I want to tell you a story
that's been 10 years in the making,
and it's about why I think this is one
of the best laptops I've ever owned
and one of the best laptops you can buy, period.
Yes, even better than the M1 and M2 MacBook Airs.
And cutting right to the chase,
it's the late 2021 Apple Silicon MacBook Pros.
And I've held off on making this video for a while
mainly because although it is a great laptop,
the price was just too high for most people
but then Apple did something no one could have expected.
For some reason, less than a year after they announced it,
Apple decided to cut the price by $400,
bringing the 14 inch MacBook Pro to the insane price
of just 1,599, a 20% discount
and $2,099 for the 16 inch version.
So in this video, I want to talk
about specifically why these MacBooks are so good
compared to other competitors,
and I'll also dive into that massive price cut
and discuss what it might mean
for the future of Apple Silicon MacBooks.
Also, quick thanks to Insta360 for sponsoring this video
but more on that later.
Okay, so to give you an idea of my laptop journey
over the last 10 year, it's safe to say
I've tried many laptops from both sides.
From an old school, Dell Latitude in 2008
to various Windows gaming laptops, MacBook Pros
and even tablet hybrids from the Microsoft Surface lineup.
All of them had their pros and cons,
but one that stood out to me
was the 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro.
The 15 inch form factor was a great balance
between portability and productivity.
The port selection was decent, and the retina screen
although it had been around for a few years already
was miles ahead of the competition.
Now, performance wasn't great.
There was some thermal throttling with the Intel CPUs
and also the R9 M370X GPU, if you had the spec
I'm showing screen now.
But overall, it was a very solid laptop,
and I think between 2016 and 2021,
Apple actually went backwards with this lineup.
The 16 inch Intel MacBook Pros
had the same throttling issues as the 15 inch,
but even worse, they also had a few new flaws,
and none of these were resolved until
the new Apple Silicon MacBook Pros were released.
Now before we get into my specific MacBook Pro,
obviously if you don't need the power of the M1 Pro
or M1 Max, either the M1 or M2 MacBook Air is a great option
but honestly though, at the end of the day,
if you're just browsing the web and doing emails,
there are a lot of decent options
in the entry level laptop space.
And although they might not be as premium and feature rich
as the MacBook Air, again, they all accomplish
essentially the same task.
But what about those users with workflows
that are too intensive for the MacBook Air?
Well, at the time, there were a few options.
The 16 inch Intel MacBook Pro
that was essentially a furnace,
a chunky Windows laptop or an RTX desktop PC
like the one I was using at that time.
But these were your only options,
and all of these options had massive compromises.
Like the RTX laptop and all the associated thermal fan noise
and wattage requirements
or the lack of portability with the desktop.
If you wanted something portable, silent, and cool
all at the same time
that simply was not an option.
Until of course Apple announced
their new Apple Silicon MacBook Pros.
Okay, so let's talk about my specific MacBook Pro
and I want to clarify that I'm not saying this exact spec
or the 16 inch form factor is the best.
Honestly, I think the 14 inch base model
provides the most bang for buck,
but I needed extra performance in some areas.
So the spec I personally have is
an upgraded 16 inch M1 Max MacBook Pro.
But no matter what laptop you choose,
it's probably going to have a pretty crappy webcam,
even the upgraded 1080 p webcam on the M2 MacBook Air,
and they don't really do much other than record
a grainy image of your face.
Enter the Insta360 link, an AI powered 4K webcam
with features that blow your MacBooks webcam out
of the water.
It's half inch sensor not only allows
for great 4K image quality,
but excellent low light performance in dimly lit rooms.
And the true focus feature means no more blurry shots.
Using artificial intelligence and its three access gimbal,
the link webcam allows you to use hand gestures
to enable AI tracking,
where the webcam will follow you around the room
or zoom in and out,
or for those of you in work or school environments,
enable whiteboard mode.
There's also a desk view mode, which I would've loved to
have back in university and built in privacy protection
when the webcam is not in use.
So if you want to check out the Insta360 Link Webcam
in more detail make sure you use the link
in the description down below.
So why do I think this is one of the best laptops out there,
even when compared to the competition from the other team?
Well, Apple has always traditionally leaned more towards
the creative side of things, which is what I mainly do
with photo and video editing, website design, 2D animation,
and even some coding that I'm trying to get into.
And I think many people that buy these
more powerful MacBooks fall into these categories.
Now, windows laptops can do all of this too and more.
For example, they're much better at machine learning,
3D modeling and gaming
and they're also usually much cheaper, sometimes by 50%.
But they come with flaws just like every laptop.
For example needing to be attached to a charger
for full performance or very loud fan noise
and thermal output when under load.
The build quality is nowhere near the MacBook either.
And I actually compared my MacBook
against two powerful Verizon and Intel laptops
and I'll link those two comparison videos
in the description.
