It's now been a few days
since the new Apple Silicon Macs were announced
and as expected, the internet has blown up.
This is really the first time we're seeing Pro-oriented
powerful ARM-based chips rival
and often outperform Intel and Ryzen processors.
Oh, and also, MagSafe is finally back.
(cable clicking)
(host kissing)
So in this video, I want to talk
about how the 14-inch M1 Pro base model MacBook
is quite possibly the best laptop you can buy right now
and is possible even better value for your money
than the M1 MacBook Air or Pro.
Now, if you're a fan of my channel,
I've talked often about why I think the M1 MacBook Air
is the best bang for your buck.
And if you're an average user,
you don't need to bother with anything more powerful.
So you can pat yourself on the back
if you already own one.
I still stand behind this opinion
because let's be honest, guys,
most people buying a laptop
are just going to be using it for simple web browsing.
Yet, the M1 MacBooks can still edit 4K footage,
handle extreme multitasking
and even run many 3D applications
or developer tools with ease if necessary.
But there are a lot of situations
where the M1 MacBook Air
and even the M1 MacBook Pro
with slightly increased performance
are just not quite powerful enough,
and it can be very easy to cross that threshold.
What I mean by that is, for example,
editing 4K video on a M1 MacBook Pro
works perfectly fine on a simple timeline
but add a couple of color corrections, 3D effects
and maybe adding a second stream of footage
and the entire editing process
can often turn from enjoyable to frustrating.
This is also similar for 3D artists,
using After Effects or Blender, for example.
So let's compare the pricing
of the M1 MacBook Pro to the 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook
and see how they stack up.
Sure, there's a significant difference in price
between the base models
but once you spec the M1 MacBook to have the same RAM
and SSD as the 14-inch M1 Pro,
there's just a $300 difference between the two.
This is what you get for just $300 more
and you might want to pause the video at this point
because you really do get an unbelievable amount
of extra features, upgrades and improvements.
So much so that it's impossible
to cover all of them in this video.
Now, I would happily spend $300
to get access to a couple
of those features, let alone all of them
but I haven't even talked about the most important part
and that is performance.
I won't go too in depth in this particular section
as I did a deep dive comparing the 14-inch M1 Pro
to the base model M1 MacBook Pro a couple of days ago.
And I'll link that video up in the top right corner
if you want to check that out.
Now, one thing to note in that video,
that particular MacBook Pro
did not have 16 gigabytes of RAM.
It only had eight gigabytes.
So that will account for a little bit
of the performance difference.
But apart from that,
essentially, I found that in a lot of situations,
especially GPU-heavy tasks, like Blender rendering,
video editing stabilization and 3D applications,
like gaming, the 14-inch M1 MacBook Pro
was more than twice as fast.
Now, a lot of this was due obviously
to the doubling of GPU cores you get
when you jump from the M1 MacBook Pro
to the M1 14-inch MacBook Pro.
So if you're doing mainly CPU-intensive tasks,
you may not notice such a big difference.
Also, if you use Final Cut Pro,
you will see a massive night and day difference due
to the dedicated video encoder
and decoder on the M1 Pro.
So there's that to consider as well.
One thing to note as well
is there's almost no difference
between the 14-inch base model M1 Pro MacBook
versus the 16-inch version.
Even though on paper there should be.
The biggest major difference is, of course,
the larger screen size,
and I made a video on the differences
between the two if you want to check it out.
I'll put the link in the top right-hand corner.
Now, let's have a quick chat about portability
because this is obviously probably one
of the most important factors of a laptop.
Now, the portability of the new 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook
is almost exactly the same as the MacBook Pro
and in fact, I would say it's actually more portable
because you likely won't need to take a dongle with it
because this obviously has the HDMI
and also the SD card port built in.
And in terms of dimensions and weight,
they are almost pretty much identical.
And for me personally,
this is the first time that a laptop has come
onto the market, and is actually a viable replacement
for my desktop Windows PC
with an RTX 3080 and Ryzen 3900X
with a huge cooler attached to it.
Of course, for my personal use,
I'll still need some kind of PC
for gaming but for the professional aspect of my life,
which is video production and editing,
this can do anything and everything
that my massive desktop Windows PC can.
And probably do it even better due
to the dedicated video encoders for ProRes footage
built into the M1 Pro and M1 Mac's chips.
Of course, that would mean I would have
to switch to ProRes
and that's a decision I'm seriously considering to make
now that we have this new feature.
Now, don't get me wrong.
There are powerful Windows laptops out there
that are editing powerhouses
but in my opinion, you just can't beat the efficiency,
quality, thermal performance
and low fan noise of this new MacBook design.
I think ARM-based laptops are the future
and so far, Apple seems to be leading the industry.
I also wanted to touch on one massive bonus
of this 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook
and that is the screen.
If you're a professional doing video
or photo work as a career,
or even if you're just doing it as a hobby
but want to take it to the next level,
you need to have a high-quality monitor or screen
to be able to accurately view
and color grade images and videos.
Sure, there are consumer monitors out there
with decent quality colors and brightness
but traditionally, you're going to have to spend thousands
of dollars for a good-quality monitor anywhere
from about 1,500 to 2,000 US dollars
up to 5,000 or even more.
And yes, I know that Apple's Pro Display XDR
is a bit of a meme right now,
especially with its $1,000 stand
but if you look into what it actually offers,
it's actually really good value compared
to other competitors in the same tier.
So I was definitely surprised
when Apple announced they'd essentially shrunk that monitor
and put it in a laptop.
Sure, the liquid retina XDR on the M1 Pro
and Mac's MacBooks isn't quite as good
as the Pro Display XDR.
It has a lower resolution
and brightness, for example,
but it allows you to get accurate colors
or color grade for client work, for example,
even when you're literally sitting
in a field in the middle of nowhere.
For people like me who are more desk bound,
I simply have my laptop off to the side
and I do all of my color grading
and color checking on that screen,
and then when I'm done,
I drag the preview window onto my large
and cheap monitor
and I just continue editing on there.
Now, prior to the announcement
of the M1 Pro and Mac's MacBooks,
I'd been looking to buy a professional monitor
for my videos,
and my budget was around 1,500 to 2,000 US dollars.
So considering I'd have to go out and spend that amount
of money to buy a monitor
with the same level of quality and color grading ability,
I've basically got this Mac for free.
Anyway, just wanted to give you my opinion
on this topic.
If you do currently own a M1 MacBook Air
or a M1 MacBook Pro,
you've definitely made a good decision.
It's a really solid laptop
but if you're on the fence
about deciding between the two
or you're looking to upgrade,
the 14-inch base model M1 Pro MacBook
is definitely a great buy
and you definitely will not regret your purchase,
especially with the complete smorgasbord
of features you get with this bad boy.
Anyway, thanks for watching this video, guys
and I'll catch you in the next one.