Waiting for the M1 16" MacBook Pro Thread

[DHagan4755]

Anecdotally there seem to be many folks ditching their 16" MacBook Pros for new 2-port M1 MacBooks (Air/Pro). Who's patiently idling by for the forthcoming M1X 16" MacBook Pro? Or rumored 14" MacBook Pro? What are you looking for with the higher-end Apple silicon MacBook Pros?

My check list:

• 12 high performance cores, 4 efficiency cores (wouldn't be surprised if it's 16 high performance cores)
• Industry leading mobile GPU with the ability to support up to two displays with 6016‑by‑3384 resolution or up to four displays with 4096‑by‑2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors (just like the current 16" MacBook Pro)
• 4 ports, hopefully Thunderbolt 4
• 1080p webcam (because 2020)

Maybes/Nice to have options:

• Redesigned industrial enclosure
• Mini LED backlighting
• ProMotion
• 24 hour battery life (is that possible? )
• Lower priced model without as decked out a GPU

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'm waiting for a major upgrade to the lineup - whatever form factor/size that takes.

I'd like to see:

1. FaceID
2. Cellular options
3. Better webcam
4. Even better GPU performance

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I’ll wait to see what the M1X can do before making my actual decision. I can’t decide whether to wait for M2X or go for M1X. It looks like the performance is pretty insane, even on the M1, but I might end up waiting for M2X anyway, as my current 2017 15” will last me a good while longer.

I like the sound of a 14” MBP with M1X, but I don’t think that’s enough screen real estate for me. I’ll probably end up going 16”.

• 12 high performance cores would be awesome. 16 would be absolutely amazing. I don’t think we can hope for much more than that until the M2X.
• I’m thinking Apple will probably go with 6 high efficiency cores (or at least offer either 4 or 6).
• A GPU that at least matches the performance of the discrete GPU options in the current 16”, if not better.
• I’d love a redesign (or at least a couple noticeable changes to the body).
• MiniLED would be awesome, but I can live without it. MicroLED would be absolutely insane.
• It’d be great if Apple could really push the battery life, but if they only add an hour or two and instead focus on performance, I’d be fine.
• Definitely need 4 ports (if only for having the option of charging on either side). Thunderbolt 4 would be nice for future proofing, too.
• I don’t really see the need for a better webcam. Zoom almost never streams at 720p anyway, much less 1080p, but I’m sure others have their needs for a better webcam.

 

[jdb8167]

I bought the M1 MacBook Air. I wanted to get a 16 GB/512 GB but on launch day, they only had 16 GB/1 TB so I went with that. I wanted a lower spec MBA because I know that when the fabled 14" MacBook Pro comes out next year, I will upgrade to that. But for now, I want to use a Apple Silicon Mac. It seems important to be ahead of the game.

My M1 MBA should still be worth a fair amount when the 14" comes out so it isn't a complete loss. And so far, the M1 MacBook Air is pretty amazing. I've only had about 12 hours on it but it lives up to expectations. I compressed a 1.5 hour DVD video to H.265 with Handbrake and was very impressed that the MBA only heated up to a warm feeling. It was a high quality conversion and it took about 1:1 for the video duration (1.5 hours) and used about 45% of the battery. Pretty impressive for a passively cooled notebook.

 

[jigzaw]

My Late-2013 15-inch has 16 gigs of ram so it seems nutso for me, 7 years later, to consider another laptop capped at 16 gigs. For my next machine, which I hope lasts a good 5-7 years, I want 32 or 64 gigs. While I'm getting really antsy to get a new one as the battery is really no good anymore, and as lovely as these M1 models are... I'm holding out for an Apple Silicon MB Pro 16 inch that has 32 or 64 gig ram. Mini-LED would really be a selling point too.

Side note, I am really tempted by the Air as just a sort of for-fun latptop to play with and try out the M1... but I'm a video/TV editor so it feels silly to me to invest that kind of money unless I can use it for work too (I often use it to do minor After Effects work like rendering out title cards and things). My maxed-out 2013 15-incher has been a champ but it's time is coming...

 

[casperes1996]

Honestly, in most aspects I'd be fine with a MacBook Air if I could get it with a 16" panel. All I want is a larger display. I have poor eyesight and work with code, video and photography - 13" is just too little for me. Performance seems perfectly fine though; Which is kind of crazy for me to say about an Air.

 

[DHagan4755]

I want 32 or 64 gigs.

