NEW 2021 MacBook Pro 14" Cheapest M1 Pro Experience - Is it good enough?!

Our review of the $1,999 Base model 14" MacBook Pro with M1 Pro. There's so many different changes and upgrades to cover!
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:46 Design
3:15 Ports
8:07 Notch
10:17 Display
12:34 Webcam
12:53 Speakers
14:29 Microphone
15:10 M1 Pro Performance
18:48 FCPX Export Benchmarks
21:25 SSD Speeds
21:57 Battery Life
22:50 9to5Mac's Take
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#MacBookPro14 #M1Pro #M1Max

[@9to5Mac]

Songs used for the speaker test: On Film - Victoria kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZSypWOOfaiIqq8 ​ Mite Night - Harry Breast & Golden Ticket Tapes soundcloud.com/goldentickettapes/harry-breast-mite-night The Things You See - Alan Holdsworth soundcloud.com/aryusband/the-things-you-see-holdsworthrowehusband Running - Tane soundcloud.com/tanebeatz/running The Gate - Dimension 32

[@colours456]

L Pop playlist l

[@9to5Mac]

@@colours456 Nah this is W playlist

[@sadboykratos5137]

@@9to5Mac should I pass up on getting a iPhone 13 pro max and Apple Watch series 7 to get the base MacBook Pro 14” and a s21 fe or pixel 6? I’d be returning M1 iPad Pro 12.9” to help get MacBook.

[@peterpark8722]

I keep coming back to this channel. Why: While Miles comes off casually, this reviewer has seriously spent hours getting his facts right and perfecting his flow before turning on the camera - makes for a info intense view -well done

[@9to5Mac]

Thanks a ton!

[@papermelon]

I've watched dozens of reviews on this MacBook Pro, and this is the first review I've watched in weeks that actually gave me new information on several topics. Your extra explanations for Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.0 vs 2.1, lack of replaceability with the black keyboard, and so many other things made this simply one of the absolute best reviews I've seen out there for this. Also, I love the visually chill vibe.

[@horbulewicz]

So solid work you've done, thank you. After tones of minutes spending on watching other top reviewers balancing between their emotions and superficial testing, now I saw your professional piece of work. It is really helpful and also you've got such a natural style of communication. Keep it well than, greetings from Poland.

[@bixby451]

This is BY FAR, the best review I’ve watched. Very detailed, well explained, just perfect. I’m a designer and I use a mid-2014 MacBook Pro (horribly slow) I will definitely upgrade to an M1 Pro 14’ MacBook Pro 😁

[@sorthman]

Best 2021 Macbook Pro review so far! I wasn't even considering upgrading from my 16" MBP, but you've changed my mind.

[@caleb.bryant]

Love the ratio and HDR! keep them coming!

[@darrene.mathews5566]

Thank you, Miles, for this eloquent presentation of this powerful and beautiful machine.

[@PaulBradfordTech]

That microphone test really surprised me. Great review, Miles!

[@9to5Mac]

Me too!! Thanks Paul!

[@michaelgulezian]

hi miles! do you have any info on the frequency response of the mics? most high end studio mics are 20Hz-20kHz. i'd also like signal to noise, and polar pattern info, if possible. not sure if apple releases these specs. grateful for any info you can provide!

[@joykyony4230]

@@9to5Mac Hi just a question please ; as an engineering student do you think the base model of the 14 would be enough ? Just usual coding and CAD software…

[@jensuwe22]

@@joykyony4230 if possible, go for 32GB of RAM. Devtools and CAD software sound like "give me RAM, more RAM" ;) Especially if you plan to use stuff like virtual machines, Emulators, several IDEs and servers in parallel and things like that. Not sure about the 512GB SSD, but overall the rest should be "good enough" for several years, even if you use "only" the chip with lesser number of CPU / GPU cores.

[@rohanpatel9797]

@@9to5Mac i didn't even know that was from the 14" until you said that. I am really shocked WOW

[@calblac4786]

Very impressed with your taste in music on the speaker test 😂 gonna have to sub on that basis alone

[@josiaharteaga3270]

This review video is so well done. Good work Miles!

