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Review: M1 Max MacBook Pro After Three Months
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1TB is a huge reach for modern portable creatives–especially video editors. Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, Adobe Creative Files, and Microsoft OneDrive and so on have convenient dynamic allocation of files you have on your computer vs. what's actually stored in the cloud, but that's extremely tight to squeeze into a 1TB drive. This isn't even considering 4K+ content recorded on a SD/CFEXpress card you may want to immediately edit on the go.
For Hi-Res creatives, 2TB seems a more sensible default followed by 4TB to be much more comfortable editing+creating content on the go with far more respectable scratch disk space as well.
32GB RAM is a no brainer minimum for such creatives with 64GB definitely recommended for developers and creatives dealing with 4K+ compositing and 3D rendering–especially for a desktop replacement class Macbook Pro to align with Studio workstation laptops by Asus, Lenovo, Dell, and so on to better allow the superior M1 Max APU to shine (outside of raw graphics horsepower of course with the M1 not having hardware ray-tracing nor CUDA).
For Hi-Res creatives, 2TB seems a more sensible default followed by 4TB to be much more comfortable editing+creating content on the go with far more respectable scratch disk space as well.
32GB RAM is a no brainer minimum for such creatives with 64GB definitely recommended for developers and creatives dealing with 4K+ compositing and 3D rendering–especially for a desktop replacement class Macbook Pro to align with Studio workstation laptops by Asus, Lenovo, Dell, and so on to better allow the superior M1 Max APU to shine (outside of raw graphics horsepower of course with the M1 not having hardware ray-tracing nor CUDA).
I have the 16" Mac Book Pro with M1 Pro 16gb RAM and 1 TB hd. Love it so much more than the 2019 MBP with touchbar. Yes it is heavy and bulky, but the battery life and the ability to use it without baking my lap has been awesome.
I have noticed a few issues with the new machine:
1. I was having audio popping noises, which had happened sometimes with a previous generation of MBP (not for me, but a lot of reports about it). A restart seemed to fix it.
2. I had a project I was trying to push to GitHub through the command line that included a 30mb video. I could not, for the life of me, get the new MBP to push that video up. Finally I gave up and pushed it with my windows laptop. I suspect Git is running through Rosetta 2.
3. I've had a few weird experiences using the HDMI port with a projector, which don't happen with my windows laptop, where audio would just stop working if the computer was not actively in use (even if sleep mode was turned off).
But really that is it. I hope all of these issues will ultimately get fixed in software/firmware eventually. I expect to use this machine for at least 3 years. I could not WAIT to get rid of the 2019 MBP, and that one was significantly better than the even worse 2016 MBP. Apple is on an upward trajectory!
p.s. I had to go back to the 2019 MBP for something recently and immediately the touchbar annoyed me, and I noticed the heat radiating out of the bottom within 5 min. I do NOT miss that!
I have noticed a few issues with the new machine:
1. I was having audio popping noises, which had happened sometimes with a previous generation of MBP (not for me, but a lot of reports about it). A restart seemed to fix it.
2. I had a project I was trying to push to GitHub through the command line that included a 30mb video. I could not, for the life of me, get the new MBP to push that video up. Finally I gave up and pushed it with my windows laptop. I suspect Git is running through Rosetta 2.
3. I've had a few weird experiences using the HDMI port with a projector, which don't happen with my windows laptop, where audio would just stop working if the computer was not actively in use (even if sleep mode was turned off).
But really that is it. I hope all of these issues will ultimately get fixed in software/firmware eventually. I expect to use this machine for at least 3 years. I could not WAIT to get rid of the 2019 MBP, and that one was significantly better than the even worse 2016 MBP. Apple is on an upward trajectory!
p.s. I had to go back to the 2019 MBP for something recently and immediately the touchbar annoyed me, and I noticed the heat radiating out of the bottom within 5 min. I do NOT miss that!
I was experiencing very similar issues with OWC dock and hub with 3 monitors (1 x XDR and 2 x 4k) and multiple external TB3/4 drives connected. I use my 16" Max in clamshell mode. ALL of my issues went away when I started using the Apple 140W AC Adaptor rather than relying on the OWC dock for power.
