Vizio has long been known as a budget TV brand, but over the past few years the company started to push into premium territory with its P-Series and OLED TVs, as well as the rotating Elevate Dolby Atmos soundbar. This year, Vizio is focusing on its more affordable mid-range devices. That includes its M-Series Quantum X (MQX) TVs, which deliver a bevy of features that gamers will appreciate, as well as the M-Series Elevate soundbar, which brings the rotating Dolby Atmos functionality of the original Elevate down to a lower price-range.

All of the devices make it clear that Vizio is trying to aim for a market that's demanding better specifications and features, but also doesn't want to pay too much for Vizio's most premium hardware. The 50-inch 4K MQX TV is particularly geared towards gamers, as it offers a 240Hz refresh rate while playing in 1080p. Players who want to see faster frame rates typically lower their resolutions to 1080p, even with 4K or higher-resolution monitors. So it's not hard to imagine the 50-inch MQX being paired up with a gaming PC, especially since it supports AMD FreeSync Premium VRR.

The MQX family of TVS — at 50, 65 and 75-inches — are loaded up with Quantum dot technology and VIzio's new IQ Ultra Plus Processor. The company says they'll cover 80 percent of the Rec. 2020 color space, which technically makes it one of the best TVs on the market for color accuracy (at least, according to RTings's testing). The MQX TVs also have full-array backlighting and 32 local-dimming zones, which should help to improve contrast and black levels, as well as 1,000 nits of peak brightness.

When it comes to gaming, the MQX sets offer a 120 Hz native refresh rate (the 50" model is a bit unique with its 1080p 240Hz mode), as well as sub-8ms lag at 120Hz. That may sound a bit high compared to PC monitors touting less than a millisecond of lag, but it's on the faster end of current TVs. There are also four HDMI 2.1 ports, enough for every new console and a PC, as well as a new "Game" menu that should make it easier to adjust your settings.

Vizio

During a brief demo on Vizio's traveling demo bus (which definitely stood out in a nearby suburban park), the MQX TVs looked almost as good as Vizio's 2020-era P-series TVs. Colors popped off the screen during daytime scenes in Moana, and the bevy of local dimming zones kept light from bleeding into dark areas of the screen. It's clear that Vizio has made plenty of progress since the last batch of M-series sets. The new MQX TVs will start at $630 when they arrive later this month.

Vizio is still keeping its existing higher-end sets on the market, but you'll see some changes across the rest of its lineup too. The M-series Quantum 6 TVs also feature Quantum Dots and Full Array backlighting and a few helpful gaming features like FreeSync VRR, Dolby Vision and three HDMI 2.1 ports. The 43-inch MQ6 TV will start at just $350, but there will also be sizes between 55 and 75-inches to choose from.

Vizio

Stepping another level down, there's Vizio's new V-series TVs, which also have quite a few gaming smarts with a much lower $290 starting price for the 43-inch entry. Those will also range up to 75-inches and will include features like VRR and three HDMI 2.1 ports. From the demos I've seen, these appear to to be the ideal choice for gamers on a budget. At the bottom end, once again, are the D-series 1080p sets. These have always excelled at being cheap TVs for small rooms, and it looks like Vizio is continuing that trend this year. Still, even they have some gaming features, like low input lag and VRR. They'll range from 24 to 43 inches and will start at $160 when they arrive this month.

Vizio

If you've been eyeing Vizio's first Elevate soundbar, which features rotating speakers that can bounce off of your ceiling for over-head Dolby Atmos sound, you've now got a cheaper option to consider: the aptly-titled M-Series Elevate. Starting at $800, it offers 5.1.2 sound (five speakers, a subwoofer and two height channels) across 13 speakers, along with two small rear speakers for surround sound. During normal programming, the Dolby Atmos speakers point towards you to widen the sound stage, but once it detects an Atmos source, they flip up to give you enveloping sound.

