PC user has questions on the M1 MBP

[DarthVader!]

I have owned macs in the distant past but my strength is PCs. I'm toying with the idea of M1 MBP, and I've been eating up YT videos like no tomorrow. To be sure those that has helped my understanding but I still lack knowledge. I was thinking of a iPad mini for my up and coming holiday, which includes a 10+ hour flight. My laptop (a gaming one) will only last a few hours into the flight and I'd rather not pack a huge power brick. I really like the idea of not losing performance while on battery, window machine's performance falls off the cliff when you run on the battery.

Sorry if this post is all over the place, I'm doing a brain dump of my thoughts.

Usage
I know Macs are not known of gaming but I do enjoy the occasional game or two. How is game play done through Parallels? Anyone have experience gaming through streaming services like Geforce Now or Xbox? I'll still have my desktop PC for most of my gaming needs but if I find myself traveling it would be nice to have that option.

Productivity Apps
How's office on the Mac? Would I be better off using parallels? I've seen some murmurs going on regarding MS teams, and OneDrive. Can someone provide a short synopsis of any issues I may be facing?

I'll also be using Adobe products like Lightroom, and this area the M1 seems to be crushing it. I'm looking forward to being able to edit PDFs without the need of a subscription.

My other needs are fairly humble, flow charting, web browsing, basic apps and utilities. I'll be using windows to run my work apps that are needed.

Hardware
Here's the specs that I'm looking at
M1 Pro, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD Storage for $2,700.00

I was leaning towards the 14" but the 16" version is only 200 dollars more. 14" M1 owners, what advantages are there over the 16?

1TB storage, my PC has a 1TB of storage, and I'm using 600MB, with iCloud could there be a reason to get the 512MB version?

Help (random questions)
Do I need applecare? I'm thinking my credit card (amex)'s added warranty be be sufficient.

Apple credit card - given the lack of stock over at apple.com would I see any advantages to use an apple branded credit card? If I were to get one, it may be at bestbuy or something. Is there any benefit for the apple credit card best buy.

macOS - how's that on the M1. Not owning a mac in forever, I don't know the state of macOS compared to windows. I find windows 10 and 11 to be quite responsive, and I have the shortcut keys down pat.

What antivirus apps are available?

Any concerns of having the storage, and memory soldered onto the motherboard?

What do you think of skinning the laptop - does it need any sort of protection like a wrap from dbrands?

What issues/bugs or problems have been reported with the hardware?

 

[Six0Four]

I had both the 14" and now the 16". My advice is don't look at them side by side in the store, the 14" will feel way smaller than it really is. 14" actually may be the sweet spot for many. For me, I only went with the 16" because I spend a ton of time on the laptop for work and doing things like watching movies etc. I also travel lots so it helps to have a larger display. Otherwise the 14" is great. Very light and portable as far as the new Macbooks go.

As for a skin I prefer the clean look of the Macbook in it's stock form but I can see the skin offering some protection. If you plan on keeping it for a long time maybe think about going with silver over space grey since the space grey colour is just a coating and can scratch off over time. Silver will hold up much better.

When it comes to price, you should consider buying from Apples refurbished store. The machines look brand new and come in a simplified white box. Also a little trick is if you order online you can get the edu discount if you navigate to the education page. (If you are in the US or Canada, not sure about other countries).

 

[VineRider]

I have moved from Windows to macOS and my thoughts are as follows on a few of your questions:

AppleCare - I would definitely get it for a $2,700 device. I have found Apple's support to be top notch and have never had an issue getting a problem resolved.

macOS - It is going to take some time to get used to the differences. Shortcut keys can be mapped on macOS, but there are some that are just not going to map up. The article below helps. Getting used to Finder versus Windows File Explorer was probably my biggest hurdle.

Mac keyboard shortcuts

By pressing certain key combinations, you can do things that normally need a mouse, trackpad, or other input device.

support.apple.com

AntiVirus - You will get a lot of strong opinions on here about whether or not you need additional protection. It is really a personal choice. Personally, I use Intego. It is made especially for the Mac and is a universal app (made for the ARM processor) and does a fine job with no performance hit.

Storage - You cannot add storage on these laptops. I'd recommend making sure you won't need additional storage at the time of purchase as upgrading the memory or SSD is not possible. Personally, I would not go less than 16gig on memory or 1 terabyte on SSD Storage.

