The Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch) is an important notebook. And not just because of what it has, but also because of what it doesn’t. The standout features start with the M1 Pro chip, which is a strong upgrade over the M1 chips that improved speed and battery life last year. Then there are the new Liquid and Super Retina XDR displays, which offer improved contrast and refresh rate. Apple also introduced MagSafe, a safer way to charge the MacBook Pro.
Apple’s latest 14-inch MacBook Pro seems to offer a comprehensive package for editing photos and videos on the go, thanks to a beautiful, high-resolution display backed by the practically revolutionary M1 Pro and Max chips. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021) is a premium laptop available with Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max SoCs. It looks almost exactly like its big brother, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021), and it feels just as good with its all-aluminum chassis. The sharp mini-LED display can adaptively boost refresh rates up to 120Hz to make motion appear smoother, and it can produce deep blacks and bright highlights to deliver an immersive HDR monitor experience.
It also has wide color gamut that makes it suitable for content creation. The keyboard feels comfortable and doesn’t tire over time, the haptic touchpad is large and responsive, and the webcam’s video quality is excellent. Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max SoCs are capable of demanding tasks like video editing and 3D animation, and their incredible power efficiency means the battery lasts more than 12 hours of light work and 9 hours of video playback. The MacBook Pro was an anomaly because Apple sometimes tinkered with it too much. Ports were removed where form took precedence over function, and the MacBook Pro’s keyboard issues were notorious.
Design
Many of us have been calling for a redesign of the MacBook Pro for years, and with the 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021), we’re finally getting it. This is the biggest refresh of the line in years and it seems that Apple is once again passionate and excited about MacBook Pro – and that enthusiasm is contagious. The most notable design change is the new 14.2-inch screen size, an increase of almost an inch over the 13.3-inch display that comes with the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
This extra screen real estate is put to good use, giving you a much larger workspace than the 13-inch model without overly increasing the overall size of the notebook. If the 16-inch MacBook Pro seems too big and the 13-inch MacBook Pro seems too small, then the 14-inch MacBook Pro may be the perfect compromise. In addition to enlarging the screen, the resolution has also been increased from 2560 x 1600 on the 13-inch to 3024 x 1964, increasing the pixel density from 227 pixels per inch to 254 PPI. Not only is this larger screen, but it is also sharper.
Display
The MacBook Pro 14 Mini-LED display achieves brightness values of more than 1500 nits in combination with HDR content, but is otherwise limited to around 500 nits. This is bit annoying, especially outdoors where higher brightness would help. There’s now an app called Vivid that removes this limitation, so you can use the maximum brightness in any situation. We tested the app with our test device and it works. You get an extra brightness bar and you can easily increase the brightness further with the normal brightness buttons.
The maximum values match the HDR results. We measured over 1100 nits on an all-white screen, about 1300 nits on our website and up to 1600 nits on a small window. If you use your MacBook Pro frequently outdoors and want a brighter image, we recommend trying the app. We also analyzed the panel with app and there are only small, negligible differences in image quality, but the lid gets noticeably warmer. We can’t say how using the app affects the lifespan of the LEDs.
Keyboard and Touchpad
This is probably the best version of Magic Keyboard to date. Typing on the keyboard of the MacBook Pro 14 was a comfortable experience, as the keys had elastic feedback with the right click. In the 10-finger test, I managed to type 73 words per minute, which is slightly above my normal average of 70 words per minute. The black anodized aluminum contrasts well with the black keys and helped the backlighting show up better as we worked on our test while the room was darkening due to the approaching sunset.
And speaking of the keyboard, we also bid farewell to the Touch Bar, which, to be honest, was a fun novelty to look at and occasionally play with. But let’s face it, few of us have ever used it. Instead, Apple has brought back the Fn key row, which we’ll be using a lot more of, along with the new Do Not Disturb, Dictation and Spotlight keys. As usual, the Force Touch trackpad is absolutely huge, taking up a large chunk of the palm resting area. The trackpad has a smooth feel and offers fast, responsive operation. The bottom corners have enough play to make clicking comfortable.
Audio
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 inch has great speakers. They sound rich and balanced, with a lot more bass than most laptop (computer) speakers. However, they are not as good as those of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 inch (2021) because they distort more at high volume. Unfortunately, they don’t get very loud either. There are many reports from users who hear crackling and popping noises while playing media.
It’s probably a software bug as some users have found workarounds such as: B. Leave QuickTime open in the background or change the audio sample rate to 44.1 kHz. Apple will likely fix this with a firmware update; We will update the rating as soon as it becomes available.
