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Review: M1 Max MacBook Pro After Three Months

I really vacillated between the 14" and 16", in the end I got the 14" and am thrilled... I've had Macs a long time... 40+ years, and has already been said, this is the best Mac I've ever owned or used... I haven't been able to get the spinning ball once, not matter what I've thrown at it... I've got an M1 MBA for work, and I've locked it up a time or two... Same work flow in the M1Max and no fans, no heat, no lag... The screens are amazing!

YMMV

Coachingguy
 
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dmylrea said:
I'd guess ones experience with a fully spec'd 16" and a similar 14" would be different. The reviews I've read said the 16" has a much better cooling system that keeps the fans off almost all the time. The 14"...not so much. Fans at 100% much of the time when under load.

If you do heavy lifting on the MBP 14 or 16, opt for the 16" if you like silence.
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I've never heard the fans on my 14"... See my comment below...

Coachingguy
 
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MacRumors said:


It's now been a few months since the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models launched in October, and MacRumors video editor Dan Barbera has been using one of the new machines since they debuted. Over on the MacRumors YouTube channel, Dan has shared a three month review of his MacBook Pro to see how it has held up over time and how it's changed his workflow.


Dan is using the 16-inch MacBook Pro that features an M1 Max chip with 10 compute cores and a 32-core GPU, aka the top of the line chip. The machine features 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, and it is the high-end pre-configured version that Apple offers.

In usage, the MacBook Pro is close to perfect, but Dan does go over a handful of complaints in his video. The MacBook Pro is subject to crashes and restarts when used in clamshell mode, which could be attributed to third-party Thunderbolt accessories.

The SSD can also malfunction randomly when transferring footage from an external drive. At times, transfer speeds slow to a crawl, an issue fixed with a restart. These are the two major issues that Dan has experienced, and he has otherwise had no problems. Performance overall is excellent, the display is beautiful, and the extra ports are useful.

For those considering a purchase, Dan says that he wishes that he had gone with a 2TB SSD over a 1TB because of his video editing needs, and he's not sure that he's happy with the weight and size of the 16-inch MacBook Pro when the same functionality is available with the smaller and more portable 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Make sure to watch Dan's video for his full review, and let us know in the comments how you're liking your 2021 M1 Pro/M1 Max MacBook Pro if you have one.

Article Link: Review: M1 Max MacBook Pro After Three Months
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Excellent review, thanks!

DougFNJ said:
I got the fully loaded version 14” and it’s precisely what I was hoping it would be. My only hesitancy before I purchased was that some of my software wouldn’t work with it, but everything is compatible.
This machine is fast! I am happy they added HDMI so I could plug into the big screen at work for meetings.
I’m glad I went with the 8 TB storage, I use a LOT of it and will be happy to not have to ever worry about needing to free up space. My SD cards have all worked, and the transfer speed has been fast, especially since I upgraded the cards to the Sony Tough series.
<knock wood> I’ve not experienced any bugs that I could think of.
The single only complaint I could point out if I want to nitpick is the screen color is on the slightly warm side compared to my LG Ultrafine 4K. The last few MacBooks matched the screen colors perfectly, this one is slightly warmer.
I’ve been playing with Final Cut Pro X and multitasking between the 2 screens and other apps at the same time. I have yet to hear a fan engage.
The “notch” was another thing I wondered if I would find annoying, with the way they laid out the screen, I barely even notice it’s there. I haven’t found myself missing the touch at, I barely used it before. Best computer upgrade since I could remember. I’m going to be enjoying this machine for a long time.
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Excellent as well - thanks!
 
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Very happy with my 14” MacBook Pro. Rock solid, performance is far more than I need, display and speakers are exceptional. Very happy to not have the touchbar as I use the function keys frequently.
 
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nvmls said:
Really Yay? what do you miss about it? (touchbar). For us it's been completely useless since day 1 lol, of course you "could do" stuff, but 99% of it was slower & less efficiently than physical keys.
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The fact I can’t skip YouTube commercials anymore is what I miss the post. With the Touch-Bar you could easily skip and drag the commercials now I have to rely on some random ads blocker. 😭😭
 
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"Over on the MacRumors YouTube channel, Dan has shared a three month review of his MacBook Pro"

It's good to see a review that looks at longer term use, instead of the week Apple gives big media reviewers or the Used for 2 hours then returned for refund "reviews" YouTube influencers squat out.
 
