M1 MacBook Pro 13" owners: are you upgrading?

[jjd]

I have been waiting for the new MBP for a long time and ordered a 14" with mid level spec on day one. But, having seen these new pics of it, I am rethinking. It looks much chunkier than I had thought and I really don't love the curved base, thicker lid and even the black keyboard background. It looks less refined than the 13" MBP.

I am a "pro" - but not musician or a graphic designer. I am a pro that needs Zoom/Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Factset running at once. Plus multiple Safari tabs and Music. And I'll watch movies on it on flights. I actually do edit video regularly but for fun not work... So, an M1 with 16GB is almost certainly more than I need.

Now, I really want (not need) Promotion, the 1080p cam, the upspec'd headphone amp and maybe even the new speakers. And the extra screen r/e will be nice too. And the cost difference is a non-issue in the scheme of things. The question is whether the features I want are worth the trade off for the extra heft, shorter battery life and (IMHO) less elegant design.

I guess I will have to wait till my 14" ships, but I reckon I am a 50% chance for returning it for a 13"er...

 

[MarkAtl]

So 33% more power and 33% less battery life for 50% more price.

Where do you get 50% more price? If you configure a M1 MBP with 16/512 you’re getting close to the 14” base price.

edit - the M1 MBP 16/512 is $1699 while its predecessor the i5 2020 with 16/512 was $1799.

 

[JonTa]

Same here, was waiting for so long, I still have my Late 13' rMBP with 16GB ram and I just ordered M1 13" (16GB / 1TB). The prices in EU are favouring 13" as its 800€ less than mid specs 14" (16GB / 1TB).

+
- old design
- better battery life
- touch bar (I like it as I am not coding and using function keys at all)

-
- promotion display
- magsafe
- better performance (tho I am not needing it, ie overspecing)

 

[petvas]

I have been waiting for the new MBP for a long time and ordered a 14" with mid level spec on day one. But, having seen these new pics of it, I am rethinking. It looks much chunkier than I had thought and I really don't love the curved base, thicker lid and even the black keyboard background. It looks less refined than the 13" MBP.

I am a "pro" - but not musician or a graphic designer. I am a pro that needs Zoom/Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Factset running at once. Plus multiple Safari tabs and Music. And I'll watch movies on it on flights. I actually do edit video regularly but for fun not work... So, an M1 with 16GB is almost certainly more than I need.

Now, I really want (not need) Promotion, the 1080p cam, the upspec'd headphone amp and maybe even the new speakers. And the extra screen r/e will be nice too. And the cost difference is a non-issue in the scheme of things. The question is whether the features I want are worth the trade off for the extra heft, shorter battery life and (IMHO) less elegant design.

I guess I will have to wait till my 14" ships, but I reckon I am a 50% chance for returning it for a 13"er...

I am in a similar situation. I am an IT Pro and actually need standard productivity apps and Safari with a lot of tabs. For this kind of usage the M1 13" MBP is great. I am not saying that I wouldn't appreciate the extra performance, I would. I also do not like the argument that I don't need more performance. I just want a computer that will always perform great, whatever I plan to do with it. The M1 has been this computer so far and I can only imagine that the M1 Pro and Max will be even better. The thing is that the main reason I loved the M1 chip was its power efficiency and performance. The battery life is unreal! I am not saying that I really need a laptop that can last for 18 hours of continuous use, but it's great to know that a weekend trip can be done without taking the power brick with me.
What I would really like to have though is a display with native Retina resolution (2x) and ProMotion. The new 14" MBP brings both features and this is the reason I preordered it. I am worried though because of the battery life and the overall volume of the 14" MBP. It is also heavier by 200gr which is a lot..I am considering to cancel my preorder and keep my M1 MBP. I will probably keep the order, since I always want to have the latest and greatest, but I am not 100% convinced of the new MBP. I also prefer the Touch Bar and the old design. My only problem with the old MBP design is the display which doesn't have a native Retina 2x resolution.

 

[exterminator]

I have been waiting for the new MBP for a long time and ordered a 14" with mid level spec on day one. But, having seen these new pics of it, I am rethinking. It looks much chunkier than I had thought and I really don't love the curved base, thicker lid and even the black keyboard background. It looks less refined than the 13" MBP.

