Discover What’s New in the MacBook Pro 2021

A couple of weeks ago, Apple unveiled their newest MacBook Pro powered with their game-changing chips – the M1 Pro and the M1 Max. These chips, unlike the previous-generation M1, are designed especially for the MacBook Pros. Designed intricately for developers, designers, photographers, filmmakers, the new MacBook Pros are top of their class in battery life, performance, display, and sheer power.

No doubt, the laptops are expensive starting at roughly the $2000 price point. After all, they’re apparently ‘The best MacBooks ever made’. But, with huge improvements in the previous generation of Pro laptops, some say that even this insane price point might be, in some way, justified. With huge improvements over the previous generation, the return of the HDMI and SD card slots, a thicker design, and the achievement of new heights of power, the 2021 MacBook Pros have entered the show like stars.

In this blog, we will explore the new and truly ‘Pro’ MacBook Pros, see what configurations they come in, how they compare to the older Macs of this lineup, what’s new and improved, and what industry leaders think about the device.

Let’s dive right in.

All that’s new

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing said, “We set out to create the world’s best pro notebook, and today we’re excited to introduce the all-new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max — a game-changing combination of phenomenal performance, unrivaled battery life, and groundbreaking features”.

Let’s analyze every important feature of the new laptops one by one and find out how game-changing they actually are.

Two chips – M1 Pro and M1 Max

M1 Pro and M1 Max have revolutionized the MacBook Pro experience by bringing in unprecedented levels of power. The usage of custom silicon for the Pros marks a step in the transition of Apple to their chips completely. M1 Pro and M1 Max feature fast unified memory and increased memory bandwidth for even greater performance than the M1.

M1 Pro takes the groundbreaking proposition of M1 MacBooks to a whole new level. It features a powerful up-to-10 core CPU with eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, along with an up-to-16-core GPU. The memory bandwidth of the chip also delivers up to 200GB/s of memory bandwidth and supports up to 32GB of unified memory.

M1 Max is, according to Apple, the world’s most powerful chip for a Pro notebook. M1 Max features the same powerful 10-core CPU as M1 Pro, and doubles the GPU to 32 cores! The M1 Max imparts a memory bandwidth of up to 400GB/s and a unified memory of up to 64GB. With most high-end gaming PCs maxing out at 16GB of RAM, this specification gives the MacBook Pro an unparalleled amount of power.

Battery Life

For professional workflows on the go and the requirement of high-power computing all day long, the new MacBooks have been designed to last the entire workday without a single charge. Compared to the previous generation Mac Pros, the 14-inch model delivers up to 17 hours of video playback (7 hours more than the previous one), while the 16-inch model gets up to a remarkable 21 hours of video playback, which is 10 additional hours.

The notebook also delivers the same amount of performance whether it is plugged in or not, which is more than what we’ve seen in Windows notebooks in the last couple of years.

Design

The new Mac Pros come enclosed in a complete aluminum enclosure which optimizes internal space more effectively. Featuring even lower fan speeds, the inner body is designed in a way that increases thermal dissipation and keeps the system cooler and quieter.

For everyday tasks, Apple claims that the internal fans of the machine never even turn on. With 50% more efficiency than before, the new MacBook Pro can get a lot more done at the same computing power.

Keyboard

The keyboard of the MacBook Pro comes with a new and anodized black background which serves to highlight the backlight on the keys even better. The function keys are back and the Touch bar has been removed from the Pro MacBook lineup after many users complained they liked the tactile feel of the function keys better. The new keyboard also comes with the proprietary Force Touch trackpad, one that MacBook users are very familiar with.

Display

MacBook Pro 2021 offers its users a Retina XDR display that delivers up to 1,000 nits of sustained brightness. The contrast is reported to be in a 1,000,000:1 ratio. On this new display, Apple has also released 120Hz refresh rates, which are dubbed as ProMotion. This upgrade is supposedly very important for video editors and other creative artists who work with video and color. Artists can also choose to lock the display at a certain level of refresh rate to make sure they’re very accurate in their editing.

The 16-inch model offers a 16.2 inch display with 7.7 million pixels and the 14-inch MacBook offers a 14.2 inch display with 5.9 million pixels. The bezels have been stretched thinner and now, the MacBooks have a notch! This design for the MacBooks makes the 2021 Pros very distinctive at the very first look. Whether users want to watch an 8K movie or edit a video, the screen has all the tools to make sure they have a wonderful time.

Connectivity

This is perhaps the most noticed and appreciated the upgrade from the previous MacBook Pros. The new laptop features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SD card slot, an HDMI port, and an improved headphone jack that now supports high-fidelity audio. The computer can now be charged with MagSafe chargers and is compatible with the latest MagSafe 3. The MacBook also charges faster than its predecessors, charging up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.

With the M1 Pro laptop, users can connect up to two Pro Display XDRs, and with M1 Max, users can connect up to three Pro Display XDRs and a 4K TV, all at once.