Judging from the bevy of Moana songs I listened to, the M-Series Elevate sounds impressive, but I was surprised that it felt a bit tinnier and weaker than Sonos's Arc soundbar. That device goes for the same price, and while it doesn't include rear speakers or a subwoofer, it delivers far richer sound and more believable Atmos imaging. The M-Series Elevate may make more sense if Vizio lowers the price a bit. The original Elevate is only $200 more, after all, you'd think there would be a bigger difference for a mid-range alternative. If you're looking for something more compact, there's also the new M-Series All-in-One, which features dual built-in subwoofers, DTS:X and a low $200 starting price.

The new MacBook Air is one of Apple's most important computers since Steve Jobs pulled the original Air out of an envelope. It shows what's possible when Apple builds an ultraportable entirely around its mobile chips, instead of lazily sticking them in old laptop designs, like with the recent 13-inch MacBook Pro. The Air is impressively thin and light, but it also has a bigger and better screen, a great set of speakers and a nifty MagSafe power adapter. And thanks to Apple's M2 chip, it's also far speedier than the last model, a computer I called "stunningly fast" just a year-and-a-half ago. Once again, Apple has set a new standard for ultraportables.

Before I dive into what's under the hood, I'll just say what we're all thinking: This is a gorgeous computer! The Air's trademark wedge design is gone – now, it's uniformly thin from front to back. Apple basically repeated the PowerBook-esque design of the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro – more rounded edges, a notch for the webcam – but squished it into a case that measures just 11.3 millimeters thin and weighs 2.7 pounds. While it's only a tenth of a pound lighter than the last Air, it's far more balanced, making it easier to hold.

When I picked up the MacBook Air for the first time, it felt more like an iPad with a built-in keyboard than a laptop. What's funny is that it's actually more portable than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which weighs about 3 pounds when combined with its Smart Keyboard. The iPad Pro has always been positioned as a futuristic ideal for truly portable computing, but it turns out it weighs the same as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Once again, the humble Air wins out.

It's also nice to see Apple offering a wider variety of finishes. In addition to the typical space gray and silver, there's a brighter starlight case and a sleek black midnight option. I've been testing a starlight model, and the way the color pops off of the aluminum always gives me a bit of joy.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

To be honest, that sense of delight can be found just about everywhere in the MacBook Air, like its new 13.6-inch Liquid Retina screen. It's only a third of an inch larger than before, but it feels more expansive and engrossing. It helps that Apple shaved off a bit of bezel and also bumped up the brightness to 500 nits, which makes the Air far easier to use outdoors.

For the most part, the Liquid Retina screen is on par with what we saw on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros – the only difference is that it doesn't have ProMotion. I didn't expect to see that high refresh rate tech on a mainstream laptop, especially after it didn't arrive on the 13-inch MacBook Pro. But, at this point, it's one of the only things keeping the Air from being truly perfect. Maybe I'm just being greedy, but my eyes have been spoiled. I need silky smooth scrolling on every machine! I was also a bit disappointed by the new 1080p webcam. It packs in more pixels than the previous 720p cameras, but it still looks pretty drab and grainy.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

At least Apple managed to bring over its improved speaker technology from the larger MacBook Pros. The Air features a quad-speaker system with support for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. And while I didn't expect much from such a thin system, the new audio setup sounds shockingly great. It's enough to fill a small room with sound at max volume without any distortion. There's also a three-mic array to improve video chat sound quality, as well as a standard 3.5mm jack. (I'm sure there's some fanatical Apple designer who wants to yank out the headphone jack to make the Air's case even thinner, just like they did with the iPad Pro. So enjoy it while you can!)

