The latest MacBook Pro 13-inch is here and heralds a new era for Apple silicon. While the laptop features the same design language as previous MacBook Pros, the Apple M2 processor under its hood makes it the most powerful 13-inch MacBook Pro ever released.
Though the M2 chip isn’t as beastly as the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, Apple designed it to be more power-efficient. In other words, the new processor provides the MacBook Pro with epic battery life. That isn’t hyperbole, as our testing has shown.
On the Tom's Guide Battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the new MacBook Pro 13-inch lasted an epic 18 hours and 20 minutes. This crushes the battery life of any laptop we’ve ever reviewed. In fact, the new MacBook Pro 13-inch seems to have the longest-lasting battery of any consumer-grade laptop on the market.
But what other laptops come close to matching the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s mind-blowing endurance? Below, we’ll briefly go over such devices to see how they stack up.
While Tom’s Guide has reviewed some of the laptops in this write-up, we used sister-site Laptop Mag’s laptops with the best battery life piece as our primary source. Considering how both sites employ the same testing techniques, we believe it's fair to use their results.
Also, we’re discounting rugged laptops. While some of these machines can last well over 24 hours, they're in a class of their own.
MacBook Pro 2022 battery life vs competing laptops
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Header Cell - Column 1 |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) | 18:20 |
| Dell Latitude 9510 | 18:17 |
| Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1 | 16:54 |
| Asus ExpertBook B9450 | 16:42 |
| MacBook Pro 13-inch M1 | 16:32 |
| HP Elite Folio | 16:21 |
| HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 | 15:45 |
| Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15 | 15:44 |
| MacBook Air with M1 | 14:41 |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch | 14:08 |
MacBook Pro 2022 battery life: Which laptops come close?
The only laptop that’s even in the same ballpark in terms of battery life is the 15-inch Dell Latitude 9510, which clocked in with an impressive 18 hours and 17 minutes. Given how it’s only three minutes shy of the MacBook Pro’s battery life, the laptops are fairly evenly matched. You could even argue that they effectively have the same battery life. However, the Dell has a lower-res 1080p display.
The gap widens after that. Laptops like the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1 (16:54) and Asus ExpertBook B9450 (16:42) can theoretically last you for an entire workday and then some. The HP Elite Folio (16:21) is also in the 16-hour club. Of course, we can’t forget about last year's M1-powered MacBook Pro, which lasted for 16 hours and 32 minutes in our testing. At the time, we found the battery life extremely impressive. It still is, but compared to its latest iteration, it doesn’t endure as long.
Laptops like the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 and Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15 stay within the 15-hour range. The MacBook Air with M1 (14:41) and MacBook Pro 14-inch (14:08) provide less battery life, but anything above 14 hours is great. We’d go on, but I think the point is clear: The new MacBook Pro 13-inch delivers unbeatable battery life.
MacBook Pro 2022 battery life: A bright future for long-lasting laptops
The MacBook Pro 13-inch with its M2 chip has set a new standard for laptop battery life. Outside of the aforementioned rugged laptops, nothing defeats it in this category. While it’s fair to criticize the laptop for retaining the dated design of its predecessors, few can speak against its astonishing performance and sheer staying power. It's easily one of the best laptops on the market.
There was a time when laptops that lasted all day were nothing more than a pipe dream. Now, we’re seeing Apple and Windows laptops with unbelievable battery life. If anything, I want the new M2-powered Apple laptops to set an example for other laptop manufacturers like Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo and more. The more long-lasting laptops that exist, the better it will be for everyone.
Apple is the most influential tech company on Earth. As such, it's a sure bet that its competitors are looking at the new MacBook Pro and taking notes. This, in turn, will serve to give consumers even better laptops. The prospect is pretty exciting.
I can't wait to see what the upcoming MacBook Air 2022 is capable of when we put it through our litany tests. I suspect it'll be another example of what Apple silicon can achieve.
Just in - A strange quirk with the base MacBook Pro M2's SSD has been discovered - it's actually slower than the old M1 MacBook Pro.
