The M1 Max MacBook Pro, according to Apple is now old news. It’s all about the Mac
Studio and M1 Ultra now right?
Well in my case, no! I am still excited about the M1 Max MacBook Pro so I am sorry Apple, but
I am not falling for that trick. Not yet anyway!
This is the 16 inch, M1 Max MacBook Pro completely maxed out in terms of CPU,
RAM and GPU with 2TB storage. Probably the fastest laptop money can buy right
now. But does it deliver on all the hype that was created?
I will share my findings comparing the the M1 Pro that I’ve been using up until now
and this fully maxed’out M1 Max, then cover the features of this bad boy
and how this absolute BEAST is helping me get so much done!
While I waited for this M1 Max to arrive (3 months!!)… I had been using the
base model M1 Pro MacBook Pro that my wife got. I was really nervous because,
whilst the M1 Pro was much faster than my Intel i9 MacBook Pro… I was expecting more from the M1 Pro.
I covered that slight disappointment in my previous videos, but let’s divert our
attention to this beauty right here. The M1 Max so far has ABSOLUTELY delivered
and to be quite honest... over delivered on the hype.
I do quite a lot of things on the MacBook Pro, but the workflow I was really concerned about
is my video editing. As you can tell my videos are nothing special, but I do have multiple layers of
4K footage... recorded in the highest possible quality from the Sony A7Siii
and two other cameras also recording in 4K.
And this new M1 Max Media Engine that they’ve got here, with ProRes acceleration
makes all of this.. Childs play. The M1 Max actually has two ProRes
accelerators. In plain English… This thing cuts through video processing like butter!
I have a quite a few plugins on top to add to your visual delight
and the odd special effects like these 3D titles with motion tracking here.
And whilst it was possible to do this on the M1 Pro MacBook Pro
or even on my M1 Mac Mini here, I was having constant crashing and slow downs.
As I discussed in those other videos, I don’t think the hardware is to blame. Not entirely
anyway. I think there’s a lot of software companies like Adobe for example who will say
they OPTIMISED their software for the M1 chip, but in reality... I had nothing but struggles with it.
But even Apple’s OWN software.. was causing the M1 Pro to crash and slow down!
I am quite patient about these things so I just put it down to a combination of MacOS Monterey,
video editing software and plugins that hadn’t been fully developed for M1 yet... and
that they would eventually get better.
What I found with the M1 Max though… is that all those problems, have gone away! No more
Final Cut Pro crashing when I am editing or any stuttering timeline. My footage is very
Apple friendly so I am sure that helps, but I was using the same footage on the
M1 Pro so I think having that extra oomph in the media engine is really helping.
16 inch display
Being able to use my laptop
anywhere without burning my legs and more importantly… Not having to squint is amazing!
Whether I am working at a cafe, at my desk or chilling on the sofa, I can
VERY comfortably now keep getting on with my work when I need to.
I say very comfortably… It’s actually quite a heavy machine... but the trade off of having
so much screen real estate for me is totally worth it!
If you’re planning on carrying it for long distances on a daily basis then I’d say
this is probably not the right machine for you,
but the occasional trip to the cafe or office… yeah, I love it.
It’s not just the sheer size of the display but the quality of it. It’s outstanding for watching
content. Of course with that ProMotion now, everything looks just so smooth.
In my case for video editing... I sometimes like to manually change the refresh rate to
60Hz just to make sure it’s not messing up with my camera’s refresh rate but it’s
excellent for colour grading too! And here is an interesting thing…
I’ve always used my MacBooks in clamshell mode. With this display on the M1 Max,
I think it would be total sacrilege to
do that. I really think that. You’d be wasting arguably the best laptop display out there.
1000 nits sustained brightness and going up to 1600 nits makes it an extremely capable display in
any environment... so I think is worth considering using it open and having a stand for it.
There are many options out there and I really think using it fully open is the way forward.
Unless you have a really excellent display already that matches the quality on this Liquid Retina XDR
of course… In other words, I think this could be the end of clamshell mode! Let me know if
you disagree actually, this is just my opinion. Are you team clamshell or team Liquid Retina XDR?
I am still trying to find the best setup here with my
curved Ultrawide display, so stay tuned as I will be trying lots of accessories for it.
This machine is so capable that it’s got me wanting to learn a new skill!
Maybe I will try Blender now and some music with Logic Pro
just to see how I can really push this beast!!
By the way... If you are enjoying this video please remember to give it a thumbs up and if
you like my stuff, it would be awesome if you subscribed to my channel. I am here every week.
In case you are wondering why I have this iPad on the shot, this was to remind me that the
long awaited Universal Control now works beautifully between iPad and MacBook Pro.
It took Apple about one WHOLE year to bring this to us.
It was definitely worth the wait but next time Apple... Just be honest and
tell us it will take 12 months instead of promising it just for a cool sound bite!
Rant over!
When it comes to sheer speed, a lot of it of course is attributed to the wonderful
M1 Max chip and the integrated architecture. And in this case,
that is even more impressive because of that 32 CORE GPU!
But one thing that completely changed my approach to buying this product
was the amount of data throughput we are getting on the internal SSDs.
I’ve always recommended buying a lower amount of local storage and using external drives
which are much cheaper. But let’s be honest, when you are spending a few so
much on something like this it doesn’t make a lot of sense to go too cheap on storage
and create all that hassle for yourself and managing all that external storage.
We are getting a read speed of up to 7.4 GB p/s ! That’s insane. I haven’t found something
to really prove that, but that’s 3 maybe 4 times faster than some of the fastest SSDs you can get.
In practice I have seen how crazy fast this is when opening RAW footage or
dozens of RAW images. But I am pretty sure I am not even scratching the surface here
but it is so good to know that speed is there when I need it.
The keyboard is nicer on the 16 inch of course because you get a bit more space
and that full size trackpad comes in clutch when you’re limited on space for a mouse.
One of the most surprising features of this machine is the battery life.
I would never dream to use my previous 16” Intel MacBook Pro without being
about 2 meters away from a power source. I am serious, even just doing normal day
to day stuff, it has caught me out before because I forgot the charger.
With the efficiency of the M1 Max chip,
that problem has completely gone away. I can be editing videos. Not just doing emails and
browsing socials. Actually doing some demanding work without having to worry about the battery.
The main issue with the 16” inch though.. It’s that this is a laptop
only in name. It really isn’t portable. Sure you can physically do it, but let me tell you. It’s
hard enough moving from my office to the kitchen downstairs! This thing is the
heaviest laptop I’ve used in a long while. It’s not as heavy as the 17” MacBook Pro from 2011,
that was 6.6 pounds (3Kg) in comparison with 4.8 pounds (2.2kg) on this one.
This is probably an unpopular opinion. But I miss the Touch Bar.
Have a look at these other videos here that my audience are enjoying right now and…
I will see you and your smiling faces on the next one