All of these upgrades would be impressive on their own, but what makes the MacBook Air really shine is Apple's new M2 chip. It doesn't completely reshape the PC world, like the M1 did, but it's a decent sequel. The M2 features 8 CPU cores and up to 10 GPU cores, and Apple says it's around 18 percent faster for multithreaded performance. If you go for the faster GPU model, you can expect graphics speeds about 35 percent faster than the M1. Apple also doubled the M2's memory bandwidth and raised the maximum RAM to 24GB. That's probably overkill for an Air, but it's nice nonetheless. There's also hardware support for ProRes encoding and decoding, but I'd imagine most video editors would opt for more powerful MacBook Pros.

Our review unit was equipped with a 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, the same as our 13-inch MacBook Pro tester. And, just as I expected, the scores between both systems were nearly identical across benchmarks like GeekBench 5 and 3DMark Wild Life Extreme. There was a significant difference in Cinebench R21's multi-threaded test, but that wasn't a huge surprise. The MacBook Air is a fan-less system, so its CPU has to be throttled to keep things cool. The 13-inch MacBook Pro, on the other hand, has fans and a more robust cooling setup, so it can handle longer sustained workloads.

All of my testing made it clear that the MacBook Air is just as fast as the 13-inch Pro for most tasks. It even hit the same 30fps average in Shadow of the Tomb Raider's benchmark, which means the game would actually be playable on a crazy thin ultraportable. But you'll have to live with a bit of slowdown if you're doing more complex work, like video editing or 3D rendering. For most people, I think that's a decent compromise given everything else the MacBook Air has to offer. And if you're an actual media professional, you're still better off with the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, instead of the aging 13-inch model.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Not to knock on that computer too much, but now that I've seen the Air in action, I'm even more baffled by the 13-inch Pro. The Air has the same great keyboard and super smooth trackpad. There's no annoying TouchBar, just trusty function keys. It even has more ports! There are two USB-C ports, but it also features a MagSafe connector for power. That means you can actually charge the MacBook Air without using up one of your precious USB-C connections! Maybe Apple should have just renamed this the MacBook Air Pro.

The 13-inch Pro does have a larger battery, which helped it last 17 hours and five minutes in our benchmark. The Air, meanwhile, reached 16 hours and 30 minutes. Still, that's plenty of time to last you beyond a full day of work, and it's on par with other ultraportables like Dell's XPS 13. Apple also has a variety of power adapters to choose from: one with two USB-C ports (for charging other devices) and a 67-watt adapter for fast charging.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The one downside to the MacBook Air's revamp is that it now starts at $1,199, $200 more than the M1 model. That older machine is still a decent option if you find it on sale or refurbished, but otherwise I'd say the M2 model is absolutely worth the extra cost. Just be prepared for the price to rise quickly as you start adding extra hardware. If you wanted to bump up to our review unit's specs, you'd have to pay $1,899. Personally, I'd say prioritize throwing in as much RAM and SSD storage as you can. The M2 chip will still be very capable without the $100 upgrade for the more powerful GPU.

It’s remarkable to think how far the MacBook Air has come since 2008. It used to be overpriced and underpowered, a testament to Apple’s tendency towards style over substance. Since then, the entire PC industry jumped aboard the ultraportable bandwagon, and Apple found a way to pack a ton of power into a razor-thin case. Now, the MacBook Air is arguably Apple’s best laptop yet.

It's rare for Apple to reshape the way people work on Macs, but that's precisely what the company is trying to do with Stage Manager in macOS Ventura. At first glance, it's just a quick visual way to swap between your recently used applications. But after testing the first Ventura public beta over the past week, I think it may also solve window management issues that have plagued Macs since OS X debuted 21 years ago. Or, maybe, I've just always hated Apple's Dock.

On top of Stage Manager, Ventura also has plenty of upgrades that should make life a bit easier for Apple users. Mail gets the biggest overhaul, but there's also better collaboration with Safari's Tab Groups, as well as much-needed features in Messages. At the very least, it's a far more expansive update than last year's Monterey.