[@rohanpatel9797]

Just got my 14" OMGGG. It is so amazing. (BASELINE is more than enough) Honestly the best physical improvement is the keyboard when compared to my 2017 butterfly. that thing was such a headache. And the performance.... WOW. I've charged this thing once and i've done some 3d video editing in Davinci Resolve, watched a couple movies in 4k HDR, also a couple hours on youtube, homework. ALL WITH MUSIC PLAYING in the BACKGROUND for at least 8 hours. And i still had 30-40 percent battery when I got home. UNBELIEVABLE

[@element_sou2524]

Hi ! How's the battery doing since you posted your comment ? I'm wondering about the light work load (youtube, notion, goole word...) is it still around 15 hours ? Thanks !

[@NikitSarwate]

Superb in-depth review as always. There are very few reviews on 14 inch base model & your review is the best of all. Keep up the good work...👍🏼

[@rvenden]

Excellent review, Miles! I enjoy your informative and balanced approach. Thank you.

[@IndritMesiti]

Great song choices for the speaker test !

[@DamianDemasi]

One of the best reviews of this laptop. Amazing work!

[@21daystill]

Love the close up shots!

[@pczarn]

Excellent comprehensive review. Thank you.

[@denniskirschbaum9109]

Great and thorough review! Thanks. I want one.

[@samiturunen5335]

Awesome and detailed review! Thank you for sharing. Kudos!

[@RoderickJohnson]

Love how 9to5 Mac always uses HDR. I notice they've been the most consistent with releasing HDR content in their videos since the iPhone 12 was released. If no one else has told you, I appreciate it!

[@rohanpatel9797]

i agree, amazing experience with hdr

[@poetic.voyage]

I really liked this reviewer. Nice job!

[@iamALPA]

Great video Miles! Thank you.

[@oleksee]

Nice review. Talking about the notch: doesn't nobody use the apps in the full screen? Or is the full screen mode now leaves a black bar at the top to not obscure, let's say, tabs on the browser with the notch?

[@jjchockey]

I bought the M1 Air 2 weeks ago. Once I saw that display on the 14” I was sold. That screen alone is worth $1000 to me. Truly breathtaking. I scene did a test with the iPhone 13 pro and I honestly thought the 14” looked better.

[@AnonymousOG]

Love your take on the notch!

[@RiteshKudalkar]

Video quality is top notch 🔥 Also, great review 👍🏻

[@SouthernGospelMusic]

I ended up getting one of these refurbished last week. I had an order for a new one that had been placed for three weeks already, and it wasn’t scheduled to arrive until early August. Really hoping supply chain comes back up to speed for everyone else’s sake. So far I’ve been incredibly happy with it. For many many years I’ve been wanting to learn Swift, and finally get to do so.

[@bikesandbeats4693]

I like this guy. Excellent detailed review. Looking forward to more featuring him.

[@camelotrooms]

It was very pleasant to hear you talk. Your energy is very good. Thank you for the video!

[@iansoto1493]

Loved this review! Also where do you find your background music? I love it!

[@alexseip8233]

I've watched a sh*t ton of reviews on this computer as I'm just about to order this exact one... And this was the best review by far. Great great visuals... Well done sir!

[@azzammeeralam7182]

Hey great work. I watched few of videos about MacBook 14 M1 Pro and no one talked about wireless connectivity. Would love to learn more about that.

[@MO3ATH7777]

Man this review is so good and detailed

[@9to5Mac]

Thank you! We like to take our time over here :)

[@user-ry8dr4uo9o]

Is it? The video quality kinda sucks

[@kyiwintun4253]

Thank you for the review, bro. if I am a user who only do watching KZbin, movies on 4K, and do some Microsoft Office while performing on Tableau and Python, will the 14 inch 10-core CPU 14 core GPU and 16 GB Unified RAM be suffice?

[@Natdog99]

Great video! It was really informative

[@brichpmr]

I love my new 14" MacBook M1 Pro with 16gigs/1TB config. Apple gave me $370 on trade for my Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro, by the way. I also upgraded to a new OWC Envoy Pro SX 1TB Thunderbolt external drive for my backups, and that is one slick and fast little unit that works directly via the Thunderbolt port. All in all, I find this new MacBook to be worthy.

