MacBook Pro 14" (2021) Base Model

[iChillax]

Hey everyone, would love to get your thoughts on this. I decided to get the 2021 MacBook Pro 14" Base Model with the 8 core CPU and 14 core GPU. I'm wondering how big of an upgrade it'll be going from my MacBook Pro 13" (Early 2015) with 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5. Also, do you think the base model will be fine or should I have upgraded the processor? Any advice would be super helpful! Thank you.

 

[virulent]

Also went with base. You'll be fine especially compared against what you had before.

First, you're going from a years-old dual-core laptop-class Intel cpu to an 8-core (6 perf + 2 eff) cpu. Second, laptop Intel cpus (especially before 8th gen) suck. On GeekBench benchmarks your CPU gets 759 single / 1618 multi-core whereas a current M1 MBA gets 1703 single / 7400 multi-core - a HUGE step up even for even just M1.

Memory is a thing everyone will say to consider upgrading but personally I just stuck with 16GB. Programming (Rust, Python, some others), media consumption, yada yada, I could live with 8GB just fine and the huge limiting thing with my old 13" 2013 rMBP was the crappy crappy CPU. For most users, the most important thing is single-core performance and M1 rocks it.
The lower end laptops will likely stay at 8GB for a while yet - 16GB is still an "upgrade". The "upgrade" in this case is an eye-watering amount which makes no sense for most people (including myself).

 

[iChillax]

Also went with base. You'll be fine especially compared against what you had before.

First, you're going from a years-old dual-core laptop-class Intel cpu to an 8-core (6 perf + 2 eff) cpu. Second, laptop Intel cpus (especially before 8th gen) suck. On GeekBench benchmarks your CPU gets 759 single / 1618 multi-core whereas a current M1 MBA gets 1703 single / 7400 multi-core - a HUGE step up even for even just M1.

Memory is a thing everyone will say to consider upgrading but personally I just stuck with 16GB. Programming (Rust, Python, some others), media consumption, yada yada, I could live with 8GB just fine and the huge limiting thing with my old 13" 2013 rMBP was the crappy crappy CPU. For most users, the most important thing is single-core performance and M1 rocks it.
The lower end laptops will likely stay at 8GB for a while yet - 16GB is still an "upgrade". The "upgrade" in this case is an eye-watering amount which makes no sense for most people (including myself).

That's an amazing & detailed response. Thank you so much. I dug into the piggy bank for this one but figured it was a worthy upgrade considering it had pretty much everything I'm used to and looking for. Can't wait!

 

[iChillax]

That's an amazing & detailed response. Thank you so much. I dug into the piggy bank for this one but figured it was a worthy upgrade considering it had pretty much everything I'm used to and looking for. Can't wait!

Also went with base. You'll be fine especially compared against what you had before.

First, you're going from a years-old dual-core laptop-class Intel cpu to an 8-core (6 perf + 2 eff) cpu. Second, laptop Intel cpus (especially before 8th gen) suck. On GeekBench benchmarks your CPU gets 759 single / 1618 multi-core whereas a current M1 MBA gets 1703 single / 7400 multi-core - a HUGE step up even for even just M1.

Memory is a thing everyone will say to consider upgrading but personally I just stuck with 16GB. Programming (Rust, Python, some others), media consumption, yada yada, I could live with 8GB just fine and the huge limiting thing with my old 13" 2013 rMBP was the crappy crappy CPU. For most users, the most important thing is single-core performance and M1 rocks it.
The lower end laptops will likely stay at 8GB for a while yet - 16GB is still an "upgrade". The "upgrade" in this case is an eye-watering amount which makes no sense for most people (including myself).

Got one last question for ya - do you think the 67W USB-C power adapter will be enough or should we go for the 96W?

 

[MrGunny94]

Base model is fine for people who want a bit more than the M1 due to the in-store models in Europe being stuck at 8GB of RAM.

