The M1 13" Macbook Pro feels like an odd duck now

[pshufd]

Nobody seems to care about the battery life regression that the new MacBooks bring to the table. The 13" M1 MBP has 17 hours web browsing battery, while the 14" only 11 hours. This is a big difference. I have the M1 MBP since May and battery health is still on 100%. Battery life has been amazing. Since I am not a "Pro" (video, audio editor) I don't really need all the power of the new laptops. The only thing I want though is the new Promotion display with native 2x Retina scaling. This is the only reason for me to get the new MacBook Pro. If Apple put this display on the 13" I would get that instead.

I'm going to test out Low Power Mode on my MacBook Pro to see if that provides an extra 20-30% battery life.

I'm coming from a 2014 MacBook Pro 15 that's rated at 8 hours but realistically provides 5 hours (it has a brand new battery). So a battery rated at 21 hours is going to be a huge boost for me assuming that it actually provides about 17 hours of real-world use. I also am going to mainly use it for videos, web browsing and reading books and articles. Nothing heavy for now. I might integrate it into my workflow but I wanted to get a mini Pro or Max for that.

 

[darthbane2k]

Equating how students in classes don't actually use anywhere near the full power of their machines. Not hard to extrapolate.

You implied that the M1 was a 'student laptop' and wasn't capable of anything beyond 'taking notes and watching lectures', which I'm afraid is utter nonsense.

 

[Steve686]

You implied that the M1 was a 'student laptop' and wasn't capable of anything beyond 'taking notes and watching lectures', which I'm afraid is utter nonsense.

However you take it. Don't care. You'll live.

Doesn't matter.

 

[petvas]

However you take it. Don't care. You'll live.

Doesn't matter.

Well I am sorry but there is no need to make such statements. The M1 is a great CPU that is very good for general purpose computing tasks. Many professionals use it every day and make their living with it. Not only students use it..
I have placed an order for the 14" MBP only because I want to have the display. No other reason is good enough for me, for my needs.

 

[Frodolinski]

I still like my 2020 M1 Pro. Great performance, good size/weight and the most important for me good battery life.
The 14" looks disappointing (on paper) in terms of battery life

 

[ian87w]

I'm going to test out Low Power Mode on my MacBook Pro to see if that provides an extra 20-30% battery life.

I'm coming from a 2014 MacBook Pro 15 that's rated at 8 hours but realistically provides 5 hours (it has a brand new battery). So a battery rated at 21 hours is going to be a huge boost for me assuming that it actually provides about 17 hours of real-world use. I also am going to mainly use it for videos, web browsing and reading books and articles. Nothing heavy for now. I might integrate it into my workflow but I wanted to get a mini Pro or Max for that.

Battery life is one primary reason for me considering the Apple Silicon Macbooks. Any recent intel laptops, no matter what they promised on the spec sheet, will only give me roughly 5 hours at best on my actual use. Intel laptops only have great battery life when you don't use them. And I'm tired of having a laptop that heats up just because I'm browsing the web.

 

[Steve686]

Well I am sorry but there is no need to make such statements. The M1 is a great CPU that is very good for general purpose computing tasks. Many professionals use it every day and make their living with it. Not only students use it..
I have placed an order for the 14" MBP only because I want to have the display. No other reason is good enough for me, for my needs

Good for you.
I have an M1. Use it for 4K video editing.

If you notice, Apple itself is marketing these machines at ProRes users and 8k editors.

“Professionals” use iPads pros everyday. And MBAirs.
Doesn’t change the fact that if a student looked at the choices of M1, M1Pro, or M1Max, their machine would gravitate to the simple M1 for lectures and video viewing for school.

Don’t understand the difficulty in realizing this.

Anyway. How people view it here doesn’t matter. The buyers are the ones that Apple markets to.

 

[ian87w]

I think it's only an odd duck due to the Touch Bar. They still need something in that price range. They should probably to bump up the base storage to 512GB at the $1299 price, to give it some breathing room next to the Air.

Or at least make the 16GB RAM and 512GB as standard.
Apple did make that 13" Macbook Pro without the Touch bar in the past as the baseline model. Wish they would use that one instead and bum up the RAM and storage.

