MacBook Pro with M1 review

Our Verdict

The MacBook Pro with M1 delivers a killer combo of blazing performance and epic battery life, even if the design is likewise familiar.

For

Superb performance
Crazy long battery life
Vivid and colorful display
Comfortable Magic Keyboard

Against

Dated pattern
Only two Thunderbolt ports

Tom's Guide Verdict

The MacBook Pro with M1 delivers a killer combo of blazing performance and epic bombardment life, even if the pattern is too familiar.

Pros

+
Superb performance
+
Crazy long battery life
+
Bright and colorful display
+
Comfy Magic Keyboard

Cons

-
Dated blueprint
-
Only 2 Thunderbolt ports

The MacBook Pro with M1 (from $i,299) is a laptop with an unbeatable combo of power and endurance, making information technology one of the best laptops y'all can buy right now. And I know this because I've been using this organization for months to turn through my workload, and I can barely get this machine to stutter no matter what I throw at it.

Thanks to the M1 chip, the Apple Silicon inside this 3-pound beast runs circles around nearly Windows laptops when it comes to sheer performance. Just every bit important, the new MacBook Pro M1 outlasts the competition on bombardment life — by a lot. We're talking more than xvi hours of endurance. My just complaint is that Apple hasn't touched the design.

Some may desire to consider the newer MacBook Pro fourteen-inch, which packs an even more powerful M1 Pro or M1 Max fleck, a bigger display, more ports and a sharper 1080p webcam. simply that model starts at $1,999. Come across our MacBook Pro 14-inch vs MacBook Pro 13-inch comparison for more info. Too go on an eye out for the rumored MacBook Pro 2022, which is expected to get an even more powerful M2 chip, though that launch is non expected until later in the yr.

Really, the xiii-inch MacBook Pro'southward biggest competitor is the $999 MacBook Air M1, which has a dimmer display and shorter (only nevertheless great) battery life along with a slightly weaker seven-cadre GPU for its starting configuration. And then is the MacBook Pro $300 better than the Air? My MacBook Pro M1 review will help respond this question for you lot.

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MacBook Pro M1 review: Release appointment and cost

The MacBook Pro M1 had a release date of Nov 17 and starts at $1,299. That configuration gives y'all Apple tree's powerful M1 chip with an 8-core CPU and viii-core GPU, plus 8GB of unified retention (RAM). You get 256GB of storage to kickoff, but the $i,499 model of the MacBook Pro M1 includes 512GB of storage.

If y'all want to configure the MacBook Pro M1 yourself, there are a number of upgrades available. It costs $200 to become from 8GB to 16GB of memory. If you desire more than 512GB of storage, 1TB costs an actress $400 while 2TB will run you $800.

The MacBook Pro 2022, though looks to seriously improve on the current model. Rumors advise Apple tree will bring back MagSafe charging and the SD retentiveness reader, and drop the Bear on Bar. All while calculation in faster processors and adopting the flat-edge design linguistic communication of the iPhone 12 and iPad Pro.

We're hearing Apple is preparing both a MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch model with these features.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Performance

The easiest style to sum up the MacBook Pro M1's performance is that the barriers between you and getting stuff done melt abroad. It's almost like the laptop isn't there.

1 of my biggest complaints about my older Core i5 MacBook from 2022 is that it can get bogged down easily when I have lots of tabs open in Google Chrome. I pushed the MacBook Pro M1 to 61 tabs while writing this review and the performance remained rock solid, even while I was juggling multiple conversations in Slack and streaming Spotify. Simply once I started adding iOS apps to the mix did I get-go to see stuttering.

MacBook Pro with M1 review — (Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

I also ofttimes use Photoshop Elements for work to edit images, and there'southward one particular template I use with lots of layers. My old MacBook Pro took 22 seconds to load the template, while the new MacBook Pro M1 cut that down to 13.29 seconds. That may not seem like a huge delta, but the M1 chip will salvage y'all a ton of time when in situations like this when you add it all up.

