10 MACWORLD JANUARY 2022
MACUSER M2 CHIP SHOULDN’T STOP YOU BUYING MACalready great for that stuff, so we’d
recommend one of those unless you’re
interested in the MacBook Air’s rumored
redesign—at which point the chip doesn’t
really matter.
There’s also the question of the 13-inch
MacBook Pro: Will Apple decide to keep it,
and if so, will it get an M2? The current
model has the same chip as the MacBook
Air, but its fan keeps things a little cooler
so it can run at higher speeds for longer. In
our testing, the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro
was marginally faster than the M1 MacBook
Air, though the MacBook Pro can sustain
its speeds longer than the Air, and we
expect similar results for the M2. That’s still
not enough incentive to wait for an M
instead of buying an M1 Pro.M2 PRO: THE FUTURE
According to rumors, Apple isn’t done with
the M1 Pro and M1 Max. Far from it. The
new chips will likely end up in at least two
more Macs in 2022: the 27-inch iMac (fave.
co/3CCgMMJ) and the high-end Mac mini
(fave.co/3jXsque).
So what about an M2 Pro? That’s
surely coming after the M2, but it could
be a while (fave.co/3I8gikK). The M1 Pro
just made its debut, and the rumor is that
the new M2 MacBook Air won’t be
available until mid-2022, about 18 months
after the M1 was
released. If a Pro chip
is on a similar cycle,
the M2 Pro won’t be
available until late
2022 or early 2023.
However, we’re
hearing that it will
have two dies and
possibly twice as
many cores as the M
Pro and M1 Max. But
that’s years away. For
now, the M1, M1 Pro,
and M1 Max will be
plenty fast for
whatever you need
your Mac to do. ■The 14-inch MacBook Pro has a great screen—but it wouldn’t be
anything without the M1 chip.