Apple has revealed the all-new MacBook Pro 13-inch with an M2 chip at WWDC 2022. The sale of the MacBook Pro M2 was started on 24th June 2022. The starting price of the Macbook Pro 13 M2 is $1299.
But is it worth upgrading? This article will compare the last generation M1 Macbook Pro with the new M2 MacBook pro. Keep reading to check full comparison on MacBook Pro M2 vs M1 for Students.
MacBook Pro M2 vs M1 for Students: Full Comparison
The design of both the M1 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Pro is almost the same. Even the display of both the Apple laptops is a retina display with the same screen size of 13.3 inches.
Also, both Apple laptops are available in the same colors: Silver and Space grey. But still, the 2022 Macbook Pro M2 has improved a lot after 1 and a half years in many ways.
Why You Should Upgrade to MacBook Pro M2?
There are Some reasons to upgrade your old M1 MacBook Pro to M2 MacBook Pro. Let’s have a look.
M2 Vs M1 Chip
The 2022 MacBook Pro is powered by M2 Chip. And Apple claims that the M2 Chip is 1.4 times faster than the M1 chip. This is basically the biggest change and the biggest reason to upgrade to the M2 MacBook Pro 13.
According to the geek benchmark, M2 Chip has 1919 points for single-core CPU and 8928 points for multi-core. These CPU Benchmark scores make the M2 chip 11.56% faster in single-core and 19.45% faster in multi-core.
In terms of GPU, the M2 chip has a benchmark score of 29832. That shows the M2 chip GPU performance is 35% faster than the M1 chip.
The GPU performance is increased because now the new M2 chip MacBook pro has a 10-Core GPU as compared to just the 8-core GPU of the M1 MacBook pro 13.
CheckOut Full review – M2 MacBook pro 13 inch
RAM
The M2 Chip MacBook Pro has more RAM options available as compared to 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro.
8GB, 16GB, and the additional 24GB RAM storage amount on M2 MacBook Pro are great but they will cost you more dollars as well.
Whereas, M1 MacBook Pro is only available in 8Gb and 16Gb RAM Amounts.
Power Adapter
The M2 Macbook Pro has 67 Watt powerful USB-C charger as compared to just the 61W USB-C Power Adapter of the M1 Macbook Pro.
It means you can charge the M2 chip Macbook pro in less amount time. Which is a great advantage over the M1 chip Macbook Pro.
Stereo Speakers
Apple offers studio-quality stereo speakers for the M2 chip Macbook Pro just like the M1 chip model. Further, it has the support of high-impedance headphones now and the addition of spatial audio.
Therefore, the stereo speakers are improved over the previous generation M1 Mac pro.
Why You Should Not Upgrade to MacBook Pro M2?
There are also some reasons to not upgrade your old M1 MacBook Pro to M2 MacBook Pro. Let’s take a look at them.
Battery Life
Apple claims that the battery life of both the M1 Chip and M2 chip MacBook Pro is up to 20 hours. So there will not be a big difference in battery performances of both the apple laptops.
With the 20% faster M2 chip and more GPUs, the M2 MacBook Pro 13-inch is going to perform pretty well. That means it will cost more battery.
The high performance of the Macbook Pro M2 will affect the battery life but not that much.
Display
Both these apple laptops have LED-backlit retina displays with IPS Technology without the promotion feature unlike the mini-Led display of the iPad Pro. Nothing has changed display-wise even after one and a half years.
So it is sad to say, there is no point in replacing your M1 Macbook Pro with a New M2 Chip Macbook pro as they have the same 500 nits of brightness with a display resolution of 2560 x 1600p.
Also, the display refresh rate is almost identical, which is 60 Hz.
Ports
Moving on to the ports, there is also no change. Apple should have increased the thunderbolt ports of the M2 MacBook Pro.
The latest Macbook Pro has 2 thunderbolts USB-C ports just like the M1 model. And the same Thunderbolt 3 Display Port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 port.
Webcam
The 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro camera was launched with a 720p resolution web camera. And the new 2022 MacBook Pro is going to retain the same web Camera which is quite a bit of a disappointment.
The camera quality is not bad at all. The M2 chip does improve the image quality, but Apple should have given a 1080p resolution web camera to the brand new 2022 Pro model.
Storage, Operating System, Keyboard, and Touch bar
There is also no change in terms of storage, both the apple laptops come in 256Gb and 512 Gb at the same price. And both are upgradable to 2TB of storage.
The magic keyboard is also not changed, the touch bar is still on the top whether you want to use it or not. And you will find the touch ID at the same position on the keyboard as before.
Both the MacBook Pro’s will run on the brand-new operating system known as macOS 13. But the M2 chip will handle the software better than the M1 chip. As it is more powerful. M2 Chip will offer more smoothness in multitasking.
Final Thoughts: MacBook Pro M2 vs M1 for Students
No doubt M2 Chip is much faster than the M1 chip. But, If you are still using the Macbook Pro 13 M1, we don’t recommend you to upgrade to the MacBook Pro 13 M2.
Instead, wait for the M2 MacBook Air 2022 to launch because it has everything new.
And if you are using a very old apple laptop or windows laptop then you can move on to the new MacBook Pro 13 M2.
Else you can buy the Macbook Pro 14 and Macbook Pro 16 models with the more powerful M1 Pro/M1 Max chips. Only if you have that much of a budget.
Also Read