The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time.

[vel0city]

Been buying Macs since the beige G3 desktops and have owned pretty much every model of Mac since in some shape or form.

The M1 Max Macbook Pro is easily up there in my top three Mac purchases of all time, along with the original tiBook G4 and 2009 cheesegrater Mac Pro. This is a classic Mac. It feels like the absolute pinnacle of what Apple are about and it's making my work an absolute dream. Everything the OP said is absolutely correct and there are a million other things to love about this machine.

Some Macs I've liked and enjoy working with, but this is one of those computers that changes how you work in profound and meaningful ways by opening up new opportunities for creativity. I'm able to do things in 3D now that would've bought any of my previous machines to their knees. This Mac genuinely makes me think differently about how I approach my work, and my clients are already noticing an increased level of fidelity and detail in the artwork I'm creating, purely because the M1 Max is allowing me to push the limits of my work software.

For me that is priceless and the best endorsement that I could give. The previous bottlenecks in creativity have been decimated and I can go absolutely wild with how I push ideas and execution.

 

[cpnotebook80]

Considering I had the 2012 Macbook pro till last year when i got the m1 mbp, the old intel one battery died and was heating up during my zoom calls! But yea i was running that to the ground and it got the mileage. Also, I never upgraded due to the 5 years of troubled macbook pros that were released so i stayed out of upgrading.

It depends on the personal use case for ppl who use this laptops. For me, I can stretch out my m1 mbp from last year hoping to when a M4 or M5 maybe get released.

 

[TheSynchronizer]

They're great machines, and definitely one of the best laptops available today, but unfortunately i'm returning my 14" and going back to a 16GB 13" M1 MBP.

IMHO the only, and I mean the only thing keeping these laptops back from being 100% the greatest all around laptops is the software, and in other cases, the lack there-of. I've found that I simply cannot invest 100% fully into just having a single Apple silicon based computer, due to the complete lack of any true gaming, and no dual booting capabilities. OS Virtualisation (when possible) is still messy and understandably suffers a lot of performance loss due to the many layers of virtualisation/translation that are required.

So what I've found works best for my situation and requirements is getting a cheaper Apple silicon laptop, and a secondary AMD Ryzen x86 Windows laptop that can do anything that the M1 can't.

I bought an open-box M1 MBP 16GB/512GB for £1035, and a Ryzen R9-5900HS/3050 Ti Flow X13 for £1000 to go along with it. For the XDR display I have the 12.9 M1 iPad Pro which side-by-side looked identical to the 14", just less immersive.

I agree that for anyone who is able to do everything they need to on these machines these new macbooks are likely the greatest laptops for them. But for a lot of others, me included, there is still progress to be made before we can fully invest in these higher tier Apple Silicon macbooks.

Either way, enjoy your new 14/16, they're truly beautiful machines.

 

[ducati1212]

Do u think base 16 M1 Pro with 1TB will last for 6-7 years? I do not want to buy new laptop earlier.

It will but we will be on the M3 chip by then and new ones will be 20x faster than it. If you are ok with that then sure

 

[TheSynchronizer]

It will but we will be on the M3 chip by then and new ones will be 20x faster than it. If you are ok with that then sure

IMO more like 2x faster at most, most probably less faster.

The great big jump of performance was from intel to Apple silicon, which we just saw.

Now we're going to be seeing incremental performance upgrades again, similar to e.g. A13 -> A14 -> A15 performance improvements. These are still good improvements, but they won't be so big as to render any current macbooks useless any time soon.

 

[PeterL111]

I got the same spec, all decked out to the max except 4TB instead of 8TB. I’ll be getting mine on Christmas. Main reason for me is the consistency of performance without being on the lookout for a power outlet unlike my Razer blade (biggest regret of my life).

 

[Sam.b1]

For those who don’t care about gaming, this might be the very best laptop in the market as of today. But I personally don’t find Monterey to be that much better than Windows, if at all.

 

[transpo1]

I’m not typically one for hyperbole. I’m not even one to post online, period. My standards are very high. I can be as cynical as the next consumer. And I have been extremely critical of Apple for the last 5-10 years. The loss of ports. The Freakin' TouchBar. The thin-at-all-costs design. Butterfly kisses gumming up our keyboards. Battery issues. The prices. Global supply chains and chip shortages. Lack of innovation. The poor stability of Big Sur. AirPods desyncing or only charging one Pod, leaving me hanging on my runs.

