Earlier, Apple has announced its new MacBook Pro 2021 series, powered by the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, offering extraordinary performance, new capabilities, a new display, and more. Before we dive into its performance claims and design, here's an overview spec sheet and price for it.
Models Availability
Camera and Audio
The new MacBook Pro now has a 1080p Facetime HD camera with a wider aperture lens and a larger image sensor with more efficient pixels, delivering two times better low-light performance. And along with the improvement of the camera is the three studio-quality mics. It can capture up to 60 percent lower noise floor, giving a crystal clear recording and the capability to capture the subtlest sound. The speakers also support spatial audio, enhancing the user's overall media experience.
M1 Pro and M1 Max processor
CPU Performance
Built on the same 5nm processor chip, the new MacBook Pro 2021 model has two Apple Silicon chips available to configure into, the M1 Pro and the M1 Max. According to Apple, both chips feature a 10-core CPU, leveraging up to eight high-performance and two high-efficiency cores, delivering faster processing at a tenth of power and up to 70 percent faster than the CPU M1.
GPU Performance
In terms of graphics, the M1 Pro features a 16-core GPU, two times faster than the M1, while the M1 Max features a 32-core GPU, four times faster than the M1. And, the M1 Pro consumes 70 percent less power at its peak than a discrete PC laptop graphics, while the M1 Max consumes 40 percent less power than a high-end PC laptop graphics.
Liquid Retina XDR Display
Available in 2 display sizes, the MacBook Pro 14.2-inch (3456 x 2234 pixels) and 16.2-inch (3024 x 1964 pixels) features a Liquid Retina XDR display with 10,000 mini-LEDs, 1000 nits of sustained brightness, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, one million:1 contrast ratio, and 1 billion colors. Both displays support ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz, which can match the contents' movement and is more battery efficient.
Design
The new MacBook Pro series comes with a familiar iPhone notch camera design on its display. With the additional space around the notch, the menu bar is now raised to its level, creating more display areas for the user. The border is only 3.5mm thick - a 24% thinner side border and a 60% thinner top border compared to the previous MacBook pro series. Apple has also introduced the full-height function row on the standalone Magic Keyboard to the new MacBook Pro series, replacing the Touch Bar.
Connectivity
Amidst all the improvements, Apple also improved the new MacBook Pro series connectivity and introduced previously removed ports. It now has the HDMI to connect conveniently to displays and TVs, 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports for high-speed peripherals, an SD card slot that enables fast access to media, and a headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones. MagSafe 3 is also back in this new series, supporting more power to the system than ever.