Apple

Stage Manager: Making sense of the Mac madness

In my nearly two decades of using Macs — as a college student, IT support worker and tech journalist — I've never found OS X's Dock to be very useful. Sure, when it was first released, it was a huge visual upgrade over the simplistic taskbars in Windows and Linux. (I remember marveling at the fact that a Dock icon could show a running video.) But on its own, the Dock is a confusing mishmash of shortcuts and running application indicators, something reviews at the time also criticized.

If you want to find a specific Safari window, for example, you have to press Control, click on the Dock icon and then select it from the dropdown. In comparison, the far uglier Windows XP let me zero in on specific apps (and their sub-windows) with a single click on the task bar. Perhaps aware of this usability quirk, Apple introduced Exposé in 2003 as an easy way to see everything you're running all at once. Since then, I've religiously assigned hot corners on every Mac I've used to trigger specific Exposé functions (one corner shows everything that's open, another shows me windows just for my current app, while another brings me right to the desktop). Who needs a confusing Dock when you can get a God's-eye view of your entire system?

Fast-forward almost twenty years, and we have Stage Manager, yet another on-screen tool for jumping between your apps. But while it may just seem like additional screen clutter, its main function is to help you focus by actually decluttering your screen. When you select a recent app from Stage Manager, it centers that app on your screen and makes other windows disappear. Hit the app shortcut again, and you'll cycle through open windows.

While it seems restrictive at first, like an attempt at bringing an iPad-esque workflow onto Macs, Stage Manager also lets you group apps together and, crucially, remembers exactly where you position your windows. While writing this preview, I kept Safari and Evernote grouped together, so I could write and research without worrying about pings from Slack or WhatsApp. You could do something similar with Apple's Spaces virtual desktops feature, but I always found that hard to manage. Stage Manager makes it as easy as hitting a single icon on your screen.

If you're a Mac pro-user already set in your ways, you can ignore Stage Manager entirely (it can be turned on and off from the Title Bar, and disabled in System Preferences). But as someone who's struggled with Apple's attempts at window management over the years, I'm finding it to be a refreshing way to make sense of macOS. You can also automatically hide Stage Manager until you need to use it, just like the Dock. (Personally, I've found it to be most useful when I hide the Dock and leave Stage Manager running on the side.)

Apple

Other updates: Mail, Messages and more

I haven't used a desktop email application in years — it's just easier to hop into multiple Gmail accounts in a browser — but those who do will appreciate Apple's Mail updates in Ventura. For one, the search function has been entirely reworked, so it should be easier to locate a specific message. It's also finally getting some much-needed features, like scheduled send, undo sending, rich-text link embedding and alerts about missing attachments and recipients. Those are the sorts of features that have kept me glued to Gmail's web interface for years, so it's nice to see them finally make their way to the desktop. (But really, I'd love to know what took Apple so long.)

Similarly, I think everyone would appreciate the changes coming to Messages. That includes the ability to edit texts, delete them entirely, and mark them as unread. I wasn't able to test these features much, since they require your friends and colleagues to be running Monterey as well, but we're not expecting any major surprises with how they work. Monterey also treats older versions of macOS similar to Android users — when I edited a message to an iMessage group, my friends received a separate text notifying them of the changes. For me, it just appeared as an edit within the existing message.

Apple

Here are a few other notable changes in Monterey to look out for:

• Continuity Camera: It lets you use your iPhone as a high-quality webcam. I haven't been able to get this feature working properly yet, but on paper it's a compelling way to beef up your video chats without investing in a more expensive webcam.

• Shared Tab Groups in Safari: An easy way to collaborate with friends when planning for a trip, or any other group activity.

• Passkeys in Safari: Instead of passwords, Passkey is a biometric way to authenticate with websites, and it's tied to your iCloud account. I wasn't able to test this yet, but theoretically it's far more secure than traditional passwords.

• Strong password editing in Safari: Finally, there's a way to tweak Safari's auto-generated passwords to meet requirements from certain sites.