[@jamesburland]

Great video, thank you, Miles! Strange colour editing, though.

[@brettfoster1819]

Miles, great review on the 2021 MBP 14". Actually - the best I have seen so far. You do a good job! Nice camera work and editing. Thank you for your work!

[@erikssonosorio2324]

Great review!!!

[@mdbedelsohn4307]

Great video, thanks! How do you feel it would deal with 5.5k 12bit canon Clog3 (1dx3)?

[@jasonk9779]

Great review, I've been looking at one of these to run a couple of 4k displays via QLab. Looks like it should suit the bill just fine. Great video by the way, your presentation is excellent!

[@borgasuncion]

If you are a heavy user of plugins on final cut pro editing on 4k, would the base model of the Macbook pro 14" be good enough?

[@techinrl9869]

On the internal SSD’s, which kind you get makes a difference. The 512GB version gives the speeds you showed here. The 1TB versions are faster at over 5000MB/s for both read and write. The 2TB and above are even faster at over 7000MB/s for read and write. If SSD speed is very important to you, get the 2TB for maximum performance.

[@myv6mustang]

Didn’t know this. Got the 1 TB for the extra internal space, but it being quicker is pretty cool. 2 TB was out of my price range Congrats on your new iPhone you won🙄

[@ohheyalan123]

Yup, the larger the SSD the more internal NAND they give it!

[@andreianicolau670]

Hi. Do you think the base MBP 14” 8CPU/ 14GPU/ 1TB and 16GB is enough to work with, let’s say, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom, and in the future making small videos (up to 30’, and prolly on Final Cup Pro or DaVinci Resolve (still need to learn how to work with those))? Or should I spend extra €460 in the 32GB for future proofing? If 32GB is worth the investment, do I have to upgrade the CPU/GPU or the base is enough? Also working the normal daily apps like email, Sportify, KZbin, web browsing, etc…I do have to say if I was using the Adobe apps, I will probably using 1 at the time or 2, but also not using files too big (4GB). I’m looking to buy my first MBP ever and I hope I can keep it for at least 5 years (if this is realistic). Thank you in advance.

[@wazitSomethingISaid]

Brilliant machines, I went for the 16 inch myself this time.

[@9to5Mac]

Great choice!

[@donaldlippert6374]

Great review. Thx.

[@legjakabb]

Great review dewd

[@Gokhanaj]

Your videos look so amazing on MacBook Pro. I wish more creators did HDR.

[@D4NNYF00]

I love the hdr content. Makes my iPad and iPhone look amazing 😍

[@AnonymousOG]

Great review!!! Did you do any audio editing on the microphone test part? That sounded solid 🪨

[@9to5Mac]

Nope! Pulled the file straight out of QuickTime

[@RoelVanderVeken]

Very well written and explained

[@Mbro-dq2do]

I Agree with your point on the touch ID. Id rather have tough ID then facial ID if I had to choose. Great video brother

[@derekluciano4511]

In premier pro the menu bar items are all visible and it just moves to the right so I think it’s part of the program or app that you use

[@ZeeGill]

Good review. I’m waiting for my 14’’ M1 pro.

[@france4me117]

Miles, I so super enjoyed your review of the New 2021 MacBook Pro 14" with M1Pro chip. I ordered mine today and will be use purely for music production. I still have at iMac 27" and still going strong along at iPadPro 12.9" ... Your review is brilliantly honest and more importantly factual clearly shows lots of hours of research and Not nagging :) WOW! how did you get such sharp pics :) ... Just subscribed to your channel as I certainly learnt lots ... God Bless and all the best from Melbourne, Australia. Jean-Claude

[@CarsTechWood]

Can the HDMI output 3008x1692 scaled resolution? My M1 Mac Mini cannot and it’s frustrating

[@alexfvcruz]

seriously that mic quality is jaw dropping on a laptop. You could probably record song vocals on these and no one would notice.

[@cmdcreativity]

The HDR on this video looks so good! 🔥

[@TechItAway]

I'm curious to know whether people skip more frequently until they get to the end of videos without timestamps/chapters than they do on those videos that have them. Anyway, this is a comprehensive review. Great presentation!

