Buying a new MacBook. M2 or M2 Pro for best VoiceOver performance?

By Manuel, 2 April, 2023

Forum
Hardware and Accessories

Hi everyone,
I currently own a MacBook Air M1 with 256 GB internal SSD storage and want to buy a new MacBook with 1 TB or more internal SSD storage and 16 GB Unified Memory. I have one question: Does VoiceOver perform better on an M2 Pro (MacBook Pro 14" 2023) than on a MacBook Air M2 (2022)? I'm not sure if the extra charge for the M2 Pro is worth it or whether I should go for the M2 MacBook Air.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments

By Jason White

5 months 3 weeks ago

Of course, the Pro chips are faster, but this is unlikely to affect the performance of VoiceOver. If I'm simply reading a document, browsing the Web, or writing this comment, the processor is still largely idle (over 93% idle with Safari, Mail and Activity Monitor running , for example).

Mine is a 2021 MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip. I really notice the performance, though, when it's compiling and installing software.

By Victor Tsaran

5 months 3 weeks ago

Yes, consider other reasons for why you want the newer Macbook. VOiceOver will not be one of them!
I personally went for MacBook Air M2 -- slick, slim and has all the power I need!

By The Oliver Kennett

5 months 3 weeks ago

I don't know if VoiceOver has been optimised for apple silicon but I've observed no difference in performance over my last few computers. As others have said, the M chips are good at handling large data sets rapidly, but VoiceOver is a pretty light app so will remain the same.

By Manuel

5 months 3 weeks ago

Thank you all for your advice. How about opening Apps, is this faster on the Pro series of apple silicon chips?
The m1 MacBook Air currently needs about 4 seconds to launch pages after boot. Or about 10 seconds to launch MS Word...