 

[ian87w]

Nobody seems to care about the battery life regression that the new MacBooks bring to the table. The 13" M1 MBP has 17 hours web browsing battery, while the 14" only 11 hours. This is a big difference. I have the M1 MBP since May and battery health is still on 100%. Battery life has been amazing. Since I am not a "Pro" (video, audio editor) I don't really need all the power of the new laptops. The only thing I want though is the new Promotion display with native 2x Retina scaling. This is the only reason for me to get the new MacBook Pro. If Apple put this display on the 13" I would get that instead.

Ah good point. So the 13" model at least have a place for those looking for better battery life without going for the 16".

 

[petvas]

Ah good point. So the 13" model at least have a place for those looking for better battery life without going for the 16".

It has better battery life than the 16" model too.

 

[bluecoast]

Agreed. I could see a redesign of the MBA (or 'MacBook'?):

14 inch - Standard LED display
14 inch - Mini LED variable refresh rate display

I'd imagine that the Mini LED version would be closer to $1500, bridging the gap between the MBA/MB and the new MBPs.

 

[boak]

Agreed. I could see a redesign of the MBA (or 'MacBook'?):

14 inch - Standard LED display
14 inch - Mini LED variable refresh rate display

I'd imagine that the Mini LED version would be closer to $1500, bridging the gap between the MBA/MB and the new MBPs.

Doesn’t make economic sense to have 2 different designs though. The MBA is all about volume and scale to keep the price down.

 

[ader42]

13” M1 MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1699

14” M1Pro MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1999 - with better display, magsafe, more ports and monitor support, better cpu and better gpu.

You get a lot for the extra $300. I think Apple nailed the pricing as usual - but I would prefer lower pricing - as usual.

 

[boak]

13” M1 MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1699

14” M1Pro MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1999 - with better display, magsafe, more ports and monitor support, better cpu and better gpu.

You get a lot for the extra $300. I think Apple nailed the pricing as usual - but I would prefer lower pricing - as usual.

Yup. Apple nailed it with the upselling strategy.

 

[KPOM]

I don't know, the 13 Pro doesn't thermally throttle when the 13 Air does so it is faster as far as how long it takes to complete a render or import/process/export a big batch of files from LR. That being said, I can see Apple creating a less expensive version of the 14", with a regular M2 when the others get M2-Pro/M2-Max and a regular LED screen, to eventually replace the 13" Pro.

The other consideration is the price point. There is a big gap between the MacBook Air with 16/512 ($1,449) and the 14" MacBook Pro ($1,999). Even if Apple boosts the price of the MacBook Air, I don't think it will be $200 more. Apple could introduce a new base 14" Pro with the base M2, but including the other Pro features.

 

[petvas]

13” M1 MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1699

14” M1Pro MBP with 16GB/512GB is $1999 - with better display, magsafe, more ports and monitor support, better cpu and better gpu.

You get a lot for the extra $300. I think Apple nailed the pricing as usual - but I would prefer lower pricing - as usual.

You also lose a lot. Battery life, the Touch Bar and a display without the notch. Battery life is important even if I am not using my laptop all day on the road. I have my 13" MBP since May and battery health is still at 100%!!! This wouldn't be possible if I had to charge the battery more often. I have the impression that with the new MBPs this will be the case. I now charge once a week, maybe twice and this is really great.

 

[boak]

The rumoured MBA doesn’t have a tapered base, which should be a strong hint that it will replace the M1 MBP. I can see Apple following the iPhone strategy, selling M1 and M2 MBAs while reserving Pro and Max chips for the MBP. The current M1 MBP is a placeholder product for the $1299 price point.

 

[Strider64]

I was debating between the MBP 13 M1 and the MBA M1 for a good day or two. I decided to go with the MBP 13 M1 mainly for the fan as I don't the computer bogging down after a while. I do mostly Photoshop and Website Development, but I do very light video editing on it. If I ever get heavy into video editing as of right now I can go to my iMac Pro to do it. In the future I will probably sell the MPB 13 M1 to get the 14 or 16 (probably the 14).

 

[LeeW]

14" MBP only because I want to have the display.

I would buy the 14" for the reason alone too

 

[Apple2GS]

If you want a lighter laptop with much better battery life, 17 hours vs 11 on wireless web, along with a TouchBar then the 13 is the one. Recent reports show that single core performance is similar. So there are valid reasons for the 13 to be considered.

