Apple MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch review: incredible performance with very long battery life and beautiful displays but expensive with absurd RAM pricing
here's why Apple says no Bogdan Popa / Softpedia News : Apple Regarding Face ID on the MacBook: Touch ID Makes More Sense Samuel Axon / Ars Technica : 2021 MacBook Pro review: Yep, it's what you've been waiting for youtube.com : 14" MacBook Pro vs M1 MacBook Air - Worth $1,000 MORE? Tweets: Mike Evans / @mikeev : The @verge's review of the 2021 MBPs really made me reconsider the Max: For continuous, everyday use, the 16" model with the Pro lasted 16 hours, while the same chassis with the Max could only muster ~10. That's a 37.5% drop in battery life. https://www.theverge.com/... David Hewson / @david_hewson : Who's going to use a laptop for 16 continuous hours? Mine's nowhere near and I never get close to the battery running out. https://twitter.com/... @om : Sometimes a polishing cloth is not just a polishing cloth. https://www.ifixit.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ashlee Vance / @ashleevance : Apparently, you're gonna need a cloth for your cloth https://www.ifixit.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ian Betteridge / @ianbetteridge : Two full working days. https://twitter.com/... @bayumurti94 : @Techmeme @JoannaStern iPhone: Touch ID Mac: Face ID But actually I'm OK with Mac not having Face ID since I use Apple Watch to unlock most of the time. I press the keyboard/touchpad just before sitting down and it will be unlocked just after @wongmjane : they actually did it, mad lad 😆 https://twitter.com/... Alex Grebenyuk / @a_grebenyuk : “But the M1 Max has a whole bunch of extra GPU cores to power, and that drains the battery faster. I asked Apple, and the company confirmed the M1 Max uses more power both when idle and when active.” https://www.theverge.com/... Neil Shah / @neiltwitz : I prefer both solutions for laptops. Though, @Windows Hello is flawless, snappy and secure, one of the best case for facial recognition on laptops removes serious cognitive load. . Fingerprint is a good fallback option. #biometrics #unlocking #laptops https://twitter.com/... Wesley Miller / @getwired : @elkmovie ... I have to wonder if High Power Mode was on... because Tom's Hardware shows 15+ for a 16 Pro Max. https://www.tomsguide.com/... Dylan / @dylandkt : As tempting as these new MacBook Pros are, 😅 I won't be upgrading. Professional work with software development and graphic design on my M1 MacBook Air has been a fantastic experience. Vadim Yuryev / @vadimyuryev : MagSafe: So easy a 1-year old can do it! https://twitter.com/... Vadim Yuryev / @vadimyuryev : People are saying that the MUCH faster SSDs on the new M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros don't really matter or give you any real-world benefits.. WRONG! They're forgetting about SSD caching ;) Hint: You guys will be blown away in our 16 vs 32GB RAM video. Luke Miani / @lukemiani : The new MagSafe connector is soooo thin, but feels just as strong as on older MacBooks! I suspect the thin-ness is to do with future much thinner MacBooks with the M2 chip 😈 Michael Love / @elkmovie : I'm skeptical, but if M1 Max really means a 40% drop in battery life, it wouldn't bother me much personally but seems liable to be a major scandal and maybe even produce a class-action lawsuit or two. (Apple's marketing makes no mention of this gap) https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : @getwired ... It was not on, and also Apple confirmed to me that high power mode only does one thing: allows the fans to spin faster Anshel Sag / @anshelsag : This logic only works for phones, facial recognition is 100% the correct solution for a laptop or desktop. I cannot remember the last time I actually typed my password into a desktop or laptop to log in outside of initial setup. https://twitter.com/... Daniel Jalkut / @danielpunkass : The most remarkable thing about the M1 Macs is how much stuff “just works”. A testament to the 3rd party developers who adapted quickly to the new architecture, and to Apple's Rosetta 2 team, among others. What a great experience as a Mac user and developer. Ben Bajarin / @benbajarin : @joshjagdfeld When Apple inevitably puts FaceID on M1/2 Macs next year it will be nearly unnoticeable. That's how fast it will log you in. Joe Rossignol / @rsgnl : Stealing this Slack comment from @SamiFathi_ this morning but it really does feel like there was a “second embargo” on MacBook Pro reviews today with videos from The Verge, WSJ, and Snazzy Labs. Steve H.McFly / @onleaks : Shocking and shameful @apple!🤣 “The new #Apple Polishing Cloth earns a 0 out of 10 on our repairability scale” (@iFixit) -> https://fr.ifixit.com/... https://twitter.com/... Michael Kukielka / @detroitborg : You have to appreciate the design of these even more from the inside. MacBook Pro 2021 Teardown: Easier to Repair, Harder to Score... https://www.youtube.com/... via @YouTube Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi : Apple MacBook Pro 14 and 16 review: return to form https://www.theverge.com/... “Absurd RAM pricing” is being sensational (at best) since it does not account for an entirely different RAM model. While $800 for 16->64, a Dell (base=8GB) is $400 excl. discrete GPU you'd add and upgrade. Nilay Patel / @reckless : I came very close to giving the 16-inch M1 Pro a 10, but... a $3099 computer needs to be absolutely perfect, and it's not perfect. It's also expensive, with a ridiculous $400 upcharge if you want 32GB of RAM. So 9.5 it is. David Ruddock / @rdrv3 : oh man, this is a laaaaame answer. We all know the real one: Apple won't make a laptop lid thick enough to house all the components. I'm guessing they're waiting for the tech to downsize enough to make it happen, they're CLEARLY preparing people with that notch. https://twitter.com/... Abhishek Baxi / @baxiabhishek : Ummm... nope. It's opposite actually. My phone is in my palm and a finger can move to a fingerprint sensor without much travel. On a laptop, my hand is either on the edge of the lid whole opening or on trackpad/keyboard far from the fingerprint sensor. https://twitter.com/... Quinn Nelson / @snazzyq : The New MacBook Pro Is Even Better Than I Expected! https://www.youtube.