When things are trending down, we have a tendency as a society to focus on the negative and assume they’ll stay that way. We take the good times for granted, only realizing how good we had it when they’re over.

As I browse the forums, I’m seeing comments saying it costs too much, still no old school USB port, hoping the Jony Ive era is finally over, complaints about The Notch, no touchscreen option, too chunky/heavy, battery life questions, not user upgradeable, there’s not enough on Apple TV, Apple relies on add-on services too much, complaints it isn’t innovative, complaints the leather sleeve isn’t out, the FPS for gaming isn’t as high as an Intel machine with an nVidia 3080 RTX. Microsoft has a zany new laptop out. Asus has screens in their TouchPads. Dell has smaller bezels, no notch, and higher resolution for cheaper prices. Samsung and LG are doing great things. Lenovo has great Yoga products. Windows 11 is out, and it’s great.

And you know? All of that might even be true. But we’ve completely buried the lead; I’m here to let you know in case you’re on the fence in an uncertain world full of inflation, drama, and holidays on the horizon still in a pandemic:

Friends, these are the good times. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time.

I went all-in for once: ordered a maxed out 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max 32-core GPU 64 GB 8 TB behemoth. I thought for sure I would return it. I had buyer’s remorse as soon as I saw the invoice. Over $6,300 with AppleCare+ even with a Veteran’s discount?! I’ve bought 3 cars that were less than that! Two weeks later, I’m typing this on it, and it ain’t going back. Let me hit some highlights for you:

• It’s the fastest laptop I’ve ever used, and I own a 2021 Asus G15 Ryzen 3080
• It has the best keyboard I’ve ever used. At worst, it’s tied with the 2015 Retina MBP. I couldn’t pick a winner between that lovable marshmallow and this. It’s like a desktop Magic keyboard with more forgiveness and precision. I can’t overstate how quiet it is.
• Monterey is the best OS I’ve ever used. I finally feel like the OS is moving at the speed of my thoughts on this laptop.
• It’s the best laptop screen I’ve ever had. Resolution and refresh rate are both up. They aren’t the highest specs on the market, but you must consider the whole experience, color, transition, motion, video. Sometimes I swipe up and down into Mission Control just to watch the windows move.
• It’s the best battery life I’ve ever had. I don’t even measure how much I’m getting anymore; I just use the laptop as much as I want for two days and sometimes charge it.
• It has the best laptop speakers I’ve ever heard, and it isn’t even close.
• It has all the ports a Professional needs in 2021. Do I wish it had one old school USB 3.1… sure. Is it a dealbreaker? Nope.
• The Notch doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I enjoy moving the cursor behind it for fun.
• TouchID is bigger and faster than ever, remains amazing, and is my preferred login and buying method.
• Zero application compatibility issues with the M1 Max or Monterey for me.
• The ‘feet’ on the bottom fit perfectly in my lap for use as an actual laptop.
• And welcome back MagSafe, HDMI, & SD Cards! You were missed.

Let me address the gaming FPS thing. You have no reason to know this, but I was a professional gamer. I won four championships once upon a time. I’m in a Hall of Fame. Pro gamers … don’t play on laptops lol. For everyone else, this is great: very playable, with solid framerates between 60-180 for nearly any game you can install on Mac OS.

When I think back to the price, I saved $300 or so with the Veteran’s discount. I got about $200 in rewards from AppleCash. I got over $1,100 for my MacBook Pro TouchBar trade-in. I’m covered for any accidents with AppleCare+. Like every Mac, I don’t have to buy OS upgrades or rebuy Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro or the other great apps. I can probably keep this thing for 5-7 years or more. And I got it up and running as my main office laptop in under an hour. I love Windows, but a comparable experience would have cost me $7,000 and 2 business days of installing drivers, app licenses, and transferring files.

TL;DR: You can't go wrong with any spec of the 14.2” or 16.2”. Think about your budget, how long you want to keep it, save up if you have to, and go for it. Haters gonna hate. Nothing is ever finished. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of great. And kudos Apple, you did it. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time. Let the good times roll.

Great post. I received my maxed out 16” M1 Max 8TB last week and feel exactly the same way. It’s fast, battery is great, it moves at the speed of my thoughts and the keyboard is Magic. No regrets. Not even close.

Oh, and P.S. a specific anecdote: I’ve never seen any computer move through H.265 ProRes encodes that fast. On battery. Four batches. Without the fans turning on once. It’s scary, how quiet the computer stays. Amazing.

