Everything You Need to Know About the New MacBook Pro
After years of waiting, Apple has finally delivered on its promise to create MacBook Pros that are truly designed for professionals. The redesign of the 2016 MacBook Pro with USB-C ports, touchpad and butterfly keyboards set Apple on the wrong track, but now Apple hopes to fix all the bugs and improve professional laptop gaming.
There’s a lot going on behind the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and we’ll find out more as the reviews come out. But for now, here’s all there really is to know about them.
New MacBook Pro design (yes, there is a notch)
Apple redesigned the MacBook Pro internally and externally, although it basically looks the same on the outside (you still get a square design, but now the edges are a little more curved).
The keyboard has a new design similar to the Magic Keyboard, with a fully functional row at the top. And yes, the Touchbar is finally gone. Apple says the keyboard offers fast typing similar to mechanical keyboards, but we’ll have to wait for a full review to confirm this.
MacBook Pros now have edge-to-edge displays, making thick bezels a thing of the past. The downside is a notch. You cannot miss this. It houses a 1080p webcam and ambient light sensors. But there is no Face ID.
Apple has increased the height of the menu bar for the notch only. And if the app goes full screen, Apple puts a black bar around the notch, essentially hiding it.
Ports are back (and MagSafe too)
MacBook Pro is back for professionals: Apple brought back an HDMI (HDMI 2.0) port, SD card slot and MagSafe connector for charging. Plus we get three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports.
M1 goes Pro and Max
The M1 chip in the old 13-inch MacBook Pro was already pretty good, and now Apple has significantly expanded that chip in two avatars, the M1 Pro and M1 Max.
The base model of the M1 Pro is an 8-core processor, but all of the above models are 10-core. The M1 Max is a 10-core processor (with two high-performance cores).
The M1 Pro is twice as fast as the M1 chip, and the M1 Max is twice as fast as the M1 Pro. And the M1 itself was already one of the fastest chips on the market. We’ll find out more about real-world performance after reviews, but the M1 Pro and M1 Max are likely to be the industry leaders when it comes to performance.
The MacBook Pro has finally gotten up to 64GB of unified memory. The M1 Pro only goes up to 32GB. And here’s what’s interesting: you are tuning both 14 “and 16” models with an M1 Max processor.
There is an option with a 32-core GPU
The only place Apple seems to have scaled up a lot is in the GPU. Apple promises comparable performance to leading Windows laptops with dedicated GPUs, while Apple’s GPU is integrated into the processor itself.
This is because GPUs are relatively easier to scale. You add more cores … and Apple has added a lot of cores. The base model of the M1 Pro chip features a 14-core GPU, while the rest of the models start with a 16-core GPU.
And you can get a 32-core GPU as well. According to Apple, the 16-core GPU is twice as fast as the M1, and the 32-core GPU in the M1 Max is four times faster than the M1.
Bezel-less screen equipped with ProMotion and mini-LED
The MacBook Pro also features the Apple Liquid Retina Display XDR. This is a mini LED display with variable refresh rate. This means that the screen can be refreshed in the range of 24Hz to 120Hz. It has a steady 1000 nits peak brightness and can go up to 1600 nits for HDR content.
Insanely long battery life
The new MacBook Pros offer fast charging and long battery life. You can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using the Thunderbolt 4 port. Battery life is 17 hours of video playback and 11 hours of web browsing for the 14 “model and 21 hours of video and 14 hours of web browsing for the 16” models.
But these MacBook Pros are expensive
The only downside to these professional machines? Their pricing. Apple is now launching the MacBook Pro for $ 1999. And for that, you get an 8-core M1 Pro processor, a 14-core GPU, 16GB of storage, and 512GB of storage.
The 16-inch model with a 10-core M1 Pro processor, 16GB of memory, a 16-core GPU, and 512GB of storage starts at $ 2,499.
Those prices are high, and that’s because Apple has practically removed the entry-level models that will hopefully appear in the next update. For example, there is no way to get a basic 14-inch MacBook Pro with an 8-core processor, 8-core GPU, 8GB of storage, and 256GB of storage for $ 1299/1399. Right now, that market belongs to the 13-inch MacBook Pro M1.
Although they are expensive, you get a lot for your money as Apple has specially designed these machines for professional users. If you’re looking for something cheaper, check out the M1 MacBook Air or wait for the new MacBook Air update next year.
So what do you think of the new MacBook Pros? Is that all you hoped for? And won’t the notch stop you from buying?