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ray Wong / @raywongy : “We make the world's best touch computer on an iPad. It's totally optimized for that. And the Mac is totally optimized for indirect input. We haven't really felt a reason to change that.” Apple's “explanation-not-an-explanation” GJ @JoannaStern tho! https://www.wsj.com/... @ccieby30 : Really it's because you can unlock the Mac with your watch but they won't admit that 😂😂 https://twitter.com/... Ben / @bencsin : I'd argue the the other way: Face ID makes sense on laptops over Touch ID, while for phones Touch ID makes more sense than Face. On a phone for SURE your thumb is already near screen. On laptop my fingers aren't always near upper right corner of keyboard https://twitter.com/... Laura Calabazas / @freezydorito : man what i really hate about using my laptop is opening it up every day and then picking my face and having to put it in front of it https://twitter.com/... Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : Apple *finally* has laptops with incredible PC-class GPUs that could run the latest games... ...but almost no games developers have followed Apple to ARM, and w/ the 32-bit cutoff and deprecation of OpenGL, Apple has burned a lot of bridges; a lot of trust needs to be earned back Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi : I've been working non-stop on the MacBook and continue to be amazed at the entire package. It is weird not to ever hear a fan, especially more noticeable because the speakers are so good. I'm using a Razer dock and the lack of “futzing” adding/removing is impressive. 💯 Joanna Stern / @joannastern : But I'll say this. The battery life on these are great but the fine print is bonkers. Settings to get to 21 hours: - M1 Pro chip - Brightness at 50% - Wi-Fi off - True Tone off - Ambient light sensor off - Keyboard backlight off - Downloaded video in Apple TV app Nat Bullard / @natbullard : “We have escaped from Dongletown” is one of the better product review lines I've read @reckless @mcsquared96 https://www.theverge.com/... Dieter Bohn / @backlon : I just checked the wordcount on the review and it's over 4000 words that's a lot of ... MacBook Prose https://www.theverge.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : This video review of the new Macbook Pro looks absolutely gorgeous on my 16" laptop that cost 20% as much https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : Apple claims 21 hours of battery life on the new 16-inch MacBook Pros. Someone had to test it. My video review: https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : Now that the new MacBook Pros are nearly perfect and fix pretty much everything we've complained about, what do the future of the MacBook look like? Touchscreens? Water resistance? I asked Apple. My review of the new MacBook Pros: https://www.wsj.com/... Monica Chin / @mcsquared96 : Our MacBook Pro review is here! Check out our video to see me nerd about benchmarks for several minutes and stare concernedly at laptop screens https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : The new MacBook Pro is such a home run. https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : Our review of the new MacBook Pros are here! - M1 Max 16 is the fastest laptop we've ever tested in creative tasks - M1 Pro 16 went *16 hours* during a normal workday on battery - Extra GPUs on the Max not worth the battery hit if you don't need them https://www.theverge.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : our MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch reviews are live. “The 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro ran for 16 hours on its battery during continuous use, making it the longest-lasting laptop we've ever tested.” Sixteen Hours 16 hours 🤯 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Dieter Bohn / @backlon : @reckless @mcsquared96 Return of the Mac (tax) Greed for speed Dieter Bohn / @backlon : It's here: @reckless, @mcsquared96, and Alix Diaconis have reviewed the new MacBook Pros. They're great. Expensive, but great. https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s earlier M1 MacBook Pro review paired strong performance and battery life with a 16GB RAM ceiling and only two USB ports. The 14- and 16-inch models move the MacBook Pro tier toward higher-end performance, longer endurance, and better displays, while making memory configuration a central buying decision.
Later coverage keeps the same trade-off in view: the M2 Max model was still described as pricey with limited upgradability, while the 2023 entry-level Pro drew criticism for an 8GB RAM baseline and a lost Thunderbolt port.
First-order effects
- MacBook Pro buyers gain substantially stronger performance, long battery life, and upgraded displays, but face expensive RAM choices at purchase because the configuration is effectively fixed afterward.
- Apple can differentiate its Pro lineup from the M1 MacBook Air and earlier M1 Pro model through sustained-performance and display benefits rather than only processor branding.
Second-order effects
- High memory upgrade prices push buyers to decide between lower-cost base configurations and more expensive Pro or Max variants, sharpening Apple’s configuration-based segmentation.
- The favorable performance-and-battery combination raises the baseline later MacBook Pro revisions must meet, while the persistent complaints about RAM pricing keep upgrade value under scrutiny.
Third-order effects
- Apple’s notebook strategy is converging on tightly integrated silicon systems whose performance and endurance advantages are paired with limited post-purchase configurability.
- If reviews continue to reward the hardware while criticizing memory tiers, the long-term contest in premium laptops will center as much on configuration economics as on chip performance.
The trend: Apple silicon MacBook Pros are using performance, battery life, and display quality to move premium-laptop differentiation toward integrated systems and upfront memory choices.