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.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
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
There appears to be some correlation between the issues and the wattage of the power provide...
Other than these few teething problems in my setup, the laptop simply ROCKS!
I was experiencing very similar issues with OWC dock and hub with 3 monitors (1 x XDR and 2 x 4k) and multiple external TB3/4 drives connected. I use my 16" Max in clamshell mode. ALL of my issues went away when I started using the Apple 140W AC Adaptor rather than relying on the OWC dock for power.
There appears to be some correlation between the issues and the wattage of the power provide...
Other than these few teething problems in my setup, the laptop simply ROCKS!
There appears to be some correlation between the issues and the wattage of the power provide...
Other than these few teething problems in my setup, the laptop simply ROCKS!
Hasn't it dawned on you that the ridiculous obsession with thinness totally gimped the 15/16" Intel MacBook Pro's? Particularly those with the i9 CPU - the machine was too thin to provide adequate cooling which caused a whole host of issues, particularly throttling.
"Workstation" class laptops as they used to be called have always been on the thicker side as it was completely necessary for the cooling of the beefy CPU & GPU's.
You would know all this if you actually needed one to do your work.
Hasn’t it dawned on you that a big part of the problem was the huge wattage required to get adequate performance out of intel chips. There are plenty of very thick and well ventilated PC laptops that still light up like a furness whenever you try to do anything remotely taxing of the processor.
Apple Silicon with ARM runs much cooler. The M1 fans rarely come on, and when they do my M1 MacBook Pro is significantly cooler than the previous Intel version.
My M1 Pro 16" 1TB is as perfect a laptop as I've ever experienced. Fast, silent, cold. Pretty screen. Excellent audio. Great keyboard and trackpad. On top of all of this, Coconut Battery says I can read 18+ more hours of trolling comments in this and other threads before having to plug in again (I'm at 84% right now).
For those who miss Touch Bar, there's a perfectly fine and usable virtual version of it.
www.producthunt.com
You don't get to touch it, but you keep all of the functionality and shortcuts. The YouTube ad skip trick works exactly as it does on hardware Touch Bar, as does every other TB function.
The size and weight penalties are worth the benefits. The battery life combined with the excellent performance is a game changer. Jony Ive knifebooks are beautiful, but very flawed. The quality of life offered by the 2021 MBPs is extremely high, it's pure luxury.
For those who miss Touch Bar, there's a perfectly fine and usable virtual version of it.
Sindre Sorhus: Full-Time Open-Sourcerer & Aspiring Rebel | Product Hunt
Full-time open-sourcerer. I make macOS apps, CLI tools, npm packages. Currently into Swift & Node.js.
www.producthunt.com
You don't get to touch it, but you keep all of the functionality and shortcuts. The YouTube ad skip trick works exactly as it does on hardware Touch Bar, as does every other TB function.
The size and weight penalties are worth the benefits. The battery life combined with the excellent performance is a game changer. Jony Ive knifebooks are beautiful, but very flawed. The quality of life offered by the 2021 MBPs is extremely high, it's pure luxury.
I’ve had my base model 14” for 3 months now (ordered it as soon as it could be ordered) and it is the best MacBook Pro I’ve ever used. Love the keyboard, the screen is flat out fantastic, and the 14” size is perfect for me. Also, I get great battery time. One of the best Apple products ever, in my opinion. So far, I’ve honestly had no issues, on freezes or weird slowdowns. But I don’t do video production, mostly just day to day stuff sutfing the web, email, Office Apps, Scrivener and remote access to my customer’s PCs and Macs for remote support using N-able Take Control. All good so far.
The Macbook battery life, performance and more is second to none but after 60 days I wanted to give it a long term review and discuss the positive and negative aspects after using it for this long.
Nice to see others setups
Nice to see others setups
That is exactly my point. The thicker chassis allows better thermals so the fans don't need to kick in all the time like they did with the Intel 15/16" MacBook Pro's, especially those with the i9.
