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Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro review: Superb, but is it overkill for casual users?

By Kenny Yeo - 25 Dec 2021
Launch SRP: S$2999

Conclusion

Money matters (configurations & options)

Remember I said that in this review I’ll try to answer the question, “Is this notebook overkill for regular users?” Before we do that, let’s talk prices.

Apple offers two off-the-shelf configurations for the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Both come with M1 Pro as standard but can be spec’ed with the M1 Max, extra memory, and extra storage. You can go as far as your bank account will allow you. Here are the two configurations.

SoC M1 Pro M1 Pro
CPU cores 8 10
GPU cores 14 16
Memory 16GB 16GB
Storage 512GB 1TB
Price S$2,999 S$3,749


Options are naturally pricey. The unit I'm testing with an M1 Max chip with 32 GPU cores, 64GB memory, and 2TB SSD is an eye-watering S$6,149

Using the entry-level model as a reference, doubling memory from 16GB to 32GB is S$600, and stepping up to an M1 Max with 32 GPU cores is a whopping S$1,650. But that pales in comparison if you want more storage. The maximum 8TB of storage? Yours for S$3,600. Fortunately, going up to 1TB is a more reasonable S$300. And as is the case with all modern Macs, these new machines are non-upgradeable so you have to be really sure about the specs you need and want.

Casual users can probably get away with 16GB. I’ve been using an M1 13-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory and I hardly ever have memory issues. On the storage front, 512GB could be sufficient for users who store most of their stuff in the cloud, rely primarily on streaming services for entertainment, and don’t have huge or lots of working files.

 

Buying advice

The display has some minor flaws but it's beautiful and well worth paying extra for.

There’s no question that these are excellent notebooks – possibly Apple’s finest ever. It checks so many boxes. The display is magnificent, performance is otherworldly, battery life is fantastic, and connectivity is good. Perhaps the only dent you can make of them is that gaming performance isn’t absolutely first-rate, but that can be chalked down to the fact that the games are not optimised for Apple Silicon. Really, the only thing stopping people from running out there and getting one is price. 

With prices starting at S$3,000, these are expensive notebooks and if all you are going to do with them is browse the web, answer emails, work on spreadsheets, and perhaps edit the occasional video or photo, it’s frankly overkill. Last years’ M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are more than capable. However, performance aside, casual users considering the 14-inch MacBook Pro will benefit most from the superior display and connectivity options. The speakers are also better, and as is the webcam. Overall, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a nicer notebook, you just have to weigh the pros and see if the premium justifies it. I think it does.

The M1 Pro with 10 CPU cores and 14 GPU cores is the sweet spot for most people.

If you are not doing any kind of work that relies heavily on the GPU, I’d say the sweet spot is the M1 Pro with 10-core CPU and 14-core GPU. That costs S$300 more and you will be getting the same CPU performance as any higher-spec unit. Thereafter, just decide on the amount of memory and storage you need. 

It might be tempting to go opt for a highly-spec’ed M1 13-inch MacBook Pro. An M1 13-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory and 512GB SSD is going to be S$2,449 – S$500 less than the most affordable 14-inch MacBook Pro. However, even the 14-inch MacBook Pro is still going to have an edge on performance because it has more performance cores and more GPU cores. Not only that, it benefits from a nicer display and better connectivity. I think I rather pay the extra S$500. 

Thankfully, the situation is much simpler for professionals. If you are any type of creative professional that relies on Macs for work, these new MacBook Pros are a revelation. You won’t find a notebook that will edit videos or photos faster than this. For video editors, this is even more true if you work with ProRes. Because Final Cut Pro is highly optimised for Apple Silicon and these new chips have built-in ProRes accelerators, exporting renders on these new machines are orders of magnitude faster. Check out these reviews from professional video editors (1, 2, 3) and think of the time you will save.

 

Final thoughts

The 14-inch MacBook Pro is a truly brilliant notebook with almost no flaws.

Where would Apple go from here was the thought that I had when I reviewed the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro last year. That was a fantastic product and it’s hard to imagine how Apple could add more performance, retain efficiency, and create an overall better notebook. But it turns out that they have. And not only are the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips are significantly powerful, but they also do so while at little cost to battery life. For regular day-to-day tasks, battery life hasn’t really changed.

The amazing chips aside, props to Apple for listening to their customers and walking back on some of the recent MacBook Pro changes. Gone is the questionable Touch Bar and making a much welcome return are the SD card reader, HDMI port, and MagSafe connector. And the icing on the cake is that brilliant Liquid Retina XDR display. 

Bravo Apple, this is a brilliant return to form. Now can you please get to work on my dream Mac?

 

 

You can find the 14-inch MacBook Pro on the Apple Online Store, the Apple Flagship Store on Lazada, and the Apple Flagship Store on Shopee.

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9.5
  • Design 9
  • Features 9.5
  • Performance 10
  • Value 8
  • Mobility 9
The Good
Out of this world performance
Great battery life
Gorgeous display
First-rate build quality
SD card reader and HDMI port
USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports
No more Touch Bar
The Bad
Expensive
Upgrade options are pricey
Display has blooming issues
Not built for gaming
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