Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1)

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1)
the best laptop in the world

CPU: Apple M1 | GPU: Apple M1 GPU | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 1TB | Display: 13.3-inches, 1600 | Size: 12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches | Weight: 3 pounds

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro


Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Price: $1,299 (starting); $1,899 (reviewed at)
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - CPU: Apple M1
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - GPU: Apple M1 GPU
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - RAM: 16GB
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Storage: 1TB
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Display: 13.3-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Battery: 16:32
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Size: 12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - Weight: 3 pounds 

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) - FOR or AGAINST

FOR
  • Stellar overall and gaming performance
  • Excellent battery life
  • Lightning-fast SSD
  • Great webcam
  • Comfortable keyboard
  • macOS Big Sur is a nice update
AGAINST
  • Not enough ports
  • Thick bezels

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro pricing and configuration

I had a blast reviewing the $1,899 configuration of the MacBook Pro which has the new Apple M1 SoC, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Apple M1 graphics. The base model costs $1,299 and has the Apple M1 SoC (System on a Chip), 8GB, and a 256GB SSD. The $2,299 version bumps the storage up to 2TB. Each laptop comes with a 13-inch, 2560 x 1600 Retina display.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1) Overview

When you open the box of the latest MacBook Pro, it looks like every other MacBook to date. I mean it is beautiful and majestic, it is true, but there is no indication of the promise that is hidden under the aluminum chassis. And believe me, there is the promise. It is the promise of power, the promise of performance, the promise of the future.

No, it doesn't seem like it, but this MacBook marks a new chapter in computing and Apple computers as a whole. So what is behind the monumental change? Apple's new M1 processor, the much-hyped component that signals the company's break with Intel in favor of custom silicon. And Apple had no qualms about touting all the implications with grandiose and seemingly unheard-of claims that these new MacBooks would deliver 3.5 times the CPU performance, 6 times faster GPU performance, and outperform 98% of PC laptops in the world. the market.

Well, I'm here to tell you that the hype train is well-founded, except maybe for the last one. It's a bit of a stretch. But still, the 13-inch MacBook Pro M1 ($ 1,899 reviewed, $ 1,299 starting) offers impressive performance and has the longest battery life I've seen in a Mac. If that's not enough, along with Big Sur, you get amazing web page load times and a better webcam experience,

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro display

It is not a MacBook without a Retina display. However, Apple has continued to change the formula, adding new technologies such as Triton into the mix. The technology wisely and almost imperceptibly adjusts the color temperature of the display based on how good or bad the environment is, creating an optimal viewing experience at all times. The display also has a P3 wide color gamut, which is a wider color spectrum than sRGB. This means more vibrant colors which is always a good thing.

There's something I can really do without the thick bezels surrounding the 13.3-inch, 2650 x 1600-pixel retina display. When all your contestants are trying to squeeze the ugly black strips to the barely-there level, it makes no sense that Apple hasn't followed suit. Maybe next time.

The trailer for the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, was vibrant with color. My favorite scene was actress Jennifer Hudson, who wore a rose-red sweater with a pink blouse underneath. His brown skin looked warm and healthy and the detail was so sharp, you could see the sunlight shining through different strands of hair, showing less light of chocolate.

When we tested the color reproduction capabilities of the MacBook Pro, it recorded 78.3% on the DCI-P3 gamut. This is lower than our 84 percent premium laptop average. However, it is still superior to Spector (77.4%), ZenBook (76.1%), and XPS 13 (69.4%).

The panel of the MacBook Pro is also shiny, averaging 435 nits. It is significantly brighter than the Zen6b (370 nits) and Spector (369 nits), along with a 386-nit average. However, the XPS 13 was the brightest with 469 nits.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro audio

Thin speaker, big punch. I didn't expect much from the MacBook Pro's stereo speakers, but I was pleasantly surprised throughout my testing. As I listened to the master version of Tony Braxton's "Gotta Move On" on Tidal, my little living room/dining room was filled with the sound of cascading strings, slowly giving way to synthesized-out keyboards and a strong beat Was - all before the singer's world-famous sultry Alto entered the soundscape.

Once this was done, I could hear the breaths as he uttered his words especially on the quick succession of TS or ah, ah, ah. H.E.R. K's electric guitar explores the track, adding his mournful testimony to the sad love song.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro keyboard and touchpad

Apple put the uncomfortable nightmare of its Butterfly keyboard behind it and my fingers are better for it. The company's Magic Keyboard delivers bouncy, strong feedback and combines it with large keycaps and generous key spacing. I spent hours writing this review and never felt any discomfort. I easily surpassed my 70 words per minute average, hitting 76 words per minute in 10 Fastfingers typing tests.