If the current 14/16" MacBook Pro's were thinner then we'd run into thermal issues again. Plus battery life would be woeful as they'd have nowhere near the capacity the 14/16" Macs have right now.
after 12.1 solved my HDR kernel panic issues, I haven't had many issues since. I also use an OWC TB4 dock that I power my Max with, 96W output from the dock. to the dock, i connect an LG 4K Ultrafine monitor, TB3 2TB external SSD OWC drive, all my USB3 connections and another 2TB of USB-C external SSD to my OWC dock. I pretty much only use my Max in clam shell mode at home and atm with no issues at all (just not as fast to wake as with the built macbook monitor).
Feel ya. Still running win 10 here on my 2019 MBP. My laptop upgrade is budgeted for next year and I’m leaning toward whatever the 14” MBP is at that point and fingers crossed they have the boot camp situation hammered out on ARM since MS is no longer bound by contract not to ?.
MBP 16, 2021 vs 2019
Weight
M1 Pro 4.7 pounds (2.1 kg) and M1 Max 4.8 pounds (2.2 kg) vs 4.3 pounds (2.0 kg) for the 2019 model
Huge 100 and 200 gram step backwards.
Height
0.66 inch (1.68 cm) against 0.64 (1.62 cm) on the 2019 model
Huge 0.02 inch (0.06 cm) step backwards.
Depth
9.77 inches (24.81 cm) on 2021 model against 9.68 inches (24.59 cm) on 2019 model
Huge 0.09 inch (0.22 cm) step backwards.
Width
14.01 inches (35.57 cm) on 2021 model against 14.09 inches (35.79 cm) on 2019 model
2021 model is a huge 0.08 inch (0.22 inch) less wide than 2019 model.
Comparing 16 inch 2021 with 2015 Unibody MBP 15:
Weight
M1 Pro 4.7 pounds (2.1 kg) and M1 Max 4.8 pounds (2.2 kg) vs 4.49 pounds (2.04 kg) for the 2015 model
Oh my God! Huge 0.21 and 0.31 pounds (60 and 160 gram) step backwards. The weight on my shoulders!
Height
0.66 inch (1.68 cm) against 0.71 (1.78 cm) on the 2015 model
Huge 0.05 inch (0.1 cm) step backwards. I was getting more material for my money with 2015.
Depth
9.77 inches (24.81 cm) on 2021 model against 9.73 inches (24.71 cm) on 2015 model
Huge 0.04 inch (0.1 cm) step backwards. Again, I was getting more material for my money with 2015.
Width
14.01 inches (35.57 cm) on 2021 model against 14.13 inches (35.89 cm) on 2015 model
2021 model is a huge 0.12 inch (0.32 inch) less wide than 2015 model. Again, shortchanging me on the width. The gall, Apple!
Comparing 16 inch 2021 with 2011 Unibody MBP 15:
Weight
M1 Pro 4.7 pounds (2.1 kg) and M1 Max 4.8 pounds (2.2 kg) vs 5.6 pounds (2.54 kg) for the 2011 model
Oh my God! A monstrous 0.9 and 0.8 pounds (440 and 340 gram) step backwards. The weight on my shoulders! The 2011 was so lightweight against this 2021 tank!
Height
0.66 inch (1.68 cm) against 0.95 (2.41 cm) on the 2011 model
Huge 0.29 inch (0.73 cm) step backwards. I was getting far more material for my money with 2011 than this tank of 2021.
Depth
9.77 inches (24.81 cm) on 2021 model against 9.82 inches (24.9 cm) on 2011 model
Huge 0.05 inch (0.09 cm) step backwards. Again, I was getting more material for my money with 2011.
Width
14.01 inches (35.57 cm) on 2021 model against 14.35 inches (36.4 cm) on 2011 model
2021 model is a huge 0.34 inch (0.83 inch) less wide than 2011 model. Oh, Apple Tax on full display!
It is unbelievable how many steps backwards these are, right?
