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The thickness is largely determined by the ports. Not the chipset.
Including the HDMI port was a mistake. They‘ve forced the very few Pros who actually need this port to carry a dongle. Now the majority of pros will suffer by losing another TB port and having to look at this thick, clunky monstrosity. And if you’re going to bring back the HDMI port, give us the latest! Truly, this beast of a machine is intended for Pros who could care less about design.
 
Not that it bothers me, but I did notice that the display seems to have those shadows on the edges with the mini LED display like my iPad pro. I remember everyone freaking out about it with the iPad pro. It doesn't bother me but I bet some people with freak out lol. You can tell around the 5 minute mark.
 
Right but where would they put the ports without making it thinker?

Ports didn't require "thicker." Look at prior generation MBpros with those ports and they don't look as relatively thick. We seem to be trying to "blame" the perception of thickness on port resurrection but Apple's past MBpros with those same ports show that they aren't the cause.

Part of this is simply an illusion. Compare actual measurements and if one is thick, the other is too... perhaps using different "makeup" to better hide it.
 
That’s what I’m doing. Never liked the airs previously but these rumoured new ones look niiiiice. My 15” MBPR late 2013 Is the perfect size and weight, I won’t be buying one of these chunky boys
Your 2013 MBPR is larger… and only slightly lighter

2013 15” MacBook Pro Retina
Height: 1.8 cm
Width: 35.89 cm
Depth: 24.71 cm
Weight: 2.02 kg

2021 16” MacBook Pro
Height 1.68 cm
Width: 35.57 cm
Depth: 24.81 cm
Weight (M1 Pro): 2.1 kg
Weight (M1 Max): 2.2 kg

Check the specs

The lack of taper at the sides appears to be confusing people - but will help with thermals
 
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I really don’t like how thick and big it is. Tempted to get the older 16-inch, but it has the Intel chip. Meh. I don’t know what to do.
 
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Of course they are!

Another reason I'm staying with my M1 MBA. Yeah, it would be fun to have that much horsepower on tap, mostly for conversational purposes, but I just don't need it for 99% of my work.

Just as an example...my M1 MBA runs X-Plane 11 just fine - and that's non-native/Rosetta. When X-Plane 12 comes out, I suspect there will be an M1 native version that will be even better.
Yeah, just invest the money you would have to fork over for these monstrosities. It’s thick, clunky and ugly.
 
Apple could not go any thinner, so they decided to go thick, ugly and clunky, in favor of “Pro” users. For years, “Pro“ users have complained and Apple is now using them as the scapegoat for what is clearly multiple steps back in design and arguably function. We will have to wait 5-10 years for a slimmer and more elegant chassis design. Can’t believe they added in an outdated SD Card and HDMI ports. The M2 MBP will be thinner, beautiful and have much better battery life.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and bet you weren’t about to shell out for the 16” pro anyway, or even the 14”, and it’s specifically and deliberately targeted at professional users that need both a big screen and a *lot* of raw power that isn’t you. This is a performance workstation, for what you want they have the air, which is very svelt, as I’m sure will be the air redesign next year. This machine is a mobile workstation, and it’s still thinner than any equivalent in performance that I can think of. I just requested and got approved a nearly maxxed out 14” for my next work laptop because I want a bit of a smaller footprint (I have a 2016 15” now and have wished the whole time for a smaller laptop with that power) but my coworkers in general are going to gobble these new 16s up. Especially those with the last gen 2019 16” machines, the thinness plus the heat meant if you were really pegging the CPU those machines can overheat, and at the very least sound like they’re taking off, a bit of a chunkier machine means way better cooling is available.
 
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I really don’t like how thick and big it is. Tempted to get the older 16-inch, but it has the Intel chip. Meh. I don’t know what to do.
One option is to wait until next year and hope the rumors of an M2 MBP are real. These MPro/Max 14/16 laptops are thick, clunky and ugly. I bet the extra weight will be very noticeable. Also on the 14, it has inferior battery life to the current M1 13.
 
I'm sort of laughing at some of these posts. I want a laptop that has ports and more power.

Apple: ok, we'll do that. We need add a few mm though.

People complaining: you made it thick and ugly! I'm going back to Intel!
 
Apple could not go any thinner, so they decided to go thick, ugly and clunky, in favor of “Pro” users. For years, “Pro“ users have complained and Apple is now using them as the scapegoat for what is clearly multiple steps back in design and arguably function. We will have to wait 5-10 years for a slimmer and more elegant chassis design. Can’t believe they added in an outdated SD Card and HDMI ports. The M2 MBP will be thinner, beautiful and have much better battery life.
It does look chunkier in pictures. However, in actuality, the new 16" M1 Pro/Max MBP is only five one-hundredths of an inch thicker. I'd like to see one in person before declaring them as ugly. The build quality gets better every year. It might be a stunner in person or grow on you over time.
 
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and bet you weren’t about to shell out for the 16” pro anyway, or even the 14”, and it’s specifically and deliberately targeted at professional users that need both a big screen and a *lot* of raw power that isn’t you. This is a performance workstation, for what you want they have the air, which is very svelt, as I’m sure will be the air redesign next year. This machine is a mobile workstation, and it’s still thinner than any equivalent in performance that I can think of. I just requested and got approved a nearly maxxed out 14” for my next work laptop because I want a bit of a smaller footprint (I have a 2016 15” now and have wished the whole time for a smaller laptop with that power) but my coworkers in general are going to gobble these new 16s up. Especially those with the last gen 2019 16” machines, the thinness plus the heat meant if you were really pegging the CPU those machines can overheat, and at the very least sound like they’re taking off, a bit of a chunkier machine means way better cooling is available.
You are 100% correct. I’m not a pro but I will probably buy the 16” specifically for its screen size. I still think it’s clunky, thick and ugly.
 