• Collaboration through Messages: This will let you join up with friends to work together in Notes, Keynote and other Apple software, as well as some third-party apps.

• Apple's Freeform app for collaboration: This isn't available to test yet, but it looks like an intriguing Apple spin on a whiteboard app.

This week, Devindra and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford dive into the Supreme Court’s latest EPA ruling, which severely limits the agency’s ability to curtail power plant emissions. Devindra also chats with ProPublica reporter Lisa Song about what this means for the EPA and other federal agencies. (Basically, it makes fighting climate change much harder.) Also, we discuss Apple’s new lockdown mode, which adds an extreme layer of security to your devices, and why Gen Z is so Minion crazy.

Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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• How bad is the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling? – 1:49

• Apple is building a lockdown mode for an “extreme” level of security – 27:43

• Axie Infinity hack was traced back to a fake LinkedIn job offer – 32:39.359

• Toyota has run out of EV tax credits in the US – 37:51

• God of War Ragnarok will be released on November 9, 2022 – 46:14

• WTF is going on with all the Minions memes? – 48:02

• Working on – 51:32

• Picks – 1:03:49

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam Rutherford
Guest: Lisa Song from ProPublica
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

Axie Infinity was the prime example of crypto gaming last year, when its play-to-earn formula helped it reach up to 2.7 million daily active users last November. But that all came crashing down in March, when hackers stole $625 million from the Ethereum-linked Ronin sidechain powering the game. Now, it turns out, the source of that hack came from an unlikely source: A fake job offer from LinkedIn. 

As The Block reports (via The Verge) based on two sources, the hackers infiltrated Axie Infinity owner Sky Mavin's network by sending a spyware-filled PDF to one employee. That person thought they were accepting a high-paying job from another firm, but it turns out that company never existed. According to the US government, North Korean hacker group Lazarus was behind the attack. 

“Employees are under constant advanced spear-phishing attacks on various social channels and one employee was compromised," Sky Mavis noted in a post-mortem blog post following the hack. "This employee no longer works at Sky Mavis. The attacker managed to leverage that access to penetrate Sky Mavis IT infrastructure and gain access to the validator nodes.”

Axie Infinityspun back up last week, and it's still relying on the Ronin sidechain, albeit with stricter security measures. The company raised its validator nodes to 11 in April, up from 9 previously, which makes it more difficult for attackers to gain control of the network. (Lazarus gained access to 5 nodes to achieve its hack, including one from the Axie DAO [Decentralized Autonomous Organization].) And it's also implementing a "circuit-breaker" system to flag large withdrawals. 

While this hack was clearly meticulously planned and required a significant amount of technical skill, it ultimately hung on a classic vulnerability: social engineering. 

Sony has confirmed that God of War Ragnarok, the sequel to 2018's more dramatic spin on the franchise, will launch on the PlayStation 5 and PS4 on November 9th. That confirms earlier rumors around a November launch date, and it should be welcome news to gamers worried about a delay into 2023. Many major upcoming titles originally slated for this year, like Bethesda's Starfield, have been pushed to next year (Just take your pick for reasons: the ongoing pandemic, rocky working conditions for developers, or the sheer difficulty of pushing out a massive AAA game).

God of War Ragnarok's latest trailer doesn't feature any actual gameplay, but it delivers the usual does of super-powered butt-kicking from Kratos and his son Atreus. It's your typical father and son outing: Facing a variety of demons, a near-death fall off a cliff and a giant wolf of some kind. If anything, Atreus looks like more than just a boy, this time around.

With Pokémon Go, Niantic became the poster child for the power of mobile augmented reality (AR) apps. Since then, the company has struggled to recapture that glory. Yesterday's round of layoffs and canceled projects cemented how difficult things are for Niantic, driven by the pandemic that has made it tough for people to get outside and gather in groups. But it turns out there's another way for Niantic to double down on its AR lead: By making it easier for its existing players to communicate with each other.