On Geekbench 5.1, which measures overall performance, the MacBook Pro M1 scored v,945 on the multi-core portion of the test. This number surpasses the 5,319 score from the Dell XPS 13 and the Asus ZenBook 13'southward v,084, and both of those machines pack 11th gen Intel Core i7 CPUs. The MacBook Air M1 scored a similar 5,962.

The MacBook Pro M1 smoked all of its competitors on our Handbrake video editing exam, which involves transcoding a 4K clip to 1080p. For this examination the awarding is optimized for Apple Silicon. The MacBook Pro M1 took only seven minutes and 46 seconds to consummate this task, compared to 18:22 for the XPS 13 and 17:51 for the ZenBook 13. The MacBook Air finished a fleck behind the Pro at 9:15.

And so how about Photoshop? On the PugetBench test, which performs 21 tasks (three times per run), the MacBook Pro notched a score of 576.6 and a time of 7 minutes and 3 seconds. The Dell XPS 13 scored a higher 588 merely took a much longer 10:48, while the ZenBook xiii registered 743 with a time of ix:11. Note that this benchmark used Apple tree's Rosetta 2 technology to run and it's not a native app, so nosotros wait even meliorate results one time Photoshop is optimized for Apple Silicon.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Battery life

This is the ii in the one-2 punch that makes the MacBook Pro M1 one of the all-time laptops money can buy. On the Tom's Guide battery examination, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of screen effulgence, the MacBook Pro M1 lasted an astonishing 16 hours and 25 minutes. The Intel-based MacBook Pro 2022 lasted 10:21, and then that'south a huge 6-hour divergence.

The MacBook Pro M1 likewise outlasted the excellent MacBook Air M1, which endured for xiv hours and forty minutes. The Windows competition is not close. The Dell XPS 13 lasted eleven:07 and the Asus ZenBook xiii hit xiii:47. Bottom line: the new MacBook Pro is in a form of its own when it comes to bombardment life.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Graphics and gameplay

The MacBook Pro is powerful enough to play mainstream games at fairly high frame rates. For instance, on Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the MacBook Pro hit 38 fps, which more than double the ZenBook 13.

We likewise tried Rise of the Tomb Raider on the MacBook Pro, and it turned in a adequately good 26 fps. Getting closer to xxx fps would make the championship more playable, simply it'southward worth noting that this was on very high settings. So you could become fifty-fifty smoother operation if you dialed them downward.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Keyboard, touchpad and Touch Bar

As someone who is still toiling away on a Butterfly keyboard, I'm jealous of the new MacBook Pro M1's Magic Keyboard. It'due south not that I'm much faster on this layout -- I got 72 wpm on the 10fastfingers.com typing exam, which is within my usual range. But made fewer errors than usual. More important, typing on the Magic Keyboard feels pillowy soft compared to the older Butterfly layout I'm used to.

The touchpad on the MacBook Pro M1 is but as spacious and responsive equally ever. I found scrolling, pinching to zoom and performing diverse gestures intuitive and smoothen. Swiping up with 3 fingers to come across all my open up apps is seamless.

I'm nevertheless not a fan of the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro. Aye, information technology presents shortcuts that can exist useful depending on the app you're using, merely more often than not I discover it just gets in the way.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Brandish

The Retina Display on the MacBook Pro M1 delivers a precipitous and vibrant picture. I just wish Apple trimmed the bezels to make the viewing feel more immersive. Regardless, I was glad to be briefly transported to Spain to take in a seaside view in Warrior Nun on Netflix. As Ava sat down with her friends for lunch, I was mesmerized past their picnic past the water, including her boyfriend'due south brilliant orangish shirt and the colorful surfboards in the background.

In our lab tests, the MacBook Pro M1'southward screen averaged 439 nits of brightness, which is significantly college than the 365 nits turned in past the MacBook Air. Past comparison, the Dell XPS 13 hitting a higher 469 nits while the ZenBook 13 mustered 370 nits.

The MacBook Pro M1'south console delivered very adept results on the DCI-P3 color gamut, registering 79.2%. That's comparable to the MacBook Air (80.9%) but ahead of the Dell XPS 13 (69.4%) and the ZenBook 13 (76.1%).

