M1 max MacBook pro 16 inch review
I bought a macbook pro i actually went for the 256 gigabytes of space and i maxed that out pretty quickly and even though i store most of my large files on external ssds like my videos and photos i still manage to fill the internal ssd and that's my one piece of advice so if you take away one thing from this blog definitely spec the largest ssd that you can afford as you will always wish you'd gone for more right so i use this practically every single day for video editing writing documents Video editing editing photos and recording my audio basically everything you've seen over the last six months was written and edited on this machine and during that time i can safely say this is the fastest and most capable macbook or machine i've ever used it has been stupidly fast and very reliable for me now i opted for the m1 max.
As i wanted to give myself some headroom for editing to make sure that if i did increase my workload in the future then it could happily keep up and over the last six months i've thrown loads of different apps at it but the main piece of software that i use is final cut pro it boots up in a matter of seconds loads my projects nearly instantly and scrubs through 4k video without a single stutter i even set the view to better quality instead of better performance and it still doesn't drop a frame when watching back or editing comparing this to my old macbook pro which would often struggle to keep up with rendering on the fly and everything that i have edited on here has seriously not been a problem and the m1 max is probably even overkill for the content i do create but it works really well but it's not just about how fast or smooth it runs while editing it's the noise as well i've never not even once heard the fans kick in whether i'm editing or exporting a video it is still whisper quiet again compared with my old pro which would often kick the fans in within a few minutes of editing.
So although i have that internal one terabyte ssd which you might think i would use for storing my videos and photos on i still actually use an external ssd to store all of my media on and as long as those external drives have a fast read and write speed it won't be a problem keeping up while editing but i don't just use this macbook for creating videos i use other apps like lightroom Other tasks photoshop for a little bit of photo editing as well as general admin and as you can imagine performance wise this has no problem with any app that you throw at it sure the odd app crashes or it shows the not responding but that's pretty rare and i'll tell you what using this macbook to work on every day is actually very enjoyable it's smooth and it's snappy Screen size now other than the overall size screen size and weight there's not really any advantage to choosing the 16 inch model over the 14 inch this time you're not getting a bump up in performance or spec so you might wonder why i or you would even opt for this size well the bottom line is i just like larger screens that extra screen real estate that you get from those extra 2 inches is awesome and it's the same reason i prefer the iphone pro max models to the normal pro the larger screen just feels easier to consume content and work on and while i'm editing writing or just viewing the 16 inch screen i don't ever find myself needing to lean in or resize the windows to see what i'm working on i'd say if you want to use the macbook exclusively like not plugged into an external monitor or as a secondary display i think the 16 inch is the better choice overall obviously this larger screen only makes sense.
if you're actually going to use it so if i only had mine docked on my desk and it never left quite honestly it would have been a waste of money now i typically used it docked around 50 of the time i'll have it connected to this 38 inch ultra wide monitor this means any video editing or work that i do is actually done on the monitor and not the macbook screen i then pair it with a logitech mouse and keyboard so it sort of acts like a computer rather than the laptop but the other 50 of the time is used away from my desk and that includes on my kitchen table my gaming desk or on my lap in front of the tv and that's where i really make the most of that larger screen and don't forget the resolution and the clarity on the screen is incredible something i have gotten used to over the last six months is actually when going back to another screen or monitor that you really notice just how nice that retina screen is and also not forgetting the 120 hertz refresh rate is so smooth when scrolling i'll be honest i hope all future displays are at least 120 hertz now but one more thing about the screen now .
I wasn't going to mention this but is that the notch is not even noticeable i don't actually think there's been a single time where i've had a problem with it after the first couple of days you completely forget it's even there right let me tell you about today's sponsor surfsharkvpn now i take my privacy Sponsor and security pretty seriously whether that's at home or online it's important to keep everything safe and as secure as possible and ultimately it doesn't matter where in the world you are as soon as you open your browser or emails you are at risk of being compromised one way or another especially if you're using a public network and the best way to protect yourself is to simply use a vpn which essentially hides or masks your identity and provides that extra layer of protection and with surfshot vpn you just need to download their app sign in and choose the location that you desire and then hit connect and now any website or app that you visit will think that you're in the country or the city that you chose before and they also have multiple apps including those for windows mac ios android and plugins for most browsers and not only does using a vpn protect you .
