You can pre-order the M2 MacBook Pro this week — but should you? | CNN Underscored

The latest 13-inch MacBook Pro updates one of Apple’s most popular laptops with the new M2 processor that promises a huge bump in performance. And while it’s not exactly the star of Apple’s new laptop lineup — that would be the MacBook Air M2 — those interested in a new MacBook Pro can pre-order the machine this week.

MacBook Pro M2 pre-orders and release date

You can pre-order the MacBook Pro M2 from Apple’s website starting on June 17, with the laptop set to start shipping on June 24.

The newest 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,299, which gets you an M2 processor, 8GB of memory and a 256GB solid state drive. There’s also a $1,499 configuration that ups the SSD storage to 512GB. You can also customize both options to your needs, with support for up to 24GB of memory and a whopping 2TB of storage.

The M2 MacBook Pro essentially takes the 13-inch MacBook Pro from late 2020 and updates it with an even more powerful processor. Thanks to its upgraded M2 chip, the new MacBook Pro promises to be roughly 40 percent faster than its predecessor when it comes to doing heavy video editing or playing demanding PC games. You’ll also get 50% more memory bandwidth, meaning the new MacBook Pro should be even smoother for multitaskers who jump between tons of performance-intensive apps at once.

When you combine that with the excellent Magic Keyboard and rich 13.3-inch Retina display that we loved on the M1 model, you’ve got what sounds like a pretty compelling laptop for Apple power users. There’s just one problem: the new M2 MacBook Air seems like a better purchase in almost every way.

Despite being the cheaper laptop at $1,119, the M2 MacBook Air sports a more modern design that features a slightly larger display, a sharper 1080p webcam and a handy MagSafe charging port that disconnects easily in the event that someone (or a pet) trips on your cable. It even comes in a wider range of nicer-looking colors, and replaces the dreaded Touch Bar with a useful set of physical function keys. You can read more about the finer differences between the two in our MacBook Air M2 vs. MacBook Pro M2 comparison, but for the vast majority of people, the MacBook Air is shaping up to be the way to go.

That said, there are still a few reasons you might want to go with the 13-inch MacBook Pro instead. The M2 Pro’s biggest advantage over the Air is that it has an internal fan, which means that, at least in theory, it can deliver peak performance for longer stretches of time during heavy tasks like video editing and 3D rendering. We’ll have to test Apple’s claims for ourselves, but the new MacBook Pro is rated for slightly longer battery life than the Air at 20 hours versus 18 hours. Finally, if you’re one of the handful of people that actually like the Touch Bar — a dynamic touch-sensitive panel that lets you easily thumb through videos and send your friends emojis — the MacBook Pro M2 is pretty much the only Mac left that has it.

We’ll be putting the new MacBook Pro through its paces as soon as we get our hands on one, but in the meantime, you can preorder the new laptop this Friday. There’s still no word on the MacBook Air M2’s exact release date, but it should arrive sometime in July.