Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
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GENERAL USE: Excellent—9.4/10
GAMING/AI: Very Good—8.5/10
ENG/DESIGN: Excellent—9.4/10
SOFTWARE DEV: Excellent—9.2/10
CONTENT CREATION: Excellent—9.3/10
PORTABILITY: Good—7.6/10
BATTERY: Best in Class—9.5/10
OVERALL SCREEN QUALITY: Best in Class—9.5/10
OVERALL PERFORMANCE: Very Good—8.9/10
SIZE: 16.2"
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) comes with a premium price, offering high performance with its Apple M2 Max chip that includes a powerful integrated GPU suitable for 3D rendering, machine learning, and engineering applications. It has 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which bolster its performance for professional tasks. The laptop has a Mini LED 16.2-inch display with high resolution, providing excellent color accuracy and brightness, enhancing the experience for creative professionals and those requiring precise color work. Despite its performance capabilities, it remains relatively portable and boasts a solid battery life that could support extended use away from a power source. The build quality is top-notch, boasting a sleek design with a backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, and multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports. However, its weight and dimensions mean it may not be as portable as smaller laptops, and the lack of a touchscreen and gaming-specific features like hardware ray tracing and DLSS may not appeal to some users. Overall, the MacBook Pro 16 is best suited for professionals in creative industries, engineering, and other fields that demand robust processing and graphics capabilities. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Evaluation
Pros
- High-resolution Liquid Retina XDR display
- Superb build and speaker quality
- Powerful Apple M2 Max processor
- Excellent color accuracy for creative work
- Long battery life for productivity
Cons
- Heavier than many competitors
- Higher price point than alternatives
- No touchscreen capability
- No expandable RAM or storage
Ratings by Category
Build Quality:5.0
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, chassis rigidity, and overall reliability.
Our assessment of build quality includes many details that are difficult to quantify.
Our laptop experts use their best judgment to produce the final score.
General Use:4.9
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is prized for general use due to its high-performance CPU and ample RAM, which ensure smooth multitasking and fast operation. Moreover, its high-quality Mini LED screen, long battery life, and considerable portability despite its large screen size make it an excellent choice for a range of general tasks.
Engineering & Design:4.9
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) excels in engineering and design use because it's equipped with a powerful M2 Max processor, a significant amount of RAM, and a high-performance GPU that can easily handle intensive tasks and multitasking. Additionally, its Mini LED display offers sharp visuals with high resolution, responsive refresh rates, and excellent color reproduction, which is essential for precision in design work.
Battery Life:4.9
PerfectRec’s Battery Life rating is based on hours of battery life in typical usage scenarios.
General Use Screen Quality:4.9
The general use screen score is based on the screen technology, contrast ratio, resolution, brightness, color gamut and color accuracy. This score does not take into account specialized display features for specific use cases, such as high refresh rate for gaming.
Keyboard Quality:4.9
The Keyboard Quality score is based on the PerfectRec experts’ assessment of tactile feedback, typing comfort, keyboard reliability and typing noise.
Software Development:4.8
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software development.
In addition to a strong emphasis on overall performance, this score also places very high importance on screen quality. Heat management, storage, keyboard and speaker quality are also incorporated, with fan noise rounding out this score.
Content Creation:4.8
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, and video editing work.
In addition to a strong emphasis on overall performance, this score also places very high importance on screen quality. Heat management, storage, keyboard and speaker quality are also incorporated, with fan noise rounding out this score.
Gaming & AI:4.6
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability as well as AI performance, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
While performance (especially graphics performance) is the most important factor determining this score, we also give modest weight to screen quality, heat management, keyboard quality, and storage.
Operating Noise:4.6
PerfectRec’s Operating Noise Score is based on fan noise measurements. Laptops with a fanless design, such as Macbooks, receive the maximum score.
Portability:4.2
PerfectRec’s portability rating takes into account the volume and thickness of the laptop as well as its weight.
Full Specs
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
| Price | $2,423 | ||
Release Date | January 1, 2023 | ||
Overall Dimensions | 14'' x 9.8'' x 0.66'' | ||
Weight | 4.7 lbs | ||
Width | 14.01" | ||
Depth | 9.77" | ||
INTERNAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Processor | Apple M2 Max (12C) | ||
RAM | 32 GB | ||
DDR Memory Version | 5 | ||
RAM Slots | 0 | ||
Storage | 1024 GB | ||
BATTERY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Battery Life | 17.5 Hours | ||
Battery Capacity | 99.6 Wh | ||
SCREEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Diagonal Size | 16.2" | ||
Display Technology | Mini LED | ||
Resolution | 3456 x 2234 | ||
Refresh Rate | 120Hz | ||
Display Brightness | 487 nits | ||
RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Build Quality Score  | 10/10 | ||
Portability Score | 7.6/10 | ||
Gaming Laptop Appearance | No | ||
Premium Business Laptop | Yes | ||
Fan Noise Score | 8.8/10 | ||
HARDWARE FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Keyboard Quality Score | 9.5/10 | ||
Speaker Quality Score | 10/10 | ||
Webcam | 1080p | ||
Fingerprint Reader | Yes | ||
Backlit Keyboard | Yes | ||
Number Pad | No | ||
CONNECTIVITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
USB Type-A | 0 | ||
USB-C ports | 3 | ||
USB-C Charging | Yes | ||
Display Outputs | 4 | ||
Thunderbolt Version | 4 | ||
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
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NotebookCheck
Andreas Osthoff | February 2023
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
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