Graphic and Gaming
The 14-inch MacBook Pro we tested is equipped with a 16-core GPU that complements Apple’s new M1 Pro system-on-chip. And it proves to be a real beast, as we noticed while playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, when the wintry opening scene ran smoothly while Lara was plagued by snow and wind on a cliff. In a benchmark test, the 14-inch MacBook Pro achieved 39 frames per second on Rise of Tomb Raider (at 1920 x 1200 resolution), while the 16-inch model came in at a super-fast 73.87 frames per second. When we increased the resolution, the 14-inch model (3024 x 1964) achieved a choppy 17 fps, while the 16-inch model (3456 x 2234) still didn’t get above 30 fps at 27 fps.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro ran Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm at 46 fps, a smoother rate than the 22 fps that the XPS 13 (with Intel Iris Xe graphics) had, even though it ran at 1080p. The 16-inch MacBook Pro managed 46 frames per second. For comparison, 30 frames per second is playable, although we would always like to see a higher rate. The Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPUs in the Surface Laptop Studio (66 fps) and Dell XPS 15 (67 fps) provided a smooth display that outshone all others.
Performance
Apple offers five different M1 versions for the MacBook Pro 14. The base model provides 8 CPU cores, all other four models offer 10 CPU cores. The biggest difference is number of GPU cores, starting with 14-16 for the M1 Pro and 24 or 32 for M1 Max. Those who opt for the M1 Max will also automatically have to pay about $500 for the upgrade to 32 GB of RAM, and the model is about $1,000 more expensive than the entry-level version. The following table shows five different configurations.
The M1 Max with 24-core GPU is the second fastest model you can get, but the CPU performance is identical to the MacBook M1 Pro models with 10 CPU cores. Only a advantage of the M1 Max is the higher GPU performance and it can be configured with up to 64 GB of RAM. Unlike the MacBook Pro 16 review unit with M1 Max, the MBP 14 does not offer an optional high-performance mode.
Battery Life
Apple estimates that MacBook Pro 14 can last up to 17 hours of full-screen video playback and 11 hours of wireless web browsing. This is due to the efficiency of M1 Pro chip. In the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web browsing over Wi-Fi at a brightness of 150 cd/m², the MacBook Pro lasted an impressive 14 hours and 8 minutes with ProRes refresh rate enabled.
This time beats the Premium average of 10:28, as well as the XPS 15 (6:58) and Blade 14 (6:02). The Studio came closest to the MacBook Pro with a time of 10:42 at 120 Hz and 11:42 at 60 Hz. Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks support fast charging, and the 96W USB-C power adapter that came with my review unit can charge the notebook to 50% in 30 minutes.
Heat
We use a 14-inch MacBook 2021 in our work life and have not had any issues with heat yet. But just to make sure we never do, Apple continues to improve its heat-dissipating thermal design. The new MacBook’s new fans move 50% more air through system than its predecessor, according to Apple, at lower fan speeds.
Combined with the power efficiency of the MacBook M1 Pro chip, you should get a cooler, quieter experience. We ran a 15-minute full-screen HD video on the system and measured the temperature at key points on the laptop. The touchpad, center of the keyboard, and base measured 85, 89, and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. All of this falls below our 95-degree comfort threshold.
Configuration Options
The new MacBook Pro 14-inch is an incredibly ambitious notebook, both in terms of hardware and design. It is aimed at the creative professionals who need powerful mobile hardware, and that means it’s an expensive notebook. A very expensive notebook. The MacBook Pro 14-inch with an 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU M1 Pro with 16GB of Unified Memory, and 512GB of SSD storage starts at $1,999, while the more powerful model with a 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU M1 Pro with 16GB of Unified Memory, and 1TB of SSD storage costs a whopping $2,499.
You can configure the MacBook Pro 14-inch with more RAM and storage, either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of RAM and up to 8TB of SSD storage, which of course increases the price. You can also grow from the M1 Pro chip to the much more powerful M1 Max chip. This offers faster RAM and twice the graphics performance. The M1 Max with a 10-core CPU and 24-core GPU costs a whopping $500, while the M1 Max with a 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU costs $700 extra.
Conclusion
We hope you like this article MacBook Pro (14-inch) Review. The new MacBook Pro is an expensive notebook and the price immediately makes it unaffordable for many buyers. However, Apple does not want to appeal to these buyers with the new MacBook Pro. For them, the M1 MacBook Air or the M1 MacBook Pro are excellent alternatives.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is more of a statement of intent and perhaps an admission by Apple that it needs to make a device that professional users will see without thinking of another laptop. The MacBook Pro has everything a user could want. The performance is superb, the screen is beautiful to look at, the battery life is unparalleled, and the speaker system is still the best. The MacBook Pro is more of an investment for the next five years.