Skinning - I use no covers or protection on my device. I just keep it in a Nixon Sleeve (you cannot get these anymore unfortunately - bought it for my Surface Pro and it fits my 14 M1)

Hardware Bugs - I've not run into any issues. I really like the M1 Pro and it is a great device. It just takes a while to get used to the differences between Windows and macOS.

Hope this helps.

 

[DarthVader!]

You cannot add storage on these laptops

Good point.

Thanks @Six0Four and @VineRider that helps a lot.

So my windows desktop is rocking 32gb of memory, and 20gb is being used. I think macOS does a better job with memory, so I think 16gb will be sufficient, correct or incorrect? I'm not running anything high powered though I will be running windows on VM, but even then I'm thinking it may be ok

 

[VineRider]

Good point.

Thanks @Six0Four and @VineRider that helps a lot.

So my windows desktop is rocking 32gb of memory, and 20gb is being used. I think macOS does a better job with memory, so I think 16gb will be sufficient, correct or incorrect? I'm not running anything high powered though I will be running windows on VM, but even then I'm thinking it may be ok

One correction - The M1 Pro's do allow for an SD memory card to expand file storage so I was not completely correct in not being able to add storage. SD is slow compared to SSD however so it's mainly good for storing music and photo's etc.

I have a 16gb memory M1 14. I use it mainly for email, web browsing, managing a small network where I work, and other fairly basic tasks. This is more than adequate for how I use my Mac. I also sometimes run VM's and they are fine on a 16 gig machine.

I think more memory is needed if you are processing videos, photos, music etc where you have a processor or memory hungry app. From what you've relayed above, I think 16 gig is fine. Only question is how you would be using VM's as they do require more memory. If just for basic tasks, then you're probably ok. If you are going to use VM's for development work etc. then you might consider 32 gig.

 

[spiderman0616]

My job is very Office heavy--we use pretty much their entire suite of software. I actually think Office looks and runs nicer on Apple hardware than Windows hardware. Yes, even the iOS and iPadOS versions! I do a lot of tasks during the day in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. I find the web interface and app interface for OneDrive to be infuriating and confusing, so I just ignore it and add it as a location in my Finder.

I have the luxury of having both models of MBP due to work supplying the 16". I have tried some Steam gaming through Crossover and that works well enough for games like Half Life 2 and Portal. I can also run Civilization VI natively at fully maxed out settings. GeForce Now is definitely an option I have considered to fill in the gaps, but I already have a pretty big backlog on my Switch, so I've delayed that plan. My son has Parallels on his M1 Mac mini, and the results have been mixed as far as compatibility. There are supposedly updates coming, but I'm not holding my breath.

As far as cases--For my last 3 or 4 MacBooks I have stuck with the Incase Dots hard shells that you commonly see at Best Buy or even in the Apple Store. I had one of them start cracking at the corners shortly after installing it on a 15" 2019 MBP, but I have NOT had that problem on either of my two current ones. I have used skins before too, and they're fine, but don't give me a lot of peace of mind for dent/ding prevention. I actually also really liked the Apple brand leather sleeve for my M1 MacBook Air. I still have it even though I don't have the computer anymore. I just can't bear to part with it for some reason, and they don't make one for the new Pros.

I do not use any antivirus. These days, I DO tend to add Apple Care to my devices, but I did not this time because my wife was already really irritated with me for buying the computer in the first place. I would recommend it for the MacBook if your computers are typically prone to accidental damage and you don't like the sight of ugly dents and crinkles. Keep in mind that you basically have a portable XDR Display in the lid, and the tech that makes that thing work is VERY delicate.

Your question about macOS and M1: I started with a vanilla M1 MacBook Air, base model. macOS ran great. Everything was smooth and fast. I could have a lot of apps open at once and everything hummed along nicely even if I was gaming or doing CPU intensive projects. When I moved up to the M1 Pro, it was just all of the above, but I could do even more of it all at the same time, and the display, keyboard, and new chassis are just fantastic in my opinion.

Really, you can't go wrong unless you're expecting a lot of game availability. This is a great time to jump into macOS.

 

[panjandrum]

I support a lot of M1s in education and the battery life alone is obviously a top selling point. Overall system responsiveness is also fantastic. I got to sit and play Disco Elysium for hours on a lowly M1 MacBook Air while testing these for rollout; battery life was still excellent.