It switches the 4 E cores for 2 E and 6 P cores on the current base model. 14 core GPU and 16 shouldn't be much of a difference either.

Personally went with the 10 CPU + 16 GPU because of my external displays.

Got one last question for ya - do you think the 67W USB-C power adapter will be enough or should we go for the 96W?

Unless you get the 16 core GPU no point in getting the 96W... unless you want faster charging but ou can get a GAN charger for a good price and you get a 2nd charger.

 

[virulent]

Got one last question for ya - do you think the 67W USB-C power adapter will be enough or should we go for the 96W?

The only real difference seems to be fast charging. If that's important to you - go for it.
I got the 67W because it's smaller therefore easier to lug around if I don't get a third party GAN charger before then.

 

[iChillax]

The only real difference seems to be fast charging. If that's important to you - go for it.
I got the 67W because it's smaller therefore easier to lug around if I don't get a third party GAN charger before then.

Base model is fine for people who want a bit more than the M1 due to the in-store models in Europe being stuck at 8GB of RAM.

It switches the 4 E cores for 2 E and 6 P cores on the current base model. 14 core GPU and 16 shouldn't be much of a difference either.

Personally went with the 10 CPU + 16 GPU because of my external displays.


Unless you get the 16 core GPU no point in getting the 96W... unless you want faster charging but ou can get a GAN charger for a good price and you get a 2nd charger.

Awesome, thank you both for the answers. Very much looking forward to this.

 

[AVBeatMan]

I got the 1TB model but is overkill for me. Only use for media consumption, email and web browsing. I know an Air would be fine for me but wanted the bigger screen and just to have a "pro". I had a 16" a few years ago and was way too big and heavy for me. This 14" seems perfect. I was tempted to upgrade the RAM but in no way do I need it. Would've been fine with 8GB.

 

[Buck987]

I got the 1TB model but is overkill for me. Only use for media consumption, email and web browsing. I know an Air would be fine for me but wanted the bigger screen and just to have a "pro". I had a 16" a few years ago and was way too big and heavy for me. This 14" seems perfect. I was tempted to upgrade the RAM but in no way do I need it. Would've been fine with 8GB.

I agree that the screen is the main reason for going with the M1 Pro over the M1.

 

[Internaut]

I have the 2015 13” MacBook Pro and also the base M1 Air (bought in the beginning, out of curiosity and experimentally) . The M1 Air is in itself a huge upgrade but I found 8GB a little limiting at times simply because I’ve been doing so much more with the device. So, I’ve just ordered the base 14”.

If you depend on external monitor support check your current setup will work with an M1 Pro model. Likewise, if you write software, check that M1 will support everything you need. For example, I have some rather specialised use cases involving things like nested virtualisation (not supported by M1).

Otherwise it’s a huge upgrade.

 

[kp98077]

I have the base 14, it seems great! No need to spend an extra $500 unless you really need to! Its an amazing machine!

 

[Ladyc0524]

I also have the base 14" model. I didn't feel the need to upgrade anything. I love it!

 

[Booji]

Apply finally made a base model that is enough for most people and there is little need to upgrade beyond the base model unless you are doing some really heavy video or graphics work.

 

[i4k20c]

Apply finally made a base model that is enough for most people and there is little need to upgrade beyond the base model unless you are doing some really heavy video or graphics work.

i really appreciate this thread. reddit really made me believe that i made a big mistake not getting 32gb or 1tb. but i am coming from a mid 2014 i7, the difference will be huge!

 

[Sunshower]

I made the same jump from the 2015 13 inch to the 2021 14 inch base model. It's lightning fast and a serious upgrade. I am unfortunately having to return mine following repeated sticky key issues, but hopefully it's a one-off issue with my model.

 

[Spotlighter9]

Got one last question for ya - do you think the 67W USB-C power adapter will be enough or should we go for the 96W?

Also, another thing to consider is that ordering the 96W option with the base 14" model might then classify the order as BTO which will not only increase your wait time, but also make exchanges/switching out more complicated if there's a problem with the MBP.

