My first impressions
On saturday, the 22nd of January I received my 14” Macbook Pro. It was delivered while I was at work and the excitement to go home was uncontainable. When I eventually got home I was able to unbox the Macbook Pro…
What I bought
The model I ordered was the base model M1 Pro chipset, plenty powerful for what I need, as an upgrade from my M1 Macbook Air which was already plenty powerful. The reason I didn't go for the 16” is that I travel alot with my Macbook, and I need it to comfortably fit into my backpack with my iPad and various other things I carry around with me, and the 16” was just way too big for that. One this that I was glad to see is that the MagSafe 3 cable is braided which means it feels nice but it also will last longer with added durability, which is really cool to see!
The screen
Wowza!!! This is probably one of the biggest deciding factors for me to sell my M1 Macbook Air and buy the 14”, as I watch a lot of videos and movies on my MacBook, and I can really tell the difference. The 14” mini led screen has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 which basically means that the colours are very vibrant and the blacks are very dark, it's kinda like OLED but without the drawbacks of OLED, like burn in. So for watching content, it's a really beautiful display and for doing anything the screen just looks amazing. Fun fact, it actually uses the same technology as the Pro display XDR, which is one expensive display, so you really are getting great value on the screen of the new Macbook Pro. And that's not all, Apple also added their promotion technology, which was a really nice surprise, promotion allows the screen to refresh up to 120 times per second, this means that scrolling is super smooth but, it can also scale down the refresh rate to preserve battery life.
The battery life
6068 mAh of juice. This combined with the efficiency of the M1 Pro chip, the battery life is somewhat amazing to the point where I don't know how Apple will improve this with future MacBooks, because it's just that good. But, you can get similar battery performance on the M1 MacBook Air, so don't just buy this laptop just for the battery life, because you can get fantastic battery life with the M1 MacBook Air, and in my experience they both have the same battery life, at least for my workflow. I've never seen my Macbook dip below 70% because I leave it connected to MagSafe when I'm at home so it charges itself up ready for me to take out in the morning. I haven't taken it on holiday yet but if I was only going for a day or two I wouldn't even bother taking the charger because I know that I wouldn't even come close to draining the battery life on this beast.
The speakers
Now this is something that I can't praise enough. At night, I watch a lot of youtube and Netflix on my laptop or iPad and instead of using some earphones or headphones, I use the internal speakers and dam, even compared to the speakers on my MacBook Air or on my iPad Pro 11", they are amazing. I'm still unsure about how they can get speakers this good in a laptop. For watching movies, listening to music, facetime calls and everything else, the speakers will not disappoint you.
The ecosystem
The ecosystem, the ecosystem, the ecosystem. You're probably sick and tired of hearing about the Apple ecosystem, but it is true, the ecosystem is true magic, and just like any other MacBook Apple currently sells, this one will fit right into any Apple ecosystem because of the brilliant software, macOS. With features like universal clipboard, and AirPods automatic switching this will enhance your Apple experience, but like I said, none of these features are specific to this model, they are software features.
The keyboard and trackpad
Although there's not much to say about this, I'm going to say it anyway. It's really good. It's the best I've used on a laptop so far, there's plenty of key travel and it feels very nice to type on. It's very similar to the last generation of MacBook Pro although we have ditched the Touch Bar in favour of a full size function row, even bigger than the MacBook Air’s function row. Personally I wasn't a big Touch Bar fan, although it did look pretty, it didn't really serve much of a purpose. And then there's the trackpad, which there just isn't much to say about either, other than its really good, it's ever so slightly bigger than my old MacBook Air’s trackpad, and as usual, Apple’s trackpads are the top of the line.
Day in the life
As a student and a part time content creator I need something reliable, especially in the battery department, and this laptop does not disappoint in that area. But also I need something that will just work, I don't have the time to deal with my laptop breaking down constantly or needing constant reboots, or having any problems that will have a major impact on my workflow, and so far this laptop has done just the thing, from day to night, it runs like a beast, from taking notes, to editing photos or watching a bit of Netflix at the end of the day, this laptop does not let me down. I usually leave mine to charge overnight when I'm done watching Netflix, and yes, I use the new MagSafe 3 connector to do so, as I find it very quick and convenient. I do take it with me to college too, so I have to have a very protective case, and my case of choice at the moment is one from TomToc which I have spoken about in more detail over on my Instagram page.
The ports
Finally, we got them all back! You name it, it's got it, HDMI, SD card reader, MagSafe and 3 thunderbolt 4 ports. Now that they're all back, do you actually need them? Of course this will vary depending on your use case, but in my use case, I use every port from time to time except the SD card reader, and I probably don't need that many thunderbolt 4 ports, although I'm not complaining, it's definitely nice to have them on each side the the laptop. My favourite return has to be MagSafe, on a laptop this is my first time using MagSafe and I must say, just like MagSafe on the iPhone it's really convenient, by no means is it a necessity to have but it definitely makes it easier to plug in your laptop, and the magnetic connection is actually really strong. The other port that I was happy to see was the HDMI as I do use an external display, and it works great, 4K 60Hz, although not as nice as the in built MacBook display.
Should you buy it?
And that is the big question. And here's the thing, I can't really answer that for you, because everybody is different and has different needs and expectations out of their laptop, yes this is a really good laptop but if you don't need the extra features than you should probably save some money and get the M1 MacBook Air, which can be found for under £1000 and that amazing value for money. Personally, all of the extra features justified the upgrade for me, and I'm sure this laptop will have fantastic longevity as it has an incredibly fast chip and awesome features like the 120Hz screen as mentioned before. But at the end of the day, you need to make the decision for yourself, can you justify £1900 for a laptop? If not then there are other great options such as the MacBook Air which I just mentioned. Thank you for reading, this was a bit of a long one compared to usual, but I wanted to make sure I gave it the best review I could to help you all on your own decisions. If you want more content from me be sure to check out my Instagram and Twitter pages, bye for now.
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