New MacBook Pro? An Incredible Performance

MacBook Pro M1 and M1 Max 2021 - CONTENTS

1. The new MacBook Pro is here
2. M1 Pro and M1 Max
3. MacBook Pro delivers up to 21 hours of battery life
4. New Liquid Retina XDR display
5. MagSafe returns to MacBook Pro
6. Comparison of the new MacBook Pro 14" with MacBook Pro 16"
7. Summary and recommendations

The New MacBook Pro Is Here

When Apple introduced its own M1 chip last year, it definitely sparked a lot of interest. Its performance completely exceeded practically everything from Intel. Even a year later, we have to admit that last year's MacBook Air with the M1 chip is a great device for a large number of users. However, professionals, developers, content creators, and many others demand even more power to do their work. And that's exactly what they'll get in the new MacBook Pro, powered by brand new custom chips.

MacBook M1 Pro and M1 Max

As you can tell by the headline, Apple has introduced not just one new chip, but two. In the case of M1 Pro, Apple promises 70% more processor performance and even double graphics performance compared to M1. While the underlying architecture (SoC) is the same for the M1 Pro, Apple is using a new up to 10-core processor that offers 8 performance cores and 2 power-saving cores. The graphics part is handled by a 16-core GPU.

The new M1 Pro chip also supports more RAM with configuration options up to 32GB (although, as with the M1, the memory is still integrated directly into the chip itself with no option to upgrade to larger later) with 200GB/s bandwidth. In total, the M1 Pro has 33.7 billion transistors, roughly double the number of transistors of the M1. The M1 Pro chip can be configured for both the 14" MacBook and the 16" variant.

The more powerful M1 Max comes with a 10-core processor (8 powerful CPUs + 2 power-saving ones), but with 400GB/s of bandwidth. The chip also supports up to 64GB of RAM, which you'll appreciate when working with demanding 3D graphics. There is a 32-core GPU with up to four times the performance increase compared to the M1. In total, the Apple M1 Max has 57 billion transistors, making it the largest chip Apple has made to date. Thanks to new technologies, up to four external displays can be connected.

See a key overview of the benefits of the new Apple M1 Pro/Max chip:

• 5nm process
• Up to 57 billion transistors
• Up to 10 CPU cores + up to 32 GPU cores
• 16 Cores Neural Engine
• Memory bandwidth: 400GB/s
• Integrated security technologies
• Increased performance with reduced energy consumption
• Significantly extend battery life
• Same HW platform with iPhones and iPads = identical apps available
• Thunderbolt / USB 4 support

MacBook Pro Battery? Up to 21 Hours of Battery Life on a Single Charge

The performance of Apple's new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips is unrivalled, but how will the MacBook Pro fare on battery life? We had to double-check the official specifications, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro can handle up to 21 hours of movie playback on the Apple TV app indeed. For web browsing, expect 14 hours of battery life.

For the 14" MacBook Pro, the figures are slightly lower. Specifically, 17 hours of movie playback on the Apple TV app, followed by 11 hours of wireless web browsing. In both cases, the battery life is truly excellent, and you don't have to worry about charging your laptop at all during a standard workday.

New Liquid Retina XDR Display

Apple has answered the request for a change with an all-new display on the new MacBook Pro. Yes, it's the Liquid Retina XDR, which features the mini LED technology used in the latest iPad Pro. This technology delivers up to 1,000 nits of sustained brightness per full screen, an incredible 1,600 nits of peak brightness and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The extreme dynamic range brings HDR content to life with incredible shadow detail, vibrant specular highlights, deeper blacks and more vivid colours than ever before. It has a beautifully colourful gamut and supports a billion colours for smoother gradients.

Simultaneously, Apple has used ProMotion technology, which you may be familiar with from iPads and the new iPhone 13 Pro. This is an adaptive refresh technology with the rate of up to 120Hz. ProMotion automatically changes the refresh rate to match the movement of content on the user's screen, helping to preserve battery life and making all animations smoother.

Both new MacBook Pros have larger displays than previous generations - the real diagonal of the MacBook Pro 16" is 16.2" with 7.7 million pixels, the largest number of pixels in the MacBook history. And the 14" MacBook Pro provides the users with a 14.2" diagonal with a total of 5.9 million pixels, which is more pixels than the previous 16" MacBook Pro.

MagSafe Returns to MacBook Pro

The new MacBook Pro has the most advanced and versatile connectivity so far. Both models have three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 for connecting virtually any accessory. Moreover, the all-new SDXC card slot, HDMI port for convenient connection to displays and TVs, and an improved headphone jack that supports the highest quality wired headphones on the market are making their comeback.

The long speculated revival of the popular MagSafe magnetic connector has been confirmed, making a number of Apple users really happy. An easy connection is an advantage, but so is the fast disconnection. For example, if someone trips over the charging cable, MacBook Pro won't fall off the table. It also has the advantage of fast charging support, where you can get a 50% of the battery back in just 30 minutes. But don't worry, you can charge using the USB-C connector too.

While the text above was full of superlatives, the MacBook Pro's camera is "simply" good. Full HD resolution is undoubtedly great, but it is not a revolutionary step. However, it will do its job with ease. In the case of its placement, the designers had to deal with the same problem as with frameless phone displays: where to place the camera? The "notch" was chosen, as probably the best possible solution for us.

Comparison of the MacBook Pro 14" with MacBook Pro 16": Price, Specifications, and Parameters

Let's take a closer look at a comparison of the parameters of the two new Macbooks. It is already apparent from the previous parts of the article that they are not that different from each other. So the smaller 14" variant is definitely not worse. The main difference, besides the diagonal of the display, is the battery capacity.

Selected parameters	MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro/Max	MacBook Pro 16" M1 Pro/Max
Chip	Apple M1 Pro with 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine; Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine; Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine	Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine; Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine
Cooling system	active	active
Display size	14.2" with 1,000 nits brightness	16.2" with 1,000 nits brightness
Display resolution	3024 × 1964px	3456 × 2234px
RAM size	16 or 32 GB DDR4, Up to 64 GB with M1 Max chip	16 or 32 GB DDR4, Up to 64 GB with M1 Max chip
SSD size	512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB or 8 TB	512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB or 8 TB
Battery capacity	70 Wh	100 Wh
Battery life	up to 17 hours of video playback	up to 21 hours of video playback
Battery life	Up to 11 hours of wireless web browsing	Up to 14 hours of wireless web browsing
Connectors	3× USBC with Thunderbolt / USB 4, 3.5mm jack, HDMI, MagSafe	3× USBC with Thunderbolt / USB 4, 3.5mm jack, HDMI, MagSafe
Wireless interfaces	WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0	WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0
Dimensions	312 × 221 × 15.5mm	355 × 248 × 16.8mm
Weight	1.6kg	from 2.1kg
Price	starting from 58 990 CZK	starting from 72 990 CZK

Summary and Recommendations

MacBook Pro is a big step forward because no one expected such a big performance increase. Both new releases will be available in Silver and Space Grey, with pre-orders already taking place. The laptops will be in stock in the upcoming weeks: the exact date is still to be determined. It's clear that last year's MacBook Air M1 will still be in sale, so will the MacBook Pro M1. By the way, it is the only one that offers a Touch Bar, which is already missing in this year's models.

Apple is famous for delivering a solid performance, but you have to be ready to pay for it. The new MacBook Pro is practically the most powerful notebook ever due to the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.