KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Apple dropped news of higher-end versions of its latest M2 processors as well as MacBook Pros and its compact desktop machine, the Mac mini.
The Mac mini has proven to be one of Apple's most lauded offerings with a super compact footprint, and is competitively priced while still providing plenty of power and flexibility.
This time, Apple keeps its attractive pricing, RM2,499 being the entry point to the new Mac mini range that now has a Pro version thanks to the new M2 Pro processor.
The base M2 Mac mini will support two external displays while the M2 Pro version will support three external displays, with one of them being an 8K display.
While the M2 Pro version will now appeal to higher-end users who would appreciate a super compact pro-level device, the base M2 is no slouch.
The 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU within the M2 processor offers great value for less than RM2,500 especially compared to Windows machines.
As for ports the M2 version comes with two Thunderbolt 4 ports while the M2 Pro model has four of them. Both have two USB-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI as well as a headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones. Bluetooth 5.3 as well as Wi-Fi 6E5 are also supported.
How much more would the M2 Pro version cost? You're looking at RM5,599 but you have to take into account the extra ports, and additional display support.
New souped-up Pro machines
If you've been waiting to upgrade to a higher-end M2 MacBook Pro, they're finally here.
Apple claims the new machines offer up to six times faster performance as compared to previous models, thanks to the new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors.
They also support up to 96GB of RAM compared to the previous cap of 64GB with support for 6GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3 and HDMI 2.1 to allow connection with an 8K external display.
Apple also said that it has added an extra hour to these new Pro machines' battery life.
The new models come in 14-inch and 16-inch display options, and pricing starts at RM8,799 for the 14-inch model and RM10,799 for the 16-inch version.
Now let's talk about the new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. What they are: essentially even more powerful versions of the already very fast M2 processor.
The M2 Pro bumps up the core to 12 cores and couples it with a 19-core GPU. As for the M2 Max, you can get a version that supports up to 38 cores in its GPU doubling the unified memory bandwidth and supporting a massive 96GB of unified memory.
Of course these performance updates will appeal most to people who rely on powerful laptops to do very heavy lifting ― think production and design studios.
