In fact, these are likely the best MacBook Pros Apple has ever made, building on a fan-favorite design with improved performance. Both models also sport an upgraded HDMI port that supports up to 8K output, as well as 4K output at 240Hz.Īpple carried the rest of the features over from the last generation MacBook Pros, including three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an SDXC card reader, MagSafe, 1080p FaceTime camera, and the Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED displays with 120Hz refresh rates and peak brightness of 1,600 nits. All new MacBook Pros come with Wi-Fi 6E, which allows you to connect to 6GHz wifi networks that don’t share frequencies with slower wifi standards like Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 4. There are also new features you’ll get whether you order a 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro with either the M2 Pro or M2 Max chips. It has the same 12-core CPU, but its GPU is much beefier, sporting either 30 or 38 cores, depending on your config. M2 Max, on the other hand, lets you configure up to 96GB of memory (a $1,200 upgrade, mind you), with 400GB per second of memory bandwidth. Apple also touts its next-gen neural engine, which they say is “40% faster” than M2's. It features a 12-core CPU (eight high-performance, four high-efficiency), and up to a 19-core GPU. M2 Pro gives you up to 32GB of memory with 200GB per second of memory bandwidth, or double the speed of M2. There are cheaper models with specs that are comparable to the new base MacBook Pro, but you're better off getting one of these options.Not pictured: M2 Pro also being larger than M2. You'll notice most of the laptops on this list have the powerful Core i7 processors from Intel - I recommend you buy computers with the i7 for the best performance today as well as five years down the line. Some on the list can even outperform the more powerful 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with the Touch Bar, too. So I've compiled the five best alternatives that can wipe the floor with the new base MacBook Pro based on specs, all while keeping a slim, sleek, lightweight design. Yet when you see that you can buy a Windows 10 laptop that's thinner, lighter, and boasts far superior specs for $500 less, the shining allure of Apple's ecosystem is suddenly dimmer. Of course, you get the comprehensive Apple ecosystem with a MacBook Pro, and the Mac operating system is good enough to warrant some kind of markup. And it doesn't have the fancy new Touch Bar, either. The cheapest MacBook Pro is the base 13-inch model priced at $1,500, which is a high price to pay for its relatively middling specs.

Affordable macbook