Sleek and fast: Apple announces all-new M1-powered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models
posted Monday, October 18, 2021 at 2:00 PM EST
About a month after its iPhone and iPad event last month, Apple hosted another event today. The focus was on music and the Mac.
Music
Apple’s AirPods are popular. I'm not sure it's possible to walk around in a city or on a college campus without seeing many people walking around with Apple's iconic white wireless earbuds. Before diving into new products, Apple dedicated some time to discussing spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.
Apple wants to bring spatial audio to more of its customers, so it's releasing a refreshed version of the original AirPods, the third generation. The new AirPods feature a new design inside and out, although, at first glance, they do look familiar. The earbuds include new internal components to improve audio quality and allow for spatial audio. They're also sweat and water-resistant.
Everyone's ears are a bit different, so Apple wanted to ensure that more people would hear the better audio quality. The new AirPods have Adaptive EQ, first introduced in the AirPods Pro, and a new contour to better direct audio into the listener's ear.
The new AirPods come with a new case, which can now be wirelessly charged using MagSafe. The new AirPods (3rd generation) are $179 and will be available to order today. The 2nd generation AirPods will continue to be available at $129.
Alongside new AirPods, Apple announced a trio of new colors (navy blue, orange and yellow) for its $99 HomePod mini smart speaker. The new colors will be available in November, joining the existing space gray and white options.
MacBook Pro
Apple's silicon transition has entered its second year. The response to the M1 chip has been very positive. The Mac has had its best year ever. It's time for Apple to bring its silicon to more of its product lineup today.
The long-rumored MacBook Pro refresh is finally here. The MacBook Pro is completely redesigned, and it starts with the first 'Pro' chip in the Apple M1 family, the M1 Pro. 'It's a game-changer,' says Apple.
The M1 chip has been well-received, but pro users want more performance. The M1 Pro chip is scaled up. It has faster DRAM, and improved memory speed up to three times faster than the original M1 chip. It has twice the number of transistors. CPU performance is up to 70% faster. Double the GPU cores result in, you guessed it, twice the GPU performance. The story here is more, better and faster. The original M1 chip is very fast in real-world use, so it'll be fascinating to see what the M1 Pro chip can do with high-end professional applications.
That's not all, though. Apple has another new chip, M1 Max. The M1 Max promises 4x faster GPU performance, more transistors, faster memory. The M1 Pro is a big jump up from the original M1 chip, and the M1 Max takes it even further by delivering better performance with more efficiency, whether you're using a notebook plugged in or using the battery.
So, what's this fancy new silicon go in? A redesigned MacBook Pro is here, and it's a massively different machine than Apple's prior efforts.
SD card slot? Back. HDMI? Yup. MagSafe? That's back, too. The new MacBook Pro comes in 14-inch (for the first time) and 16-inch versions. The notebook has an all-new aluminum enclosure. The new thermal system can move 50% more air even at lower fan speeds, promising high performance and low noise. Most of the time, the fans won't run at all.
The 16-inch version weighs 2.1kg (4.7 lbs) and the 14-inch version weighs 1.6kg (3.5 lbs). The 16-inch model is 1.68cm (0.66") tall and the 14-inch version is slightly thinner at 1.55cm (0.61"). The larger notebook is 35.57cm (14.01") wide and 24.81 cm (9.77") deep. The 14-inch model's footprint is 31.26cm (12.31") x 22.12cm (8.71").
Thankfully, there's a new keyboard, and the Touch Bar is gone. The backlit keys promise improved performance and tactile feel. In terms of ports, the new MacBook Pro has an HDMI port, a Thunderbolt 4 port and an SD card slot on one side. There are two more Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port and a headphone port on the other side. MagSafe 3 has a new design and offers more power. You can also charge via Thunderbolt. You can connect up to two Pro Display XDR to the M1 Pro models and up to 3 XDR displays plus a 4K TV on the M1 Max model. All without an adapter.
The new MacBook Pro features a new display of its own. The notebook has a much smaller bezel, 24% thinner, to be exact. The display goes up to the top, with a 60% thinner bezel, resulting in a notch for the camera. The next version of macOS wraps the menu bar around the new notch. The 16-inch display is technically 16.2" and has 1.8 million more pixels than before. The 14-inch model has a 14.2" active area and has more pixels than the previous-generation 16" MacBook Pro.
The new display offers refresh rates up to 120Hz with ProMotion. The refresh rate dynamically varies with the content you're viewing. It slows down and speeds up to preserve battery life. You can also set it to a fixed refresh rate, if you desire. The Liquid Retina XDR display has HDR capabilities, too, borrowing technology from the Pro Display XDR and the recent iPad Pro's Mini LED display.
The display has thousands of mini LEDs arranged in individually controlled local dimming zones. It has a maximum brightness of 1000 nits of sustained performance and up to 1600 nits of peak brightness. The contrast ratio is listed at 1,000,000:1. Apple has pulled out all the stops and says its new display is the best on any notebook computer.
The notch has a 1080p webcam with a faster aperture, promising double the low-light performance. It also supports computational video with ML-based image processing. It's the best camera system ever in a Mac notebook.
Audio has been improved, too. The new mic has a 60% lower noise floor. The 16" MBP has a six-speaker sound system with two tweeters and four woofers. Performance across the range promises to be much better. The 14" MacBook Pro has a six-speaker sound system, although without the same tweeter and woofer performance. Both models support spatial audio.
What about overall performance? The 16-inch model promises up to double the CPU performance versus the older i9 MacBook Pro. In graphics, the M1 Pro is 2.5x faster, and the M1 Max is 4x faster. Machine learning is 5x faster across both new chips.
The 14-inch model, compared to the Intel-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro, is significantly faster, offering huge CPU and GPU performance gains.
The two notebooks can be configured with the M1 Pro or M1 Max and up to 64GB of RAM and up to 8TB of SSD storage. While there are some physical differences between the machines in terms of display size and audio specs, the two notebooks are otherwise identical and can both be fully maxed out with Apple's best M1 Max chip and the most RAM and storage.
The most powerful Mac notebooks ever are more efficient. Battery life is about twice as long when working in Lightroom Classic, for example. The 14" model delivers up to 17 hours of video playback, up from 10 hours. The 16" model has 21 hours, up from 11 hours. The new MacBook Pro models also support Fast Charge and can charge 50% in 30 minutes.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1999, and the 16-inch model starts at $2499. Both are available in silver and space gray and are available for order today of release next week.