 

[transpo1]

I personally think at the rate that Apple is improving their own silicon, and the huge leaps in performance, I think that whilst you won't need to upgrade in 2-3 years time, you'll definitely want to.

This is what I’m afraid of— once the 3nm process increases battery life and performance to 30 hours

 

[collin_]

If you don’t mind my asking, why did you buy the 8TB SSD?

 

[BeefCake 15]

I won four championships once upon a time. I’m in a Hall of Fame. Pro gamers … don’t play on laptops lol.

Thank you for your service!

 

[Larabee119]

The lack of a 4th TB4 port and/or CF Express B slot makes it a pain in the butt for professional photography. Especially as in the new year we are moving to CF Express 2.0 with 4 GB/s cards. The three present TB4 ports are all quite capable but the inclusion of a SD slot (that isn't even reverse compatible with CF Express A) in 2021 is still mind boggling.

I wonder what do you need the 4th thunderbolt port for when you already have 3 ports with 3 bus. The previous gen has 4 ports but only 2 bus thunderbolt.
Your pro-workflow will soon requires CF Express then better prepare the dongle . That sucks but one thunderbolt dongle will give you everything you need already.

For those who don’t care about gaming, this might be the very best laptop in the market as of today. But I personally don’t find Monterey to be that much better than Windows, if at all.

I game on my 16" M1 Max using Geforce now. Quite a great experience. Not trying to promote nvidia service but it's a viable option for almost everyone who wants to play AAA games.

If you don’t mind my asking, why did you buy the 8TB SSD?

Having the large internal storage is preferable. When you're in mission critical job, you don't want to carry around external NVME which can be easily stolen or damaged.

The new MacBook are expensive you can use that expense for tax deduction. And instead of you paying tax to the government, redirect that expense to your own investment which gives higher ROI. That's why I don't give a single damn about the price at all. Unless you want to operate at break even or loss to avoid paying tax.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Having the large internal storage is preferable. When you're in mission critical job, you don't want to carry around external NVME which can be easily stolen or damaged.

Not to mention that I have yet to find NVMe enclosure that wont disconnect at some random time. I have three different chips, the Realtek one seems to be most stable but still goes away sporadically. I got the 14 with 8TB and 64GB. I just can't believe that a machine like that exists at all. Macs were always behind Windows laptops hardware wise, making up with optimization and tight integration. Now it's unlimited powah! In an ultrabook, crazy.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

I’m not typically one for hyperbole. I’m not even one to post online, period. My standards are very high. I can be as cynical as the next consumer. And I have been extremely critical of Apple for the last 5-10 years. The loss of ports. The Freakin' TouchBar. The thin-at-all-costs design. Butterfly kisses gumming up our keyboards. Battery issues. The prices. Global supply chains and chip shortages. Lack of innovation. The poor stability of Big Sur. AirPods desyncing or only charging one Pod, leaving me hanging on my runs.

When things are trending down, we have a tendency as a society to focus on the negative and assume they’ll stay that way. We take the good times for granted, only realizing how good we had it when they’re over.

As I browse the forums, I’m seeing comments saying it costs too much, still no old school USB port, hoping the Jony Ive era is finally over, complaints about The Notch, no touchscreen option, too chunky/heavy, battery life questions, not user upgradeable, there’s not enough on Apple TV, Apple relies on add-on services too much, complaints it isn’t innovative, complaints the leather sleeve isn’t out, the FPS for gaming isn’t as high as an Intel machine with an nVidia 3080 RTX. Microsoft has a zany new laptop out. Asus has screens in their TouchPads. Dell has smaller bezels, no notch, and higher resolution for cheaper prices. Samsung and LG are doing great things. Lenovo has great Yoga products. Windows 11 is out, and it’s great.

And you know? All of that might even be true. But we’ve completely buried the lead; I’m here to let you know in case you’re on the fence in an uncertain world full of inflation, drama, and holidays on the horizon still in a pandemic:

Friends, these are the good times. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time.