OoOoOo forgot about the RAM! Yes, the high-end M1X 16” MacBook Pro should allow up to 64 GB of RAM.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

OoOoOo forgot about the RAM! Yes, the high-end M1X 16” MacBook Pro should allow up to 64 GB of RAM.

I’m currently doing okay with 16GB, but 32GB would be very nice for Xcode.

 

[glindon]

I have a 15” 2018 i9, 32gb, 1tb, 560x, and I bought an Air 16gb 1tb just to kick the tires. I’m sure the 16” Apple will be amazing so it just depends on pro audio support (Apogee, Waves plug-ins, etc). I might sell my iPad 12.9 w/ magic keyboard and just use the Air instead. Going to mothball my iPad for a couple weeks and see if I really miss it.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I’m not waiting, but I also am waiting. I’ve got a 16GB / 1TB / M1 MBP coming in on Friday. But also... when the 16” MBP drops with M1X (or whatever it may be called), redesigned with mini-LED, you can rest assured I’ll be buying one. As long as it has ProMotion. I really want it to have ProMotion.

My desires for the 16”:

• Sleek, fresh design
• 1080p FaceTime camera
• Same 20 hour battery life as 13”
• ProMotion, ProMotion, ProMotion
• Lighter!!! Really want it to come back down to 4 pounds or less

 

[djlythium]

Anecdotally there seem to be many folks ditching their 16" MacBook Pros for new 2-port M1 MacBooks (Air/Pro). Who's patiently idling by for the forthcoming M1X 16" MacBook Pro? Or rumored 14" MacBook Pro? What are you looking for with the higher-end Apple silicon MacBook Pros?

My check list:

• 12 high performance cores, 4 efficiency cores (wouldn't be surprised if it's 16 high performance cores)
• Industry leading mobile GPU with the ability to support up to two displays with 6016‑by‑3384 resolution or up to four displays with 4096‑by‑2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors (just like the current 16" MacBook Pro)
• 4 ports, hopefully Thunderbolt 4
• 1080p webcam (because 2020)

Maybes/Nice to have options:

• Redesigned industrial enclosure
• Mini LED backlighting
• ProMotion
• 24 hour battery life (is that possible? )
• Lower priced model without as decked out a GPU

agreed!

 

[Flabasha]

OoOoOo forgot about the RAM! Yes, the high-end M1X 16” MacBook Pro should allow up to 64 GB of RAM.

This may be the biggest holdup for the 16", the new chip only supports 16 gigs of RAM. They can't roll out a top-end Macbook Pro with only 16gb of RAM. It'll be interesting to see how they get around this.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Honestly, in most aspects I'd be fine with a MacBook Air if I could get it with a 16" panel. All I want is a larger display. I have poor eyesight and work with code, video and photography - 13" is just too little for me. Performance seems perfectly fine though; Which is kind of crazy for me to say about an Air.

Hear hear!

Now that we see the kind of "entry level" performance they are capable of, I really really hope they consider a 16/17" "Air".

For me the M1 Air is more than enough performance, but like you, I really just want a larger built in screen.

 

[UltimateSyn]

One More Thing:

I would like them to take this as an opportunity to bring down the price of their entry-level large-screened notebook. The price of the 13” MBP entry-level config has risen only $100 since 2009, while the price of the 15” (now 16”) MBP entry-level config has risen an astonishing $700.

The M1 is plenty powerful enough for many, and not every single person who wants a large-screened notebook needs their device to be able to computationally solve world hunger. Some people just want a 15” MacBook Air... Don’t keep making people pay $1100 more for some additional screen real estate, please Apple? Imagine a 15” M1 MBA for $1599; they couldn’t make enough of them! I’d also settle for the 16” MBP starting at $1999.

With the iPad Pro you pay $200 to jump from 11” to 12.9”. With the iPhone you pay $100 to jump from 5.4” to 6.1”, or 6.1” to 6.7”. With the Apple Watch you pay $30 to jump from 40mm to 44mm. People shouldn’t have to pay $1100 to jump from 13.3” to 16”.

 

[dasjati]

With the iPad Pro you pay $200 to jump from 11” to 12.9”. With the iPhone you pay $100 to jump from 5.4” to 6.1”, or 6.1” to 6.7”. With the Apple Watch you pay $30 to jump from 40mm to 44mm. People shouldn’t have to pay $1100 to jump from 13.3” to 16”.

Exactly. That would be so amazing. MacBook Air 13 and 15 inch, MacBook Pro 14 and 16 inch. And then maybe a MacBook Pro Max with 16 inch at the very top. 🤤

 

[pshufd]

I don't know what to do.

