MacBook Pro 2021 - it's not just how it performs, it's how it feels

[Bandaman]

delete me

 

[aevan]

delete me

No! Don't! You have so much to exist for!

 

[Fatus_Asticus]

It's affecting a ton of (if not all) 2021 MBPs at this point from what I can tell. Most people apparently don't keep their MBPs plugged in all day, while opening and closing the lid and letting it sleep.

There is no repair at this time. But hopefully, Apple will have one soon. It definitely has to do with electricity and the way it's routed through the machine.

I do exactly that, I have no issue on wake. Opening the screen turns on the computer and if I leave the screen up pressing the button brings the screen to life and the touchid works flawlessly. Not a single issue with that.

The only problem I've had is one time, only once, I had an issue where the system just started to become bogged down and slow. When I looked at my menu bar at Usage I noticed my Ram (16gb) was pegged and I was swapping. I don't know if it was my trading platform software or Safari, the only two things open at the time but a reboot fixed it and I haven't had an issue since despite a ton of usage.

 

[jinnyman]

Wonderful review!
I fully agree on a wholly new experience. Everything is snappy, I've never thought this was possible.
I use many machines, and just because of this I want to get rid of all the windows machines.. but mad because I know I can't.

 

[TimmKook]

I do exactly that, I have no issue on wake. Opening the screen turns on the computer and if I leave the screen up pressing the button brings the screen to life and the touchid works flawlessly. Not a single issue with that.

The only problem I've had is once time, only once, I had an issue where the system just started to become bogged down and slow. When I looked at my menu bar at Usage I noticed my Ram (16gb) was pegged and I was swapping. I don't know if it was my trading platform software or Safari, the only two things open at the time but a reboot fixed it and I haven't had an issue since despite a ton of usage.

Ah yeah that RAM issue, I've read a few others mention that. Luckily I haven't had that happen but I'm curious if it's only on certain specs of RAM, like 16GB or 32. I'm running 64GB so if that happened... oh boy I'd be pissed LOL.

But that is very interesting. I wonder if some 16" MBPs were just built in a faulty manner. HOWEVER I found threads dating back to JAN 2021 of the exact issue I'm having, where TouchID does not work when charging, only when on Battery. (On older M1 Macs...)

So at this point... I really don't know! Working with Apple Support on it now but they weren't much help.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The main thing I DON’T like is that previously, I knew where to plug in a USB-C cable without looking at the side. The port furthest back was lined up with the top edge of the speaker holes. Oh well, just something to get used to

 

[jujoje]

The only problem I've had is one time, only once, I had an issue where the system just started to become bogged down and slow. When I looked at my menu bar at Usage I noticed my Ram (16gb) was pegged and I was swapping. I don't know if it was my trading platform software or Safari, the only two things open at the time but a reboot fixed it and I haven't had an issue since despite a ton of usage.

This appears to be an OS issue rather than specific to M1 MacBooks; I get the same thing on my iMac Pro - doesn't bother me too much most of the time, because 64GB, but do occasionally wonder why the Window Server process is taking up 32gb.

That said, just looked on my M1 MBA and one amazon safari tab is currently using 1.5gb which seems a touch excessive...

 

[Shirasaki]

Today’s experience tells me, software support (optimisation) for apple silicon is just as important if not more so than the hardware itself: using Numbers to do the same task I did yesterday while going on Microsoft Excel, the waiting time is shorter and I feel the responsiveness is great.

Funny enough, Microsoft Excel on M1 Mac runs faster (calculates faster) than on PC running i5-9300H with 16GB of RAM.

I would always suggest people who are trying to use MacBook professionally to benchmark their go-to applications and see how the speed goes, especially for bigger projects. Such experience absolutely matters on Apple silicon, where “compatible” is vastly different from “optimised”.

 

[sahni130]

Today’s experience tells me, software support (optimisation) for apple silicon is just as important if not more so than the hardware itself: using Numbers to do the same task I did yesterday while going on Microsoft Excel, the waiting time is shorter and I feel the responsiveness is great.

Funny enough, Microsoft Excel on M1 Mac runs faster (calculates faster) than on PC running i5-9300H with 16GB of RAM.

I would always suggest people who are trying to use MacBook professionally to benchmark their go-to applications and see how the speed goes, especially for bigger projects. Such experience absolutely matters on Apple silicon, where “compatible” is vastly different from “optimised”.

Agreed. My M1 mbp crunches excel models way quicker than my i7 99something with 32gb computer at work. Matter of fact, my M1 air did too. I’m still amazed. Now, I never timed it or anything but it was pretty obvious

 

[fel10]

All I can say is, its the best MacBook Pro I've ever owned, and I had about 6 of them. Im extremely happy with mine so far. Great review.

 

[lilkwarrior]

This appears to be an OS issue rather than specific to M1 MacBooks; I get the same thing on my iMac Pro - doesn't bother me too much most of the time, because 64GB, but do occasionally wonder why the Window Server process is taking up 32gb.

That said, just looked on my M1 MBA and one amazon safari tab is currently using 1.5gb which seems a touch excessive...

This is an OS issue; I have 192GB RAM on my Mac Pro and another with more than that susceptible with this bug; it's become a lot better with recent updates to the OS.

 

[Super Xander]

Nice!
About the little things, closing the lid feel so satisfying compared to previous generation. it just feels and sounds much more robust. I haven’t heard anyone talk about this yet, but I noticed it every time using it.