I am a "pro" - but not musician or a graphic designer. I am a pro that needs Zoom/Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Factset running at once. Plus multiple Safari tabs and Music. And I'll watch movies on it on flights. I actually do edit video regularly but for fun not work... So, an M1 with 16GB is almost certainly more than I need.

Now, I really want (not need) Promotion, the 1080p cam, the upspec'd headphone amp and maybe even the new speakers. And the extra screen r/e will be nice too. And the cost difference is a non-issue in the scheme of things. The question is whether the features I want are worth the trade off for the extra heft, shorter battery life and (IMHO) less elegant design.

I guess I will have to wait till my 14" ships, but I reckon I am a 50% chance for returning it for a 13"er...

I'm in almost exactly the same boat as you. Its just that I don't want an M1 that has only 2 ports!

Also, assuming you intend to keep the laptop for 5-7 years, what makes you sure that 16gb is enough?

I am in a similar situation. I am an IT Pro and actually need standard productivity apps and Safari with a lot of tabs. For this kind of usage the M1 13" MBP is great. I am not saying that I wouldn't appreciate the extra performance, I would. I also do not like the argument that I don't need more performance. I just want a computer that will always perform great, whatever I plan to do with it. The M1 has been this computer so far and I can only imagine that the M1 Pro and Max will be even better. The thing is that the main reason I loved the M1 chip was its power efficiency and performance. The battery life is unreal! I am not saying that I really need a laptop that can last for 18 hours of continuous use, but it's great to know that a weekend trip can be done without taking the power brick with me.
What I would really like to have though is a display with native Retina resolution (2x) and ProMotion. The new 14" MBP brings both features and this is the reason I preordered it. I am worried though because of the battery life and the overall volume of the 14" MBP. It is also heavier by 200gr which is a lot..I am considering to cancel my preorder and keep my M1 MBP. I will probably keep the order, since I always want to have the latest and greatest, but I am not 100% convinced of the new MBP. I also prefer the Touch Bar and the old design. My only problem with the old MBP design is the display which doesn't have a native Retina 2x resolution.

How much memory did you get?

 

[JonTa]

I will use M1 MBP for 2-3 years and 16GB will do, in the meantime I do hope Apple improves on the new 14"/16" enough for me to justify the switch

 

[petvas]

I'm in almost exactly the same boat as you. Its just that I don't want an M1 that has only 2 ports!

Also, assuming you intend to keep the laptop for 5-7 years, what makes you sure that 16gb is enough?



How much memory did you get?

16GB. I would never get 8GB. Ideally I would have 24GB or even 32GB, but I never saw memory pressure above the yellow level.

 

[fa8362]

I'm in almost exactly the same boat as you. Its just that I don't want an M1 that has only 2 ports!

Also, assuming you intend to keep the laptop for 5-7 years, what makes you sure that 16gb is enough?

Because it's enough now. Worst case, don't upgrade the software and it'll be enough until the laptop is dead.

 

[g.money]

From what I can tell, the big performance difference between M1 (13") and M1 Pro (14") is multi-core applications and GPU. But I haven't been able to find a clear list of what apps take advantage of multicore processors and GPU.

Here's what I use regularly:
- Safari, Chrome, Brave with 100+ tabs total
- Spark, Slack and related chat/email apps
- Zoom, Teams, WebEx for video calls (and recording meetings)
- Keynote, Pages, Word, Excel, Numbers
- Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop
- Snagit for video captures
- Handbrake for compressing video

For my workflow, should I be focusing on single-core or multi-core performance? Would I see any real-world difference in the jump from the M1 to M1 Pro?

 

[pst23]

I did.

 

[petvas]

From what I can tell, the big performance difference between M1 (13") and M1 Pro (14") is multi-core applications and GPU. But I haven't been able to find a clear list of what apps take advantage of multicore processors and GPU.

