In 2021, Apple is pushing
M1 products on you like
there is no tomorrow,
but they do continue to sell intel
equiped products.
It's been over a year
since I first open the lid
and initially praised the product
in my 3 month review, but over time,
how is my opinions
on this product changed
and is this product
you should buy in 2021?
Hey, I'm Chris Wilmshurst
and this is my 16 inch MacBook Pro.
I picked this up
as soon as it was released
at the end of 2019 and I configured it
with the top of the Range 8 Core
i9 CPU, 32 gigabytes of RAM,
the top of the line graphics chip,
the 5500M and I decided to stick
with the one terabyte of storage space.
It's been an absolute workhorse for me
and I've put this thing through hell.
I've used it to produce
hundreds of videos.
Edit Photos, Audio editing,
project planning, remote working
and so much more.
I will honestly say
I've got my moneys worth with this thing,
but it hasn't come easy.
When it comes to the software I use,
I've always stuck
with Adobe Creative Cloud.
Yes, it can be buggy at times,
but so can all things.
But I also own a PC
and I don't want
to be locked into the Mac ecosystem
if this ever fails.
With Adobe, I'm safe,
and knowing that I could install it on my
PC with the same license and carry
on, albeit a bit
slower than I would normally,
but I have that security.
Editing in Premiere
Pro has always been smooth
for my day-to-day work.
My workflow consists
of shooting an S-log 2.
With two adjustment layers
for colour correction and a rec. 709 lut,
but this obviously adds
another layer of demand on the system.
Fortunately for me it's
been able to handle it just fine.
I'm always editing in 1/4 quality
as if I'm not using the built in screen.
I have it hooked up
to a 1080P gaming monitor.
Other Adobe programs
like Photoshop have never skipped a beat,
but Lightroom Classic has given me
a few issues in the past.
It tends to be sluggish when working
with a large photo collection
or when I'm batch processing images.
One issue
I recently discovered was that iPhone
footage is so painful
to edit in Premiere Pro
there were times where it would drain
all my system memory
and cause the whole machine
to crash an shut down.
I'd never have this issue
with the clips from
my camera, all my drone.
It's only when I used
iPhone clips for these clips
I'd have to transcode them
to a different format
and consistent frame rate.
Then I'd be able to actually edit them.
I've been told this isn't an issue
in Final Cut Pro
as I believe that it takes full
advantage of the T2 chip
and that speeds up the H264
footage As editing
is so demanding on the system,
any sort of creative work
would switch the internal graphics
on the Intel chip
to the Radeon graphics chip.
This is where noise and heat
becomes such a huge issue.
I stated this in my 3 month review video,
but overtime the noise
and he has gotten a lot worse.
Obviously the buildup of dust
overtime will have this effect,
but I can't say it's nice to listen to
when it's less than
two feet away from me.
If you've ever used warp stabilizer
on Premiere Pro, you'll know
how intensive that thing is.
Especially when you use
detailed analysis.
This would drive my MacBook Pro wild.
If you're familiar with my channel,
you'll know that
we picked up a base Model
M1 Mac mini several months ago,
and that little box of dreams
is absolutely silent,
even under intense strain
from a Rosetta emulated game.
It doesn't make a single sound
when I'm sat in front of the TV,
and I see it daily.
I end up looking over
to my obnoxiously loud
and hot 16 inch Pro and think,
why the hell don't
I saw you and switch to an M1 Mac.
It costs almost five times as much,
and it can't even keep quiet.
I will go into
why don't soon so stay tuned.
But I do want to touch up
on something that I think
is highly underrated.
The Touch bar, the Touch Bar
is something people debate all the time.
I think it's great when it works.
The shortcuts for Premiere Pro helpful
and I'm not fussed about
having to hit immediate key
to change a track,
and I like that I can scrub
through videos in Safari
and the screenshot tools
are really helpful.
Unfortunately it
doesn't work all the time
and after being docked for awhile
it will sometimes be locked to F1 to F12.
There's no way to change it.
Even switching apps
doesn't have an effect.
The only way to fix
it is to kill the process in terminal
or by restarting.
It's really irritating
when you're in the zone
working on something
and you're forced to break
concentration and troubleshoot
an issue that shouldn't be there
after all these years,
but I do think it is
a very useful tool when it works.
It's just a shame not more
apps make use of it.
The keyboard is one of the nicest
I've ever used on a laptop.
There's no broken keys, it type smoothly
and I've yet to have any issues with it.
Touch ID is absolutely fantastic
and the trackpad still can't be beaten.
