by Most Apple products aim to achieve a higher level of quality than the rest of the tech industry. Amazingly, the company manages to hit that mark more often than not.
But in 2022, an Apple product was almost certainly the company’s worst release of the year — one that felt both lazy and misleading, a win that sacrifices much of the forward momentum created for that particular product category. The product I am talking about is of course the M2 MacBook Pro 13 inch.
This is a laptop that just shouldn’t exist. This notebook continues to use an outdated chassis that is over six years old at this point. That’s right, a “new” MacBook released in 2022 is actually a six-year-old laptop with a new chip inside. Although Apple released a sleek, completely redesigned M2 MacBook Air, the company decided to update this old design alongside it – just because it’s a popular choice.
From that standpoint, it’s an understandable business decision. Why take a successful product out of the MacBook range?
The justification for calling this a “Pro” laptop is extremely generous.
It’s a MacBook “Pro” after all. This name means something to people, even those who may not follow the latest technology too closely. You buy a MacBook “Pro” expecting a device that’s a significant step up from the MacBook Air, perhaps hoping it can run some heavy applications adequately.
What you might not realize is that not only is this a very old laptop design, but it also uses the exact same M2 chip as the MacBook Air. The justification for calling this a “Pro” laptop is extremely generous. A few fans? An hour or two more battery life Really? You still can’t even connect two monitors to this thing without buying an external dock. Calling this a “Pro” laptop in the truest sense of the word is a serious exaggeration – unless you also consider the MacBook Air to be a “Pro”.
I won’t bother going into all of the performance issues I was having with this thing at launch.
But hey, you might like the design. Maybe you’re nostalgic for that particular era of Apple design, or maybe you like the Touch Bar (for whatever reason). And if you didn’t know any better, you could upgrade to this MacBook Pro from a very old Mac and enjoy the experience. I’m not trying to take that away from you. Apple Silicon really is that good, and if you’ve upgraded to the M2 MacBook Pro from a much older device, you’ll likely be impressed.
But in the context of the other choices you have in the MacBook line, it just doesn’t make sense. By purchasing this particular laptop, you are sacrificing a lot of new features and technology in order to stick with an old design. It comes with a low 720p webcam and doesn’t have the extended keyboard layout of newer MacBooks. The M1 MacBook Air offers much better value for money, while the M2 MacBook Air is far more innovative. And if you really need a “Pro” laptop, you should look at the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
With the M2 MacBook Pro, Apple is selling a product based solely on people’s association with the brand. It’s a laptop that almost no one should buy, easily making it Apple’s worst product of the year.
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