I waited 9 years to buy the new MacBook Pro — and this is the one I got

I waited 9 years to buy the newborn MacBook Pro — and this is the one I got

(Image course credit: Henry T. Casey)

I spent 9 long time ready and waiting to buy the new MacBook Pro. Literally. I didn't know this model was coming out this twelvemonth, but I waited since 2012's first Retina Display MacBook Affirmative to upgrade to a newer, quicker manakin. But since I waited that long, I had a difficult series of choices to pull in about configuring my new MacBook Professional. Because piece it's one of the best MacBooks in years (and 1 of the best laptops overall), information technology's a laptop that comes with a good deal of choices.

And patc you might have an idea about some of the configuration choices you need to make, take it from me (the person who in reality wrote our Orchard apple tree MacBook Pro 14-inch 2021 review), it's not that effortless. But the more I looked into it, the more answers I found — and the Sir Thomas More I completed my credit card wasn't leaving A unharmed as I'd anticipated.

MacBook In favou 2021 (16-column inch) go over: Power beyond belief
MacBook Pro 2021 barrage living tried — here's the results
Plus: MacBook Pro could personify perfect with a touch screen — why Apple says none

Picking a MacBook Pro 2021: 14-inch vs 16-column inch

As someone who is moving from the 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2012, I had a picayune concern about getting the same add up of space along my next MacBook's screen. A 16-inch screen would be the way to well stimulate at that place, but information technology would also be a heavier (by 1.3 to 1.4 pounds, depending along the M1 bit I chose) — and Thomas More expensive (with a $500 high starting price) — beast and load in my bag.

But then I started to look at the Numbers. My 15-inch MacBook In favor of's display measured 2880x1800 pixels, with a density of 220 pixels per in, and the 14-edge MacBook Pro (3024x1964 pixels, 254ppi) has some more real-estate and is sharpie in addition.

The MacBook Pro 2021 14-inch and 16-inch — (Image credit: Future)

Also, our examination showed that these panels are quasi sufficiency on sRGB color output (14-inch: 109.6%, 16-inch: 109.3%) and brightness (14-inch: 487.8 nits, 16-inch: 500.6 nits), sol I had nothing to real lose aside going smaller. Battery life (14-inch: 14:08, 16-inch: 15:31) is also similar enough.

But then I got the 14-inch good example in my hands for my review. Holding IT, I knew pretty quickly that I wouldn't want a larger chassis. This was the juuuuust right Goldilocks option, and the easiest call forth of the bunch.

This decision is also made easier by the face that neither model has more or less ports. Both feature MagSafe 3 charging, HDMI-out, three Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports, a headphone jack and an South Dakota memory reader.

My choice: 14-inch MacBook Pro ($1,999)

Pick a MacBook Professional 2021: M1 Affirmative or M1 Max?

Next up, was reckoning come out of the closet how more than power I needed, and this was arguably the trickiest step of the entire process. Though the binary star decision of Apple M1 Pro vs M1 Max was as easy as anything.

I know, for a fact, that I don't need that turbo-charged M1 Max power. The first sign of this was when Apple said M1 Max systems could reach out their displays to up to 4 displays at in one case (in the lead to three of 6K displays plus one 4K panel), spell the M1 In favou could merely join to up to two 6K displays. American Samoa someone WHO only of necessity to connect to unitary monitor at a time at most, I knew the Pro would be nigher to what I needed.

MacBook Pro 2021 (16-inch) review unit on a table — (Image credit: Future)

Then, then came the benchmarks. In my review, I compared the 10-core M1 Pro-battery-powered 14-in MacBook Pro to a 10-core M1 Scoop-based 16-inch MacBook Pro, and found that they often had similar (or similar enough) scads. That happened with the multi-core Geekbench 5 heaps (M1 Pro: 12,477, M1 Max: 12,683) and our Handbrake video transcoding test (M1 Pro: 4:51, M1 Max: 4:48, where lesser is major) and the PugetBench Photoshop screen (M1 In favor: 806, 4:54, M1 Max: 877, 4:44).

Graphics tests saw the M1 Max win out, though. On the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Straight-out test, the M1 Pro took home a rack up of 10,386 at 62.17 frames per bit, behind the M1 Max's 20,220 make at 121 frames per ordinal. Likewise, the M1 Max ran Rise of the Tomb Freeboote at 74fps, much quicker than the 39fps rate of the M1 Pro.

All of this had me list toward M1 Favoring, As I Doctor of Osteopathy not plan to promote this MacBook Pro to its graphic extremes. I wish something future-proof, sure, but I also don't desire to overpay for power I'll never use. The most graphics-related work I'll wind up working with (at least from where I learn myself at the moment), with some video editing where I take live-streams from my Twitch conduct or videos I shoot happening my phone, and chop them up into something more well digestible.

The MacBook Pro 2021 (14-inch) with many apps open — (Simulacrum credit: Henry T. Casey)

Aside from that, I leave primarily be exploitation this MacBook Pro to do CPU-intensive stuff, with trope editing, and streaming gameplay and webcam footage from a capture card.

And so the M1 Max is decidedly too much for ME. Just look at how Apple describes the M1 Max's purpose, noting IT's "designed for art-intensive workflows like multicam video recording editing or rendering complex 3D scenes," and that its "regnant media engine lets you play back up to 5 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video."