Camera and audio

Apple has upgraded the cameras provided on the laptop from 720p to 1080p, doubling the resolution and also the low-light performance of the cameras. The laptop has had major improvements in the audio department as well. It now has a high-fidelity six-speaker sound with two teeters and four force-canceling woofers. The sound also supports Spatial Audio, which immerses the user from all four sides while emanating from the laptop itself.

macOS Monterey

Both the M1 Pro and M1 Max laptops come loaded with macOS Monterey, the latest version of macOS designed by Apple. The combination of the latest software with this upgraded hardware sort of completes this computer holistically. Here are some features that have been added to the previous macOS version, Big Sur:

1. FaceTime includes new audio and video features
2. Continuity tools like AirPlay to Mac enable Apple devices to work in conjunction with the computer
3. Live Text and Visual Lookup make gathering information and editing photos with text easier
4. Safari has been upgraded to include tab organization features
5. Apple has launched their latest Shortcuts app where users can design their own, customized shortcuts that enable them to work efficiently with the computer

Comparison with older MacBook Pros

MacBook Pros have been pretty powerful notebook computers all this while. However, the 2021 Pros are something different – some even say they’re a level above anything the world of notebooks has ever seen. To justify these statements, here are some stats.

Compared to the previous high-end 13-inch MacBook Pro, the 14-inch one enables:

1. Up to 3.7x faster project builds using Xcode.
2. Up to 3x more Amp Designer plug-ins in Logic Pro.
3. Up to 2.8x faster computational fluid dynamics performance in NASA TetrUSS.
4. Up to 9.2x faster 4K render in Final Cut Pro with M1 Pro, and up to 13.4x faster with M1 Max.
5. Up to 5.6x faster combined vector and raster GPU performance in Affinity Photo with M1 Pro, and up to 8.5x faster with M1 Max.
6. Up to 3.6x faster effect render in Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio with M1 Pro, and up to 5x faster with M1 Max.
7. Up to 8.7x faster object tracking performance in Final Cut Pro with M1 Pro, and up to 11.5x faster with M1 Max.
8. Up to 7.2x faster scene edit detection in 1080p ProRes 422 video in Adobe Premiere Pro.
9. Up to 2.6x faster performance when selecting subjects in images in Adobe Photoshop.

Compared to the previous generation 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 2021 model delivers:

1. Up to 3x faster computational fluid dynamics performance in NASA TetrUSS.
2. Up to 2.1x faster project builds in Xcode.
3. Up to 2.1x faster publish performance in Vectorworks.
4. Up to 2.9x faster combined vector and raster GPU performance in Affinity Photo with M1 Pro, and up to 4.5x faster with M1 Max.
5. Up to 2.5x faster render in Maxon Cinema 4D with Redshift with M1 Pro, and up to 4x faster with M1 Max.
6. Up to 1.7x faster 8K render in Final Cut Pro with M1 Pro, and up to 2.9x faster with M1 Max.
7. Up to 4.4x faster scene edit detection in 1080p ProRes 422 video in Adobe Premiere Pro.
8. Up to 3.6x faster object tracking performance in Final Cut Pro with M1 Pro, and up to 4.9x faster with M1 Max.
9. Up to 1.5x faster performance with M1 Pro and up to 2x faster with M1 Max when selecting subjects in images in Adobe Photoshop.

Critical reviews

All are not good about the new MacBook Pros, however. As with any other tech revolution, there are always going to be critical reviews. The Pro is no different.

The first issue that’s being raised by a lot of people is the notch. MacBook Pro users have highlighted that some third-party apps that place additional content across the menu bar may face issues with the notch, such as dropdown menus that extend from the left or menu items that extend from the right.

Even though Apple claims to charge the devices up to 50 percent in 30 minutes, fulfilling that prospect requires Apple’s 140W charger and its MagSafe 3 cable. While these are available out of the box in the most expensive MacBook Pro 16, other models have to go out and buy those new Macbook Pro accessories for $150 extra.

Even though connectivity has increased significantly from the previous generation of MacBook Pros with a new SD card slot, Thunderbolt 4, and an HDMI port, Apple hasn’t used top of the line hardware in any of these ports. For example, the laptop is equipped with the older UHS-II standard that runs at 312 MB/s, while the UHS-III standard offers read/write speeds of up to 624 MB/s. Additionally, rather than the newer HDMI 2.1 standard, the macOS laptops are only equipped with HDMI 2.0 which limits output to 4K at 60 Hz.

Other than these major issues, users also complain of some software glitches like a kernel crashing issue when watching HDR videos on YouTube. These issues have gained traction as Apple refuses to address them directly but the same users also report that the issue seems to go away after a software update.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is fair to say that the new MacBook Pro 2021 s are pretty powerful machines. They pack a lot for such a small notebook but sure have the features and performance that justify the colossal price tag. Even though Apple didn’t use the hardware they should’ve, it is worth noting that no users have complained that the computer hasn’t delivered the surprising performance that Apple claims. Maybe that’s enough for the professionals out there, maybe it isn’t. What’s left to be seen is the impact of the revolution that Apple’s silicon chips are bringing to the world of portable computing.