and storage at the checkout on the Apple website. There doesn’t seem to be an exact release date for the M2 MacBook Pro on Apple’s Australian website, but it does say it will be available next month.

Even though the M2 MacBook Pro does get a performance boost, up to 20 hours of battery life and an active cooling system, there are still a number of ways it falls short of the new MacBook Air.

For starters, every new M2 MacBook Air comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, an improvement on the M2 MacBook Pro’s 720p webcam. But it also bests the Pro’s standard Retina display with a Liquid Retina display.

Upgrading to the existing 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro will get you a few more perks, such as a 1080p webcam, 21 hours of battery life, Liquid Retina XDR display and an improved CPU and GPU (at a price). The catch is, buying the 14 or 16-inch Pro ties you to the M1 Pro or M1 Max c, respectively. These beefed up Apple M1 chips are still relatively fresh in Apple’s lineup but with the M2 now available, professionals and power users will start looking for the eventual M2 Pro/Max chips on the horizon.

There could be more fans of the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s touch bar and USB-C charging than we anticipated but for everyone other than that super niche crowd, the M2 MacBook Air feels like a much better investment for the time being.