That just left me one real topic to drill down pat to: which M1 Pro microchip is right for me? There are three M1 Pro variants available: one with an 8-sum CPU and 14-core GPU, $200 more gets you a 10-core CPU and 14-pith GPU M1 Pro and then thither's the high-end M1 Pro ($300 more), with a 10-CORE GPU and 16-heart and soul GPU. All versions stimulate the same 16-meat Neural Railway locomotive.

MacBook Pro 2021 (16-inch) review unit on a table, showing an HDR image — (Image credit: Future)

And I chose the 10-kernel CPU/14-heart GPU version, because (once more) I think my priorities will lean more towards Processor than GPU. I could have retributory gone with the base-level, 8-core Mainframe, merely then I saw the Geekbench 5 slews that hit the internet. Taking a bunch of the results here, I found that the 8-kernel M1 Pro MacBook In favou's come to an common of 9,803.6, while the 10-pith MacBook In favor averaged 11,852.4 — which is 20% higher. And since futurity-proofing is a anteriority of mine, I visualize that 20% high general carrying out as something I'm glad to pay $200 more for.

My choice: M1 Pro with 10-core C.P.U. and 14-nub GPU (+$200)

Picking a MacBook Affirmative 2021: How much RAM?

Memory is an interesting thing. On my 15-inch MacBook Pro I had 16GB of RAM, which often felt okay. And it's the sort of thing where 16GB, the starting amount happening the 14-inch MacBook In favor, could probably be enough.

But I don't really want enough for this MacBook Pro. I don't really need to need to close browser windows if I don't feel the likes of it. I want to be able to have all of the Chrome and Hunting expedition tabs open, if I so choose.

The MacBook Pro 2021 (14-inch) with many tabs open — (Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

Connected top of that, I also desire those video and paradigm editing applications to export and keep speedily, something that RAM plays a big a set off in as ever. The computer architecture of Apple Silicone (the new organization-on-chip innovation that Apple's replaced Intel's CPUs with) changed things up and then that you've got a unified syndicate of memory that serves both the Processor and GPU cores.

That said, Apple RAM isn't cheap. In fact, this is the most expensive upgrade I made, at $400 on top of the already pricey $1,999 model.

And I wouldn't argue that everyone necessarily needs 32GB of RAM. But, thinking about making sure this thing could last til 2030? I went for it. I don't want to tone rachis and think "I shouldn't have been and then cheap." I've done that with hotels too much in my lifespan.

My tasty: 32GB (+$400)

Pick a MacBook In favou 2021: How much SSD storage?

This is very much a your mileage may vary site. The MacBook Pro 2021 starts at 512GB, which is plenty. Non sole does cloud storage imply my atrociously-bouffant Apple Photos library (more 800GB of photos and video) doesn't need to sit entirely on my organisation, but I possess a series of foreign hard drives to offload stuff onto.

But just equal the idea of wanting to keep my applications open, I intellection about how nice it would be to rarely think active having to grapple local storage.

That said, it also feels the likes of the about likely to be overkill of my entire situation. But then when I looked at the Leontyne Price of this upgrade — and saw that it was just $200 to go from 512GB to 1TB. And that's a price I'll pay (even in an increasingly expensive laptop computer) for the peace treaty of head. 512GB is what I'd call "probably decent" and 1TB is that "Ohio, we've got board to spread out" amount of money.

My choice: 1TB (+$200)

Final total and mentality

	Entry-stage 14-inch MacBook Pro	The 14-edge MacBook Pro I bought
Price	$1,999	$2,799
Screen	14.2-inch (3024x1964 pixels)	14.2-inch (3024x1964 pixels)
Processor	M1 Pro (8-nub CPU, 14-core GPU)	M1 Pro (10-inwardness CPU, 14-core GPU)
Storage	512GB	1TB
Memory	16G	32GB

Course, if you really need your MacBook Pro now, you may not want to configure yours at every last. The pre-configured models accept much shorter delivery times than mine (which is arriving in the second week of Dec), with the $1,999 example being available the same day at the time of my writing this.

This brought Maine to a grand total of $2,799 — ahead tax and AppleCare (something I'll talk of in a diverse article). So, that's a whole lot to plunk pour down on a laptop computer. Turns away saying things wish "oh, $200 here, $400 there," can leave you with a really high bill bad promptly.

That said, A very much like I don't incisively look-alike spending this much, I'm just as excited near this laptop. A I may take expressed in my MacBook Affirmative 14-inch (2021) review this laptop actually sparks joy for ME: from its gorgeous presentation to its amazing performance so Malus pumila's willingness to revert the keyboard and ports back to where they should be. I've reliable and reviewed laptops for over five years now, and at a indisputable manoeuver I sort of got bored aside most of them.

And this is wherefore I want to make sure it will keep up with whatever I am doing in the next decade. Apple may have me conclude to ascent earlier: I've spoken about how an easel hinge, touch test and Face Idaho are all comparatively glamorous things that the MacBook Pro could get. But I want another Mac that can make like the lo Bar, and get going the aloofness.

Read next: MacBook Pro 14-inch — 5 reasons to corrupt and 3 reasons to skip

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering moving media, laptops and all things Orchard apple tree, reviewing devices and services for the bygone 6-plus days. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed package and hardware for TechRadar In favour of, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also mud-beplastered the wild world of professional grappling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.