They do not even know that the cold, hard specs tell a different story. This computer is thinner and has trimmed in all dimensions. The weight is the only thing they could rant about, really, and even so, they mention 2008 unibody where the difference in weight between 2011 and 2020 model is 340 g/ 440 g (0.8 and 0.9 pounds) in favour of 2021 models. ?
If they compare the weight of 2021 with 2019, then the difference is just 100 and 200 grams. With 2015, it is 60 and 160 grams. Rather negligible unless someone is suffering from injury.
In all other dimensions and aspects, this is a better computer than all previous comparable models.
I miss Touch Bar too. My work MBP has TB. So much better than dedicated function keys (personal preference).
I could see it return, one day.
By Jove, they did! Costliest computer I ever owned. I could buy a brand new hatchback car in that price. But, I have been nothing but happy with it - just like I was with 2011 MBP and 2017 MBA.
I admit todays values seem to make it seem that way, however earlier Macs was far less of a value. Still the 16" MBP is a keeper.
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Kind of depressing to watch the video and read some of the comments. "I paid >$4k for a laptop and it's amazing. It crashes left and right, slows down etc but nothing a quick restart doesn't fix!".
I think I'll stay with my old Intel MBP for a few years more. :/
I think I'll stay with my old Intel MBP for a few years more. :/
Yeah, the hardware is fantastic. However, like you said, OS X isn’t the one-stop-shop for everything everyone needs a computer for. I really wanted something that could “do it all” with super long battery life, but that product just doesn’t exist yet.
Running HTML5TEST
The HTML5 test - How well does your browser support HTML5?
The HTML5 test score is an indication of how well your browser supports the upcoming HTML5 standard and related specifications. How well does your browser support HTML5?
html5test.com
M1 Imac using MacOS 12.2 beta 2
Safari 15.3 = 513
Firefox 96.01 = 503
M1 Max MBP using MacOS 12.2 beta 2
Safari 15.3 = 513
Firefox 96.01 = 503
Try running test that on your 2015 MBP and see how you fare. Yes they don't have the latest patched for the webkit yet, but that's coming soon.
Have to say, these 14" and 16" are finally a signal from Apple that they're listening to their users....
The touch-has always been a curse for most people. I guess it boils down to whether you invested the time to
force yourself to adopt it and adapt your way of working to take advantage of the feature or not. I personally could never see the point in it and so I never really got used to it... so I'm glad it's gone...Hooray!
I also like how the machine's additional thickness and weight suggests that Apple has focussed more on build quality and robustness than the previous models. The 16" Intel model was a dog performance wise... It would run fast until it got slightly warm, then it would slow to a crawl suggesting that the thermal management wasn't able to keep the system cool enough in the thinner enclosure of the 16" Intel Pro... I don't appear to have any significant slowdowns in the new 14" M1 even under load.
And further additional improvements to the keyboard (apart from the touch bar) including the full-size function keys, and keys that feel even better than the 16" Intel (which in turn was hugely better than those awful butterfly keyboards) is also nice.
On the whole, I'd give the new 14" Pro a 9/10... my only notable design gripe is "What is it with Apple and notches?"
The touch-has always been a curse for most people. I guess it boils down to whether you invested the time to
force yourself to adopt it and adapt your way of working to take advantage of the feature or not. I personally could never see the point in it and so I never really got used to it... so I'm glad it's gone...Hooray!
I also like how the machine's additional thickness and weight suggests that Apple has focussed more on build quality and robustness than the previous models. The 16" Intel model was a dog performance wise... It would run fast until it got slightly warm, then it would slow to a crawl suggesting that the thermal management wasn't able to keep the system cool enough in the thinner enclosure of the 16" Intel Pro... I don't appear to have any significant slowdowns in the new 14" M1 even under load.
And further additional improvements to the keyboard (apart from the touch bar) including the full-size function keys, and keys that feel even better than the 16" Intel (which in turn was hugely better than those awful butterfly keyboards) is also nice.
On the whole, I'd give the new 14" Pro a 9/10... my only notable design gripe is "What is it with Apple and notches?"