[@Eweyhen]

Good review! For what it's worth, the filter used on the scene's where you're talking just make you look washed out. Maybe it's a stylistic thing I just don't understand since I'm not a video editor, but the product shots were nice and crispy.

[@9to5Mac]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@rohittkrr]

Yes, I agree with you too

[@VMYeahVN]

I wonder if it's because the video is in HDR (Miles on Twitter said he shot the video HDR)? I remember hearing before that HDR content on SDR monitors that most of us are still on can look washed out. Maybe it's a tone mapping issue?

[@Eweyhen]

@@VMYeahVN I don’t think so. I watched this on the new MacBook Pro 16” which has an HDR monitor

[@rohanpatel9797]

@@9to5Mac yeah it definitely seemed like you were oversaturated and washed out at the same time. possibly hdr problem - who knows?

[@guillermocastaneda]

Hi! I am a graphic and web designer, and soon I am going to train in UX/UI. I have a MacBook Pro 13” from 2016 that I am looking forward to upgrading because it is too slow, noisy and gets very hot. A few months ago I was able to test the 14” and 16” M1 Pro for a few days, both with 10c/16c/16Gb/1Tb, and the truth is that they worked really well. What I am going to use the most is going to be the Adobe design suite, Figma, specifically Premiere or FCPX for something normal (4K with 1 or 2 layers, some color correction and some transition), some RAW photo development of a 26mpx APS-C in Capture One and video calls with Zoom. Do you think that with these models I have equipment for 3/4 years? It's that on Amazon they are usually discounted, and I have even seen the 14” 8c/14c/16Gb/512Gb for €1,995 currently, but I don't know if it will fall short of power. The idea is not to think too much in the future and use it rather 3/4 years, since I think that Apple's processors by then will have improved a lot. Let's see if you can give me your opinion, based on your experience, to go for the base 14” or jump to the 16” with which I would gain screen and battery, although I will do the big jobs with a 4K monitor. Thank you and sorry for the long message!

[@tmo8284]

I can’t wait for your review of the new MacBook Air.

[@snod815]

Here's to another beautifully filmed informative video! Guess what, I decided to pull the trigger on a MBP14 instead of the MBA.

[@korhaneser3356]

Loved your shirt during the intro, where I can I get one as well?

[@simianinc]

Can’t you get 8k footage by “optimising” your import of the Canon R5?

[@everytingauto]

Dope video Miles!

[@9to5Mac]

Thanks Victor!

[@semkarlas6272]

Would you recommend it for vlog editing, photo editing and cloting design/ ussage of all adobe apps? Alll pretty light use, no heavy heavy projects.

[@9to5Mac]

Yes, definitely

[@MatteoVicino]

great video. you're sure a pro tech journalist !

[@BlackWidowYT_FPS]

I love my new MBP M1PRO 16 , everything is insanely good

[@jamesfaivre1197]

I like this kid. Very good reviews.

[@kiammcquaid]

Love the remixed interlude audio from Hiatus Kaiyote 🤘

[@techinrl9869]

I’m not sure if Quinn at Snazzy Labs made the right conclusion. Monterey does take into account menu bars growing from the left with entries skipping over the notch and continuing from there. In fact the cursor behavior changes to teleport from one side of the notch to the other, which it doesn’t do if there are no menu items on the right. IStatMenus is rather an exception, growing from the right side. IIRC, macOS requires menu items to query for amount of space available. Does iStatMenus do that? I run a similar utility called MenuBar Stats, which seems to do it properly with nothing under the notch, yet it displays basically the same information. Could this be an iStatMenu bug? Even if it isn’t, just saying that Apple does nothing for the notch isn’t accurate. Apple has said that while apps re-do their apps to work properly with the notch, there is that checkbox that essentially drops the MenuBar below the notch if the app has problems. That tells me that any notch problems are temporary. It’s too early to make any solid conclusions about that notch outside of aesthetics. With aesthetics, you either like it, don’t like it, or are indifferent.

[@TalmoTheSell]

I got the base M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM and it does plenty. I love it so much. Even in some situations when it may seem "slower", it's still plenty fast.

[@NLCovers]

My fiancé has been using the base model Intel-based chip from 2017 until now, had no issues and wasn’t slowing down at ALL. It held up like a champ and this video really made me happy to get this!