 

[Sunshower]

Got one last question for ya - do you think the 67W USB-C power adapter will be enough or should we go for the 96W?

Definitely just get the 67W I think, it's fine, fast enough, saves you £20 + weighs less + shorter waiting times. If it was free obviously the 96W would be preferable but I think Apple are just being cheeky by not including it with the base model.

 

[ignatius345]

The lower end laptops will likely stay at 8GB for a while yet - 16GB is still an "upgrade". The "upgrade" in this case is an eye-watering amount which makes no sense for most people (including myself).

It definitely can make a difference, though. I have an M1 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and a 24" M1 iMac with 16GB. The Air starts to lag and slow down when I'm running multiple user accounts and working with a complex Illustrator document. The iMac does much better under the same workload. I guess it could be the Air's processor throttling due to its lack of fan -- but I also wonder if that extra RAM is smoothing things out as well.

 

[ignatius345]

i really appreciate this thread. reddit really made me believe that i made a big mistake not getting 32gb or 1tb. but i am coming from a mid 2014 i7, the difference will be huge!

I think a 512 GB SSD is gonna be fine for most people. That said, I got a 256 GB drive on my Air and am kind of regretting it because it turns out I'm doing more work on it than I thought.

I guess I'd say, just make sure you're accounting for your possible needs a few years down the road, because plugging external storage into a laptop can be kind of clunky.

 

[chongsen]

I got the 14 base model first then switch to 16 base model.

In my house opinion, any device heavier than 3 lb is not portable at all (I have a Surface pro X on my go). New Macbook Pro is a desktop replacement. I d rather go for the largest screen.

 

[aevan]

Memory is a thing everyone will say to consider upgrading but personally I just stuck with 16GB.

Not everyone, 16 is plenty for most users and check out YT videos - almost everyone from Dave2D to Max Tech agrees.

 

[aevan]

i really appreciate this thread. reddit really made me believe that i made a big mistake not getting 32gb or 1tb. but i am coming from a mid 2014 i7, the difference will be huge!

Reddit, this place, a lot of enthusiast forums.... RAM is, like, a measure of seriousness for some people.

I repeated one of my old "open everything I could possibly use at once" tests on my 16Gb M1 Pro MBP, so I opened CSP and Photoshop, both with large 8000x5000 canvases, then Zbrush with a 65 million poly model, then a Blender scene that I downloaded (which everyone seems to use for tests, the one with the fox), a PureRef file with multiple images, I opened quite a few Safari tabs with images, I played a 4K HDR video in Optimus Player and I also had Bear notes open. Of course, that did get the computer to swap with an 8.3Gb swap file and 14.12Gb of physical memory used.... and it was responsive and fast - I couldn't tell you if it was swapping or not without looking at the Activity Monitor. This mirrors what I saw from many tech YouTubers which also claim the same thing.

 

[Booji]

I think a 512 GB SSD is gonna be fine for most people. That said, I got a 256 GB drive on my Air and am kind of regretting it because it turns out I'm doing more work on it than I thought.

I guess I'd say, just make sure you're accounting for your possible needs a few years down the road, because plugging external storage into a laptop can be kind of clunky.

One of the biggest advantages of buying a base is that you get much more of your purchase price back when it comes time to upgrade. For me, it is a two-year cycle and resale on Macs is always very good.

 

[isaactanjs]

just upgraded to the 14 inch base as well, coming from macbook pro 2015 intel i5 8gb ... its a huge leap in terms of performance compared to my previous machine.. so fast and smooth. Loving it.

 

[ignatius345]

One of the biggest advantages of buying a base is that you get much more of your purchase price back when it comes time to upgrade. For me, it is a two-year cycle and resale on Macs is always very good.

Good point. Where do you do your reselling? I got lazy and just did trade-in with Apple last time and I'm sure I took a hit.