This is the BEST MBP Apple has ever made!

[friedmud]

I have been a hardcore Mac user for ~15 years or so, for work and at home. I started with some of the first (17"!) Intel MBPs... and I've effectively had one of _every_ iteration since then (we have a healthy laptop upgrade budget at work - the "old" ones get used elsewhere in the company and things phase through). I have always had the very most maxed out, largest MBP that could be bought at the time... with my current laptop being the 8-core, 16" Intel MBP (we are still waiting on our maxed out M1 MBPs to show up...).

However, this weekend, I personally (for myself at home) bought a "cheap" 16" M1 MBP: 16c GPU, 16GB of RAM, 500GB HD to replace my mid-2020 13" Intel MBP (that, honestly, was the worst MBP I've ever owned). And this is BY FAR, THE VERY BEST MBP EVER MADE (other than the more expensive ones - I'm sure!). Here is my reasoning:

Mac laptops got progressively worse for a long time.

First, there was the removal of the ports (ethernet, USB-A, SD Card, DVI, etc). Then the removal of magsafe and the removal of the "charge indicator and button". Then the removal of the "upside-down T" form of the arrow keys (this personally drove me nuts). Then the butterfly keyboard. Then the TouchBar and the removal of the Escape key and Function keys. Then Intel chips started to suck and the battery life was terrible - and they were loud and crazy hot.

MBPs have sufferred. Only recently (after Ive left) did they finally start to turn it around by doing away with the butterfly keyboard and giving us back proper T arrow keys and a physical escape key.

This laptop has everything. It has HDMI - like, built right in, no dongles! It has SD Card! It has MagSafe! (and the new MagSafe wire is this awesome braided cable that is super cool - and is connectable to any USB-C - and an LED on the magsafe connector to show the charge status!). It has the best keyboard on a MBP ever, with full height function keys (even back in the day they were squatty) and the biggest Escape key I've seen on a laptop. It has awesome speakers. It has an amazing, 120hz screen. It has a 150 Watt power brick that is lighter than the previous one that only did 96 Watts (for my Intel 16").

And then, to top it all off: it has this awesome new chip in it... that is completely silent and cold and has insane battery life. I haven't even heard a single fan yet... and I installed tons of software, ran Lightroom, ran demanding games. I even did an OS update - something that would have made every Intel MBP in history into a flying saucer... but not a single peep (and it only got warm enough to tell that it was on).

It's so awesome to _finally_ feel like I actually got an _upgrade_ when buying a MBP. My wife has continued to use her 2012 (!) 15" MBP (with an SSD swapped in) for the last 10 years because there hasn't been anything "better"... and now she's finally thinking of upgrading.

Anyway - just needed to crow about how awesome this machine is - thanks for listening!

 

[Sterkenburg]

I am in the same boat. Upgraded to the 16" with M1 Max, and after 3 months of use I can say with confidence that I hadn't been this satisfied with a Mac since the time I bought my first unibody 17" in 2009.

The last 6 years or so have been incredibly painful, with MBPs plagued by a deadly combination of poor design choices and a frustrating stagnation in hardware (Apple being to blame for the former, and Intel for the latter). At long last, the 2021 machines have turned the tables with the return to a function-over-form design coupled with the most significant hardware upgrades in a decade.

 

[Technerd108]

I completely agree with everything you said. I had bought MBP off and on for several years but never kept them due to the hardware limitations and cost. This is the first MBP that is damn near perfect. The screen is incredible, the speakers are incredible, the processor is incredible, the ports are finally usable, the MagSafe braided cable is artwork! There is literally nothing wrong with these MBP and for me that is saying a lot. My only weak complaint is no USB A because I still have a lot of stuff with usb A but luckily I still have a dongle that I only need to use for that alone!!

Even if there is a new M2 version tomorrow these MBP with M1 will kick ass for a long time!!

 

[bootz]

I went from 2012 rMBP to mid-2015 iGPU MBP to M1 Pro 14. The rMBP and M1 Pro were/are fantastic!

 

[con500]

 

[jasonp99]

I recently upgraded from my 2011 15" MBP to the new 14" for pretty much all the same reason, and it's wonderful. The only minor gripe I have is that I wish the Magsafe connector was 90 degrees like the old one. Though I don't really use that connector at home since it's being powered by my monitor via USB-C (everything going thru a single USB-C cable is really nice).

 

[MRxROBOT]

I went from 2012 rMBP to mid-2015 iGPU MBP to M1 Pro 14. The rMBP and M1 Pro were/are fantastic!

Nice me too! Except I had one more stop between 2015 and 2021. I also had the 2019 i9 8 core MBP.

Other than my 2021 16”, the 2015 15” really stands out as one my favorites. The x4 PCIe SSD really took it to another level, keeping it feeling snappy until the end. The heat / fans is what eventually did it in for me.

 

[yabeweb]

Received mine yesterday, getting some Titanium G4 vibes from it.

LOVE IT!

 

[Nathan King]

The M1 Macbook Pro is the first laptop I've ever used that becomes a desktop solution without undue compromise when connected to external displays.