but it also gives you a chance to view websites in other countries that might not be accessible to you this could include streaming services where certain movies or tv shows are geographically restricted but here's the best bit if you sign up using my linking code spawnpoint you will get 83 off and three months extra free so make sure you use the link in the description and sign up today Portability now when it comes to the portability for the 16 inch model well it's big it's bulky and it's pretty heavy there's no denying this isn't the easiest macbook pro to carry around so if you needed something slim and lightweight this definitely is not the one to buy i've gotten used to its weight in size now but every time i see my old 15-inch macbook pro sitting on my coffee table as i gave it to my wife it reminds me just how much bigger this one is but it practically never leaves my house i mean it moves between my desk and my sofa most of the time and it's only when carrying it do you notice his weight but once i'm sitting with it on my lap in front of the tv the weight isn't even noticeable.
but i'll be honest if i was transporting every single day to say the office or school maybe even between meetings constantly i would seriously consider going for the 14 inch over the 16 for the portability and looking at the keyboard and the trackpad so we Keys and trackpad lost the touch bar across the top and i actually use that quite a lot although i understand most of you didn't and since moving back to the physical keys i have realized just how much faster and more convenient it is to adjust the brightness and the volume without relying on that touch bar typing on it feels fast and responsive and as i've literally written every script for the last six months on here it's easy for me to say just how nice it is although you might have noticed some of the keys are starting to look a little bit shiny but none are sticking and none are faulty and the trackpad is still awesome but the 16 inch model is massive comparing it to other laptops on the market it might even look too big but there are even a few times where i'm using it i wish it was even bigger i often have my hand placement to the right of the trackpad just like i would use a mouse so i end up actually running out of space.
as i'm swiping maybe i should actually pick up a magic trackpad instead so at first i was really pleased and borderline excited with the new Enough ports magsafe port on the side i mean it is pretty cool but since i pretty much only charge the macbook while it's docked on my desk i don't really use it for me i would actually rather have four usbc ports which can be used for both charging and data transfer and as i have to have three things plugged in which maxes out those three usbc ports one next report would have been useful so i've normally got things like the monitor plugged in one for the external ssd and another for my mic then we've got the sd card and the hdmi ports on the side now i've never used these but i can see myself using the sd card slot in the future and that's because i recently picked up the insta360 camera but if it wasn't for that i don't think i'd ever use them now the battery on this has been Battery life surprisingly good so when it's docked it makes no difference obviously but when i'm using away from the desk i very rarely need to plug it in for me actually comfortably lasts me an entire day before needing to dock it again at night and if i'm doing light work like writing scripts it will literally last me two to three days now on several occasions.
while i've been on battery i have managed to fully edit a video from start to finish export and upload it without even worrying about plugging it in and looking at my battery capacity is now showing 96 now i don't believe that has anything to do with having it plugged in all of the time as mac os is actually clever enough to draw its power from the mains instead of the battery so it's not actually constantly charging but either way it has dropped four percent in the last six months i'm not really sure if that's good or bad but if you How to buy it cheaper were looking to buy yourself a 2021 macbook pro there are two ways that you can do it the first is the obvious option which is to buy brand new from apple or any retailer and that's what i did on launch day last october but the second option is to buy a refurb so although this macbook was brand new my old macbook the 2019 model was actually a refurb from the apple store and i can tell you now there is absolutely no reason not to buy a refurbished model the only difference is literally the box that it comes in it just looks a little bit different on top of that you're going to save at least a few hundred pounds or dollars doing it this way you could then take that saving and reinvest it to buy a bigger screen or a bigger internal ssd so the ultimate question is would i Should you Buy? recommend buying the 2021 macbook pro especially after using it for the last six months and the short answer is yes it is incredibly powerful fast and reliable and it is perfect for both being docked or as a portable workstation of course the desktop versions out there will be higher specs
but to have all of this power in a portable mode is just awesome now whether you need the 14 inch or the 16 inch model comes down to your setup if you know you're going to be using it 100 of the time dot just go for the 14 inch model save yourself some money and put that towards the storage if you're going to be carrying it around a lot and you think the weight could be an issue again go for the 14 inch if you're going to use it for video or photo editing and you don't mind that extra weight the 16 inch offers some serious screen real estate and makes working on it that little bit more enjoyable and productive i can comfortably edit on and use the macbook without an external screen so if i didn't have use of another monitor i would happily use this screen and i also have no plans to upgrade from this to anything else including the new mac studio i don't actually want to be restricted to just my desk but let me know what spec or screen size you would go for in the comments would you prefer a macbook pro an air or something like the new mac studio.
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