MacBook Pro (2021) Review: should you get the cheapest one?

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The new 2021 MacBook Pro is exactly what professionals have been waiting for. So what about the $2000 base model? We spent some time with it to get the MacBook Pro experience and see how it's M1 Pro processor stacks up.
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:47 The new Design
2:03 Let's talk about the M1 Pro processor
4:51 The Ports! Especially MagSafe
5:45 Thanks Manscaped!
6:15 The XDR display and its notch
8:58 Battery life variables
9:58 The Price
11:12 Conclusion

[@trentonb.1412]

Jonathan is such a great addition to LMG, I love his small understated jokes, particularly the visual ones, and his calm demeanor is so soothing! He feels like your cool friend that you go to for advice because they make everything look effortless.

[@CantE8tCheese]

Except for the overly nasal American voice/accent.

[@bluebird1954]

Linus Tech Tips. 🤔

[@sherlockmaverick]

LMG, not LTT.

[@waitwhat1144]

Exactly, I couldn't agree more! He seems really cool and I love his low key sense of humor.

[@iwontliveinfear]

@@sherlockmaverick I came here to be exactly that pedantic.

One idea for the future: in this video you concentrated on the creative workflows, which makes sense, as it is what you are doing the most. But I think it would add a lot to have developer perspective as well, and LMG has a unique opportunity as it has almost-in-house development team working on Floatplane. Maybe do some tests building Floatplane app, running it in emulator etc. This could also promote Floatplane at the same time. Good video nevertheless!

[@joshual9717]

Couldn't agree more. Seems like no one gives any perspective to the folks who have to develop these video apps all the youtubers rely on for income.

[@HolgerNestmann]

Snazzy Labs admitted this in his teaser and will look at more use cases. There are many use cases beyond development too, which can shed light on what the laptop can do … music production / DJing? Data Science?

[@matthewmers4247]

This is my complaint with most KZbin reviews of the new MB pros. They all focused on creatives and not everyone else which is a bit dumb. There are so many fields in science that could use the power but no one ever runs mapping, modeling and simulation software that people in science use.

[@AdowTatep]

They will probably do that on the Linus Tech tips channel. Since it's more technical

[@CertifiedSlamboy]

I just wanna know how many terribly written nested IF statements in Excel it can run on a big spreadsheet

[@august4633]

Why do reviewers always focus so much on video editing? Do they not reaalize that 95%+ of their viewers don’t buy laptops for video editing? Why not talk about coding or engineering?

[@eboyjim]

Oh that's just me watching from my space gray one, suddenly questioning my choices

[@noahlistgarten7832]

Me too lol

[@emma70707]

Lol. I asked an Apple guy in-store which was his favorite color and he said, "Space gray because I'm basic like that." Haha. All of my friends have space gray but I've always had silver MBPs (I skipped the last generation where color was even an option) so I decided to continue with that.

[@noahlistgarten7832]

@@emma70707 I skipped last gen too (I came from a 2013 15”) but went space gray anyways. I actually really like it. It seems less dark than my roommate’s space gray MBP, but that might just be me making things up

[@eboyjim]

@@emma70707 Lol. I went from a silver MBP to the gold MacBook Air (because it looked like copper and I thought it was cool) to now a Space Gray one of these and this did, in fact, make me feel basic.

[@mbvglider]

I wanted silver because of nostalgia but after seeing it in person, it’s not quite the same shade I remember the 2007 MacBook Pro being, which was the Mac that finally got me to switch teams. So space gray is fine with me.

[@lukeogregory]

That thumbnail alone is… *very impressive*

[@matthewhafner962]

5:04 The self deprecating humor in this segment is both depressing and hilarious.

[@dylanmcgowan791]

‘All by myself’ is being sung in the minds of those who read your comment haha!

[@ThomasNing]

Remember when the value sweet spot was around the mid range models? And now this base model is too powerful for any normal person. I love that the Macbook Pro is truly a professional tool now. I'm sure the only features most actually care about (screen, ports maybe, magsafe) will trickle down anyway.

[@slightlyopinionated8107]

For my use case, the M1 is great. When I’m on the go I don’t need all that power and even with the M1 I haven’t utilized it to it’s max.

[@joha4574]

yeah I would even argue that most normal users of a MacBook barely need any 'power' at all. Like all we do is surf the web and write. For me the M1 is amazing because I love the battery time.