The only real hurdle you'll have is your desire to game. IMHO just chose some games on Steam that will run on a modern Mac and don't even worry if they are AS native as performance will be excellent on the CPU side either way (you'll probably be GPU limited, not CPU limited. Apple's Rosetta performance is the kind of minor-miracle that I don't think many anticipated.) Don't bother with the whole Parallels experience unless you are absolutely desperate to play a specific windows game. As with a windows rig; if a game will let you limit the frame-rate you should do so to conserve battery life. (IFAIK there are ZERO external tools to do so like exist in the Windows environment - so the game will need the function built-in. Some do, many don't.)

For antivirus we generally use Malwarebytes as it seems to work reasonably well without mucking things up. But that entire field is such a moving-target (always has been). I'm sure there are probably better solutions out there. IMHO don't bother with real-time protection unless you are visiting some seriously sketchy sites. Just open and run a full scan every week or so. That way you won't have tasks running in the background sucking performance and battery life. It's far more common to see malware on Macs than it used to be; so I'm on the side of "yes you'll want an anti-virus product."

Go for 32gb of RAM if you possibly can: Parallels has an overhead. I have to run quite a few Parallels VMs and they are definitely more demanding on RAM than one would think.

 

[Jbird777]

I have owned macs in the distant past but my strength is PCs. I'm toying with the idea of M1 MBP, and I've been eating up YT videos like no tomorrow. To be sure those that has helped my understanding but I still lack knowledge. I was thinking of a iPad mini for my up and coming holiday, which includes a 10+ hour flight. My laptop (a gaming one) will only last a few hours into the flight and I'd rather not pack a huge power brick. I really like the idea of not losing performance while on battery, window machine's performance falls off the cliff when you run on the battery.

Sorry if this post is all over the place, I'm doing a brain dump of my thoughts.

Usage
I know Macs are not known of gaming but I do enjoy the occasional game or two. How is game play done through Parallels? Anyone have experience gaming through streaming services like Geforce Now or Xbox? I'll still have my desktop PC for most of my gaming needs but if I find myself traveling it would be nice to have that option.

Productivity Apps
How's office on the Mac? Would I be better off using parallels? I've seen some murmurs going on regarding MS teams, and OneDrive. Can someone provide a short synopsis of any issues I may be facing?

I'll also be using Adobe products like Lightroom, and this area the M1 seems to be crushing it. I'm looking forward to being able to edit PDFs without the need of a subscription.

My other needs are fairly humble, flow charting, web browsing, basic apps and utilities. I'll be using windows to run my work apps that are needed.

Hardware
Here's the specs that I'm looking at
M1 Pro, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD Storage for $2,700.00

I was leaning towards the 14" but the 16" version is only 200 dollars more. 14" M1 owners, what advantages are there over the 16?

1TB storage, my PC has a 1TB of storage, and I'm using 600MB, with iCloud could there be a reason to get the 512MB version?

Help (random questions)
Do I need applecare? I'm thinking my credit card (amex)'s added warranty be be sufficient.

Apple credit card - given the lack of stock over at apple.com would I see any advantages to use an apple branded credit card? If I were to get one, it may be at bestbuy or something. Is there any benefit for the apple credit card best buy.

macOS - how's that on the M1. Not owning a mac in forever, I don't know the state of macOS compared to windows. I find windows 10 and 11 to be quite responsive, and I have the shortcut keys down pat.

What antivirus apps are available?

Any concerns of having the storage, and memory soldered onto the motherboard?

What do you think of skinning the laptop - does it need any sort of protection like a wrap from dbrands?

What issues/bugs or problems have been reported with the hardware?

I Have been a PC user my whole life as well.. until I made the leap of faith with these new M1's
I punched the M1 Pro 16 inch with 2T of storage and 32 GB of ram (im a music producer)
Computer has blown me away. its snappy, lightning fast, quiet and POWERFUL. I can't get the fans to go on no matter how much I push the damn thing. Apple has financing available on the site If you get approved you can make monthly payments. It was one of the best purchases I ever did, seriously awesome device, I think you will love it. Mac OS is different but I don't ever see my self gong back to boring ass windows, its not for gaming but.. It is so capable. I imagine once they start optimizing games for it, it will be insane. - Joe

 

[DarthVader!]

