- Apple MacBook Pro 14″
- Apple MacBook Pro 16″
Summarized
Apple’s 2021 model of the MacBook Pro comes in a 14″ and 16″ model and the great thing is that you can equip both models with the fastest hardware. That fast hardware can then be compared to the fastest that Intel, AMD and Nvidia have to offer, although the performance varies by application. The screen has a mini LED backlight and offers fantastic HDR reproduction, thanks to the large number of zones. Unfortunately, the response times of the screen are poor. In addition, the battery life is somewhat disappointing and the entry-level model is still affordable, but upgrades are very pricey. The outside of the laptop has also been modified and it now features more practical connections. In addition, the sound quality for a laptop is very good and the step to a 1080p webcam is also a welcome upgrade.
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Summarized
Apple’s 2021 model of the MacBook Pro comes in a 14″ and 16″ model and the great thing is that you can equip both models with the fastest hardware. That fast hardware can then be compared to the fastest that Intel, AMD and Nvidia have to offer, although the performance varies by application. The screen has a mini LED backlight and offers fantastic HDR reproduction, thanks to the large number of zones. Unfortunately, the response times of the screen are poor. In addition, the battery life is somewhat disappointing and the entry-level model is still affordable, but upgrades are very pricey. The outside of the laptop has also been modified and it now features more practical connections. In addition, the sound quality for a laptop is very good and the step to a 1080p webcam is also a welcome upgrade.
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In the summer of 2020, Apple announced that it would stop buying processors from Intel and start using its own chips instead. Word was put into action a few months later, with the introduction of the M1 processor, which went on to appear in the MacBook Air and the 13.3″ version of the MacBook Pro. It was then only a matter of time before the big MacBook Pro, the 16″ variant, also made the switch. That moment came a little over a year later. The 16″ MacBook Pro didn’t come alone, though, as Apple also introduced a 14″ model. We discuss both models in this review.
The nice thing about the new MacBook Pros is that you can see at a glance that they are real new to be. With the last MacBook Air, Apple switched from Intel processors to its own chips, but left the outside of the laptop untouched. That is slightly different with the 14″ and 16″ Pro. The laptop has clearly become thicker than its predecessors and stands on four rubber feet that also seem a bit higher than on the old MacBooks. The keyboard also takes up more space, because the top row of keys is the same height as the rows below. Where the previous generation MacBook Pro seemed to be made as thin as possible and equipped with a flashy Touch Bar, the new MacBook Pro seems to have to radiate that it is a workhorse without frills. You can also see this, for example, in the connections; they are no longer limited to two symmetrical USB-C ports per side, but they have a regular HDMI port and a card reader. They are practical things that users will often use and for which they now do not have to carry an adapter cable.
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As far as we’re concerned, this change of design philosophy is a good choice. Only mounting USB-C ports on the thin MacBooks was impractical, the super-thin butterfly keyboard had many problems and was already killed in 2019 and the Touch Bar also had few enthusiastic users. For those who love USB-C, those ports are still there, but there are now a total of three instead of four on the old 16″ MacBook Pro. The ports have Thunderbolt 4 support and can be used to external screen, but also to charge the laptop. However, the laptops come standard with a USB-C charger with a magnetic MagSafe 3. The idea behind the magnetic connection is that it detaches when you accidentally trips over the charging cable, so you don’t drag your laptop off the table. If you pull the cable up or down, it does indeed come loose easily, but if you pull it to the left or right, the cable still ‘sticks’ very well, better than the old MagSafe connectors, on the other hand, it pops off more easily than USB-C.
The laptops are also equipped with an SD card reader and an HDMI 2.0 connection. The latter is a separate choice, because there are already laptops with an HDMI 2.1 connection and also external screens, mainly televisions, that have the connection. In itself, the absence of HDMI 2.1 is not a disaster, because you can control a 4k120 screen via Thunderbolt, but it would have been neat.
Despite the fact that there are more connections on the housing than with its predecessors, the design of the MacBook Pro is still sleek and minimalist. The whole is made of aluminum and feels very solid. You will also notice this in the screen hinge. That’s smooth enough to push the screen open with a finger, but offers enough resistance to make sure it doesn’t feel ‘wobbly’. The larger housing makes the MacBook Pro slightly heavier. The 16″ model weighs 2.15 kilograms, while the old 16″ model weighed 2 kilograms. The 14″ model weighs 1.61 kilograms and that too is not really light for a 14″ laptop, but this is a laptop that has to be worked on and as will become clear later in the review, this is one of the fastest 14″ laptops at the moment.
Keyboard, touchpad and webcam
As mentioned, the keyboard has also been modified and the Touch Bar, the OLED touchscreen that replaced the function keys, has had to be removed. We are not sorry about that. Although the Touch Bar offered functionality that individual keys cannot offer, you always had to look carefully at what you were doing, because you could not operate it by touch. That is now possible and the function keys also have the full height, just like the rest of the keys. The function keys are widely used by professional MacBook owners, according to Apple, hence the choice. In terms of typing comfort, Apple seems the same magic keyboard to use if it applies in all its laptops since 2019. The keystroke is clear and the travel does not last, but it is fine to work with. With the thicker housing, Apple has not seized the opportunity to develop a new keyboard with more travel
The larger keyboard does mean that the touchpad has become slightly smaller – but it’s still a hefty size. The design of the touchpad has not changed. It has a glass surface and vibration motors under the touchpad give your finger the illusion that the surface moves downwards when you press on it, although that is not actually the case. The integration with the operating system ensures that the multi-touch movements are still quickly picked up and performed smoothly.
Finally, no one will have missed the notch at the top of the screen. It now houses a camera with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, which is a nice step from the resolution of 1280×720 pixels in the previous MacBooks. We also find that resolution on the majority of Windows laptops and will not be left in 2021. Apple does use the isp in the T2 chip to improve the images, but apparently this was the time to pull out more pixels.
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MacBook Air 720p (links) en MacBook Pro 1080p
The difference in quality of the webcams is clearly visible. The new camera sees some more detail in the face and manages to display the fluorescent bar with more detail. The new camera, or rather the software behind it, seems to render the face a bit smoother than it actually is, even more so than the 720p camera.
A good picture naturally also includes good sound and that is a point that Apple has paid attention to. The small and large MacBook Pro are equipped with six speakers and they produce – for laptops – an excellent sound, with – for laptops – an impressive amount of bass. Of course, good quality headphones or a set of external speakers offer a better sound reproduction than the built-in speakers, but you will be less likely to reach for headphones with the MacBooks than with many other laptops.
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