Apple’s transition to custom chips for its Mac lineup means users will no longer have to worry about poor battery life, and the M2 MacBook Pro is particularly strong in this regard. One reviewer deliberately tried to drain the battery of this portable Mac, but the device ended up giving her over 16 hours of runtime. This means that users can actually use the device all day without worrying about it going down due to low power.
To test how long the M2 MacBook Pro can stay powered, The Verge’s Monica Chin insists on keeping the laptop’s battery under constant stress by running the programs she uses regularly. This includes a combination of Spotify, several browser tabs, an open Google Doc, and more.
Monica started testing similar workloads at 8pm. The Gigabyte Aero 16, which claims to have a huge 99Wh battery for comparison, was on the verge of losing power before 10:30 pm. It’s important to know that the Aero 16 has a bigger battery than the M2 MacBook Pro. The battery is much larger, and this model costs a whopping $4399.
“Around the time the Gigabyte Aero 16 was going to face a power outage, the MacBook was still alive and well. All in all, I felt I was clearly not burdening the machine enough, so I was looking around for software that might need an update. I’ve been trying to get myself familiar with After Effects, so I played with this for a while.” After a full 16 hours, 30 minutes, 39 seconds, Monica said the M2 MacBook Pro finally turned off the screen during a music video. While this is just a preliminary test run, the battery life numbers are downright incredible, and she may have a more accurate result after testing over the next few discharge cycles.