I can't get the fans to go on no matter how much I push the damn thing.

That's one of the common themes I'm seeing on youtube as I do my research

One thing that I'm wondering and hoping is that with the mac, I'll be able to fully take advantage of the ecosystem, since I own an iPhone and iPad. Backing up my phone on a PC has largely been frustrating

 

[polyphenol]

I certainly wouldn't count on Parallels continuing to work indefinitely. I'm sure Microsoft could effectively block ARM Windows from running on Mx SoCs.

I tried it and it worked amazingly well. But without formal support, I won't rely on it.

 

[DarthVader!]

I certainly wouldn't count on Parallels continuing to work indefinitely

That's because of the compatibility layer or emulator - whatever that name is?

 

[VineRider]

That's because of the compatibility layer or emulator - whatever that name is?

I think its more of an ARM licensing issue. Right now, Microsoft doesn't license Windows 11 on ARM for individual sale. It's only available to certain OEM's that produce ARM based PC's.

 

[Jbird777]

That's one of the common themes I'm seeing on youtube as I do my research

One thing that I'm wondering and hoping is that with the mac, I'll be able to fully take advantage of the ecosystem, since I own an iPhone and iPad. Backing up my phone on a PC has largely been frustrating

that's another reason to buy which I forgot to mention. The eco system Is incredible and I wouldn't use anything else, not for the fact that im a "apple fan boy" because im convinced that there are just simply not a better choice. My eco system consists of: AirPods Pro, iPhone, MacBook, air tags, and an Apple Watch. its a pretty good mix. another point is the battery life on the MacBook. my Gosh, its good. I remember using various windows laptops that would die bitterly in a half hour, this thing can last all day if you put the brightness down with NO performance decline. Its just a fantastic product, and I wouldn't recommend anything else for professional use. trust me, Ive tried (and took back) MANY windows lap tops.

 

[spiderman0616]

that's another reason to buy which I forgot to mention. The eco system Is incredible and I wouldn't use anything else, not for the fact that im a "apple fan boy" because im convinced that there are just simply not a better choice. My eco system consists of: AirPods Pro, iPhone, MacBook, air tags, and an Apple Watch. its a pretty good mix. another point is the battery life on the MacBook. my Gosh, its good. I remember using various windows laptops that would die bitterly in a half hour, this thing can last all day if you put the brightness down with NO performance decline. Its just a fantastic product, and I wouldn't recommend anything else for professional use. trust me, Ive tried (and took back) MANY windows lap tops.

I agree. I'll even go as far as to say I really have never been able to even LIKE a notebook computer until the M1 MacBook Air came out. Every Windows and Mac notebook I've ever owned has ultimately frustrated me due to either speed, heat, noise, battery life, or a mixture of those things. M1 chips have solved all those problems while still remaining relatively slim and sleek. I've never been a fan of the wedge design of the MacBook Air, as I prefer a more symmetrical design to my devices, so the new MBP design is just the cherry on top for me.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

Do not buy a M1 machine if you need to run Windows. Windows for ARM is not fully supported by Microsoft, and Microsoft could block it from running via Parallels at any time.

If you need windows, get a windows machine.

 

[iAdamator]

Forgive the minor thread jacking but I’m in a similar situation except in my case I’m about to get my very first Mac.

I have OneDrive for my storage and it gets me office 365 as part of it. Forgive the ignorant question but does that give me free copies of the MacOS version of Office?

Second question, I’d like to use OneDrive on my Mac, but I’m only going to want a few select folders synced locally on my Mac. Will that be possibie?

Thanks.

 

[chengengaun]

Productivity Apps
How's office on the Mac? Would I be better off using parallels? I've seen some murmurs going on regarding MS teams, and OneDrive. Can someone provide a short synopsis of any issues I may be facing?

I'm looking forward to being able to edit PDFs without the need of a subscription.

My other needs are fairly humble, flow charting, web browsing, basic apps and utilities. I'll be using windows to run my work apps that are needed.

Office 365 works great on the Mac, and the Office apps ran natively on Apple Silicon. Even Microsoft Teams and OneDrive work fine, I have held many meetings and sync very large files (tens of 1GB+ files) without apparent issues. OneDrive can use multi-core when syncing, so syncing many files may get the fans spinning. I have not used VBA on Office 365 for Mac, though. Some features, e.g. Power Pivot/Data Model are not available on Office 365 for Mac.