Today, the company has begun rolling out Campfire, a social app that will let Niantic's users chat with their friends, join groups of like-minded mobile wanders, and arrange major events like Pokémon Go's raids. Up until now, Poké-addicts have used Discord and other messagings apps to arrange their gatherings. But, likely seeing a missed opportunity, Niantic has developed its own social platform, one that'll be accessible across all of its titles (including Ingress, its first major release).

Campfire is about more than just messaging, though. It also gives players a broader glimpse at everything the company's games have to offer. In Pokémon Go, for example, it can show you that there's a Venusaur hanging out on the other side of town, a far wider view than you'd typically get in the game's main app. You can also light a flare on specific events, which alerts other local players that you'd like some help tackling it. And, as you'd expect, Campfire also makes it easier to coordinate your friends, like quickly being able to DM your friends if there's a Snorlax you want to take on.

Even if you don't have Campfire, though, you'll still see some benefits within the company's apps. That expanded map view will be integrated within Pokémon Go, for one. That's useful for all players, while also being enticing glimpse at what they can access if they sign up for Campfire.

According to Ivan Zhou, Niantic's head of product, the company is still focused on bringing people together in the real world, rather than using Campfire to power remote events. The app's Communities feature is also a big step forward, since it'll let users create groups around any sort of topic. Zhou was already surprised to see groups pop up for niche local topics. There's also room for Campfire to grow as a location-first social network, rather than using location as an afterthought (like Facebook's Groups).

Users in the U.S. will get access to Campfire over the coming days, the company says, while international access for Pokémon Go will light up throughout the summer. There aren't any specific launch dates yet, but the company says it will announce future updates on its social channels.

What’s so “Pro” about the new 13-inch MacBook Pro? Devindra and Cherlynn chat with Laptop Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sherri L. Smith, about Apple’s confusing new ultraportable. Sure, the M2 chip makes it faster, but why does it have a worse screen and fewer features than the new MacBook Air? Are real professionals better off with the faster (but more expensive) 14-inch MacBook Pro? Also, they dive into the wild new VR headset prototypes from Meta, as well as Twitter’s reinvention of blogging.

Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

Subscribe!

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Topics

• Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 is a strange disappointment – 1:18

• Meta’s VR prototypes seek to pass the “visual Turing test” – 22:59

• Facebook Pay becomes Meta pay in hopes of becoming the metaverse’s digital wallet – 28:06

• Microsoft phases out AI that can detect human emotions – 32:45

• Amazon is working on a way to digitize the voice of your dead loved ones – 33:59

• Twitter introduces b̶l̶o̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ longform writing feature, Notes – 36:09

• Carl Pei’s Nothing phone won’t be coming to the US – 42:22

• Working on – 43:28

• Pop culture picks – 46:03

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Sherri L. Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Laptop Magazine
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

Say hello to Apple's most baffling laptop, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with an M2 chip. It was already a confusing computer when we reviewed the M1 model in 2020 andit was out-shined by the fan-less MacBook Air. But now that there's a new MacBook Air with a bigger screen and a more modern design, the 13-inch Pro seems a bit like a relic from another era. It’s from a time when Apple had to build machines around Intel's hotter and less efficient chips, instead of taking full advantage of its own hardware.

To be fair, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is still a very nice computer, and the M2 chip gives it a decent performance boost. But it's also something I can't really recommend, not when the new Air offers so much more, and the 14-inch MacBook Pro has a far better screen, plus ports professionals actually need. Apple claims the 13-inch MacBook Pro continues to be one of its most popular models, and that's not too surprising since it's the cheapest "Pro" notebook in its lineup. Still, it's 2022, and this MacBook Pro design has been around for years. Popularity is no excuse for being lazy.

Now, I suppose it makes sense that Apple would coast a bit. The MacBook Pro's unibody aluminum case still outshines the vast majority of PCs on the market. And, given the many design and supply chain constraints we're facing amid the ongoing pandemic and chip crunch, it was probably smarter for Apple to focus on the new Air, as well as the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It's just a shame that those priorities left the 13-inch model with the same chunky-bezeled display and anemic port selection we've seen for years.

