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

[Kylo83]

I usually love Dave but his conclusion was a little too gatekeeper-y for me. These laptops are wonderful for people who just want an awesome laptop. The 14" only holds a $300 premium over the 2-port M1 MBP when spec'd to 16GB/512GB (perfectly reasonable consumer-level specs) and offers a LOT more. No sense in silo'ing these off to Only The Most Professional Pros.

YouTubers are not pros that’s the issue they make short videos for phones; pros are people that make movies and graphic designers etc, so what someone gains 1min 20 seconds export time lol

 

[macintoshmac]

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

It looks like it is blocking the display because they just Marilyn Monroe'd the top bezel to reveal the assembly, and to allow more screen space.

There is nothing blocking the display. You are getting bonus display around the notch, which will be used by the menu bar, to allow you full 16:10 screen for your content.

 

[theluggage]

The 2019 MBP was when they dropped the problematic butterfly keyboard and went back to the reliable scissor-switch keyboard.

Correction - they went back to a scissor switch keyboard (which looks like it has fixed the reliability issues) but it is not the same as the classic 2010-2016 RIP "chiclet" keyboard.

C.f. the classic, the key tops are larger and the travel is noticeably shorter. It's... better than the butterfly.

(* given that full-travel Model M-style buckling spring keyswitches, if that's what pushes your spacebar, are unlikely to turn up in a laptop this side of ever).

 

[BreakYurAnkles]

Yes. Why wouldn't Apple give the slowest model to early reviewers to test? What are they hiding? Perhaps it is slower than the other models? Enquiring minds want to know!!!!!! ?

not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I am genuinely curious.

Gotta wait for Linus to get his orders in....

 

[Kylo83]

I would want the laptop just for the mini led 120hz display but that’s it, I’m not giving up boot camp for gaming; this new MacBook design is like 10 years old doesn’t look nice I don’t mind the thickness for better cooling but dam it should of been better; it looks like a Lenovo laptop now

 

[sudo-sandwich]

So.. not the 20+ hours everyone was expecting with this revolution in efficiency. Still in the same teens as everyone else.

It's not going to be any more efficient than the M1.

 

[Kylo83]

Apple really hyped this up to be better than anyone thought but it’s not at all, not gonna lie they should stick with intel 12900k

 

[ApexPred1]

The Verge so desperate for clicks they published a "we are working in it"/"here's what you already know" post. Lame. They say they've had it for a week and still need to test battery life and whatnot. Like, what have you been doing this past week?

The battery life is so good they’re Still testing it….

 

[flapflapflap]

Just get an Air if thickness triggers your emotions that bad, jfc.

These are machines aimed at Pros, not for the average person who mostly browses YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, and works with Word/Excel. These new machines are made to process complex data to make films, to create advanced computer graphical interfaces, to produce music, to edit photographs in various very resource-hungry demanding softwares. Of course it's going be thicker than the previous models. A new MBP is packing a lot of complex technologies necessary to do all of these PRO tasks. Quite frankly, it's impressively thin for what it's capable of.

Check yoself

This is all true. What’s also true is that these new MBPs look thicker, clunky and ugly. As a non-Pro, there is absolutely no way I can spend thousands to rock a design from 2012-2015. Apple strangely took several steps back. I think they could have made this thinner by removing the useless HDMI port and incorporated the flat-edge industrial exterior design that we see in practically all other current Apple products.

 

[semka]

iJustine is the worst and most annoying reviewer!

Her target audience is mostly females.

 

[skaertus]

I have read some of the reviews.

It is funny to see some of them. First, Apple makes many controversial decisions such as removing ports and MagSafe and including the TouchBar. Now that Apple restored some of the ports and removed the TouchBar, that is considered a feature and one of the most celebrated ones of the new MacBook Pro.

Also, it does not check all the boxes:

1. It is heavier than the predecessors.
2. Its design may be functional, but it is not particularly beautiful.
3. The notch may be required to allow thinner bezels, but it is still a compromise.
4. It is expensive.

Some people are OK with these compromises. And most reviews are clear to emphasize that the new MacBook Pro is aimed a tiny minority of graphic and video designers who make good use of all this power and are happy to accept all the compromises that come with it, including the price.

 

[vir]

It's a bit better.

 

[acblue94]

The reality is those laptops should have been thicker and heavier to house the appropriate thermal cooling to evacuate heat and prevent throttling as well as house more battery. Instead, we got Jony compromising function for thinness and gimmicks like the Touch Bar.

Thicker because of the added ports. The new laptops are thinner btw. And the touch bar was great if you knew how to use it.

 

[Kylo83]

This is all true. What’s also true is that these new MBPs look thicker, clunky and ugly. As a non-Pro, there is absolutely no way I can spend thousands to rock a design from 2012-2015. Apple strangely took several steps back. I think they could have made this thinner by removing the useless HDMI port and incorporated the flat-edge industrial exterior design that we see in practically all other current Apple products.