Hardware
Here's the specs that I'm looking at
M1 Pro, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD Storage for $2,700.00

I was leaning towards the 14" but the 16" version is only 200 dollars more. 14" M1 owners, what advantages are there over the 16?

1TB storage, my PC has a 1TB of storage, and I'm using 600MB, with iCloud could there be a reason to get the 512MB version?

Primarily size and weight. I had a pretty elaborate description of my decision process here. This may not concern you as you are looking at M1 Pro, but I think the 14" body may not be able to cool the M1 Max chip properly if you run the CPU and GPU at 100% for extended periods of time.

As for iCloud, I think it depends on your use case. If you need frequent access to files locally, then it is more prudent to get a larger drive and save all files locally (which was what I did). (You mean GB and not MB right?)

Help (random questions)
Do I need applecare? I'm thinking my credit card (amex)'s added warranty be be sufficient.

Depending on your location and terms offered, AppleCare+ covers accidental damage. I have had a coffee spill incident, so I tend to think it's worth getting AppleCare+.

macOS - how's that on the M1. Not owning a mac in forever, I don't know the state of macOS compared to windows. I find windows 10 and 11 to be quite responsive, and I have the shortcut keys down pat.

macOS Monterey works great for me, though others reported bugs in their usage. There are loads of power apps e.g. Alfred, Keyboard Maestro etc. that improves productivity if the default Automation/Shortcuts and Spotlight are not enough. I have to say Windows 10 is very stable and offers a good experience too.

Any concerns of having the storage, and memory soldered onto the motherboard?

Not really if you configure your machine with enough of both. In fact I would argue that soldered memory/storage reduces the chance of hardware failure (no chance of modules coming loose, etc.) and improves performance/power consumption (LPDDR etc.).

What do you think of skinning the laptop - does it need any sort of protection like a wrap from dbrands?

I don't skin my Macs, but that is just personal preference. Macs are pretty robust; I frequently use my Mac as a 'tray' to carry things (mouse, water bottle, slide changer etc.) in the office and it still looks flawless. I do use a leather sleeve when I carry the MBP in my bag.

I have OneDrive for my storage and it gets me office 365 as part of it. Forgive the ignorant question but does that give me free copies of the MacOS version of Office?

Yes, you can just sign in to Office.com and click 'Install Office'. Alternatively you can install the apps from the App Store and sign in using your Microsoft account (the one registered to your OneDrive/Office 365 subscription). I think direct installation from Microsoft gets you earlier updates since they need not be approved by the App Store.

Second question, I’d like to use OneDrive on my Mac, but I’m only going to want a few select folders synced locally on my Mac. Will that be possibie?

Yes, you can enable Files On-Demand or manually select folders which you want to make available locally at all times.

 

[polyphenol]

Forgive the minor thread jacking but I’m in a similar situation except in my case I’m about to get my very first Mac.

I have OneDrive for my storage and it gets me office 365 as part of it. Forgive the ignorant question but does that give me free copies of the MacOS version of Office?

Second question, I’d like to use OneDrive on my Mac, but I’m only going to want a few select folders synced locally on my Mac. Will that be possibie?

Thanks.

Remember. they are not free copies! Just that you licence covers both Windows and Mac installations up to your limit. Someone is paying for it!

OneDrive was fairly recently released in M1 native code form. It didn't even notice it change until I looked one day. Seems to be more efficient (not exactly a surprise).

 

[MajorFubar]

What's the single main use you want to do with a Mac that you don't think works as well in Windows?
You mentioned Office and gaming: if they were my priorities I wouldn't go near a Mac.

 

[DarthVader!]

if they were my priorities I wouldn't go near a Mac.

Interesting, you're the first to say stay away. I'm not a hardcore gamer, and the types of games I tend to play are on the older side. Cities:Skylines for instance is one of my go-to games. I appreciate the honesty and willingness to buck the trend. I have a desktop PC that I'll still can play games on, but having a powerful laptop that has a great battery life and gorgeous screen is something that I'm considering.

I've been looking at windows machines since the turn of the year and I have a short list of those. In no particular order. Razer, Asus, Lenovo, MSI, Dell. Each one has at least one drawback, maybe more.