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dmylrea said:
I'd guess ones experience with a fully spec'd 16" and a similar 14" would be different. The reviews I've read said the 16" has a much better cooling system that keeps the fans off almost all the time. The 14"...not so much. Fans at 100% much of the time when under load.

If you do heavy lifting on the MBP 14 or 16, opt for the 16" if you like silence.
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I just like the larger display on the 16" comparably. The dimensions/weight are about the same as my 2012 retina MBP. Some value the 14" size and weight differences. But you do work with less, smaller speakers, smaller screen, smaller fans. I'll always argue for a base 14" MBP over a Air even if its $700 cheaper. I'm just happy for all here, you can finally pick the size you prefer. ;)
 
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Antknee said:
I have the 14" MacBook Pro. I wouldn't want the extra weight of the 16". Here's some extra feedback that I didn't hear in your video:

1. I went for the 96W charger and it's great that it fast-charges the machine, but it's too big for travel IMO. I bought a 3rd party 60W USB-C charger for when I want something smaller and lighter. Also, there's no strain relief around the end of the Magsafe3 cable, so I'm betting it will fray and fail relatively quickly if I'm not careful with attaching/detaching.
2. Speakers are phenomenal compared my old 13" 2013 Macbook Pro. Best part of the upgrade for me.
3. Every once in a while I hear noise/distortion when playing audio. Reboot fixes it. I'm hoping a future update will make this go away.
4. Screen is great (brightness is really great). No bezels is nice, but I have a lot more fingerprints around the edge of the display. I need to learn to carry this better or spend more time cleaning the screen.
5. So glad I waited for this machine, as I use the HDMI port all the time for playing videos to both my TVs. I also wanted more than 1 USB-C port.
6. Love the full size function keys. Still wish to have full arrow keys and a backspace key. (A guy can dream).
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Great points! I agree in most.

Point 1, I think the braided cable may help compensate the fraying but it's a valid point.

Point 3, that has been happening since 2016 machines. We've experienced it with every generation since then, forums are plagued with these kind of complaints, after so much time I'd think they haven't found a fix, though it's entirely possible they are ignoring it altogether since they sell anyways. Audio management is pretty chaotic OS-wide when having several audio sources. This is more of a nitpick, but the sound enhancer should be toggled real time as you play music not after 3-4 seconds.. feels amateurish.

Point 5, yea no kidding! dongles aren't as reliable as connecting to the port directly. One thing we like from Apple chip vs Intel, no more screen flickering when plugging in an external monitor. Also you can play 4k vids without the laptop taking off.

Point 6, completely agree! Actually the keyboard is nice, but feels a bit flimsier than previous non-butterfly keyboard generations. Also it's backlit angle bleed is a step back as well.

All in all, something I'd like to give hands down to Apple for, after months of use, I literally haven't heard the fans spin, even slightly.
 
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I have the 16" MBPro M1 Max 64GB memory. Best laptop I have ever laid my fingers and eyes on. I had the 2019 version of the MBPro and at times it felt like I could fry and egg it was so hot with the fan blasting away. I have yet to hear the fan. I do photography work with mainly Lightroom but also add in short periods with Photoshop, starrylandscapestacker and LrTimelapse. So the only down side I see is that you can no longer cook eggs on the laptop.
 
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I wanted to buy it really hard, but I just can’t. The design is ugly, looks like a 2010 MacBook Pro and I don’t see myself buying a laptop with 2000s
Ports. Getting rid of the touch bar wasn’t a good idea too, it made the MacBook pro different, although it needed to be improved (now it’s dead so that’s not a problem anymore). The perfect MacBook Pro for me is the M1. I’m planing to get one next year, great product with beautiful design, no legacy ports and it includes apple silicon, baaaby that’s all I can ask for.
 