I went all-in for once: ordered a maxed out 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max 32-core GPU 64 GB 8 TB behemoth. I thought for sure I would return it. I had buyer’s remorse as soon as I saw the invoice. Over $6,300 with AppleCare+ even with a Veteran’s discount?! I’ve bought 3 cars that were less than that! Two weeks later, I’m typing this on it, and it ain’t going back. Let me hit some highlights for you:

• It’s the fastest laptop I’ve ever used, and I own a 2021 Asus G15 Ryzen 3080
• It has the best keyboard I’ve ever used. At worst, it’s tied with the 2015 Retina MBP. I couldn’t pick a winner between that lovable marshmallow and this. It’s like a desktop Magic keyboard with more forgiveness and precision. I can’t overstate how quiet it is.
• Monterey is the best OS I’ve ever used. I finally feel like the OS is moving at the speed of my thoughts on this laptop.
• It’s the best laptop screen I’ve ever had. Resolution and refresh rate are both up. They aren’t the highest specs on the market, but you must consider the whole experience, color, transition, motion, video. Sometimes I swipe up and down into Mission Control just to watch the windows move.
• It’s the best battery life I’ve ever had. I don’t even measure how much I’m getting anymore; I just use the laptop as much as I want for two days and sometimes charge it.
• It has the best laptop speakers I’ve ever heard, and it isn’t even close.
• It has all the ports a Professional needs in 2021. Do I wish it had one old school USB 3.1… sure. Is it a dealbreaker? Nope.
• The Notch doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I enjoy moving the cursor behind it for fun.
• TouchID is bigger and faster than ever, remains amazing, and is my preferred login and buying method.
• Zero application compatibility issues with the M1 Max or Monterey for me.
• The ‘feet’ on the bottom fit perfectly in my lap for use as an actual laptop.
• And welcome back MagSafe, HDMI, & SD Cards! You were missed.

Let me address the gaming FPS thing. You have no reason to know this, but I was a professional gamer. I won four championships once upon a time. I’m in a Hall of Fame. Pro gamers … don’t play on laptops lol. For everyone else, this is great: very playable, with solid framerates between 60-180 for nearly any game you can install on Mac OS.

When I think back to the price, I saved $300 or so with the Veteran’s discount. I got about $200 in rewards from AppleCash. I got over $1,100 for my MacBook Pro TouchBar trade-in. I’m covered for any accidents with AppleCare+. Like every Mac, I don’t have to buy OS upgrades or rebuy Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro or the other great apps. I can probably keep this thing for 5-7 years or more. And I got it up and running as my main office laptop in under an hour. I love Windows, but a comparable experience would have cost me $7,000 and 2 business days of installing drivers, app licenses, and transferring files.

TL;DR: You can't go wrong with any spec of the 14.2” or 16.2”. Think about your budget, how long you want to keep it, save up if you have to, and go for it. Haters gonna hate. Nothing is ever finished. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of great. And kudos Apple, you did it. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time. Let the good times roll.

True.

So many times whenever a new MBP came out I thought this was a great improvement, but only for a day or two.

Then I hated the heat or the throttling or some other thing.

This new MBP is totally different. It's a culmination of so many years of experience, trial and error.

Everything is rectified. There's nothing really lacking or annoying or holding me back. I can get on with work and play and it never holds back.

 

[Analog Kid]

Absolute hyperbole.

At best it’s the greatest laptop ..until next year.

I think you might be confusing “of all time” with “for all time”?

 

[Kierkegaarden]

This is the epitome of hyperbole. ?

I concur, preemptively, as I’m still waiting for mine — thanks for getting me more excited!

 

[Analog Kid]

I wonder what do you need the 4th thunderbolt port for when you already have 3 ports with 3 bus. The previous gen has 4 ports but only 2 bus thunderbolt.

Having two ports on each side would be a benefit for convenience. If your setup gives easiest access to power on the right, it’ll go into the one USB-C port on that side. At the very least it may have made sense to put the MagSafe on the one-port side.

But at the core of it, it’s just about not having something useful to make room for something not useful. We’re not throughput limited, we’re port limited.

Not a deal breaker, but as long as people are constantly ranting about one thing or another in these forums like it’s the end of the world, it’s worth pointing out how narrow the utility of a SD reader is in this day and age. Half the people praising it actually need a micro-SD adapter anyway.

Your pro-workflow will soon requires CF Express then better prepare the dongle . That sucks but one thunderbolt dongle will give you everything you need already.

The same argument would hold for the people who want legacy support for SD. And that thunderbolt dongle will give everything except an extra port— unless we go to a bigger, more expensive, more awkward hub.

Again— minor quibble about an otherwise great machine. I don’t have interest in creating a silly YouTube channel making hyperbolic claims about how Apple is doomed by SD, so my opinion probably won’t count for much anyway.

 

[TinyMito]

The quality builds on these Macbook is just... insane aside from macOS programming bugs as usual. I'm done with plastic laptops.

