Poll: *** The official 2021 14" and 16" Macbook Pro thread (it has an SD slot and everything!) ***

Will you be buying a new MacBook Pro

  • Yes, 14"

    Votes: 43 31.9%

  • Yes, 16"

    Votes: 28 20.7%

  • No

    Votes: 64 47.4%
  • Total voters
    135
chaparral said:
What software are you guys needing the power of this new M1 pro/max cpu to run ?

As it a bit to powerful & expensive just to be used for watching Youtube & internet surfing :cry:
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Nothing really taxing but I find that my current 2019 Macbook Air is a bit laggy multitasking when running multiple apps connected to my external ultrawide monitor. I could probably get by with the stock M1 to be honest but it's not a huge leap to the Pro by the time you spec the Air with 16Gb/512Gb!

I use it for my work most days so happy to justify spending an extra to get the 14" Pro instead as it's a much better featured laptop than the Air M1 (better display, cooling, more ports, SDcard slot,etc).
 
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chaparral said:
What software are you guys needing the power of this new M1 pro/max cpu to run ?

As it a bit to powerful & expensive just to be used for watching Youtube & internet surfing :cry:
Click to expand...

A do a lot of CAD with Fusion 360 and Blender. A lot of editing meshes with Meshmixer after scanning. It's very taxing on both CPU and GPU. Less so on RAM. Hence going for the base 16" which has the top M1 Pro but only 16GB which is fine for me. To be fair, all things being equal I probably should have gone for a 32GB model but they come with 1TB SSD which I didn't need. To do it with the 512GB SSD would have been a custom order and thus several weeks further out.
I have 14 days to return it if I find that 16GB isn't enough though.
 
MacRS4 said:
I've had different experiences. They auth immediately on order - on a few devices they've also billed within a day or so. My 16" Turbo Max Pro X Squared was ordered within an hour or so of them becoming available. They've auth'd but still not collected the money.
Click to expand...

I looked into this a bit more - stuff I’ve ordered myself cleared my card within a few days. Stuff through my business account was charged a few days before despatch.
 
silvagti said:
Nothing really taxing but I find that my current 2019 Macbook Air is a bit laggy multitasking when running multiple apps connected to my external ultrawide monitor. I could probably get by with the stock M1 to be honest but it's not a huge leap to the Pro by the time you spec the Air with 16Gb/512Gb!

I use it for my work most days so happy to justify spending an extra to get the 14" Pro instead as it's a much better featured laptop than the Air M1 (better display, cooling, more ports, SDcard slot,etc).
Click to expand...
Rilot said:
aa


A do a lot of CAD with Fusion 360 and Blender. A lot of editing meshes with Meshmixer after scanning. It's very taxing on both CPU and GPU. Less so on RAM. Hence going for the base 16" which has the top M1 Pro but only 16GB which is fine for me. To be fair, all things being equal I probably should have gone for a 32GB model but they come with 1TB SSD which I didn't need. To do it with the 512GB SSD would have been a custom order and thus several weeks further out.
I have 14 days to return it if I find that 16GB isn't enough though.
Click to expand...
Thanks for these replies :)
 
Rimsy said:
Ah ok nice. Guess apple couldn't use that in their press shots for fear of being accused of trying to hide the notch, but at least it can be hidden.
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They did exactly this - in their event video at least when they mentioned the new display wraps around the camera ...."and it looks great in dark mode"...
It was a little on the nose.
 
chaparral said:
Thanks for these replies :)
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I work predominantly in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Lightroom, with a little bit of Premiere and After Effects).

Even with maxed-out specs, I always think a little bit more power would be beneficial. Especially when you have a number of large PSDs open, plus web browser(s) with lots of tabs, Skype/Teams/Zoom, Spotify running etc.

Also, my last couple of machines have lasted six/seven years, so it's not just about what it can handle now, it's making sure it's future proof for a decent chunk of time.

As it's the machine that allows me to work, it's an investment more than a casual purchase. Maxing out the 16" MBP (with 1TB HDD) + Applecare is £4k, which sounds a lot, but spread over five years that's only £67/month — which is a couple of hours work.

My Man Maths is trying to convince me that this is a good idea. :D
 
Irish_Tom said:
I work predominantly in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Lightroom, with a little bit of Premiere and After Effects).

Even with maxed-out specs, I always think a little bit more power would be beneficial. Especially when you have a number of large PSDs open, plus web browser(s) with lots of tabs, Skype/Teams/Zoom, Spotify running etc.

Also, my last couple of machines have lasted six/seven years, so it's not just about what it can handle now, it's making sure it's future proof for a decent chunk of time.

As it's the machine that allows me to work, it's an investment more than a casual purchase. Maxing out the 16" MBP (with 1TB HDD) + Applecare is £4k, which sounds a lot, but spread over five years that's only £67/month — which is a couple of hours work.

My Man Maths is trying to convince me that this is a good idea. :D
Click to expand...

this is exactly the right way to think about buying one of these. Time is the real unit of value.

The only thing I’d say is who knows what apple bring out over the next 6 years, but if the improvements look even better once again the resale value will no doubt balance it all out.
 
Was just looking at pricing of a few MacBooks (with Edu pricing), speccing each to 16GB/512GB:

MBA (8 core/8 core GPU) - £1,304.40
MBP 13 - £1,528.80
MBP 14 (M1 Pro 8 core/14 core GPU) - £1,708.80

It’s not a huge jump (31%/£404) from the MBA to MBP 14. Plenty of extra features, ports, even if the 8-core M1Pro isn’t the full 70% improvement on the normal M1, and I feel it’s a little more flexible for longer term future usage.

In my head I know the MBA would be enough for all my usage, though the gap closes as soon as I get some kind of USB-C hub to get USB-A, SD card slots etc for the MBA with its two USB-C ports
 
Remember that you're also getting 16GB with the base 14" vs 8GB with the Air.

[edit]Just seen that you are speccing both to 16GB, sorry[/edit]

I'd say it depends on how much priority you put on portability. The 14" is a fair bit heavier than the Air or the 13".
 
I think the RAM debate is the most interesting and its worth waiting to see the reviewers benchmarks.

You can always add external storage, RAM nope so....

Curious to see how the unified ram juggles GPU demands with system demands. Yes some will argue better and faster communication on DIE so it can juggle memory more but still many have dedicated VRAM. So if you you have 16, you may already be loosing 4GB or however much the GPU demands...

If you have a Mac already its worth looking at 'Memory Pressure' in activity monitor to get an idea of your usage.
 
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