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my summary is: hardware = good, software = bad, ram/storage = expensive, mini led = good, promotion is better than 60hz but still sucks compared to 120hz monitors that you see from the PC counterparts, keyboard = better than butterfly but still bad due to minimal key travel, ports = all i ask for is 1 usb-a port. is that too much to ask for???

is it a good upgrade from any of the butterfly keyboard macbooks or older? yes. is it a good upgrade from the 16in intel macbook? no.

also, don't go with m1 max unless if you get the 16in one. the 14in may thermal throttle you with the m1 max on high loads.
 
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I know this article is about the M1 Max, but everything Dan said about his MBP is how I STILL feel about my M1 MBP (2020). It's still the most powerful computer I've ever owned, and besides some software issues that seem to be, or have been addressed in OS updates, I have zero complaints (*cough cough* kernel panics while connecting to a Belkin Dock w/ external Dell monitor *cough cough*). I've also never once heard my MBP fan spin up. Ever.


TheYayAreaLiving 🎗 said:
I love my MacBook Pro. I love the new design however at times I do miss the Touch Bar. In my opinion, this is definitely the product of the year. Hands down 🙌

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My M1 MBP replaced a dying 2015 MPB, so this is my first time really using the Touch Bar and I LOVE it! I generally keep mine in clamshell mode connected to a dock, and then I'm using one of the Space Grey Apple Wireless keyboards, so I've still got a full set of Function Keys & whatnot.. But I do like the extra options with the Touch Bar like skipping commercials, among other things. BetterTouchTool is great, too.
 
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RISE UP, BIZARRE M1 PRO/MAX THUNDERBOLT CRASH MASTER RACE

still mad the stupid engineers at Apple couldn't freaking figure it out after two weeks of rifling through my system and sending them videos of my setup booting.
 
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It's all been downhill since Mac OS 9.0.4. Everything else has sucked. Why would anyone use such a garbage OS? It renders the atomic element Silicon trashy by association. But everything pales before the CDC 7600 running KRONOS! How do you know you're accessing the beginning of a file unless you issue the REWIND command?

//am i doing this right?
 
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Spanther said:
RISE UP, BIZARRE M1 PRO/MAX THUNDERBOLT CRASH MASTER RACE

still mad the stupid engineers at Apple couldn't freaking figure it out after two weeks of rifling through my system and sending them videos of my setup booting.
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It's not limited to the Pros it's Apple Silicon machines in general...
 
I have the OWC dock + 16" MBP (Intel). I also have frequent crashing or situations where I have to unplug the thunderbolt 4 cable, open the laptop and wake it up and plug back in to the dock. This has happened after it has been sleeping. This has happened on both the newest OWC dock and the previous generation dock.
 
Have a 16", M1 Pro. Gotta say, I am loving the screensize, a real upgrade from my Macbook Air, it just has enough room to do side by side windows and really get stuff done even off the monitor... combine that with the ability to run nice and cool (unlike say my 16" Intel Macbook) and it's such a fantastic machine for work or for play...
 
coachingguy said:
I've never heard the fans on my 14"... See my comment below...

Coachingguy
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827538 said:
Same here, owned the 14” Pro since launch and have yet to hear the fans. Stays cool to the touch too.

Unless you need Intel x86 for bootcamp I cannot think of a single reason you would want an Intel Mac over an M1 Mac.
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Then you're not working them hard enough. :) I watched a review of the 14 vs 16 when pushed and they monitored fan speeds, etc., and the 14" would easily hit max rpm on the fans while the 16" fans either were not even spinning or were spinning at a far less RPM making them very quiet.

I believe it was this test my Max Tech:
 
On the other hand, 1TB was perfectly fine for my needs, since I'm not editing a lot of video. And I'm very happy with the 16" machine. It weighs more, sure, but I still pine for my old 17" machine and we always talked about how light it was at 6.4 pounds. The 16" MBP is an outstanding machine.
 
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dmylrea said:
Then you're not working them hard enough. :) I watched a review of the 14 vs 16 when pushed and they monitored fan speeds, etc., and the 14" would easily hit max rpm on the fans while the 16" fans either were not even spinning or were spinning at a far less RPM making them very quiet.
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I've worked my 16" MBP w M1 Max hard enough for the fans to turn on. Doesn't mean I heard them ;)
 
I’m happy with my 16” Pro 16gb 2tb, and I don’t miss my 2019 16” at all. Only issue is that TM has been a bit glitchy.
 
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