I have a 14 on order, but the battery life might be an issue. For my use I get about half the listed battery life. The 14 and 16 may be considered desktop replacements.

 

[jdb8167]

With the 14" and 16" redefines the Macbook Pro lineup, the 13" M1 Macbook Pro feels like a really odd duck from the lineup. It's no longer feel "Pro" as it's missing the simplest things such as only 2 USB4 (not thunderbolt 4) ports, lack of more external display support, 8GB RAM base, and the so-called "Pro" connectivity (ie. the ports). And tests have shown that it's not performing that much more compared to the M1 Macbook Air.

I'd rather see Apple eliminating it altogether, and maybe make a more basic version of the 14" Pro. Eg. the same 14" form factor with the ports, use the base 8-core M1 Pro chip, same 16GB and 512GB base, but just the current regular 60Hz LCD display and 720p webcam. Price it maybe for $1599 or $1699.

But hey, that's me. Apple would want people to just spend more money and get the 14"... ?

As others pointed out both the price for the M1 13" MacBook Pro and the battery life are good reasons to keep it in the lineup. The other reason is the weight. There is a rather large difference between 3.0 pounds and 3.5 pounds (1.4 kg vs. 1.6 kg), the 14" is about 17% heavier. For something I carry around all day, that matters to me. Except I went with the M1 MacBook Air at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg).

Not everyone needs or wants to pay for 2 external displays and extra ports.

 

[Boil]

I would discontinue the current M1-powered 13" MacBook Air & 13" MacBook Pro, replacing them with M2-powered 14" & 16" MacBooks, these will follow the new MacBook Pro design cues (and maybe even use the same Mini LED ProMotion panels & 1080p webcam), but will be thinner & lighter...

We can save the "Look Ma, No Fans...!" for the iPad / iPad Pro lineup...

 

[MF878]

The 13” Pro M1 has been an odd duck since day 1 really. It’s $300 more than the Air with relatively minor differences. It was a stopgap due to the true Pro chips still being 8-12 months away, and the existing $1,299 Intel-based Pros would have been a terrible offering next to the Air with M1.

I am of the opinion that with M2, Apple will consolidate the Air and base Pro in a new ”MacBook”, with the lineup being this:

MacBook Air (M1) - $999
MacBook (M2) - $1,299
MacBook Pro 14” - $1,999
MacBook Pro 16” - $2,499

Reasons for this include:
- I don’t see Apple introducing the rumoured new design at $999
- This provides a lot more value for $300 (see: 13” Pro - $1699 (16GB/512GB), new 14” Pro - $1,999)
- There probably still won’t be anything comparable to the $999 Air M1 on the Windows side

 

[KPOM]

I would discontinue the current M1-powered 13" MacBook Air & 13" MacBook Pro, replacing them with M2-powered 14" & 16" MacBooks, these will follow the new MacBook Pro design cues (and maybe even use the same Mini LED ProMotion panels & 1080p webcam), but will be thinner & lighter...

We can save the "Look Ma, No Fans...!" for the iPad / iPad Pro lineup...

Except the iPads don’t run MacOS. I think Apple will still want a <3 lb. notebook.

 

[boak]

The 13” Pro M1 has been an odd duck since day 1 really. It’s $300 more than the Air with relatively minor differences. It was a stopgap due to the true Pro chips still being 8-12 months away, and the existing $1,299 Intel-based Pros would have been a terrible offering next to the Air with M1.

I am of the opinion that with M2, Apple will consolidate the Air and base Pro in a new ”MacBook”, with the lineup being this:

MacBook Air (M1) - $999
MacBook (M2) - $1,299
MacBook Pro 14” - $1,999
MacBook Pro 16” - $2,499

Reasons for this include:
- I don’t see Apple introducing the rumoured new design at $999
- This provides a lot more value for $300 (see: 13” Pro - $1699 (16GB/512GB), new 14” Pro - $1,999)
- There probably still won’t be anything comparable to the $999 Air M1 on the Windows side

This is exactly what I think will happen, except maybe they keep the Air brand for M2.

It makes a lot of sense in terms of branding. Air for casual users and Pro for “professionals”.