[@ialrakis5173]

I've a Mac mini m1 coupled with a ultra wide 49" display. It's pretty much the ultimate working from home device. Running my admin and user desktop next to each other .

[@martyncraigbrown]

I love my M1 Air as a life long windows user. Its fast enough for my use case. Amazing laptop

[@cadenchurchill4296]

Same here for me. Got the M1 Air and definitely not using it to its full potential.

[@AceCmbatguy25]

@@joha4574 Exactly why I'll be switching from a mid 2018 base model mb pro to a base M1 mb air 👌

[@fsmando4679]

I just love the MAC address style of video, with the editing and quality of the videos, they're some of my favourite on the platform. Please don't let this channel die!

[@aginulfo]

I must say: after watching tens of KZbin reviews on this product, your video is by far the best of the lot. Precise, concise, and effective. I just subscribed to your channel

[@MarbsMusic]

I got the 16" base with 1TB, it's $500 more but full M1 Pro, double the storage, bigger battery and 2" larger screen, I felt that was definitely worth the cost!

[@Hugo-fn3oh]

Same here

[@harrisonjr98]

It’s $700 more though, because you’re doubling the storage? 16” base still only comes with 512gb for $2499.

[@mbvglider]

The 1TB is the midrange stock model. It’s actually only $200 more than the same specs in 14”. It’s also what I got. It’s amazing.

[@ko-Daegu]

Here it’s 780 € mores

[@johntheurer2265]

This will probably be the spec I go with, have you tried any photography software on it (LR, PS, C1)? Is it good?

[@copycatjaron]

Brilliant review. Would love to see more developers focused portion in the review.

[@alexsalois5372]

Watch some of Alexander Ziskind videos. He does all sorts of dev tasks on his Macs

[@rishi_sk]

Wait for the LTT review

[@boskitang7069]

Nice

[@Merjia]

I love the way Jonathan does his reviews. They’re so informative and comfortable to watch.

[@arnavodkaa]

Honestly the real MVP is M1 MacBook Air. It is amazing for all my tasks. I do photo editing, 4k iPhone video editing, 1080p mp4 movie editing, Xcode, python in VSCode, class on browser ms teams and everything in between. I love this machine so much.

[@kumu141]

Good to hear! Is it the 8gb or 16gb variant?

[@arnavodkaa]

@@kumu141 16gb

[@kxngmars6527]

Been thinking about picking up a MacBook for programming/daily use away from my desktops. The M2 chip looks kind of promising with the extra bit of RAM. All in all though, hows the SSD storage? You just go for the base 512GB or up it at all?

[@arnavodkaa]

@@kxngmars6527 I got 512gb but I have ample of space left, 350gb to be precise. Honestly if you're going to upgrade the ram and storage of M2 MBA. I really recommend you to go for base M1 Pro MBP then.

[@kxngmars6527]

@@arnavodkaa That’s also what I was thinking. I can always get a portable USB C SSD or something if I needed more. Thanks for the reply!

[@eriknelson5585]

I just got the base model M1 MBA and I couldn’t be happier!

[@ahmadalabassy]

That notch with a webcam cut-out added to the outro got me chuckling. Appreciate the dig.

[@johnmcfads5304]

Ive watched a lot of new Mac vids and like yours the most. Great script and editing

[@ArkadiuszFlak]

Your review sounds so fresh and natural mate! Thanks

[@Natdog99]

Really enjoyed the video! Keep up the great work!

[@MichaelBertolino]

So excited for this review!

[@bufelo]

Another great video, really well explained and laid out

[@cinemasterproductions6940]

Excellent review. Thank you for the time and info shared.

[@PersonSuit]

Great Video! Cain't wait to see more future coverage of these new Macs

[@johnsnow9653]

Production value is great on this channel. Well done.

[@Zero]

I feel the passion in this video, keep this magic going

[@adrianclarkmbbs]

Doing so much more teleconferencing, and spending so much more time looking at a display than 2 years ago, the 14” MBP is worth it for me based on the screen, webcam, microphone, and speaker upgrades. And the ports make it easier to hook up to my desk setup.

[@gabebarber5813]

I've had my M1 Pro for about 8 months now and yes these new ones are tempting of course, but my current machine is plenty powerful, so I'm gonna stick with it for hopefully many years. Bought it for music production and it's excellent, I really can't complain

[@dgw2118]

THESE VIDEOS ARE INSANE, chef kiss for all the details. What a bliss

[@asmifti9147]

This video production is fresh 😍

[@rafaelmanochio6990]

I Am not an Apple user, but i love to watch this channel! Its kind of relaxing and has the best Apple products reviews that i've seen recently.