[@montychristo86]

Came for the review. Stayed for the quality. Extra kudos for the Sonic the Hedgehog shirt. 👍

[@chivatech]

Hey Miles, do you think upgrading to the M1 Max on a 14" body is worth it? I have a feeling it might have thermal issues.

[@9to5Mac]

I haven't heard anything alarming. I'm personally going with an M1 Max 14-Inch as my daily driver.

[@sm3shg]

Will get my M1 Pro tomorrow. Upgrading from MacBookPro 2015.

[@imperfectxennial3008]

Love the shirt 🙂

[@kevinweber5129]

I wonder if the iMacPro that is expected next will come with a miniLED display builtin with 120 Hz refresh rate? But you it will be atleast 3000

[@DEACONPETERWATSON]

interesting very informative wonderful machines to get the job done

[@Ferraritestdriver01]

One of the best reviews so far. We’ll done.

[@zombiehs]

Man! That HDR color is caramelizing my eyes!

[@thorskov5687]

Great review! I have a couple of questions. Do you find the screen noticeably smaller than the 15" model? Also, do you feel that 16GB is sufficient? I find on my current 2018 15" with 16GB that I occasionally run out of application memory just having a lot of Safari tabs open.

[@9to5Mac]

14 and 15" feel very close in size. And 16GB should be sufficient if you aren't pushing extremely RAM-hungry applications like After Effects, etc.

[@mootsym]

The ram on this is vastly superior to that on the 2018. The ram on this has a higher bandwidth than even the previous M1. Performance-wise, 16gb is almost equivalent to 32gb on intel macs, so I’ve heard numerous times.

[@eIijahhhhh]

hdr video on this looks incredible

[@AvalineSky]

In full screen apps, the menus do jump to the other side of the notch and your cursor will jump to the other side

[@rohanpatel9797]

20:48 - lol my 2017 base macbook pro fans turn on to max when using imessage. I can't even imagine the how loud the fans would be when editing 720p video on this thing 🤣. I seriously can't wait until my 14" pro arrives.

[@jordancassidy03]

I love my 14-inch MacBook Pro. Easily the best machine I’ve ever used. My only wish is that it had a display port slot because I use that more than HDMI.

[@jatoday]

I was surprised about the microphone. This will be really dope since I use the same laptop. 😄

[@ShiggitayMediaProductions]

I picked up the higher end 14" for $2499 from one of my local Apple stores on launch day mostly because I didn't wanna have to wait for it to ship if I was to CTO one with more than stock/base specs for that model. No regrets whatsoever. My 10/16/16 model is awesome and I can't wait to take it with me traveling in the coming weeks and months. Finally Apple has made an "ultrabook"-esque laptop that doesn't skimp on performance! Great review, Miles! All the best!

[@glime28]

Great review! Can’t believe MagSafe broke during your test. Apple should replace for free.

[@rlgwoody8966]

Miles, Thanks for the review. BTW, did my eyes deceive me or were you in Tavarish’s McLaren rebuild reveal video?

[@9to5Mac]

Haha nope. I watch Tavarish though, great channel.

[@mikkelkristiansen3694]

He seems like such a nice guy. Very credible. Great review as well.

[@benmiss1767]

That microphone is crazy !

[@awfulcitizen6355]

Where can I find that blue desktop he kept using

[@hurleywflow2227]

Love it 👨🏻‍💻

[@sextonfilm]

recording the video if the speakers on this does no justice, you have to hear them in person! They are awesome!

[@jollywgiant1760]

High quality b-roll guys!

[@richardschembri3538]

I bought a base model 14 inch, I do light video editing ad graphic design other than that normal day to day office work, I am very happy with it especially the screen.

[@Jayesh8881]

Did you find any lag or any performance issues so far? I'm looking to get the base model but I'm worried.

[@richardschembri3538]

@@Jayesh8881 Hi Jayesh no issues at all so far so good.

[@Jayesh8881]

@@richardschembri3538 I mean is it not great?

[@richardschembri3538]

It is a great machine I love it edited some videos last night it’s lightning quick

[@Jayesh8881]

@@richardschembri3538 thanks for the confidence will go for it!

[@ThaRoboForm]

Worked very fast