 

[smirking]

I hate this advices “you will buy new macbook 2-3 years later”. I went for new Macbook Pro M1 Max because I do not want to change Macbook often.

For me it's not the money that's the issue. It's how disruptive it is when you run your life and business on a computer to have to transfer everything to a new machine and then deal with the inevitable problems that arise when you change the horse you're riding.

If I have to send my laptop in for repairs, I typically will just buy a new one instead and sell my old one when it comes back because if I've got to go through the hassle of migrating my things to live off of another machine for a week, I might as well reset my upgrade cycle forward so I won't have to do it again hopefully for at least 4 years.

 

[smirking]

The quality builds on these Macbook is just... insane aside from macOS programming bugs as usual. I'm done with plastic laptops.

OTOH, if they ever make an all plastic MacBook Air that's a tribute to the green or blue G3 Clamshell?

I'm there.

 

[jpallarest]

I agree 100%. To me this is the best laptop/Mac of all time (if not computer). Nothing is ever perfect, still room for improvement of course, but right now you really can't for wrong with this amazing piece of tech equipment. It's a complete package.

 

[Larabee119]

Not to mention that I have yet to find NVMe enclosure that wont disconnect at some random time. I have three different chips, the Realtek one seems to be most stable but still goes away sporadically. I got the 14 with 8TB and 64GB. I just can't believe that a machine like that exists at all. Macs were always behind Windows laptops hardware wise, making up with optimization and tight integration. Now it's unlimited powah! In an ultrabook, crazy.

All of them disconnect because of thermal throttle. If you want to use them reliably, stick an aluminum heatsink on top of it with thermal conductive tape and they will behave way better.

For me it's not the money that's the issue. It's how disruptive it is when you run your life and business on a computer to have to transfer everything to a new machine and then deal with the inevitable problems that arise when you change the horse you're riding.

If I have to send my laptop in for repairs, I typically will just buy a new one instead and sell my old one when it comes back because if I've got to go through the hassle of migrating my things to live off of another machine for a week, I might as well reset my upgrade cycle forward so I won't have to do it again hopefully for at least 4 years.

I'm glad I live within Macintosh eco system. Migrating to a new one is just as simple as plugin your MacBook to another MacBook using thunderbolt and run Migration assistant or from a time machine. It's just a matter of minutes to get your work computer back up and running with all of the data synced from clouds.

 

[smirking]

I'm glad I live within Macintosh eco system. Migrating to a new one is just as simple as plugin your MacBook to another MacBook using thunderbolt and run Migration assistant or from a time machine. It's just a matter of minutes to get your work computer back up and running with all of the data synced from clouds.

They certainly make it pretty easy, but even a Mac to Mac migration isn't without hassles. I have so many programs, licenses, and easy to break customized software packages that any change is a headache.

 

[GuruZac]

I’m not typically one for hyperbole. I’m not even one to post online, period. My standards are very high. I can be as cynical as the next consumer. And I have been extremely critical of Apple for the last 5-10 years. The loss of ports. The Freakin' TouchBar. The thin-at-all-costs design. Butterfly kisses gumming up our keyboards. Battery issues. The prices. Global supply chains and chip shortages. Lack of innovation. The poor stability of Big Sur. AirPods desyncing or only charging one Pod, leaving me hanging on my runs.

When things are trending down, we have a tendency as a society to focus on the negative and assume they’ll stay that way. We take the good times for granted, only realizing how good we had it when they’re over.

As I browse the forums, I’m seeing comments saying it costs too much, still no old school USB port, hoping the Jony Ive era is finally over, complaints about The Notch, no touchscreen option, too chunky/heavy, battery life questions, not user upgradeable, there’s not enough on Apple TV, Apple relies on add-on services too much, complaints it isn’t innovative, complaints the leather sleeve isn’t out, the FPS for gaming isn’t as high as an Intel machine with an nVidia 3080 RTX. Microsoft has a zany new laptop out. Asus has screens in their TouchPads. Dell has smaller bezels, no notch, and higher resolution for cheaper prices. Samsung and LG are doing great things. Lenovo has great Yoga products. Windows 11 is out, and it’s great.

And you know? All of that might even be true. But we’ve completely buried the lead; I’m here to let you know in case you’re on the fence in an uncertain world full of inflation, drama, and holidays on the horizon still in a pandemic:

Friends, these are the good times. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time.

