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Here's how macOS handles menu items on the 16"
...and what if the widgets and icons on the right-hand side of the menu bar already take up most of the right-hand "ear"? What about if you're running in a "larger text" scaled mode?

Don't get me wrong - this wouldn't stop me buying one, but it is introducing a lot of extra complexity (and potential app incompatibility) for very small, and mainly cosmetic, returns. Also means that - if App writers do support it - you're going to see a different UI depending on which model of Mac or external display you're using. Not good UI design.

You can obtain a similar end result - getting back the full screen area - by choosing "auto-hide menu bar" or just using full-screen mode.
 
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I’m interested, purely for entertainment purposes, to see the pending head to head comparisons with a bunch of the latest PC laptops, including those that are effectively desktops requiring them to be plugged in all the time in order to generate better results. It’s great that the new Pro / Max MBP’s are overall faster and more efficient than previous iterations, but I’m more interested in seeing how the PC crowd tech-splains why these new Macs are not as good as they actually are. I’m sure there will be plenty of but, but, wait until you see the latest Intel / AMD chip that will blow away…or my homemade gamer PC will run rings around Apple’s overpriced toy. It’s going to be epic.
 
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?

Apple never did chips as a side hustle.

I couldn't see what you did there. Would you kindly come out and reveal what you did there?
 
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.
I'm not comparing desktop to mobile, please read again. I'm comparing a Razer Blade Studio 15,6" laptop (and similar from Dell, Lenovo, etc.) to M1 Max laptop to Apple. Fair comparison, isn't it?
and Apple shows up in one year and makes a solid statement of belonging...and chips aren't even their day job.
Please tell me you're kidding. Apple has been in the chip business for well over a decade. They started when they released the iPhone and have made consistent progress with the A-series chips for a long time, even if they're not manufacturing them on their own. They're by no means a newcomer to the chip design game. The current SoCs are a result, call it evolution if you will, to what they have done in the past.
 
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The relevant bit is the "70W" and "100W" under those two PC GPUs. The "magical" thing about the M1 Max is not that it's the "fastest. GPU. evah." - it's about how much performance it can deliver while only consuming 30W of power (which affects heat, battery life, how bulky the cooling system has to be...)

M1 Max is 30W just for CPU and additional ~60W for 32-core iGPU so not too different from AMD CPU + Nvidia 3060 70W dGPU.
 
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It seems to me quite interesting what the reviews say.

The power is very good, without being the best, but I think it is much more than what many of us thought they could give, with a consumption of 30W instead of 70W or 100W. All this results in better heat management, noise and battery life.

The screen seems to look spectacular, it seems to still have the iPad screen problem with blacks when there is something dark white, but it seems a little more "polished" with respect to the iPad. However, it is a problem of the technology used, not the panels themselves, so until they move to OLED, that will be the price to pay for the other advantages of the miniLED.

Battery life is good, if the 14" gives 12 and a half hours, and the 16" about 17 hours of battery life, it is a substantial improvement over previous models, whose 13" versions gave 8 hours at most, and the 16" around 10. It is not the MacBook Pro M1 with its 18 hours, but it is the price to pay for having 2 efficient cores instead of 4, as in the M1, in exchange, in top power and graphics, the MacBook Pro M1 Pro and Max smashes the MacBook Air and Pro M1.

The design is fat? Yes, it looks a bit massive, but before it was practically the same, but it is dimuluba with the "belly", as is the case with the iMac 27" compared to the 24". They are really thinner or slightly fatter, but as they are more " boxy", they don't dissimulate their real size, as they did until now.

The return of ports and MagSafe is always good news.

If you want an ultra-thin and lightweight design, wait for the MacBook Air.
 
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It's kind of disturbing that the M1 MacBook Air is besting the maxed out 14" MBP on many tasks including iZotope Denoise! What's up with that?
 
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I'm not comparing desktop to mobile, please read again. I'm comparing a Razer Blade Studio 15,6" laptop (and similar from Dell, Lenovo, etc.) to M1 Max laptop to Apple. Fair comparison, isn't it?

Please tell me you're kidding. Apple has been in the chip business for well over a decade. They started when they released the iPhone and have made consistent progress with the A-series chips for a long time, even if they're not manufacturing them on their own. They're by no means a newcomer to the chip design game. The current SoCs are a result, call it evolution if you will, to what they have done in the past.
I was talking about the comparison to the iMac Pro. You were comparing the M1's to a freaking server processor in a desktop application. Making a chip for a cell phone good enough to be used in a laptop, let alone be beastly in a laptop is a monumental feat. No one but Apple is doing that. Any comparable snapdragon laptops out there?
 
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Th design really is horrible; yes it’s powerful and I don’t mind it’s thicker but it doesn’t look sleek or futurist, wish it had a more boxy design, this look like a 10 year old laptop you get out and say why how ugly was the old style
Just a theory here, but Apple tends to try to slowly unify a given "look" across its whole product line.
With the iPhone 13 going to the more boxy style with flat edges around it, it makes a little more sense they'd do something similar with the look of the new Macbook Pro. (We'll have to wait and see what the next iMac looks like, but I'm betting we see it get rid of the tapered look around its edges as well.)
 
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

Going from a 39 minute video export on an Intel MBP (released less than 2 years ago) to under 3 minutes* on a new Macbook Pro is groundbreaking. Just to do the math for you, 10 hours of render time (Intel MBP) would be finished in less than 1 hour. You couldn’t be more wrong if you think this is just a “so what” moment in the history of Apple laptops.

*Source: Rene Ritchie YouTube review, linked in MR video review roundup earlier this morning.
 
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Just be aware that base model is limited to two external displays. If that's not a deal breaker for you, enjoy.
Yes I knew that before hand, but I appreciate your reminder.

To be honest I WANTED a bigger screen than the current 13" Macbook models, but NEEDED more ram and SSD space than the base models.

After adding the upgrades to the 13" models its not as big of a price difference. Plus the added screen technology and ports don't hurt.
 
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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 :p

I enjoyed it because I could set specific 'buttons' on it for specific apps, beginning with Finder, and that would save me trackpad clicks. After a short while, everything became muscle memory. I would have New File/Folder, Delete, Duplicate buttons for Finder and for Transmit, especially. I would have some settings for Pages and Word, too, I think. Ulysses as well, if memory serves. I used it in other apps as well, but do not remember particulars of my use now. It was a great addition to my workflow, because I was not a developer needing the tactile feedback of function keys. Also, I just tend to adapt quickly and well.

It was great for what it was - a dynamic panel that could be customised for your requirements. And I did just that.

In fact, I started using the top bar (Touch Bar) more than I ever did the top bar (function bar) on my older MacBook Pro due to customisations available to me. I can see how a lot of people went bonkers about it, but for a lot of others, it was a nice addition.

Problem is that the ones who hated it tend to look down upon the ones who liked it, and do that contemptuously as if they are lesser humans to appreciate that Touch Bar for their uses. That is a problem. It points to the basic, banal human tendency that we just can't seem to culture ourselves out of.
 
Problem is that the ones who hated it tend to look down upon the ones who liked it, and do that contemptuously as if they are lesser humans to appreciate that Touch Bar for their uses. That is a problem. It points to the basic, banal human tendency that we just can't seem to culture ourselves out of.

well said!
 
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