[@davidsummers6700]

Thanks for actually showing the use of HDMI in video instead of just talking about it like the dozens of other videos I've watched on the new MBPs.

[@ty-fighter9969]

Definitely my favorite LTT channel. Camera work is top-notch. Now we need a crossover episode with Anthony about Linux distros for M1. That man needs his own show too.

[@raulgalets]

Ive been waiting for this video for some time

[@the_yogeshk]

probably the one video that i needed

[@marcoscabrinirianidosreis6655]

Very professional and excellent video quality

[@ronto55]

Great, I’ve been waiting to find such a grate explanation for the bais m1 Pro.

[@tr1ck5h07]

Great video as always!

[@moinofficial.]

Love YOUR videos

[@ChrisKoerner]

Great job on an exceptionally informative video!

[@djsnowpdx]

$3,500 16” owner here. It does it all. I considered upgrading to 2 TB SSD and 64 GB RAM, but Apple Silicon is going to get so much better, I can’t imagine this machine will be mine long enough to justify the additional $800 for hardware and possibly $400 for AppleCare+.

[@ReddRubble]

Wait another 2 years for the feature jumps in each model to topple out

[@morganghetti]

A 3500 dollar laptop that has 32 GB of RAM and less that 2TB of storage? Lol guess that little status symbol in the back is more important that actual performance.

[@PauloParreira]

Picking one tomorrow in the store.

[@moxleyproductions]

Love the outro notch

[@Telesko]

You guys got every version of the new MacBook Pro so I sure hope we get to see a comparison of all configurations

[@kelvpoon]

This is a great and honest review!

[@boomerboi9642]

Oh boy have I been waiting for this

[@ivnrokr]

What a great review, I wish you make reviews of other non apple laptops, even if it's another channel, subscribed!

[@dreimanis]

Just wanted to say that this was the best MacBook Pro review. Thanks!

[@RedN3ctar]

Great video as always. Production value and script is top “notch”! Thank you, I’ll be here all night!

[@ju1cycrackfa1ry]

Jonathan, you're my favorite Mac intrusion

[@spencerc.3473]

I got an open box 16” base model at Best Buy for $1,900 which was a freaking steal. It’s awesome and super happy with it.

[@Giveitaresssstt]

So glad they added more ports, I was sick and tired of dealing with my Anker management

[@iklxsss]

100% agree that silver is the color going forward. That contrast with the blacked out keyboard 😮‍💨

[@skyforce95]

finally someone discusses the difference between the base charger vs the 96W charger. Thank you!

[@thekwoka4707]

I love it for dev work. Stays cool through stuff my old Intel i7 MacBook would be burning up doing.

[@sunitjoshi3573]

Great! What configuration did you get?

[@AymanAssaf]

I've never thought I would enjoy Mac channel,

[@piplup10203854]

I always love seeing what will come next in the Macbooks. I had a macbook pro back in like 2013 and it was great :) If I had the money I'd get a new one

[@Bacender]

Thanks for this video. I have a 2020 M1 and I was hesitant to get a base model 14, but it looks like an overall upgrade.

[@EricParker]

Interesting note on the resolution 6:54. 2015 MacBook Pros had the 2:1 with a smaller effective resolution, for some reason in 2016 they upped the virtual resolution and never changed the panel resolution, now they've finally corrected that.

[@chidorirasenganz]

It’s probably because intels integrated graphics couldn’t handle the additional resolution very well

[@EricParker]

@@chidorirasenganz No the way MacOS handles hiDPI, physical resolution is irrelevant, everything is rendered at 2x with a virtual scaled resolution.

[@chidorirasenganz]

@@EricParker I meant why the 2016 generation display panels weren’t a true 2x. Hence the scaling wasn’t as clean

[@PotatoFi]

I'm a product owner at a software company. I think the base model will be a big upgrade from my 2020 i5 16 GB MacBook Pro. I'm going to wait a few months to gather up the cash for it, but ultimately I will do it. This was a great video, I'm really enjoying Mac Address. Also, the notch on the outro comments was a nice touch.