I went all-in for once: ordered a maxed out 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max 32-core GPU 64 GB 8 TB behemoth. I thought for sure I would return it. I had buyer’s remorse as soon as I saw the invoice. Over $6,300 with AppleCare+ even with a Veteran’s discount?! I’ve bought 3 cars that were less than that! Two weeks later, I’m typing this on it, and it ain’t going back. Let me hit some highlights for you:

• It’s the fastest laptop I’ve ever used, and I own a 2021 Asus G15 Ryzen 3080
• It has the best keyboard I’ve ever used. At worst, it’s tied with the 2015 Retina MBP. I couldn’t pick a winner between that lovable marshmallow and this. It’s like a desktop Magic keyboard with more forgiveness and precision. I can’t overstate how quiet it is.
• Monterey is the best OS I’ve ever used. I finally feel like the OS is moving at the speed of my thoughts on this laptop.
• It’s the best laptop screen I’ve ever had. Resolution and refresh rate are both up. They aren’t the highest specs on the market, but you must consider the whole experience, color, transition, motion, video. Sometimes I swipe up and down into Mission Control just to watch the windows move.
• It’s the best battery life I’ve ever had. I don’t even measure how much I’m getting anymore; I just use the laptop as much as I want for two days and sometimes charge it.
• It has the best laptop speakers I’ve ever heard, and it isn’t even close.
• It has all the ports a Professional needs in 2021. Do I wish it had one old school USB 3.1… sure. Is it a dealbreaker? Nope.
• The Notch doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I enjoy moving the cursor behind it for fun.
• TouchID is bigger and faster than ever, remains amazing, and is my preferred login and buying method.
• Zero application compatibility issues with the M1 Max or Monterey for me.
• The ‘feet’ on the bottom fit perfectly in my lap for use as an actual laptop.
• And welcome back MagSafe, HDMI, & SD Cards! You were missed.

Let me address the gaming FPS thing. You have no reason to know this, but I was a professional gamer. I won four championships once upon a time. I’m in a Hall of Fame. Pro gamers … don’t play on laptops lol. For everyone else, this is great: very playable, with solid framerates between 60-180 for nearly any game you can install on Mac OS.

When I think back to the price, I saved $300 or so with the Veteran’s discount. I got about $200 in rewards from AppleCash. I got over $1,100 for my MacBook Pro TouchBar trade-in. I’m covered for any accidents with AppleCare+. Like every Mac, I don’t have to buy OS upgrades or rebuy Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro or the other great apps. I can probably keep this thing for 5-7 years or more. And I got it up and running as my main office laptop in under an hour. I love Windows, but a comparable experience would have cost me $7,000 and 2 business days of installing drivers, app licenses, and transferring files.

TL;DR: You can't go wrong with any spec of the 14.2” or 16.2”. Think about your budget, how long you want to keep it, save up if you have to, and go for it. Haters gonna hate. Nothing is ever finished. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of great. And kudos Apple, you did it. The M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro is the greatest laptop of all-time. Let the good times roll.

Really enjoyed reading your post. And I almost commented ‘not another MBP post’ but yours was genuinely enjoyable to read and seems sincere. Glad you’re enjoying it. I think you summed it up nicely with “don’t let perfect be the enemy of great.” That’s honestly how I feel about my 12.9 M1 iPad Pro. Great times indeed for anyone in the Apple ethos.

 

[HarryMudd]

I agree with the OP. But he missed a couple items that are important for me (and I didn't even know it until I got the new MacBook). I bought the 16" Pro Max with 32gb and 1TB.

1. So far, I haven't been able to stress the system enough to get the fans to come on. At least if they have, I haven't heard them. I think I over bought. But the lack of heat and fans is nice. I've actually moved my laptop cooling pad into storage.

2. The battery life is SO much better than my 2019 15.4".

3. But even more importantly, the super fast charging has been a workflow changer for me. I didn't think it would matter but it's really nice. I can plug it in while I have my coffee and breakfast, and it's ready to go for the day. No more over night charging. And if it needs juice during the day, 20-30 minutes will get me going again.

4. My veteran's discount was 10%. Sounds like yours wasn't. I wonder why.

5. I think the poster who wrote about only buying what you know you need now and upgrade in a couple years is probably smarter than over buying now to "future proof" the purchase. I have clearly over bought. I can't hardly get the CPU to jump above 5% for more than a few seconds during a Lightroom export.

6. Normally when I get a new laptop there are trade off's. Not this time.