Here's what I use regularly:
- Safari, Chrome, Brave with 100+ tabs total
- Spark, Slack and related chat/email apps
- Zoom, Teams, WebEx for video calls (and recording meetings)
- Keynote, Pages, Word, Excel, Numbers
- Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop
- Snagit for video captures
- Handbrake for compressing video

For my workflow, should I be focusing on single-core or multi-core performance? Would I see any real-world difference in the jump from the M1 to M1 Pro?

Mostly everything would benefit from multi core performance improvements. Just have a look at the number of threads each process creates in activity monitor. Especially Photoshop, Illustrator and Handbrake would see an improvement of up to 70%. Having said that and for all common productivity tasks you will not see a difference. In my eyes, when I use my M1 iMac is no different to using my new 14" MBP, at least in Safari, Mail and other productivity apps.

 

[haruhiko]

 

[DeepIn2U]

Yeah, but if battery life not power is your thing then surely you’d go for the Air.

yes it’s SLIGHTLY shorter than the 13 Pro, but not so much that anyone would notice, plus it’s lighter and cheaper.

As I said, 13 Pro feels like a product with a VERY narrow niche at this point.

13” M1 Pro has the sex (appeal in its overall visual design), the 14” M1Pro/Max has the Power (performance) Leap we once saw way back with the TiBook. Ever since there small increments in performance was offered not a significant giant leap I. Performance. Heck even design started getting ugly until the 2016-2020 models (ignoring port preferences, just design).

I hope the next gen MBP has both, unchallenged and Non-compromised.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I think Apple knows that some people are loyal to a particular product line (i.e., “I’ve always bought MacBook Pros”). For some of those people the 14” will be overkill in terms of price and specs, but they still may want an M1 MBP. This way Apple can still say that the M1 MBP “starts at” $1299.

I recall that line when Jobs returned to bring Apple to glory one of his chosen execs on the board said no matter what computer I’m going to use it’s just always gotta be a Mac. That came to mind reading your post.

 

[Strider64]

I'm perfectly happy with the MBP 13" M1 and have no plans on upgrading to the newer MBPs. I just like looking at the specs on these computers and I do that with MILC cameras as well.

 

[flapflapflap]

I was wondering how you all feel about today's MacBook Pro related announcements. I personally feel that my M1 MBP is perfect, especially after seeing what the new models bring to the table.

For me there are some significant regressions that make me think that there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to the 14" model:

• Battery life is worse than on the 13" M1 MBP
• The laptop is thicker and heavier
• The notch is unnecessary and makes the 14" MBP have a usable space around the same as the 13" M1 MBP
• There is no Touch Bar

On the other hand the new models do bring some significant improvements:

• Support for up to 64GB of RAM
• 7,4Gbps/sec Read speed for the SSD!!!
• ProMotion display!
• Better Display with support for HDR. Much brighter than before
• Faster CPU and GPU

For most people that do nothing CPU intensive the M1 model is great. What are your thoughts?

I'm a non-Pro and in the same boat and after having both the new 14 and 16 (both base-models) in hand for almost 3 days, I'm still undecided.

The 16 screen is truly amazing and very immersive. The bezels make it seem much larger than it appears and the ProMotion alone may be reason for some to upgrade. What's great about the 16 is its battery life, which is close to the M1 MBP. I'm not sold yet given the size and weight of this. The 14 screen is wonderful too but it does feel a little wasteful to use ProMotion on a smaller display. What irks me the most on the 14 is its sub-par battery life.

Both these enable more HiDPI and more scaling options on my LG 34 inch 5K2K display giving me more real estate at 4K. It also supports more monitors. Again, not sure if it's still worth upgrading from the M1 MBP.

For Pro's, I imagine the process was much easier as these new MBPs gave them exactly what they needed based on Pro requirements. As a non-Pro, it's a tougher decision, because we don't actually need it. The M1 MBP is more than enough so we're trying to rationalize and convince ourselves that we do need it. Between my trade-in value and a nice gift card, It will cost me $600 to upgrade to the base 14. Still, not sure if it's worth it. I also hear of rumors of a larger M2 Air. Something to also consider.

 

[flapflapflap]

I’m a little confused now as to where the 13” sits in terms of use cases.