Exactly the word pro is useless the iPhone and iPad Pro’s are not pro machines it’s just a term for flagship, the screen is amazing and not only pros doing so called 8min YouTube videos will benefit from it, YouTubers think they are Hollywood movie directors no hate but no one said the old MacBooks wasn’t fast enough, so what they can get a video out 2 min quicker lol it’s an ugly design and apple has lot the plot now days, apple used to stand out now they just look like a Lenovo usless

 

[sudo-sandwich]

Well, if, as an example, we are to have a legacy video port, I want my mini display. After all I am using an Apple Cinema Display with mini port (albeit with an adapter now). Hopefully the next iteration will have a truly useful display port....

Mini DP, mini VGA, etc were all annoying. The 2012 rMBP was the first time Apple had a regular video port on their Macs, HDMI.

 

[flapflapflap]

It looks like a 2010 body with a iPad Pro for a lid. I dunno man. I get that the touch bar was lame, and USB-C only ports was limiting, but does it really have bulk up that much for the added performance and ports? Oh, and the thing on the top of the screen…

I’m sure these fatties are really capable in terms of performance but Apple is first known for its sleek and elegant design across all of its products. These new MBPs are unusually hideous and clunky looking — very un-Apple like. I’m sure they could have made it look thinner and sleeker. I guess they are punishing all the Pros who have complained for years by giving them a super pricy, thick, bulbous laptop with design cues from 2012-2015. The battery life isn’t all that great either when you compare it to the M1s.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

This is all true. What’s also true is that these new MBPs look thicker, clunky and ugly. As a non-Pro, there is absolutely no way I can spend thousands to rock a design from 2012-2015. Apple strangely took several steps back. I think they could have made this thinner by removing the useless HDMI port and incorporated the flat-edge industrial exterior design that we see in practically all other current Apple products.

The HDMI port isn't the reason it's thicker. And for once, "pro" actually means pro with these machines because that M1 Pro CPU is a lot more powerful than most people need, including myself (and it's expensive).

 

[Kylo83]

Thicker because of the added ports. The new laptops are thinner btw. And the touch bar was great if you knew how to use it.

Yeah while they was at it why not add usb a for many devices if they wanna go old school also add Ethernet, apples design team messed up on this one, also the i9 5600m was powerful and compact

 

[macintoshmac]

Check yoself

Ouch.

 

[deevey]

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...

iJustine got the base model and they do some 8k video editing on it.

@ 11.30ish

Yes it's painful to watch her.

 

[Warped9]

”…this is very much not the MacBook for everyone. For most consumers, the MacBook Air gets the job done — and then some. But if you're someone who regularly finds yourself pushing your machine to the limits, the new Pro is a great marriage of the line's best elements.”

Exactly how I’m seeing this. Most people will be served far more than adequately by the M1 and forthcoming M2 Air.

ReneRitchie’s video is up.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

It's not about the overall volume but specifically about thickness. Cameras need enough space for the lenses, sensors and optical path. In a thicker device you can shift components around so that they don't interfere, but if the lid is thin, there just is not enough depth to fit all that in.

Maybe? But how did the previous generation FaceTime cameras fit in the thin lids? Right, only 720p. OK.

So then what we're trying to say/spin here is that the depth of the 1080p camera dictates the relative extra depth of iPad Mini 6? Meanwhile we seem to have what may be the exact SAME 1080p camera module in this thin MBpro lid. So apparently what we're trying to say about that is that Apple couldn't have positioned it higher in the lid than they did... because if Apple could, then a few more millimeters of iPad Mini 6-like bezel would fully fit that camera in the bezel, eliminate the notch and, by shifting the whole screen down those few millimeters, they would deliver that "extra screen" all the way across including the part that would be behind the notch... NOT have to thicken the macOS menu, etc.

If only Apple had a few millimeters of room at the bottom of the screen to be able to accommodate that shift.

 

[citysnaps]

The notch may be required to allow thinner bezels, but it is still a compromise.

Of course it's a compromise. That's what product design and engineering are about - managing a disparate set of often conflicting product requirements and goals.

Screen brightness and size are also a compromise; as is laptop performance, battery life, laptop dimensions, weight, retail price, number of and type of ports, and on and on.

In fact, life in general is about compromise.

 

[kazmac]

Looking forward to the extensive reviews about battery life and the displays.

 

[MedRed]

iPad Mini has to put the WHOLE computer and battery in the screen... and the backside 4K camera too.

1080p FaceTime is 1080p FaceTime. However, Apple managed to get what may be the very same module into iPad Mini seems like Apple could get it into a MBpro. Else, insert the 1080p FaceTime module into he MBpro exactly as they did it... just higher. Obviously Apple CAN put a 1080p camera that close to the edge- they just did it (again) in iPad Mini.

iPad mini is a giant phone. The thickness is what matters.