First Impressions From New MacBook Pro Owners: Benchmarks, Weight, ProMotion

[gugy]

I had a 16" Max BTO 64GB RAM order too, also set for middle of November.
I was able to pick one up today with the same exact config, at a local Apple retail store.
(This is in the Silicon Valley, perhaps other areas are not as well stocked.)

Thanks for the info. I'll call the stores in my area and check if they have it.

 

[JDHiro]

Barely existent. I just returned it however - went with 2020 Air instead. Apple store employee seemed shocked LOL :-D

The 2020 Air is an amazing laptop, and probably the right laptop for many people who don't like the Pro form factor. I've been using the Air for Xcode, 3D modeling, and other stuff with great success this past year.

 

[ridddder55]

For all those complaining about weight, I still have my 17-Inch 1.67 GHz G4 - M9689LL/A at home. This thing was a nice machine for it's time, and the last 17 inch PowerBook with a replaceable battery. This beast was 6.9lbs, and I considered this was portable at the time. So for all you complaining that the new M1 Max is heavy, you are spoiled.

 

[JDHiro]

For all those complaining about weight, I still have my 17-Inch 1.67 GHz G4 - M9689LL/A at home. This thing was a nice machine for it's time, and the last 17 inch PowerBook with a replaceable battery. This beast was 6.9lbs, and I considered this was portable at the time. So for all you complaining that the new M1 Max is heavy, you are spoiled.

I loved that machine. I was just realizing last night how this new 16" MBP gives me vibes of the old 17".

 

[thirdkind]

Happy with everything about my 16" except the screen. Not as uniform as the 2015 I'm coming from or the 2019 I use at work, and nowhere close to the OLED on my XPS 9510; it looks washed out in comparison. The display also darkens slightly at the edges (mostly at the corners, and only noticeable with a light background at lower brightness settings). I'm hoping Apple spends some time tweaking the drivers to get a better result from the mini-LEDs.

Wanted to follow up on this dark corner issue. I found one review where the 16" appeared to have the same issue (impossible to see in most reviews because they either leave the Dock in place or use Dark Mode, but visible in this one if you zoom in), so I wonder if it's on all of them to varying degrees and it really comes down to individual perception. I tend to critique displays more harshly than most.

I never buy extended warranties, but I might spring for AppleCare on this one.

 

[Phronk]

Wanted to follow up on this dark corner issue. I found one review where the 16" appeared to have the same issue (impossible to see in most reviews because they either leave the Dock in place or use Dark Mode, but visible in this one if you zoom in), so I wonder if it's on all of them to varying degrees and it really comes down to individual perception. I tend to critique displays more harshly than most.

I never buy extended warranties, but I might spring for AppleCare on this one.

I definitely see that it's a bit darker at the lower corners on mine, but it's not really noticeable except on a white background. It's maybe darker at the edges too, but that could just be me eyes doing a contrast thing. Here's an image, but it's hard to see even zoomed in.

The slight shadow is not anything I'll ever see or think about again, but I guess if you're looking at the tiny details of a screen, it's there.

 

[thirdkind]

I definitely see that it's a bit darker at the lower corners on mine, but it's not really noticeable except on a white background. It's maybe darker at the edges too, but that could just be me eyes doing a contrast thing. Here's an image, but it's hard to see even zoomed in.

The slight shadow is not anything I'll ever see or think about again, but I guess if you're looking at the tiny details of a screen, it's there.

Agreed, it's only noticeable on light backgrounds. I do a lot of web surfing with the browser window maximized and the vast majority of web sites have white backgrounds, so I noticed it right away (and as I mentioned, I nitpick display quality more than anything else). Seeing it on other machines at least lets me know it's not a defect.

Not a dealbreaker, just a surprise given all the hype around the display.

 

[kaz911]

It‘s a bandwidth limitation. The bandwidth from the removed 4th TB3 port is used by the HDMI and SD slot.

HDMI 2.0 can use 18 Gbps. UHS-II uses about 2 Gpbs. There *may* only be 2 TB3 controllers, one for the two left side ports and one for the single right-side TB3 plus the HDMI plus the SD. When shared and fully utilized that’s 20 Gbps per port. That’s all the bandwidth used.

HDMI 2.1 uses up to 48 Gbps. Even if a full 40 Gbps were available ”Computer says no”.

It is NOT a bandwidth limitation.

Apple have not removed ANY TB capacity. Apple have ADDED TB capacity.

Old MBP 16" with "4 connectors" - ONLY have 2 TB3 equivalent chips. So if you plug in 2 high speed devices in the "left side" they are sharing the bandwidth. Same goes for the 2 connectors on the right hand side. So try to plug in a fast SSD and a 10GBe - then you will see one disturbs the other if you are doing full speed transfers.

On my M1Pro Max - I now have 3 INDIVIDUAL TB4/USB4 ports (not shared). Each powered by its own TB4 "equivalent" chip. Each capable of full speed transfers without issues. For some things plugging in TB3 can be beneficial - but for most thing you will benefit from the new TB4/USB4 ports - as you can actually "hub" them without "big issues"

But for demanding applications you now have 3 usable ultra high speed ports - where the old 16" MBP i9 only had 2 usable high speed ports.

And since one port is not "stolen" by power delivery when you use MagSafe - you have the "equal" number of usable ports.

So I sincerely doubt a bandwidth limitation was the reason for "not" doing HDMI 2.1 vs HDMI 2.0. It was most probably a cost vs design decision. Yes could have been nice but not really needed by most.

 

[stevet]

Mac screen is 120FPS, if you record it in 60FPS you lose 50% of frames and when you upload it to twitter, etc. you lose a lot of video quality. All of this makes it hard to show what you're talking about.

I have iPad Pro 11" with this similar crappy screen. It's easy to see ghosting with your own eyes but when you record it in 60FPS it looks fine.

I don't want to create anything, because I REALLY wanted to buy this laptop because my 'old' 2018 MBP is the only screen left in my home that's sub 120Hz.

I think someone else pointed this out but the screen both laptop and iPad aren’t in 120Hz full time, only when necessary.

 

[bunglex]

I'm a little curious whether FN(globe)+microphone will activate Siri when use F1,F2 as standard function keys it ticked in the Keyboard system preferences.

 

[Blowback]

Walked in the local Apple store and picked up a 14" M1 Pro Max 64GB/2TB. Cancelled my order for a smaller one due to arrive in late November. Gobsmacked by the performance for everything I've thrown at it today. Gaming is actually good as well for the available games. Running 1 4k and 1 2K monitors.

Just wondering: What games?