Must be a pretty narrow band of uses where you’d want the 13 Pro over the Air AND where your workflow wouldn’t be improved by the 14

it's only 100 dollars more expensive than the Air but you get 5-7 hours of more battery life, fans, the same SDR nits of brightness as the new 14 and 16, better form factor in my opinion, and Touch Bar for those who like it.

 

[flapflapflap]

Battery life is a pretty marginal gain over the Air though

16GB M1? My base M1 MBP beach balls on me all the time with a bunch of Google docs open. For the $720 trade in I’ll happily swap it for a 14” base.

I've had the 16GB M1 and it never beach balled on me. Never heard the fans turn on. It does run slightly warm when connected to my 34 inch 5K2K display but so does the new 16 and 14.

 

[flapflapflap]

So 33% more power and 33% less battery life for 50% more price.

Yeah, speed and performance is a non-factor for me (non-Pro). Single core performance is practically the same.

I've been working from home and expect to WFH for another 6 months. Even when returning to the office, I don't expect to take my MBP with me. I have the iPad Pro 11 for that. So the M1 MBP has been sitting on my desk for 85% of the time, and when it's on my desk, it's used as a secondary monitor as it is connected to my external display 90% of that time. The other 15% of the time, I take the MBP to my bedroom or living room and the remaining 5% involve irregular visits to friends, family and coffee shops.

So while the battery life is a key factor, in my use case, it may not be a big factor, nor is the added thickness and weight of the new 14 and 16, so my reasons for upgrading are really for the (1) better screen tech (ProMotion/Resolution/Mini-LED), (2) larger screen size, (3) return of the hard function keys, (4) return of the ports, (5) better speakers, (6) support for multiple monitors, (7) HiDPI/better scaling on my LG 34 inch 5K2K.

(1) is amazing, and with the 16, it's so large and immersive, I love it. I'll probably use this more around the house so having the extra battery on tap is a major plus. Regarding (2) the 14 is great too but the smaller screen size feels wasteful given the great screen tech. I also think between the M1 MBP and 14, there's a marginal difference in screen size. Upgrading from 13 inches to 14 inches doesn't make sense, despite the better screen tech. 16 feels much more like an upgrade.

(3) The touch-bar is useless for me so I am very happy to see hard function keys, plus these keys are the same size as the rest of the keyboard.

(4) The HDMI is useless. It's nice to have 1 more TB port than my version of the M1 MBP, I especially like having it on both sides of the laptop. Initially I was indifferent on the SD card slot but I intend to use it for additional storage space for random files. Just need to wait for a flush SD card to come out for these new MBPs. Return of the MagSafe is nice and will be used primarily when I'm not at my desk. It'll be a perfect charger when I use it in my bed.

(5) the speakers on these 14/16 are amazing, I'm pretty blown away and I probably will use my air pods a lot less.

(6) If I go with the 16, I don't think I'lll ever need another external display as my 34 inch ultra wide is plenty for me, but it's a nice to have in case that ever changes.

(7) the scaling and resolution on my external display that's supported by the M1 MBP is perfectly fine, but the 14/16 unlocks better scaling options giving me more screen real estate.

having said all this, I'm still undecided, but if I decide to leave my M1 MBP, I will be leaving it for the 16

 

[TopToffee]

it's only 100 dollars more expensive than the Air but you get 5-7 hours of more battery life, fans, the same SDR nits of brightness as the new 14 and 16, better form factor in my opinion, and Touch Bar for those who like it.

$300

 

[flapflapflap]

Yeah, speed and performance is a non-factor for me (non-Pro). Single core performance is practically the same.

I've been working from home and expect to WFH for another 6 months. Even when returning to the office, I don't expect to take my MBP with me. I have the iPad Pro 11 for that. So the M1 MBP has been sitting on my desk for 85% of the time, and when it's on my desk, it's used as a secondary monitor as it is connected to my external display 90% of that time. The other 15% of the time, I take the MBP to my bedroom or living room and the remaining 5% involve irregular visits to friends, family and coffee shops.

