October 18th 2021 Apple Event: M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros

[CaseySJ]

Quick observations:

• Height of the menu bar is larger on notched MacBook Pros. Photo below shows 2020 13" Intel MacBook Pro on left and 2021 14" MacBook Pro on right.

• Screen recording (attached ZIP) of a well-behaved menu bar that spans across the notch. Although notch is not visible in screen recording, it is there in the middle of the menu bar. Notice how the mouse jumps across the notch instead of traveling through the notch!
• When a 4K monitor is connected, changing scaled resolutions is nearly instant. The screen does not fade out and fade in. It just switches!

• This has already been mentioned by several reviewers, but each of the three Thunderbolt ports has its own dedicated controller. Below we see three Thunderbolt Buses, which means each port has full 40 Gb/s bandwidth. On the 13" Intel MacBook Pro with 4 Thunderbolt ports and 2 buses, the two ports on left share a single 40 Gb/s bus and the two ports on the right share their own single 40 Gb/s bus.

• GeekBench 5.0 (fans did not turn on during tests):

Metal (left) and OpenCL (right)

• 14 hours of projected run time.

 

[CaseySJ]

I wanted to confirm for myself that the top bezel on previous generation MacBook Pro is taller than the bezel-plus-notch on new MacBook Pro.

Just tried a high impedance headphone, a Sennheiser HD600 rated at 300 Ohms. Compared it between the old Intel MBP and new 14”. There’s a significant improvement not only in loudness, but also in overall sound quality. I have several dedicated headphone amps, but found no compelling need to use them over the built-in port on the new MBP. Quite pleasantly surprised by how well the MBP handles these difficult-to-drive headphones.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I wanted to confirm for myself that the top bezel on previous generation MacBook Pro is wider than the bezel-plus-notch on new MacBook Pro.

View attachment 533241

Just tried a high impedance headphone, a Sennheiser HD600. Compared it between the old Intel MBP and new 14”. There’s a significant improvement not only in loudness, but also in overall sound quality.

Just looking at your photos we can see the improvement in monitor quality.

I haven't watched lots of video reviews of the new machines - there can be too much information and biased opinion sometimes - but Aaron Zollo gives us a good appraisal after his first week of ownership of the 16" model and seemed to cover all bases well, even the notch-jumping. (Spot the obvious and slightly mysterious negative late on in the video. Is that right?) He's using it as his main video editing machine in preference to his Mac Pro.

I think you are going to be very happy with the new machine! Even my "old" M1 machine is still impressive.

 

[c-o-pr]

M1 Pro First Impressions: 2 Core management and CPUperformance | Eclectic Light Co.

M1 Pro First Impressions: 2 Core management and CPU performance

The P cores in the M1 Pro/Max CPU are managed in two groups of four, sparing load on the second group, and distributing it unevenly within each group. Its two E cores outperform the four in the M1 …

eclecticlight.co

 

[CaseySJ]

Just looking at your photos we can see the improvement in monitor quality.

The mini-LED screen is superb. Being an owner of two LG OLED TVs, I'm easily irritated by backlight bleed from conventional computer monitors. These new MBPs truly rival OLEDs. I'm hoping Apple introduces a 27" standalone mini-LED monitor next year to accompany the higher-end Mac mini.

...
I think you are going to be very happy with the new machine! Even my "old" M1 machine is still impressive.

A few days ago Apple sent a return-shipping container for the 2020 13" MacBook Pro that you see in my photos above. I decided to trade it in and just dropped it off at UPS.

I was expecting to hold on to the 2020 MBP for a few days longer, but after 2 full days with the new 14", it became clear I had no further need of the old model!

By the way I used Migration Assistant -- which is something I always advise against -- to quickly set up the new computer. There were a couple of hiccups because it came with Monterey 12.0.1 whereas the old machine was running 12.1 Beta. But Migration Assistant was smart enough to register the new computer into the Apple Beta program and upgrade to 12.1 right from the Welcome screen. After that, the migration was painless -- and successful.

 

[Stork]

@CaseySJ, I agree with your above assessments. I, too, have a new 16" MBP (M1 Pro) and feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I love the new MBP!

BTW, I've used Migration Assistant since Moses was a child. My trick is that I uncheck "Other files". Migration Assistant has worked well with my hackintoshes and Macs. However, when I used Migration Assistant from my Z490 to the MBP, I got some apps that require Rosetta. Ugh! And Thunderbird, my main email app, is kinda "squirrely" running on the M1 chipset. This, too, will get fixed with further updates.

So, I really like my 16"MBP M1 Pro. Highly recommend the beast.

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ, I agree with your above assessments. I, too, have a new 16" MBP (M1 Pro) and feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I love the new MBP!
...
So, I really like my 16"MBP M1 Pro. Highly recommend the beast.

A very good choice!

Regarding Migration Assistant, I may start recommending this now. Because I had done a clean installation on the 2020 13" MBP, there was no legacy baggage, hence I decided to give Migration Assistant a chance.

 

[mm2margaret]

M1Max Macbook Pro 14" Battery Life:

So, I've now had a little over a week of working with my new M1Max Macbook Pro 14" and for every day, including some very busy days (one extremely busy day in particular), I never exceeded 70% total battery use. That means I never had to plug it in during the day to charge it, and could just wait and charge it overnight.

I suspect that if I were a little more prudent in my use of it, I might be able to go even longer. I use file vault, and lots of high battery draining display use (much more than most folks would use).

 

[UtterDisbelief]

A very good choice!

Regarding Migration Assistant, I may start recommending this now. Because I had done a clean installation on the 2020 13" MBP, there was no legacy baggage, hence I decided to give Migration Assistant a chance.

Yes, this was something I never recommended. Perhaps a hangover from earlier hackintosh days when it could cause problems ? Glad to hear it's more reliable now.

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, this was something I never recommended. Perhaps a hangover from earlier hackintosh days when it could cause problems ? Glad to hear it's more reliable now.

Ever since Big Sur, I've been advocating the use of Migration Assistant and/or Restore from Recovery partition. They both work really well and I have yet to experience any drama with either.