The 2023 version of Apple MacBook pro 16” is cosmetically similar to its previous 2021, but the real change is inside the hood with might M2 max processor. Apart from the beefy M2 processor, there is no excuse to buy the latest 2023 MacBook pro 16” version. Although if you are excited then there isn’t any reason you will not buy this apple beast laptop. The price of the maxed-out version of 16” inch version is $2500 dollars. Let’s check out the detailed review of the Apple 16 inches MacBook pro.
Specifications of MacBook Pro 16 inches
Display
- 16.2 inches Liquid Retina XDR display
- High refresh rate 120Hz
- Liquid Retina XDR display. 3456×2234 resolution at 254 PPI density.
Processor
- Apple M2 Max chip
- 12-core CPU (8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores)
- 38-core GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
- 16-core Neural Engine
- Read and write speed 500 Gb/s
Ram
- 32 Gb max memory
- 1- 8 Tb configurable SSD
Charging and ports
- HDMI 2.1 support
- SDXC card slot
- 1 Magsafe & 3 USB type C Thunderbolt port.
- 3.5 mm headphone jack & Thunderbolt 4 port
The review starts here
Without any doubt, Apple after launching its in-house developed flagship M series chips for Macbook laptops led in terms of performance worldwide. Compared to its predecessor the M2 max has shown some real muscle in terms of performance and productivity.
Let’s jump straight to the performance section.
How is the Performance of 16-inch MacBook pro with M2 max chip inside?
The hefty price tag of $4299 M2 maxed-out model has a 32-core GPU and a 12-core CPU with up to 8 Tb SSD and 64 GB memory. It offers four efficiency cores and eight performance cores inside.
If you have the maxed-out version of Macbook Pro 2023 then you have a serious powerhouse workstation laptop right on your lap, which will easily surpass most of the powerful desktops out there. In other words, you can say that it can easily replace your professional or heavy workloads on this overkill M2 max chip machine.
Undoubtedly spending a premium price on this device you can easily own a machine with an excessive killer performance. In our review, we found a huge leap of 30% in GPU performance and a 20% rise in CPU performance.
The performance is clearly seen in the Geekbench score which was 2058, an exceptional one. Whereas the multicore score of M2 max on Geekbench was 15,262.
For comparison check out the chart given below.
| Chip model | Single core performance | Multicore performance |
| Intel i9 MBP | 1,078 | 6,787 |
| Apple M1 Max | 1,788 | 12,806 |
| Apple 28 core Mac Pro | 1,512 | 20,036 |
| Apple M2 MAX | 2,058 | 15,262 |
Other benchmark results
We can clearly see from the chart that there is a significant rise in performance from the previous versions and well as other flagship chips from other manufacturers.
In other words, you can say that the M2 max is almost 4х times faster than the M1 max chip. Additionally, the performance of video editing applications such as Final Cut Pro it simply destroys the competition and processes the video without any delay. The post-processing of heavy files of raw 8k formats are completed without any sweat in the least possible time.
Talking about daily life performance it does all the tasks like a cakewalk. The applications open instantly, and scrolling down of web pages is smooth. Therefore for everyday non-demanding tasks, the M2 max chip is overkill in most cases.
Design and Build Quality
With the most aesthetic yet simplistic design language that apple followed is continued with the Apple MacBook Pro M2 max version too. The bright display with a larger trackpad, aluminium body with thin bezels and weight of 2.45 kgs is much praised by us as well as the pro customers. The design language follows a boxy yet easily comfortable design.
With a magic keyboard and squared-up keys the typing experience is great too. Removing the touch bar in the 2023 version is a great job by the Apple design engineers, they also added full-size function keys to improve the productivity experience at its best. With the touch ID embedded in the power button, it becomes so easy to login with just a single press with fingerprint login.
The 140 Watt USB C power adapter and cable with Magsafe pin easily fill the juice of this laptop in the least possible time. Whereas the weight is only 2.7 kgs which is comparatively significantly lesser than Windows competitor machines. We didn’t feel any issue in terms of daily usage and design of this laptop.
Display
The display of the MacBook Pro 16” M2 max version is the most gorgeous display for a laptop. It is a true-tone Liquid retina XDR display. The colour production is accurate and displays true tone vibrant natural pictures on the screen. With the addition of apple promotion having a 120 Hz high refresh display augments the user experience. While professional work such as colour grading, printing and design production on the gorgeous screen are accomplished with high accuracy. The screen offers a pixel density of 250 PPI and 1600 nits peak brightness.
While if we nitpick the cons then we found some issues with this pro display. The first is the ugly notch, it could have managed to ignore the notch or made the camera cutout so small to ignore it. However, after using few hours you will hardly feel any disruption from the notch.
Second, the camera cutout slightly hampers the full experience of menu bars and taking video calls using the Facetime camera.
Miscellaneous features
With the MacBook Pro model, Apple has a host of ports for the users. There are 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 1 SDXC port for high-speed memory cards, an HDMI port with HDMI 2.1 support, a Magsafe 3 charger for an easy magnetic charging dock and high quality 3.5 mm jack. Eventually the ports especially the 3.5 mm jack brings a smile on the face of power users.
Additionally, futureproof connectivity features such as WIFI 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 keep customers more productive at an ultra-fast pace. Crispy 6 speakers with 3 dedicated mics keep our facetime call and entertainment purposes fully satisfied.
Our verdict
We have reviewed many laptops but the Apple MacBook Pro 16 inches having M2 Max inside produces a mammoth power for most users. In other words, we can say that this raw power of the M2 Max chip possesses the potential to beat large Dekstop-level workstations in most cases. While with elegant aesthetics and a beastly chip inside this laptop impressed us. While the 4 efficiency cores make sure that for normal usage you get enough juice to surpass an entire day without charge.
The Bottom line is that if you are someone who doesn’t care about money and desires a full workstation in your lap then the Apple MacBook Pro M2 max is for you. But if you already have the 2022 version of the MacBook pro then it’s useless to spend so much money. Finally, we need to say that this machine is more than you need for your professional-level productivity tasks.