I'd probably like a 14 with 4 ports and 32 GB of RAM option. But I'd like one of these now. Or two of them. I'd like one on my desk in the basement and one in the living room (a Mini and a MacBook Pro). These things have a lot of power but I'd really like to see how far they can go. Can they get to 16K in Geekbench by adding 8 performance cores? That would be nirvana.

 

[eulslix]

Question is whether those ARM 16” MBP are going to be already shipped in the rumored redesign, together with the new MiniLED panels, or whether this is going to be reserved for the second iterations later down the line.
If the latter is the case, im going to hold out, since I’m still well served with my 16” MBP. Im definitely gonna jump on a redesigned one the moment it is released.

 

[thenewperson]

I would like them to take this as an opportunity to bring down the price of their entry-level large-screened notebook

I can see them doing this. One way they used to bring down the entry price of their 15" a bit previously was eschewing dGPUs, but since 2016 we've never gotten a config like that.

A 15" Air would be pretty nice to bridge that gap too.

 

[Falhófnir]

I really like the Air in all respects apart from the small display size. 13" is too little for using multiple windows at once. As the 13" Pro is now so similar, transforming it into a 15" Air (same internals, potentially including fan, but larger screen and wedge shape design) would help it reach a new audience.

Outside of that, I hope the 16" Pro might come back down to around $1,999 starting again, due to the more dramatic cost savings from simplifying the system that are possible there. Assuming the $1,799 13" Pro becomes a 14" a larger version of that coming in from $1,999 is feasible.

 

[Andropov]

• 12 high performance cores, 4 efficiency cores (wouldn't be surprised if it's 16 high performance cores)

I would. I'm betting 8/4 or 8/8 cores.

• 1080p webcam (because 2020)

Sigh.

 

[chad.petree]

I don't want to sound negative, buuuut why are you expecting a redesign? This 16 inch model just came out last year, apple sticks with their designs for at least 3 years, I think they will keep the design, put a M1xxx chip in there, a 1080p webcam, probably a miniled display andddd if we're lucky a promotion display, but I'm not holding my breath for that one, I think they might make us wait until 2022 for promotion

The only redesign I see as feasible is a redesigned 13" macbook pro aka a macbook 14"

 

[Mr Screech]

Since the m1 motherboard seems small there should be enough space and cooling for the following in a PRO laptop.

• 32+ high performance cores
• 16+ efficiency cores
• 16+ gpu cores
• 64GB ram, maybe even 128GB to have 4GB per core available.
• 16+ TB ssd
• 4+ tb4 connectors
• make it bulkier and bigger, so throttling will be less of an issue.
• no touchbar option
• 17-18" screen option would be absolutely fantastic

 

[Falhófnir]

I don't want to sound negative, buuuut why are you expecting a redesign? This 16 inch model just came out last year, apple sticks with their designs for at least 3 years, I think they will keep the design, put a M1xxx chip in there, probably a miniled display andddd if we're lucky a promotion display, but I'm not holding my breath for that one, I think they might make us wait until 2022 for promotion

I'm pretty sure miniLED and ProMotion will come as one package, the miniLED tech must support high refresh as they're also meant to be using it in the iPad Pro. The 16" isn't exactly a redesign, it's using more or less the same design language as the 2016 Pro, which ultimately debuted on the 2015 MacBook. I think the introduction of a new design language is what people are expecting, like with the new rumoured iMac. Presumably iPad Pro style displays with thin, even bezels. I'm also unsure if we will see it in 2021 though.

 

[Andropov]

• 32+ high performance cores
• 16+ efficiency cores

Ah yes. Like all those other 48 core laptops in the market.

 

[eulslix]

I don't want to sound negative, buuuut why are you expecting a redesign? This 16 inch model just came out last year, apple sticks with their designs for at least 3 years, I think they will keep the design, put a M1xxx chip in there, a 1080p webcam, probably a miniled display andddd if we're lucky a promotion display, but I'm not holding my breath for that one, I think they might make us wait until 2022 for promotion

The only redesign I see as feasible is a redesigned 13" macbook pro aka a macbook 14"

Speaking for myself only, I don't care about the redesign, but rather the features that come with it (e.g. MiniLED). So as long as those features will be included with the next 16 incher, redesign or not, I'm good to go. And the last significant feature set change was the TouchBar + USB-C + Butterfly Keyboard (sigh) + TouchID + the 500 nits DCI-P3 screen, which is 4 years ago by now.