The backlighting under the keycaps is bright enough to be used in dark settings, which is good for hunting and peck typists from there. And if you're so inclined, the MacBook also has a touch bar, which can provide helpful shortcuts based on the currently running app.

At 5.1 x 3.2 inches, the MacBook's massive Force trackpad takes up most of the actual palm. There is not even a moment to exit the navigation space and, thanks to the stellar palm rejection, the cursor never cares where I left it, due to inadvertent palm contact. I never had to worry about running out of space to navigate. The edges of the trackpad react strongly when you right-click or left-click.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro M1

So what is the buzz about the M1? Apple's M1 Custom SoC is the first step in Apple's conscious unplugging from Intel, which Apple says will take two years to complete. The ARM-based 5-nanometer chip has 16 billion transistors, the highest chip ever made by the company. In addition to all those transistors, SoC has an eight-core processor, integrated graphics, an integrated memory architecture, Apple's neural engine, an improved image signal processor, and Apple's Secure Enclave.

Now that we know everything that is included in the SoC, let's break down some components, shall we? Starting with the processor and graphics card, the M1 has an eight-core CPU with four cores dedicated to high performance, and the remaining four focused on efficiency. According to Apple, high-performance cores will provide industry-leading speed on single-threaded tasks and when combined, they provide a major boost to multi-threaded performance. Performance cores provide a 3.5x increase in CPU performance.

But don't sleep on high-efficiency cores; They allow those high-performance cores to do their job, but use only one-tenth of normal power output. Both sets of cores work together with the help of a display controller, which allows all cores to work together.

The integrated graphics chip of the MacBook Pro, the M1 GPU, has eight cores and according to Apple, it is the world's fastest integrated graphics laptop with 6x faster graphics performance. Each core has 128 execution units for demanding tasks. In addition, the M1 GPU is capable of executing around 25,000 threads, providing the performance of 2.6 teraflops. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU has 2.1 Teraflops. With all that power, the M1 GPU can process multistream 4K video playback in real-time and handle large-scale image processing tasks. You will also have the ability to easily change 3D scenes and play games with high frame rates.

Since the M1 is made up of custom ARM architectures, this means that MacBooks now use universal apps. These new apps can run on both MacOS, iOS and iPadOS without difficulty, automatically adjusting the size and scale according to the device. It also means that MacBooks now have access to a huge library of apps. Any app that has not switched to Universal will run in Rosetta 2, an emulator designed to run Intel-based apps.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro heat

Unlike the Air, the MacBook Pro has an active cooling system to keep things nice and chilly. The fan stayed quiet even when it was running 40 tabs and Rise of the Tomb Raider. When we ran our heat test (running a 15-minute full-screen HD video), the touchpad measured 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The touchpad and landing gear were just as cool in temperatures of 81 and 83 degrees, respectively.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro webcam

It may only be 720p resolution, but the MacBook Pro's webcam might be one of the best I've used to date. Thanks to the image signal processor on the M1 chip, the FaceTime camera offers stellar video quality with better automatic white balance, higher dynamic range, and improved noise reduction.

I used the laptop for multiple video calls during the course of this review and got rave reviews. My colleagues reported sharp, clear images with excellent color reproduction. In fact, someone congratulated me for matching my shirt to my hair color. And even though the sun was streaming in through the window, the white balance made me look damp and cool rather than washed out and overexposed. The new three-microphone array made sure my words came out loud and clear.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro warranty

See how Apple fared on Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands, our annual special reports. 

Best Laptops - Bottom line

Call it the emancipation of Apple, the song of corporate freedom, or simply liberation. With the advent of the M1 chip, Apple is free, free to be faster and stronger, free to dominate. And the company wastes no time in asserting its dominance. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 not only has better overall and graphical performance, but it also has one of the longest-lasting batteries we've ever seen on a laptop.

Apple could have stopped there, but instead, you get faster web page load times, a more powerful camera, and seamless integration between Mac, iPad, and iPhone thanks to Universal's native apps. The 5nm chip even improves the camera and microphones.

However, with all this awesome power, it would have been nice to get a new design or at least a new color. Some other things that continue to grace our MacBook wish list are slimmer bezels and more ports. If you're looking to save a bit of money and get similar performance and a brighter screen, consider the $ 999 Asus ZenBook UX325EA. But if you're looking for the fastest and most powerful premium laptop in the country, say hello to the new king.