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I'm really happy about this. Using controls at the top of an app in fullscreen mode can be very frustrating with the menu bar constantly popping down and covering them up. Happens to me all the time in the Music app when I try to skip into a tune, it's bad interaction design. Now it's fixed!

edit although of course it's still broken when using external displays ?
Monterey now has the option to keep the menu bar on in full screen, although I found I had to switch full screen off and on for each app to get it to take effect. It works on external displays too
 
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Including the HDMI port was a mistake. They‘ve forced the very few Pros who actually need this port to carry a dongle. Now the majority of pros will suffer by losing another TB port and having to look at this thick, clunky monstrosity. And if you’re going to bring back the HDMI port, give us the latest! Truly, this beast of a machine is intended for Pros who could care less about design.
HDMI needed for presentations in work settings. Its definitely needed. Thats why 2.1 probably wasnt included. You dont need 4k 120 for a powerpoint presentation
 
Including the HDMI port was a mistake. They‘ve forced the very few Pros who actually need this port to carry a dongle. Now the majority of pros will suffer by losing another TB port and having to look at this thick, clunky monstrosity. And if you’re going to bring back the HDMI port, give us the latest! Truly, this beast of a machine is intended for Pros who could care less about design.
HDMI has standardized as the de facto port for projectors and tv’s used for presenting since 2016. I can show up at any establishment and present with my 2015 or my windows laptop and know I can connect. There’s no forgetting to bring a dongle to the presentation or forgetting to take a dongle after presenting. It’s also way easier to get my hands on an hdmi cable no matter how rural the location than it is to get my hands on a specific dongle. I just need to bring my laptop, charger, mouse, and myself. No dongles required.
 
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I really don’t like how thick and big it is. Tempted to get the older 16-inch, but it has the Intel chip. Meh. I don’t know what to do.
Wait, what? 0.66" vs 0.64" (16" MBP). Literally 3% thicker. You will not notice it.
 
For a company that prides itself in attention to detail, I can’t help but notice the fact that the MagSafe connector, thunderbolt ports and headphone jack aren’t perfectly in the middle of the body.

They appear centered vertically with the lid closed.
 
Looks VERY thick, overall design looks like its against apple’s design philosophy (aesthetically pleasing) in every way. We are all pleased with their spec, but I am very disappointed with the design. Which upsets me because I feel like apple had the ability to accomplish both. But hey, they really did manage to pack alot inside.
If you’re a Pro, then you now have what you begged for. Useless ports! Thicker chassis! Power in exchange for mediocre battery life! When the thinner, beautiful, more efficient M2’s come next year, let us consumers and “prosumers” enjoy
 
Including the HDMI port was a mistake. They‘ve forced the very few Pros who actually need this port to carry a dongle. Now the majority of pros will suffer by losing another TB port and having to look at this thick, clunky monstrosity. And if you’re going to bring back the HDMI port, give us the latest! Truly, this beast of a machine is intended for Pros who could care less about design.

User TheLuggage seemed to convincingly address this (wrong?) perception of "losing a TB port" to resurrect some other kinds of ports well in this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-up-to-250-mb-s-updated.2318421/post-30485247 I can't know that that is absolutely true but it seems pretty convincing to me about this topic.

I'm definitely in the camp of being thrilled that HDMI is back INSIDE. It's hard to lose/misplace that HDMI port and I have much greater faith than an Apple HDMI jack built in is going to "just work" when needed than some non-Apple-branded hub HDMI jack. Anyone who uses their MBpros for travel and must do presentations for clients will likely have a regular need for an HDMI connection. Trusting- and having to also carry- a hub for that commonplace need is solved by getting it back INSIDE.
 
Apple Silicon is the most "Steve Jobs" innovation since Tim took over:

-not buying Beats
-not the Apple Watch

Steve hated relying on the chip companies and their lazy shipping schedules and production problems and thermal requirements. For Tim to ditch Windows compatibility and tell the developers to re-write all the software (For the third time in 20 years) is remarkable. As a mac user, the apple silicon stuff excites me.
 
Jesus, if some of the comments in this thread are not supposed to be a joke, some people really just buy the most expensive computer they can despite never actually needing the power involved, I guess? I cannot believe how many people here are complaining about a laptop designed for pro use cases being large enough to have a high-performance mode, additional ports, and a vastly better battery life.

The MacBook Air is thataway. Why are you complaining about a product that is clearly not designed for you?
 
HDMI needed for presentations in work settings. Its definitely needed. Thats why 2.1 probably wasnt included. You dont need 4k 120 for a powerpoint presentation
Apple carefully and intentionally forced the very few Pros who actually use HDMI to purchase dongles. Now they’ve put it back instead of an additional TB port and because the damn HDMI port is so large, they made this device thicker…
 
If you’re a Pro, then you now have what you begged for. Useless ports! Thicker chassis! Power in exchange for mediocre battery life! When the thinner, beautiful, more efficient M2’s come next year, let us consumers and “prosumers” enjoy
I'm a pro and welcome back those useful ports... certainly more useful than TB4/USB4 for direct connection general utility (sans hub). Battery life will likely only be mediocre when doing very intensive tasks on battery. For most things pros do on laptops, MAX power won't be in play, so battery life should be impressive/competent.

But yes, when the Air arrives, it may in fact be thinner and you should enjoy it if that's what matters to you. It's good when people can get what they need by choosing the config/tool that best fits their needs. I'm glad you will get what you want in those upcoming Macs.
 
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