• The Razer, the 14" appears to be very Mac like in that everything is soldered onto the motherboard. Its very expensive, and the power brick huge.
• The Zephyrus series seems very good but their latest offerings are fast. I'm not really liking the how they look (to gaming pc vibe) and they're just as expensive depending on the model.
• The Lenovo is not as pricy, but not much availability for the configurations I was looking at. I've owned thinkpads before and their fan curve is aggressive, probably the best keyboard out of the bunch but they can be loud
• MSI - I've not done enough research but what I've started finding is people complaining about quality and issues. I'm not sure if I just googled the wrong way.
• Dell, I hate Dell, their customer support sux and I'll never go back to them

Primarily size and weight. I had a pretty elaborate description of my decision process here.

Interesting matrix, and it mirrors my thought process. For me, battery life, temperature, and screen real estate and fan noise are major metrics that are weighted higher. My work laptop doesn't do anything, but the fans speed up for no apparent reason and its a 13" which I find too confining. Maybe the 14" MBP will be different but I'm a little concerned I'll feel the lack of screen real estate may be too much of a sacrifice. I'm actually hoping to use a windows VM and port all of my software I use onto the mac and just use that. Stuff like PowerShell Studio, visual studio, Golden SQL query tool, etc.

It seems as I talk things out, and obsess over this, I've been googling like crazy, I'm now leaning heavily towards the 16, especially given the screen real estate, temps. I lose a measure of portability. How will the 16" fare on an airline tray? I think I can manage, the battery should be such that it will last me an entire flight.

 

[MajorFubar]

Interesting, you're the first to say stay away. I'm not a hardcore gamer, and the types of games I tend to play are on the older side. Cities:Skylines for instance is one of my go-to games. I appreciate the honesty and willingness to buck the trend. I have a desktop PC that I'll still can play games on, but having a powerful laptop that has a great battery life and gorgeous screen is something that I'm considering.

It's true the current MPBs offer a very compelling package, but once the novelty of the slick hardware wears off you're left with the question of how well do the things you actually want to do with a computer work on a Mac. For me as a musician working largely in Logic Pro, it's what the Australians would say is a no brainer. I can even begin projects in GarageBand on-the-go on my iPad and bring them into Logic to flesh-out and produce.

It's going to be a personal preference but I've never liked Office on the Mac. I tolerate it when I have to, but IMO it just does not run as slickly as it does on a Windows machine. And Teams on a Mac? Don't go there. You think it's bad on Windows? On a Mac it's on a whole new level of bad.

As for web-browsing and socials...well it depends how deep your pockets are. There are people out there with 16" fully-loaded MPBs who only use them to browse the web (including here), socials and watching YT videos, which you can do with a £250 Lenovo laptop.

I guess in short I don't get why people buy Apple products to do something you can probably do as well, or better, on a cheaper Windows device. But I totally get why for certain niche purposes, Macs reign supreme. So bad was my experience of running my home studio on a Windows machine prior to 2011 that I will never buy a Windows machine for that purpose til the day I die.

This is why I asked you to think carefully about what you believe will work better for you on a Mac than on a PC.

 

[chengengaun]

For me, battery life, temperature, and screen real estate and fan noise are major metrics that are weighted higher. My work laptop doesn't do anything, but the fans speed up for no apparent reason and its a 13" which I find too confining.

I think you'll be very happy with battery life, temperature and fan noise with either 14" and 16". The Intel MacBooks ran really warm/hot with fans running at 2,200+ rpm while idling. My 14" M1 Max sips battery (5-10W) with fans off while idling/doing light work.

Maybe the 14" MBP will be different but I'm a little concerned I'll feel the lack of screen real estate may be too much of a sacrifice. I'm actually hoping to use a windows VM and port all of my software I use onto the mac and just use that. Stuff like PowerShell Studio, visual studio, Golden SQL query tool, etc.

Depending on your preference/comfort with smaller fonts, setting the display scaling to "More Space" helps. Looking at RStudio now I see 40 lines in the code editor and another 15 lines in the console. BBEdit shows 72 lines - though my font size is 12, so it is rather small. Other IDEs e.g. PyCharm, DataGrip etc. look fine to me on the 14".

A big 'however' re: Windows VM - it is very difficult, if not impossible to run x86 Windows on Apple Silicon Macs. If Windows x86 VMs are crucial to you, this might be a deal breaker.