And no, the Touch Bar doesn't help the situation at all. Just when we thought we'd rid ourselves of Apple's second screen misfire, it's back to torture us again with disappearing function keys and constantly shifting app shortcuts. It's almost as if Apple had some leftover Touch Bar stock it just had to unload, and we’re paying the price. Developers aren’t doing much more to take advantage of it, so in several years it'll just be a useless appendage, like the last protohuman with a tail.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Now that I've gotten my frustrations out, we can talk about what's good: Apple's new M2 chip. It offers 8 CPU cores and up to 10 GPU cores, which Apple claims will deliver 18 percent faster multithreaded performance, and up to 35 percent faster graphics speeds. The real upgrade for Pros, though, is that it now supports up to 24GB of RAM (instead of being limited to 16GB), and also has double the memory bandwidth. Together with support for ProRes encoding and decoding, the M2 should make the MacBook Pro a far better option for video editors who don't want to make the leap to the pricier 14-inch model.

Our review unit, which featured the M2 chip (10 GPU cores) with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, was noticeably faster in just about every benchmark. It scored almost 9,000 points in Geekbench 5's multi-core test, whereas the M1 MacBook Pro was closer to 7,000 points. The M2 chip also blew away the M1 in Geekbench's Compute benchmark, as well as Cinebench R23, where it scored 1,300 points higher than the M1 machine. The performance bump isn't enough to dump the M1 MacBook Pro if you've already bought one, but it's still nice to see Apple make some decent gains with its sequel chip.

Here's the thing: we haven't benchmarked the new MacBook Air yet, and based on my experience with the last model, I expect it to score about the same as the MacBook Pro. Once again, Apple's big selling point for this computer is that it has a fan and more elaborate cooling system, allowing it to handle sustained workloads like video encoding or 3D rendering. The MacBook Air is still fan-less, so it will likely throttle performance significantly as it gets warmer.

So sure, if you're a professional, the MacBook Pro is still a better bet. But if you need a computer for serious work, one that'll deliver far better performance today and last you a lot longer, it may make more sense to save up and invest in the 14-inch MacBook Pro. I realize for many consumers, that's not an easy choice to make. The 13-inch model starts at $1,299, while the cheapest 14-inch offering is $1,999.

But move beyond their base specs (the 13-inch starts with an anemic 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage), and the cost difference is less stark. Bumping both systems up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage raises the prices to $1,899 and $2,199, respectively. At that point, you might as well spend $300 more for the vastly more powerful 14-inch MacBook Pro with the better display.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

After all, every other "Pro" Apple device has a ProMotion screen, which delivers high refresh rates for silky smooth scrolling. Why should the 13-inch MacBook Pro be left out? Its Retina Display still looks fine, but my eyes have been spoiled by Apple's modern screens. Omitting ProMotion is even more glaring now that Microsoft squeezed fast refresh rates into the Surface Laptop Studio. And we've seen plenty of gaming laptops, like the ASUS Zephyrus G14 and Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, that can easily double as productivity machines with fast screens.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Those computers also have far more ports that professionals would actually use. I was disappointed to see Apple reduce the 13-inch MacBook Pro to 2 USB-C ports back in 2020. Today, it just doesn't make sense for a "Pro" product. You'll lose one port whenever you're charging, and basically demands that you invest in a USB-C mini-hub. Anyone working with photos or video will need one of those accessories anyway, since there's no SD-card reader. (At this point, I'm grateful Apple is still including a headphone jack.)