[@chibiquatre]

2020 M1 Macbook Pro Space Grey person here - Couldn't be happier with it in the most basic variant. It has everything I could ever need, I can't remember giving it enough load to spin those fans audibly so far with design work and there is a high chance I will never do. There is certainly no need for me to get an even stronger machine since this one is already strong and super reliable :)

[@jerrychiasson9857]

I went for the 16 base pro max 24GPU The poor man’s M&M ….lol Love the notch over your head at the end too funny…..

[@Smoovebert]

I am loving this channel! Great writing, production, and presentation. Even for canadians! OMGJK

[@danishkhalid9255]

love your hoodie, where can i find it? tyty!

[@campguydaniel]

Jonathan is great. I love the way he adds commas into his sentences like a boss. He’s right up there with Christopher Walken.

[@captmaverickable]

Just got a base Space Grey open box special from BestBuy. EXTREMELY happy coming from a slowing down Late 2013 retina with the discrete graphics. Keyboard is crisp, display is AMAZING and it lasts two days with light internet browsing and KZbin. Was hoping the 2013 would last until 2023 but with supply chains in chaos I upgraded a year early and happy with the purchase.

[@misterhoeflak]

Interesting and insightful video! I’ve read some reports that the M1Pro/Max MBPs were originally going to have Face ID, but that this feature was cut quite late in the game due to supply issues with the required hardware. (iPhones had to come first!)

[@dasberserkr]

That titanium g4 was the first I bought … that transition to bsd was what sold me on MacOS

[@TimHPop776]

Excellent video.

[@sko3225]

Happy on my M1 Air right now, will get the Mac mini pro as soon as it is available, but no rush, I'm fine. On a side note, I'm impressed how well my Air handles battery management, as I'm almost always plugged in. I didn't trust the AI first, but it fits, after a few month of training and nearly a year of use, it's spot on and 99% health. Stays at 80% charge most of the time, but knows when it gets busy. Magic.

[@nitnelav3]

I got the 14" 10-16-16-Core M1 Pro with 512 GB. I saved on storage because a 2 TB NVME SSD and USB C enclosure is only ~200-300$ (whereas Apple charges 600$). I have noticed though that the external SSD is about 20% slower on the MacBook Pro 14" (700 MB/s) than on my 2017 iMac 27" (900 MB/s). I have tried all sorts of combinations of ports (internal and on my CalDigit Dock). I even went to an Apple Store and ran benchmarks on all Apple Silicon and a few Intel Macs they had and found that the external SSD speeds on Apple Silicon consistently were 20% slower than on Intel. Weirdly the only combination that worked with full speed on Apple Silicon was using the second Thunderbolt port on the dock. Hopefully this can be fixed in Firmware

[@extras82001c]

By far the best review on the MacBook Pro 14!

[@scottscottsdale7868]

Got the base 16 inches inch. Need screenestate. It is not too heavy and it is fantastic. Battery life is good.

[@FelipoGoncalves]

the notch in the credits was the best touch of the video :D

[@alanaktion]

I honestly couldn’t be happier with my M1 Air. I love the new Pros but I’ve not felt the need to upgrade at all, the M1 Air is already so fast for everything I do as a developer/graphics person.

[@stratonarrow]

Agreed. Simply complete overkill. If they make an Air with a larger screen in the future, I’ll buy it in a heartbeat.

[@SchwertKruemel]

Yeah the only real issue with the air for me is the lack is Not being able to Drive 2 external Displays

[@grey5626]

I'm in a similar boat. Will probably wait for an M2 Max in a year or two before feelin' any need to retire the 2020 M1 MBA.

[@tdhmoose]

I am going to hold off a bit. Still using my M1 air, will upgrade to the $2,499 model in 2yrs, too soon to go computer hopping.

[@gauravbathija6783]

@@stratonarrow Yes, a 15 inch Macbook Air would be my ideal computer. Although, I highly doubt that'll ever be a thing.

[@openrizal]

Dang, the thumbnail awesome. Explained everything. 😂

[@nish663]

An idea for this channel: can we please have comparisons on everyday tasks too? Multi tasking with a teams meeting, while editing a power point for example. Having multiple apps running in the background, and general connectivity.... the content creator perspective is great, but limited for most people.

[@VaughnGoy]

I’m a dj and I do quite a bit of audio editing I still went with the base 14, the extra two cores aren’t a big enough jump in performance with the tasks I’ll be running to justify the extra money, the base is already lightning quick compared to the 2017 i7 15 MacBook Pro I’ve been using. Can’t wait to get mine in hand in a couple days.

