MacBook Pro Reviews: Fast Performance, Added Ports, and ProMotion Displays Check All the Boxes

[Shalev Lazarof]

my god it is UGLY.

 

[0ceans]

It is funny how everyone is up in their arms about "port xy" and magsafe being back and I have been holding onto my retina MacBook Pro from 2012 for so long that it is literally just an upgrade for that MBP for me. I never experienced missing those ports.

And yes, the 16inch looks HUGE and heavy.

The 14.2" is actually thinner and lighter than your 2012 13", while the new 16.2" is thinner (smaller in every dimension actually) and lighter than the 2012 15". The "huge and heavy" backlash is a little overstated.

 

[Lwii2boo]

Dave2D, MrWhostheboss and MKBHD are my go-to for consumer electronics.

iJustine, UrAvgConsumer, BrianTong, Jonathan Morisson etc all these guys have close to zero technical knowledge and just keep talking saying obvious or superficial stuff like a random marketing ad for a random 15 years old kid. Don't waste your time on this low quality stuff.

Rene Ritchie has a true passion for HW-SW but sadly he is way too Apple fanboy, he has zero interest for competition and lack a business/sales figures perspective, he just look at hw and sw, which make his videos too biased and close-minded.

 

[pi=e=3]

How does it look for AMD and Intel, who's main gig is designing chips, to get strong-armed (see what I did there) by Apple doing chips as a side hustle?

Except that you’re comparing older chips to a new one.

Alder Lake mobile is already benchmarked as beating the M1 Pro/Max.

Desktop Alder Lake is absolutely crushing everything out there. 30% faster single core than Ryzen 5000.

You’re also comparing chips with absolute freedom of use (any OS, any task), vs chips that are heavily locked down and purpose built. ASICS are always going to perform better at the tasks they were designed specifically for.

 

[Tagbert]

The single core comparison is interesting in favor of the Air. Is there a definitive list of "things that are always 100% single core no matter what?"

I wouldn’t put to much weight on a single test score. There are a lot of variables about how a test executes and is measured. You want to look at multiple runs and multiple tests as well as real app measurements. The M1 and M1 Pro/Max probably have essentially the same cores.

 

[Bull 07]

YApple's enemies are hurting.

 

[fyun89]

That notch is a bad design. PERIOD. Please stop encouraging anything which blocks the display.

It's not blocking the screen...
Below the notch is the full regular 16:10 ratio 16 inch screen. The screen areas on both sides of the notch is just an extension...

It's like Touch Bar attached to top of the display basically.

 

[ElectricPotato]

The "huge and heavy" backlash is a little overstated.

Worse, it misses the point. It is supposed to be chunkier to accommodate more power, ports and battery. Apple has thinner models for those that value portability over capacity. Oh, no. That truck isn't as sleek as a Ferrari. Rabble, rabble.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

How does it look for AMD and Intel, who's main gig is designing chips, to get strong-armed (see what I did there) by Apple doing chips as a side hustle?

What did you expect? That a brand new M1 chip is performing worse than a 4 year old chip from the iMac Pro? In some cases, it's performing on the same level. Or do you mean GPU? That's not really Intels business, it's Nvidia's and AMD is always falling short in the category. So the strong point for the M1 is providing a SoC with low power consumption. If one is after absolute compute power, something like a Razer Blade Studio with RTX 5000 is still running circles around these new M1 SoCs. For pure mobile application, these are great though. I'd still pick something like a MBA for mobile use and then rather use a eGPU or additional desktop system with more power while working in the office or at home.

 

[project_2501]

why does the Air M1 appear to have faster single-core performance than the M1 Max?

single-core performance is the one that will impact most workflows...

 

[Arsenikdote]

Touch Bar was great. Pseudotech-mafia “journalists” killed it.