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro performance

We are now approaching the brass deal of the case. Apple made a lot of big claims about the M1, and with its 16GB of integrated memory, the chip lives up to the hype. I had 50 tabs open in Google Chrome, with some Tweetdeck, Slack, YouTube, Tidal, Gmail, Google Sheets, and Twitch, and MacBook Pro just no signs of lag or hang time.

The notebook also performed well on our synthetic benchmark. With Geekbench 5.0, an overall performance test, the MacBook Pro achieved 5,882, surpassing the 4,215 premium laptop average. The XPS 13 (Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU) came closest to matching the MacBook with a score of 5,254, while the ZenBook (Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU) peaked at 5,084. Spector and its 10th-generation Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor were at the tail end with only 4,074.

The MacBook Pro scorched competition on the handbrake benchmark where we have a laptop that converts 4K video to 1080p. On the Silicon Beta version of Handbreak, the MacBook clocked 7 minutes and 44 seconds, during the Rosetta 2 iteration, the time being increased to 13:38. Both times are still much faster than competing systems. Zenbook completed the task in 17:51, while XPS 13 clocked at 18:22. The specter was the slowest at 21:13.

On the Paget Photoshop test, which loops three times per run through 21 different Photoshop tasks, the MacBook gained 649, surpassing the average of 613 and the XPS 13 of 588. However, Zenbook won with a score of 742.

During the AfterEffects benchmark, the MacBook reached 708, surpassing the 651 category average.

When we ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed ​​Test to test the 1TB SSD speed of the MacBook Pro, it got 2,824.9 megabytes per second on the read portion of the test and 2,752.4 Mbps on the write portion of the test. Both scores are faster than their respective averages (2,012 Mbps read, 2,028.3 Mbps write).

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro graphics

With its integrated M1 GPU, the MacBook Pro can do something a little unexpected: run games. 

When we ran the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark, we saw a frame rate of 29 frames per second at Very High on 1400 x 900. That’s several frames higher than the 24 fps premium laptop average. When we re-ran the test at 1080p, however, the frame rate dropped to 18 fps. The XPS 13 notched 12 fps, matching the ZenBook. 

During Sid Meier’s Civilization Gathering Storm test, the MacBook Pro notched 29 fps, beating the 28-fps average as well as the ZenBook and XPS 13, which reached 21 and 16 fps, respectively. 

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro battery

The longest MacBook Pro battery life ever. Apple claims that the M1 MacBook Pro will last 20 hours if it’s straight video playback and 17 hours of web browsing. We didn’t get exactly those numbers, but the Pro came pretty close. The MacBook Pro lasted 16 hours, 32 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). That’s much longer than the 10:01 premium laptop average. 

The ZenBook tapped out at 13:47 while the Spectre lasted at 13:19. The XPS 13 finished with a time of 11:07. 

Best Laptops - Apple MacBook Pro

Apple MacBook Pro macOS Big Sur

What is a new chipset without a new operating system? The new MacBook Pro (and Air) comes with macOS Big Sur. I won't go into the details of everything you can expect (stay tuned for our upcoming review), but I wanted to talk about some more exciting new features.

First of all, Big Sur indicates that many in the industry are calling it a "revision of the MacBook". The term fancy refers only to the universal apps that will run natively on all Macs running Apple Silicon, as well as many new design features.

For example, Big Sur gives users a control panel, which is ironic because Microsoft is talking about dismantling the feature. The macOS version gives instant access to some major utilities such as volume, Bluetooth, keyboard brightness, and Airdrop to name a few. It's not as strong as you find on the iPad, but it's a start. I like how you can pin things in the menu bar, although I had a little trouble removing them.

If you click on the date and time in the top right corner of the menu bar, you will call widgets for screentime, stock, calendar, and weather, all of which can be arranged to your liking. You can also adjust the size. For now, widgets are not as diverse as I would like, it would be nice to have some third-party widgets for Facebook or Spotify. Hopefully, we will get some variety and upcoming updates. Notifications are included in the widget, grouping the information by the app.

And I have to forgive if I didn't mention the new design. this is so beautiful. Consists of a bright, bold color palette that just grabs and holds your attention. I am a big fan of the translucent dock at the bottom and the square-shaped apps that occupy it. The apps share the same look and color scheme whether you're on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which makes the transition between the three so easy.

Other cool Big Sur enhancements include an upgraded Apple Maps, an updated message app that allows you to pin conversations at the top of the list, inline reply to any message, or type someone's name to send a message directly. Now you can create and edit Memojis on your Mac and, if you have a pair of AirPods, you can switch between devices seamlessly as long as they are all on the same iCloud account.

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post