If you wonder which MacBook Pro should you buy, you are in the right place, because we are going to compare the three available models: M1 vs M1 Pro vs M1 Max, since each of them has a different performance and targets a specific type of user. that requires more or less power as the case may be, because this also determines a greater or better investment.
The MacBook Pro M1 we already knew , a comfortable laptop, with a powerful processor, enough memory and enough autonomy to cover daily needs, in fact today it is still a powerful computer, although surpassed by the power of the new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, offering much more.
Screen and design: first key in the changes
Apple renewed its MacBook Pro both inside and out, proof of this are the obvious changes in the design and the screen between one generation and another. We see a MacBook Pro M1 with a 13.3-inch Retina display with IPS technology and a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, in addition to 500 nits of brightness.
The new screens of the MacBook Pro are 14.2 inches and 16.2 inches , both Liquid Retina, backlit by mini-LEDs and also offer twice the brightness of the previous screen.
But in addition, the changes were not only in terms of the quality of the screen, but now we see a panel with notch like the iPhone, which includes a webcam, but does not have Face ID , that helps the bezels to be a lot thinner and there is a better area of use on the screen.
Another element that stands out in the new screens is the update rate, which, like high-end phones, offers 120 Hz with ProMotion technology and that is ideal for games, the graphic work for which these computers are regularly used and also for better playback of streaming content.
There is an element in the design that must be highlighted and that is that the Touch Bar of the MacBook Pro M1 disappears in the new models.
Colors remain the same across all three models: space gray and silver , plus the two new models are slightly heavier and also larger than the MacBook Pro M1.
New processors, better performance
When Apple’s M1 chip arrived on the market, it set a trend in performance, being able to offer results above what exists in the market. The 16-core neural engineering on this chip is capable of executing trillions of processes and optimizing performance and efficiency at the same time.
The M1 has eight CPU cores: 4 cores dedicated to performance and 4 dedicated to efficiency; while its GPU is 8 cores. The key to these processors is that in regular activities it almost managed to equalize the state of the computer to when it is at rest, that is, when you surf the Internet, when you open an office file or even if you play a video, its energy consumption it stays quite low and that allows the battery to last longer, the temperature to be more stable and therefore the performance is better.
But the new M1 Pro and M1 Max took their efficiency to another level. The new M1 Pro has an architecture of 10 cores in its CPU instead of 8; but of these he uses eight for performance and two for efficiency, instead of half for each task.
The GPU of the M1 Pro chip goes up to double, that is, it has 16 cores and maintains the 16-core neural engine. The key to these changes is the need to increase as much as possible the performance-to-watt ratio of these chips, to offer superior performance.
Graphic and audiovisual content is of great importance in these computers, especially in chip design, because it is initially intended for content creators, designers, artists … anyone who requires equipment suitable for graphic work.
Therefore, we see that Apple has added a new multimedia engine that has all the codecs and the necessary compatibility for the recognition of high-quality formats. Compatible with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, includes hardware acceleration, it also has a video decoding engine, another video encoding engine and a ProRes encoding and decoding engine.
In the case of the M1 Max, it further increases its potential compared to its serial companion. In this processor we see two important changes, the first is that its GPU has 32 cores instead of 16 cores ; and the second change is that the memory bandwidth is 400GB per second.
This means that graphic processes are much more efficient, of higher quality, with better performance; For example, if you are editing a video, the time it will take to complete the content processing will be much lower and of higher quality.
The multimedia engine that we pointed out in the M1 Pro chip is the same in the M1 Max, which makes it clear that the new processors far exceed their predecessor. They are clearly very powerful chips that you should take full advantage of, otherwise you would be under-using advanced technology.
Both the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro have versions available with an M1 Pro and M1 Max chip.
Memory and storage
Another aspect in which the new MacBook Pros have changed is in memory and storage. The MacBook Pro M1 has 8GB and 16GB RAM; While the new 14-inch and 16-inch versions now start at 16 GB, they have a 32 GB version and a 64 GB RAM version that are reserved for the M1 Max chip.
Storage wise, the MacBook M1 comes in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB versions. The new 14 and 16-inch MacBooks start from 512 GB and you can get versions with 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB and 8 TB in both models and with the different processors.
Camera and sound
A complementary section, but no less important, are the cameras and speakers. The MacBook Pro M1 has a 720p FaceTime HD camera, while the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros go up to 1080p sensors.
In the sound section, we see that the MacBook Pro M1 has stereo speakers with high dynamic range and compatible with Dolby Atmos.
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros have a much more powerful sound system, with six high-fidelity speakers with force-canceling woofers , wide stereo sound, and support for spatial audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos.
Prices
- MacBook Pro M1 is priced from 1,449 euros
- MacBook Pro 14 inches is priced from 2,249 euros
- MacBook Pro 16 inches is priced from 2,749 euros
MacBook Pro Which one to buy?
We are always going to start this section by pointing out that you must first keep your budget in mind . With the price list that we see before it is clear that the jump from one model to the other is important, so you must ask yourself a question: Do I need so much power? If the answer is yes, then you should go with an M1 Pro and even more so with an M1 Max.
If, on the other hand, you are not a graphic artist, you are not a video editor or a music producer, you may well stay with the 13-inch MacBook Pro M1, which is still a powerful computer and more than meets the expectations of any Username.