But in a nutshell, for my workflow and for daily use,
I found there was absolutely no comparison.
Even if the MacBook cost a thousand US dollars more,
I mean the build quality alone
on the MacBook is exceptional.
Find me another laptop machine
from a solid piece of aluminum, an incredible track pad
and one of the best screens ever made,
which is essentially a shrunk down version
of the $5,000 Pro Display XDR.
Plus the way Mac OS balances, temperature, performance,
and fan noise together is just incredible.
Yes, repairability sucks, and that's something
I've criticized Apple for in previous videos
but the overall experience is just so good
that I found it didn't matter to me personally.
As much as I hate to admit that.
And I know I sound like a massive Apple fanboy here,
and maybe I am
but I think even the most diehard PC fans,
and I used to be one,
can at least agree that Apple's done a good job
with their own silicon recently.
No matter how hard you push these MacBooks,
they stay relatively cool and quiet
and consume far less power, allowing much more portability
and battery life, if that is important to you,
while competing with the RTX laptops in many areas.
Quick side note though, it's annoying
that the HDMI port is only HDMI 2.0 and not 2.1.
It seems like a strange choice
on a professional laptop in 2021,
but I admit this is a very niche requirement
and most people won't care.
Now, the reason I went with these 16 inch form factor
over 14 inches is because this is my main computer for work.
I don't want to be tied to a desktop
and a 14 inch screen is just too small for me personally.
Yes, portability does take a hit.
The 16 inch MacBook is heavy and bulky,
much more noticeably so than the 14 inch.
You can't use the 16 inch on Airplane tray tables
and it barely fits into some bags.
The 14 inch is much, much better for portability.
And for those of you on the fence
about which screen size to get
just ask yourself this one question,
how much portability do you actually need?
For me, I mainly move between desks
from home to office and also sitting around on the couch.
You don't need an ultra portable laptop for that
and I'd rather have the much bigger screen, better battery
and cooling capacity of the larger form factor.
So let's address this insane price decrease
for these MacBook Pro base models.
Now, I was honestly a bit shocked when I saw how much it was
because Apple usually doesn't discount their products
and certainly not by that much,
and certainly not in the middle of
a massive inflationary period combined
with supply shortages.
What this means though is that the value proposition
of the current Apple Silicon MacBook lineup
changes significantly when you consider the new price
of the 14 inch MacBook Pro.
The 13 inch M2 MacBook Pro was already an unpopular choice,
but now it's all but obsolete.
I'm really struggling to think of any situation
where someone would buy it
over the much more feature rich 14 inch M1 Pro.
And it also makes the new M2 MacBook Air
a much harder choice.
Previously, if you upgraded the Air to a 512 gigabyte SSD
and 16 gigabytes of RAM,
it was still a fair bit cheaper than the 14 inch.
Now though, it's the same price.
Of course there are still many reasons to go for the Air
over the 14 inch M1 Pro, notably form factor
and the vastly reduced weight and increased portability.
But man, that's about it.
And even then, I think a lot of people wouldn't mind
the extra bulk for all those additional features
for the same price.
So what's the reason for this insane price decrease?
Well, it could be that Apple is unveiling an M2 Pro
and M2 Max upgrade for the 14 and 16 inch MacBooks
later this year.
Most signs point to these new chips using
the same five nanometer architecture of the M2 chip
we saw earlier this year
and not three nanometer as previously suspected.
To me personally, if these MacBooks are refreshed
with M2 chips, it would be pretty surprising.
Firstly, it's not like Apple has a lot of excess stock
of M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBooks.
They can barely keep up with the current demand.
It's only been a year since they were released
and also I think they're already powerful enough.
Doing videos for this channel puts me
in the fortunate position of being on the bleeding edge
of technology, where I can justify more frequent upgrades
than say the average consumer.
But I don't see myself needing any more power
or performance for at least three to four years.
And personally, I think Apple is making the price cheaper
simply to be ultra competitive with other brands.
Apple has an absolute boatload of cash locked away
in various bank accounts across the planet.
They can afford discounting products
or the increased supply costs
and now they have a laptop that can compete
in a lot of areas with many of the really powerful
and chunky Windows laptops out there.
If there was ever a time to aggressively
grow your market share, it's now and with this product.
So yeah, I think these 14 and 16 inch MacBooks
are really some of the best laptops you can buy right now.
I really don't think that even if we do see an M2
or an M3 come out in the next couple of years,
there's going to be that much of a worthwhile
or noticeable upgrade between the generations.
I think it's going to be very similar to the difference we saw
between the M1 MacBook Air and the M2 MacBook Air
but even less because we're going to have the same chassis,
the same screen, the same ports.
It's just going to be a very minor spec upgrade
to the internals, just the actual chip itself,
which I don't think many people are going to notice if at all.
But apart from that, guys, hopefully you enjoyed this video
and I'll catch you in the next one.