MacBook Pro M1 review: Speakers

The stereo speakers on the MacBook Pro M1 have the aforementioned peachy kick and broad audio field that they had before. When playing Portugal. The Man'due south Feel Information technology Still, the guitar and claps at the first of the runway both came through without overwhelming the high-pitched vocals.

I and then switched over to the acoustic version of A-ha's "Take on Me." The trill in Morten Harket'due south vocalism was appropriately haunting equally information technology soared. If you oasis't heard these speakers before, y'all will be impressed.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Webcam

I'g not about to requite Apple a pass for continuing to saddle the MacBook Pro with a 720p webcam in 2022. I think we can handle full Hard disk at this point. But I practise give Apple credit for improving the epitome quality and reducing the racket, thank you to the image bespeak processing delivered by the M1 chip.

I put the new MacBook Pro M1 side by side with my old MacBook Pro and took a selfie with their webcams in my home office, and the departure was literally night and day. Fifty-fifty with very little ambient light the MacBook Pro M1's camera captured a much brighter and clearer shot of my face. The older model's webcam image was a splotchy mess by comparison.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Design and ports

I've saved the worst for last in this MacBook Pro M1 review. The design is exactly the same equally before, which means y'all get the aforementioned three-pound slab of aluminum. The lack of a touchscreen is expected but nevertheless disappointing when y'all consider that macOS Big Sur lets you download your iPhone and iPad apps.

And again I'd like to see Apple trim the bezels effectually the display. The color choices are uninspiring as well with just silverish and infinite gray as options. Where's the iPad Air-similar hues?

The port option continues to exist very slim with just two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports on the left side and a headphone jack on the correct side. The pricier Intel-based MacBook Pro M1 comes with four Thunderbolt ports merely starts at $i,799.

MacBook Pro M1 review: macOS Big Sur

MacOS Large Sur is more than just a fresh coat of paint for the MacBook Pro M1. Yes, the design looks cleaner, but I capeesh the big new features more than. This includes Control Center for Mac for quickly accessing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings, and decision-making the display, sound and music controls all from one identify.

I'grand more of a Chrome fan, merely Safari users will like all the upgrades in Large Sur, including Safari extensions in the App Shop, better tab design and password monitoring for ameliorate privacy. Messages on Mac gets better, too, with the ability to pin conversations and inline replies. Apple has as well made big improvements to the Maps app and beefed up the editing capabilities in Photos.

With Big Sur yous tin likewise run iPhone and iPad apps y'all've previously downloaded from the App Store. But they're not easy to find. You need to click on your contour picture in the Mac App Store and then select the tab that says iPhone and iPad apps. Annoyingly, y'all can't search in this card; you have to ringlet downwards to download the app yous want to your Mac.

MacBook Pro M1 review: Verdict

The MacBook Pro M1 is hands one of the best 13-inch laptops money tin buy. You get blazing performance and epic battery life for your $1,299. And withal the speed gap between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with M1 is non that great.

There are some reasons to splurge for the MacBook Pro with M1, though. You go better sustained functioning for larger tasks, because the MacBook Pro has a fan and the Air does not. And I do capeesh that the MacBook Pro has a brighter brandish and a amend GPU for its opening price. If Apple tree threw in ii more Thunderbolt ports I think the Pro would exist an easier sell.

Some may prefer the MacBook Pro 14-inch, which sports a larger xiv-inch mini-LED display along with a more powerful M1 Pro chip and more ports. However, that laptop starts at $1,999. A new entry-level MacBook Pro 2022 with an upgraded M2 chip is reportedly launching later this year, but we incertitude that it's launching anytime soon.

Overall, I really like the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and it'due south an excellent choice for power users. But I call up for the vast majority of people the MacBook Air M1 is "Pro" enough for now.

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom'due south Guide and has covered technology for nearly 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom'southward Guide, Marker specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key manufacture events and appears regularly on Idiot box to discuss the latest trends. Mark was previously editor in master of Laptop Magazine, and his piece of work has appeared in Wired, Pop Scientific discipline and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.