Hands on with the 2021 MacBook Pro

[Mr. Dee]

Anyone who needs or prefers a larger screen MacBook doesn't have any choice but to go with MBP 16 inch. May be Apple will come out with a 16 inch MacBook Air someday to fill that gap. These new MBPs seem to be targeted truly for people who do graphics work and may be also for folks doing software development like myself. My mid 2015 13" MBP still running fine except occasional shutdowns, especially sometimes if I connect two external monitors. Wanted a larger screen MacBook. I may not ever use the full power of the new 16" 2021 MBP, but who knows.

In your case, you match the audience it targets and you seem to keep your Macs for a long time. So, something like this would benefit you. I would wait until the second rev though if you can. Hopefully by then it will have WiFi 6E and HDMI 2.1 and potentially cheaper.

 

[DMG35]

John Ternus did say in the presentation, if you just want the worlds best notebook, yes, you qualify. What I probably could clarify in review, if you want to have it, you don’t really need max out the specs as the guy I overheard. The base model 16 inch model thats in the store would be more than enough coming from a MacBook Air. The store rep was helping him make a sound decision about what would be suitable. He wanted 32 GBs RAM and a Pro Max to edit photos once a week. The money he would be spending on the $3,400 model he could save that $800 for the 2023 model, sell the 2021 model at a 1,000 dollar lost and put profit plus the 800 towards the new and better model surely coming in the future.

All valid points, and again, loved your review. Don't let that one little remark I made take away from all of the great things you wrote as its honestly the best review that a user has given in here. Cheers to you and the great work you've done here.

 

[jdb8167]

Anyone who needs or prefers a larger screen MacBook doesn't have any choice but to go with MBP 16 inch. May be Apple will come out with a 16 inch MacBook Air someday to fill that gap. These new MBPs seem to be targeted truly for people who do graphics work and may be also for folks doing software development like myself. My mid 2015 13" MBP still running fine except occasional shutdowns, especially sometimes if I connect two external monitors. Wanted a larger screen MacBook. I may not ever use the full power of the new 16" 2021 MBP, but who knows.

If you are using Xcode then you would seriously benefit from at least an M1 MacBook. There is an XcodeBenchmark here that you can use to compare build performance. I have an M1 MacBook Air 16GB/1TB and I score 135 seconds on the benchmark. The best M1 Max score that I've seen so far scores 90 seconds or a 50% speedup. The performance improvement you would see is going to be several times that. A 13" 2015 MBP i5 scored 597 seconds (with an older version of Xcode).

 

[gabo864]

Your review made me come to the conclusion that I don't need a new Macbook Pro. I recently sold my Macbook Pro 2016, I was definitely ready to get an M1 chip MacBook and I placed my order, but there was something inside me telling me I didn't need such a powerful machine. Even using the $500 I got from selling my Macbook Pro 2016 I would still have to pay $1671 out of pocket. Of course, I was not gonna get myself in debt to buy a computer, BUT STILL, it is A LOT of money for a laptop.

So, today I did some research, I definitely didn't want the 2020 M1 Macbook Pro because of the touch bar so I decided to get an M1 Macbook air, and this machine will be powerful enough for what I need. I just use it for browsing the web, Youtube, and doing homework for school. I also have an iMac for tasks requiring more power.

Definitely, thanks for this review. I don't feel like you are telling people not to buy it, but to think "Do I really need this machine?" I love Apple products and I always love having the latest and greatest, but sometimes it's just not worth it, and in my case, it wasn't. so THANK YOU!

 

[Mr. Dee]

Your review made me come to the conclusion that I don't need a new Macbook Pro. I recently sold my Macbook Pro 2016, I was definitely ready to get an M1 chip MacBook and I placed my order, but there was something inside me telling me I didn't need such a powerful machine. Even using the $500 I got from selling my Macbook Pro 2016 I would still have to pay $1671 out of pocket. Of course, I was not gonna get myself in debt to buy a computer, BUT STILL, it is A LOT of money for a laptop.

So, today I did some research, I definitely didn't want the 2020 M1 Macbook Pro because of the touch bar so I decided to get an M1 Macbook air, and this machine will be powerful enough for what I need. I just use it for browsing the web, Youtube, and doing homework for school. I also have an iMac for tasks requiring more power.

Definitely, thanks for this review. I don't feel like you are telling people not to buy it, but to think "Do I really need this machine?" I love Apple products and I always love having the latest and greatest, but sometimes it's just not worth it, and in my case, it wasn't. so THANK YOU!

Glad I was able to help in some way to guide you making a sound decision about what to purchase. I have the M1 MacBook Pro and its a lot of processing power for what I even do, which is mostly web browsing, listening music, submitting my time sheet, managing my budget in Excel. What it shows though, we are in a golden age of so many options, so much processing power. Even back in 2010 when the MacBook Air matured, it still felt like a trade off, but now, you get so much value for money. The idea that you need to have the very best is like Steve Jobs theory of the PC and Truck comparison. Considering where we truly invest most of computing which mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, spending good money devices like the 2021 MacBook Pro is diminishing more and more. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for them, more niche, more targeted. Apple themselves say so; that said, nothing stopping you from getting it if you can afford it. For me personally, I wouldn't be surprised if by 2025 I end up switching to an Air then.

I was a bit disappointed when Apple didn't launch the M1 in a 16 inch model, but when I evaluated the fact that I would be using this laptop mostly at home stationary and its also connected to a 20 inch Dell I got from work; I have enough screen real estate.

 

[leifp]

The TI book remains my favourite laptop design of all time. The previous gen MBPro comes a close second. Aesthetically. The absence of MagSafe was a major frustration…

I‘m pretty ambivalent about the new design. It’s fine. The ports are welcome, and I actually adore the “notch” - not because it exists as an eyesore (that’ll be habituation, especially when WinPC manufacturers start to copy it) but because it increases screen real estate (rather than having a completely obscure bezel merely to hide the camera(s)) with no material “cost” outside of those apps that don’t yet accommodate for it.

*update since manhandling the new designs* I'm no longer ambivalent about the new design. It is wonderful to hold and look at. Still prefer those other designs but this one is a very close third...

 

[astorre]

Excellent review. Thank you for all your effort and time. You are probably saving many non-Pros thousands of dollars. I went to an Apple Store the other day and returned both the 14 and 16. When the receptionist asked why, I said it's too thick and heavy, and he nodded and said "say no more".

and then the whole store gave you standing ovation and high fives for being the BRAVE ONE THAT FINALLY SPOKE THE TRUTH /s