JANUARY 2022 T3 71Apple MacBook Prodouble the graphics power from the M 1
Pro. eprocessing power remains the
same,though, so this is really
something that only 3D/graphics
professionals should consider.
Pure power
One of the big promises of the new
MacBook Pros is that a) they can
maintain full performance even when
runningon battery;and b)that
they’ll offer long batterylifefor
general working.
Both of these proved true in our
testing. All of the creativetasks we
mentionedabove– 8K editing, huge
music projects, 3Drendering – we
tried on battery power alone, as well
as then trying them while powered.
We got the same performance on both.
Whiledoing light tasks,we got
around 16-17hours of battery life
from the 16-inch MacBookPro. is
thing goeson longer than the
Energizer Bunnyafter a pint of
espresso. e 14-inch versions doesn’t
last quite as long, but you’llstill get
wellover10 hours of use from it.
When running Final Cut Pro, we
naturallysaw the battery draining
much faster. It wasactuallyabout
twice as fast... but in the case of the
16-inch MacBook Pro, that would still
give you a full working day’s
longevity in a pro creative app! at’s
not just unheard of,it was basically
unimaginable until now.
One thing that’s worth
mentioning here is software support.
Apps run a bit different on the
M1-basedMacs, and ideally would be
converted to run natively on the new
platform.Most of the really big-
name stuff has been, but not
everything – and in some cases, the
converted versions have some minor
features missing.
Anything that hasn’t been
converted can still run, through a
translationsystem built intomacOS.
is technically causes a dropin
performance (said to be around
20%), but the good news is that these
machines are so fast, you can’t really
notice this.
e new MacBook Pro 14-inch and
16-inch are triumphs. ey solve just
about all ofthe complaints of the old
machines, while pushing the whole
world oflaptopsforwardby setting a
new standardfor performancein this
kindof size.
At the same time, these MacBook
Pros really arefor pros. e levelof
power they offer is so high that we
would suggest that most peoplereally should think about sticking
with the M1MacBookAir unless
you’re expecting to push the GPU to
the limit, simply must have32GB of
memory, or will really makeuse of
that stunning screen.
If you just want a MacBook Pro
because you like to havethe greatest
laptop,you should think about
sticking with the lowest-end version.
But for creativepros, the power on
offer here isjust awesome, and it’s
more flexible for working onthe go
than anything else on the market.WE’RE IMPRESSED Great performance;
stunning screen; hugebattery life; veryquiet.
WE’D IMPROVE 16-inch is heavy; not allapps
are M1-native; needs adapter for USB-A.
THE LAST WORD A portable rocket that’s
the ultimate do-anything, goanywhere laptop.VERDICTFind the best deals on the Apple MacBook
14-and 16-inch at: bit.ly/t3mbm1proBattery power
is better than
ever before in
MacBook ProsLOSING TOUCH
The Touch Bar has vanished
from the keyboard, replaced
by the standard function
keys. Touch ID remains
though and is just as handy
as ever.