I am truly being curious when I ask this question....why was it great? I couldn't have cared if they kept the Touch Bar or if they got rid of it. I am in neither "camp". In my experience though, taking my eyes off the screen to look at a screen where my hands are was disruptive compared to just interacting on the display. So while I use Adobe apps a lot, it felt faster/easier to just use the interface on the screen instead of looking down at my hands and trying to engage with something there. Just my personal experience.

Can you describe a way in which you enjoyed using it? Maybe you are the opposite of me and it is fine to look down at the keyboard? I honestly WISH I liked using it more as I always felt it was a waste of technology not to use it

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

That notch is a bad design. PERIOD. Please stop encouraging anything which blocks the display.

Because you told me not to, I’m just going to encourage it even harder.
Bigger, thicker notches please and thank you Apple, I need to see some people wine on the Internet

 

[azentropy]

Both reviews I've seen of the 14" the microphone seems really muffled (Rene Richie and Tom's Guide).

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Studio only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack and proprietary power connector. NO HDMI, no SD card. Limited ports does get mentioned in reviews but not the outrage we saw with MBPs.

Maybe people expect more from Apple?

And this is an Apple-focused forum. Perhaps there's some outrage in something called SurfaceRumors.com or equivalent, filled with passionate Microsoft-is-always-right and Microsoft-is-always-wrong people?

Else, how come <competitor> gets away with it redirection is never effective rationalization. Again, see first point. We Apple people expect the most from Apple. There is so much "most" in these new MBpros, it practically blows our collective minds (the minds of both extremist camps here and those who are towards the middle).

And then there's the notch and this perception of "thick" despite looking at the hard numbers.

Step back a bit. Imagine a MBpro sans notch by putting the iPad Mini's 1080p FaceTime camera in an iPad Mini-sized bezel... and shifting the whole screen (including the "extra" we get with notch) DOWN the few millimeters it would take to make that work.

That would deliver all of the incredible greatness of these MBpros minus the notch but still with the FaceTime camera upgrade... AND the "extra screen" being spun trying to rationalize the notch... AND the extra screen that is covered by the notch too. Menu bar doesn't have to thicken. Menu bars with many menus won't have to do whatever we're going to see they do when a menu bumps into the notch.

Who is griping then? All that would be left is the "too thick" crowd which seems likely to come around once they can see them in person and face the realities of numbers showing that that is mostly a visual illusion.

Who is griping then? Seems we would be hearing crickets... or the cha-ching of Apple cash registers ringing even faster than they are now.

 

[mi7chy]

Hope to see reviews from Phoronix and Hardware Unboxed since they're competent and not drunk on Kool-aid.

 

[MedRed]

What did you expect? That a brand new M1 chip is performing worse than a 4 year old chip from the iMac Pro? In some cases, it's performing on the same level. Or do you mean GPU? That's not really Intels business, it's Nvidia's and AMD is always falling short in the category. So the strong point for the M1 is providing a SoC with low power consumption. If one is after absolute compute power, something like a Razer Blade Studio with RTX 5000 is still running circles around these new M1 SoCs. For pure mobile application, these are great though. I'd still pick something like a MBA for mobile use and then rather use a eGPU or additional desktop system with more power while working in the office or at home.

Apple shouldn't even be in the same conversation with Intel, AMD, and Nvidia in terms of performance. The fact you're even comparing their mobile offering to a desktop sku is crazy. How long did it take AMD to catch Intel? How long did it take ATI/AMD to get in the realm of NVIDIA? and Apple shows up in one year and makes a solid statement of belonging...and chips aren't even their day job.

 

[MedRed]

Maybe people expect more from Apple?

And this is an Apple-focused forum. Perhaps there's some outrage in something called SurfaceRumors.com or equivalent, filled with passionate Microsoft-is-always-right and Microsoft-is-always-wrong people?

Else, how come <competitor> gets away with it redirection is never effective rationalization. Again, see first point. We Apple people expect the most from Apple. There is so much "most" in these new MBpros, it practically blows our collective minds (the minds of both extremist camps here and those who are towards the middle).

And then there's the notch and this perception of "thick" despite looking at the hard numbers.