I honestly can't complain
about any of these features
as they just work.
I tend to use my Mac
book Pro in Clamshell Mode a lot.
I have it docked to a Thunderbolt
3 hub 90% of the time.
Having my MacBook
Pro hooked up to this hub
fix is one of the main issues
people have with Apple's MacBook line,
and that's the ports.
Mine has four ports,
and before I started building up
a collection of backup drives,
I never use more than
three ports at once,
one for the charging cable,
a USB C to SD card reader,
and a USB C to HDMI cable.
It was only once
I started needing to access
multiple drives that it became essential.
I pick up a thunderbolt hub,
but that's where my thoughts on
ports took a turn.
Having one cable connected to
my Mac book changed everything.
all my hard drives.], my
monitor, audio interface, power,
and Ethernet connection
go into my Thunderbolt 3 hub
and then my MacBook Pro
can take full advantage of everything
it has to offer.
But the best accessory to compliment
any Mac, in my opinion is right here
is the Apple Watch.
If you're docked, you
don't need to worry about
Touch ID and people wishing for Face ID
despite me being one of them.
It's no longer needed.
The Apple Watch is your Golden key
that unlocks your Mac.
If you're close to it,
and it can authorize Apple Pay payments.
So fantastic feature
and more people need to shout about it.
When I'm not docked,
I absolutely love the screen.
It's fantastic for color correcting
videos and photo editing.
It's bright, the resolution is good
and the overall size is perfect
for sitting on your lap or at a table.
I touched on airplay in the past
and I'm sad to say I've barely used it
since my last review on this.
My TV supports all the services
I could want, even Apple TV+,
and I find it too laggy
to use for creative purposes
like video editing despite being sat
right next to my wireless hub,
which leads us into sidecar,
which is great when
I use it for large projects
where I have hundreds of clips
because it's a fantastic
media browser in Premiere Pro,
but outside of that I don't use it
as it suffers too much lag on wireless
and I don't want cables
trailing all over my desk.
Storage has actually been
the biggest issue with this MacBook Pro,
since work picked up
I have to empty about 600 to 700
gigabyte off my Mac book every month.
I'm always conscious about
whether I'm going to run out of space
and when I have to buy
another external drive.
It's the one regret
I have about this machine.
My RAM usage is fine, the CPU is great.
The rendering and graphics
performance is optimal,
but my storage is far too little.
I should have gone for the two
or four terabyte option.
Now I may be saying
a lot of negative things
compared to my original review,
but I did say this video was
how my opinions have changed overtime.
My Aochuan smart
XR video almost broke
me and my love for it.
It took way too long to complete
the noise and crashes
just were too much for me.
However, Adobe is not fully M1
compatible yet,
and it won't be for awhile.
They do have a road map.
and betas currently available to try out,
but as I'm someone who uses this machine
for professional work
and relies on a quick turn around
and most of all - reliability.
it's absolutely essential
that I stick with what works.
And if you're someone who does
rely on a machine for work and an income,
I'd suggest doing the same.
Now you could counter that argument
with a huge improvements
that the M1 brings.
You've got longer battery
life on the MacBook line, faster USB
that can take full advantage
of the speeds that Nvme drives offer.
Because if you didn't know the 16
inch an Intel MacBook Pros
Max out at 10 gig a second over
USB C Thunderbolt,
whereas the M1 reach 20 gig.
So drives like this OWC electron
I have are actually slower
on my 16 inch Pro than they
are on the M1 Mac Mini.
You're getting better power efficiency,
which I should also mention
the battery life
on my 16 inches terrible.
I get about 2 hours tops
when unplugged and editing
and if I'm doing general day-to-day
tasks and browsing,
I'll probably get about 3 1/2 hours Max.
It's such a contrast to the insane
all day battery life
that the M1 Macbooks can bring.
But then it ultimately comes down
to your personal needs.
The enthusiast in me
wants all the latest
and greatest Apple has to offer,
but the more sensible
side of me that doesn't come out too
often is telling me to wait and hold off
until Adobe is fully Apple, Silicon ready
and maybe wait for a rumored 16
inch M1 MacBook Pro.
If you don't use your machine for work,
I'd say go for the M1,
but if you do use it for work,
stick with what you've got.
Maybe consider a second hand 16 inch Pro,
or just take the risk.
You might be alright with it.
So thank you for watching.
Let me know
if you're still using an Intel Mac below
and if you're considering switching
to Apple Silicon, well, good luck to you
and hopefully I'll see you
in the next one. Take care.