If you have an iPad, Sidecar can expand your screen real estate by letting your Mac use the iPad as an external display.

It seems as I talk things out, and obsess over this, I've been googling like crazy, I'm now leaning heavily towards the 16, especially given the screen real estate, temps. I lose a measure of portability. How will the 16" fare on an airline tray? I think I can manage, the battery should be such that it will last me an entire flight.

I have no experience with the new 16", however I have used the 2016 15" Touch Bar MBP during flights. (This obviously depends on airline setup.) It is quite cramped on standard economy trays, and I was unable to keep the screen at a comfortable angle if the front seat reclines. (That's actually an understatement.) Getting out of the seat with the Mac open is a pain. No issue on premium economy/US domestic first class and business.

 

[MajorFubar]

Also if you intend to keep a Windows desktop computer to do your 'heavy lifting', ask yourself would you just not be better off with a 12.9" iPad Pro rather than a Macbook Pro if you don't intend to use any Mac-specific apps.

 

[DarthVader!]

A big 'however' re: Windows VM - it is very difficult, if not impossible to run x86 Windows on Apple Silicon Macs. If Windows x86 VMs are crucial to you, this might be a deal breaker.

I'm a bit confused as it appears that Parallels can run X86 windows - at least for the time being.

KB Parallels: About Parallels Desktop for Mac with Apple silicon

Virtual machines created on Intel-based Mac computers have that is fundamentally .

kb.parallels.com

Short term, I do think running windows is high on my list. Maybe that will change in time, maybe it won't, maybe I stick with a specific version of macOS that still has Rosetta, or try to find a copy of arm windows. Maybe this journey towards getting a MacBook Pro ends here and I get a Asus Zephyrus. I'll have to give it more thought.

ask yourself would you just not be better off with a 12.9" iPad Pro

I have one of those, I mistakenly thought it was 11" - I guess there's an 11 and 12.9. Anyways, I appreciate the input, but I don't find the iPad a laptop replacement. Funny enough I was actually thinking of getting the mini, simply because the large size is not very good on the wrists - hand fatigue sets in rather quickly, the battery is horrid. I'll watch a movie, and I easily can chew through 30 to 40%, of the battery. Maybe the M1's battery isn't much better but it can do what the iPad cannot. Run apps that I want/need.

I have been in the market for a new laptop since January 2022, and up till now only considered Windows PCs. Supply issues are such that I've had trouble finding them, take the Lenovo Legion, it cannot be found in the US.

While I am partial to PCs, one major feature was their price, Apple has the reputation of being expensive, yet many of the laptops on the windows side I've seen are not that much cheaper.

Also learning something new does appeal to me and while its more of a nebulous pipe dream, learning Swift and app development for the Mac may be something that I move on too in the future. Its not the a decision factor but something that might be nice to pick up down the road.

One other plus is not needing WSL as I'll have access to Unix commands natively

Finally, I do feel time is of the essence, Apple is not immune to supply issues and apple.com is projecting mid july for the MBP models that I'm looking at. I have a couple of local retailers that are showing them in stock. I'd rather not obsess on this, so long that I lose out. I need to get something sooner, whether its Pc or Mac and put it through its paces and ensure its defect free before my trip this summer.

Let me say I really do appreciate all of the input for and against, its forcing me to think out of the box and make a fully informed decision.

Edit: I want to add one more thought. I've seen a number of videos, where given Yters who are mostly Pc people use and fall in love with the M1 MBP. They can't believe how great it is. Matthew Moniz is one of the tech reviewers who's now using a MBP.

 

[MajorFubar]

It's a pity the supply-chain is so bad because my recommendation to you right now would be to buy a 16" MBP, use it as much as you can within your allotted 30-day no-quibble return period and return it if it's not ticking all your boxes. Initially be prepared to be floored by the display-quality, battery-life and overall slickness and quality of build. Then once that's worn off in a week or two, see whether it's still ticking your other boxes and return it if it doesn't.

Also first things I'd turn on are tap to click, and three-finger drag which bizarrely is buried in Accessibility options. Once I'd discovered three finger drag I barely ever went near a mouse again: it's paradigm-changing. Windows has no equivalent as far as I can see (context: my Dell Latitude 5420 business-laptop, which is my main machine at work).