[@jessechuff]

I got a base model upgraded to 16 GB of RAM (I feel like at this point 16 should be the minimum on laptops) and so far it’s been phenomenal for my casual video editing. I haven’t been pushing it too hard, but cutting a gameplay video with a handful of edits and lite effects in DaVinci barely eats at the battery, only got the machine to a slightly warm (but still comfortable) temperature, and was very smooth the whole way through. Some things got it to snag a bit, but compared to an intel MacBook it’s a dream.

[@AndyofCT]

I opted for the extra $300 full M1 Pro option for my video editing machine. I wanted the smaller form factor than the 16" and since I'm still using a lot of Adobe products which are "Apple Silicon Native," but clearly not really functioning properly, the extra CPU/GPU horsepower seemed worth the extra cash to get through this transitional period. I'm also hoping the extra $300 in upgrades will give me an additional year or two of functionality before I have to upgrade...

[@foldeat]

Nice review - one of the best on the new MacBooks 👌

[@branscombe_]

very well spoken chap right here thanks, I will subscribe M.A!

[@NeilVitale]

I went with the base model 2021 M1 Pro Pro (wow, what a mouthful). I did make one upgrade to the base model, and that was to go from 512GB to 1TB. Additionally, I paid the extra $20 for the 96w charger.

[@ZeynRL]

My mb16 should be shipped in 2 days can't wait to use it

[@joebloggs8954]

I got the base model 14", (8-core CPU, 14-core GPU) and they pull hard on anything I could ever throw at them; Unreal machines!

[@falcon81701]

Just bought the base 14” and I love it. Runs cool and quiet, power brick is smaller, and its more powerful than my 2014 15” MBP. Handbrake x265 rencoding take half the time and i can actually use Video Enhance AI now. It was unusable on my old MBP.

[@KoScosss]

That notch cam outro lol

[@AdamSkjervold]

God this guy is such a good camera personality, he makes MA

[@tmcbreezy]

I bought the last round of intel’s i5 13” pro w/1tb ssd. I wasn’t sure how all the M1 software stuff would run so I went with the oven haha. I love it and it’s plenty powerful for what I do. I’ll consider getting a new MacBook once my AppleCare is done. I like the 14” form factor more but we will see what my needs are when I’m ready in about 2023 haha.

[@rochitgurung9090]

Air could be better

[@therealsharat]

2:43 "The thing I am most *Interesteded* in" xD

[@denisjm]

They should put hot corner below the camera screen. That would be really great.

[@CONTACTLIGHT2]

One thing I'm really intersted to know about it how well these new Macs do with running Blender. This is my main focus and I'm aware that a powerful GPU or very powerful CPU is necessary to ensure that the vieport it updating quickly and renders don't take ages. I'd love to see this tested in Blender or similar programs such as Unreal or Maya - specifically with how the viewport functions with large scenes, rendering large images or animations and physics simulations. Traditionally Macs haven't been great at this stuff but it would be great if this was a portable blender machine. I'm so over having a windows desktop beast.

[@Petersonstudios]

FINALY SOMEONE SEES THE SIMILARITIES! (between the PowerBook G4 and this)

[@Trusteft]

Very good video.

[@RichardDelFranco]

My favorite Apple-centric place to watch videos about everything Apple. Never miss a new video.

[@spaceranger145]

I loved my 2012 macbook but didn't like the direction of the subsequent models, this new line up is tempting me though!

[@ignskeletons]

Start at base model, go up one storage upgrade from 512GB to 1TB. This one upgrade includes the extra 2 CPU core upgrade and it's really the perfect middle ground to help future proof this laptop in my opinion.

[@clintmiller88]

You should do a 3 month and a 6 month follow up on if the base model is still good enough.

[@touisbetterthanpi]

Love this video, but would love more discussion on how it is from non creative perspectives. Particularly development and light 3D work

[@iredfive]

I am still daily driving my 2013 15inch Retina Pro. I got the base specs at the time from apple store and have gotten new screen on warranty a couple of years into ownership. And also replaced the battery at apple store which meant new keyboard face side about 2 years ago currently at 95 battery cycle count. I will use this laptop until it dies.

[@eldraque4556]

Nice one jono, yeh new one, if I had the dollar