There are elements of the 13-inch MacBook Pro I still like. Apple's build quality remains impressive, the keyboard and trackpad are fantastic, and the MacBook's speakers sound good enough to fill a small room. The battery life is also solid, lasting more than 17 hours in our benchmark. If you didn't know what you were missing from the other MacBooks on the market, then I'm sure you'd be happy with the M2 MacBook Pro.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Personally, though, I just want better for potential MacBook buyers. Why should they be stuck with the chunkiest screen bezels in Apple's laptop lineup? Why don't they deserve a high refresh rate screen? Shouldn't Apple devote more attention to one of its best-selling machines? The 13-inch MacBook Pro is fine, like I said. But it should have been so much more.

Meta wants to make it clear it's not giving up on high-end VR experiences yet. So, in a rare move, the company is spilling the beans on several VR headset prototypes at once. The goal, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is to eventually craft something that could pass the "visual Turing Test," or the point where virtual reality is practically indistinguishable from the real world. That's the Holy Grail for VR enthusiasts, but for Meta's critics, it's another troubling sign that the company wants to own reality (even if Zuckerberg says he doesn't want to completely own the metaverse).

As explained by Zuckerberg and Michael Abrash, Chief Scientist of Meta's Reality Labs, creating the perfect VR headset involves perfecting four basic concepts. First, they need to reach a high resolution so you can have 20/20 VR vision (with no need for prescription glasses). Additionally, headsets need variable focal depth and eye tracking, so you can easily focus on nearby and far away objects; as well as, fix optical distortions inherent in current lenses. Finally, Meta needs to bring HDR, or high dynamic range, into headsets to deliver more realistic brightness, shadows and color depth. (More so than resolution, HDR is a major reason why modern TVs and computer monitors look better than LCDs from a decade ago.)

Meta

And of course, the company needs to wrap all of these concepts into a headset that's light and easy to wear. In 2020, Facebook Reality Labs showed off a pair of concept VR glasses using holographic lenses , which looked like over-sized sunglasses. Building on that original concept, the company revealed Holocake 2 today (above), its thinnest VR headset yet. It looks more traditional than the original pair, but notably Zuckerberg says it's a fully functional prototype that can play any VR game while tethered to a PC.

"Displays that match the full capacity of human vision are going to unlock some really important things," Zuckerberg said in a media briefing. "The first is a realistic sense of presence, and that's the feeling of being with someone or in some place as if you're physically there. And given our focus on helping people connect, you can see why this is such a big deal." He described testing photorealistic avatars in a mixed reality environment, where his VR companion looked like it was standing right beside him. While "presence" may seem like an esoteric term these days, it's easier to understand once headsets can realistically connect you to remote friends, family and colleagues.

Meta's upcoming Cambria headset appears to be a small step towards achieving true VR presence, the brief glimpses we've seen at its technology makes it seem like a small upgrade from the Oculus Quest 2. While admitting the perfect headset is far off, Zuckerberg showed off prototypes that demonstrated how much progress Meta's Reality Labs has made so far.

Meta

There's "Butterscotch" (above), which can display near retinal resolution, allowing you to read the bottom line of an eye test in VR. To achieve that, the Reality Labs engineers had to cut the Quest 2's field of view in half, a compromise that definitely wouldn't work in a finished product. The Starburst HDR prototype looks even wilder: It's a bundle of wires, fans and other electronics that can produce up to 20,000 nits of brightness. That's a huge leap from the Quest 2's 100 nits, and it's even leagues ahead of super-bright Mini-LED displays we're seeing today. (My eyes are watering at the thought of putting that much light close to my face.) Starburst is too large and unwieldy to strap onto your head, so researchers have to peer into it like a pair of binoculars.

Meta

While the Holocake 2 appears to be Meta's most polished prototype yet, it doesn't wrap in all of the technology mentioned above. That's the goal of the upcoming Mirror Lake concept (above), which will offer holographic lenses, HDR, mechanical varifocal lenses and eye tracking. There's no working model yet, but it's a decent glimpse at what Meta is aiming for several years down the road. It looks like a pair of high-tech ski goggles, so it's not as seamless as AR