Step back a bit. Imagine a MBpro sans notch by putting the iPad Mini's 1080p FaceTime camera in an iPad Mini sized bezel... and shifting the whole screen (including the "extra" we get with notch) DOWN the few millimeters it would take to make that work.

View attachment 1877823​

That would deliver all of the incredible greatness of these MBpros minus the notch but still with the FaceTime camera upgrade... AND the "extra screen" being spun trying to rationalize the notch... AND the extra screen that is covered by the notch too. Menu bar doesn't have to thicken. Menus with many menus won't have to do whatever we're going to see they do when a menu item overlaps the notch.

Who is griping then? All that would be left is the "too thick" crowd which seems likely to come around once they get around to seeing them in person and facing the realities of numbers showing that that is mostly a visual illusion.

Who is griping then? Seems we would be hearing crickets.

How thick is the iPad vs the thickness of the laptop lid to package the camera components?

 

[nevhoffman]

Who would, in sane mind, watch that crap?

I did. And it was a WONDERFUL review.

 

[jz0309]

the SSD read/write speeds are incredible

 

[BreakYurAnkles]

Anyone else notice that NONE of these early review(er)s got a base 14" model with the M1 Pro 8c/14gpu????

I'm suspicious...

 

[SergueiTemp]

The 16 looks so bulky that it reminds me of pre-unibody model. And that was almost 15 years go. Being innovative as usual, Tim!

 

[iReality85]

That CNET quote is way off. HDMI is no where near becoming a legacy port. Apple’s walled garden aside, it’s one of the most common ports in existence for external displays. That kind of ubiquity is why it deserves to be on a pro machine.

A shame it’s not a 2.1 port though.

 

[dwsolberg]

This is really everything I could ask for. Apple is listening to their users and fixing some ill-considered decisions with the ports and keyboards. I'm glad they tried the touch bar, even if I'm also glad it's gone.

 

[applemanit]

Maybe people expect more from Apple?

And this is an Apple-focused forum. Perhaps there's some outrage in something called SurfaceRumors.com or equivalent, filled with passionate Microsoft-is-always-right and Microsoft-is-always-wrong people?

Else, how come <competitor> gets away with it redirection is never effective rationalization. Again, see first point. We Apple people expect the most from Apple. There is so much "most" in these new MBpros, it practically blows our collective minds (the minds of both extremist camps here and those who are towards the middle).

And then there's the notch and this perception of "thick" despite looking at the hard numbers.

Step back a bit. Imagine a MBpro sans notch by putting the iPad Mini's 1080p FaceTime camera in an iPad Mini sized bezel... and shifting the whole screen (including the "extra" we get with notch) DOWN the few millimeters it would take to make that work.

View attachment 1877823​

That would deliver all of the incredible greatness of these MBpros minus the notch but still with the FaceTime camera upgrade... AND the "extra screen" being spun trying to rationalize the notch... AND the extra screen that is covered by the notch too. Menu bar doesn't have to thicken. Menu bars with many menus won't have to do whatever we're going to see they do when a menu bumps into the notch.

Who is griping then? All that would be left is the "too thick" crowd which seems likely to come around once they can see them in person and face the realities of numbers showing that that is mostly a visual illusion.

Who is griping then? Seems we would be hearing crickets... or the cha-ching of Apple cash registers ringing even faster than they are now.

the Notch serves to make the MBP recognizable.. it is a design choice

 

[Strelok]

Except that you’re comparing older chips to a new one.

Alder Lake mobile is already benchmarked as beating the M1 Pro/Max.

Desktop Alder Lake is absolutely crushing everything out there. 30% faster single core than Ryzen 5000.

You’re also comparing chips with absolute freedom of use (any OS, any task), vs chips that are heavily locked down and purpose built. ASICS are always going to perform better at the tasks they were designed specifically for.

It's crushing everything based on what, "leaked" benchmarks? Let's talk when it's actually released and tested properly...