So while the battery life is a key factor, in my use case, it may not be a big factor, nor is the added thickness and weight of the new 14 and 16, so my reasons for upgrading are really for the (1) better screen tech (ProMotion/Resolution/Mini-LED), (2) larger screen size, (3) return of the hard function keys, (4) return of the ports, (5) better speakers, (6) support for multiple monitors, (7) HiDPI/better scaling on my LG 34 inch 5K2K.

(1) is amazing, and with the 16, it's so large and immersive, I love it. I'll probably use this more around the house so having the extra battery on tap is a major plus. Regarding (2) the 14 is great too but the smaller screen size feels wasteful given the great screen tech. I also think between the M1 MBP and 14, there's a marginal difference in screen size. Upgrading from 13 inches to 14 inches doesn't make sense, despite the better screen tech. 16 feels much more like an upgrade.

(3) The touch-bar is useless for me so I am very happy to see hard function keys, plus these keys are the same size as the rest of the keyboard.

(4) The HDMI is useless. It's nice to have 1 more TB port than my version of the M1 MBP, I especially like having it on both sides of the laptop. Initially I was indifferent on the SD card slot but I intend to use it for additional storage space for random files. Just need to wait for a flush SD card to come out for these new MBPs. Return of the MagSafe is nice and will be used primarily when I'm not at my desk. It'll be a perfect charger when I use it in my bed.

(5) the speakers on these 14/16 are amazing, I'm pretty blown away and I probably will use my air pods a lot less.

(6) If I go with the 16, I don't think I'lll ever need another external display as my 34 inch ultra wide is plenty for me, but it's a nice to have in case that ever changes.

(7) the scaling and resolution on my external display that's supported by the M1 MBP is perfectly fine, but the 14/16 unlocks better scaling options giving me more screen real estate.

having said all this, I'm still undecided, but if I decide to leave my M1 MBP, I will be leaving it for the 16

update: sticking with my M1 MBP, it has superior battery life, and quite honestly, it's still over-kill for what I do. the 14 is too small of a screen size bump to justify spending several hundreds more and the 16 is way too expensive. even between trade in value and a gift card I've been saving for these new MBPs, not going to splurge on these new mbps.

 

[MarkAtl]

I've had the 16GB M1 and it never beach balled on me. Never heard the fans turn on. It does run slightly warm when connected to my 34 inch 5K2K display but so does the new 16 and 14.

The key is 16GB. In using my new 16” I’m seeing 60%+ memory usage (which doesn’t necessarily mean anything) but unlike my 8GB M1 memory pressure never leaves green.

 

[petvas]

update: sticking with my M1 MBP, it has superior battery life, and quite honestly, it's still over-kill for what I do. the 14 is too small of a screen size bump to justify spending several hundreds more and the 16 is way too expensive. even between trade in value and a gift card I've been saving for these new MBPs, not going to splurge on these new mbps.

It's certainly a good decision. I decided to get the 14" MBP and I am loving it. The display is gorgeous and that alone is worth it for me.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I am on the M1 Mbp 8gb 512 and it's a wait and see attitude once the stock is back and maybe will go back and check. I do appreciate all the reviews and will see how the new ones fair over the next few months. I do like the touch bar a bit and use it and plus like how i use the laptop on my lap often when in bed and its light.
I did go to best buy yesterday and they have the 14" on display and I was holding it and loved how it felt but will wait.
ideally, I want a mac mini so I can replace my 5.1 and have like 4tb or 8tb in that mac mini so i dont have to keep like 3-5 HDD/SSDs in my 5.1 MP with all diff content all over the place. I like the speeds of these SSDs in the new laptops but with Monterey, my battery life has improved and laptop is faster it seems..maybe im dreaming.

Also, i dont do any video editing and most of it is in imovie if i do. I do some photography but my camera is a canon 6d so dont have to worry about file sizes either in graphic apps.

 

[Dunkrag]

16GB M1? My base M1 MBP beach balls on me all the time with a bunch of Google docs open. For the $720 trade in I’ll happily swap it for a 14” base.

100% in the same boat...

I've upgraded to the 14'' 16gb/1TB and it's absolutely night and day in terms of speed and reliability..