MacBook Pro Is The Best Laptop of 2021 (Product Review)

If you’ve watched any of our recent videos, you’ll know that Apple’s M1 MacBooks have been killing it, with the MacBook Air being, the best value because of how efficient the new M1 chip is, but within a few months, we’re, expecting a totally redesigned 14” MacBook, Pro which I think is gonna be the BEST laptop, ever made!

So in this video, I’m gonna go through the leaks and rumours that show us why this new 14” is gonna be so good, and then I’m, gonna compare it to the current 13” M1 MacBook, Pro as well so you’ll know if it’s worth, waiting and spending the extra cash!, But before I get into those leaks, I want to talk about the limitations and downsides, of the current 13” M1 MacBook Pro. First of all, it only has two Thunderbolt, ports, which a lot of people have complained, about even though the Intel model it replaced, also had two ports. The performance of the M1 is great, but it doesn’t really give you much more value than the MacBook Air that has the same chip.

And in terms of graphics performance, it’s extremely impressive considering it’s an, integrated design, but it still leaves you, wanting more, especially if you want to play games with it. On top of that it uses the same display it’s been using for a few years now, and the design is basically identical to the older Intel models. So while the M1 MacBook Pro is great, it definitely has its limitations, so with that in mind, let’s get into why the 14” MacBook Pro will be the BEST laptop ever, starting with the leaks and rumours. We’ve been hearing about the 14” MacBook Pro redesign for a very long time now even back in March when Kuo reported that a new 14.1” model with a Mini-LED display was in the works.

Two months after that, the reliable leaker LovetoDream said that a 14” MacBook Pro is coming in 2021. And then over the next couple of months, the same rumour was repeated by Trendforce and various other analysts all pointing to a 14” MacBook Pro coming in 2021. We even got rumours that the new 14 and 16” models with Apple Silicon chips will greatly boost market share all the way up to 7%, which is an insane jump! And then just three weeks ago, Ming-Chi Kuo reported that 14 and 16” MacBook Pro models are coming in the 3rd quarter of 2021 with some massive changes! First off, they would be completely redesigned with a new flat-edged look more in line with Apple’s modern design language. Even more surprising, Apple is expected to bring back the MagSafe charger to these MacBooks, which was missing since the 2016 redesign of the MacBook Pro, and they may even ditch the Touch Bar in favour of physical function keys.

And to make it even better, Kuo says that we should expect a wider variety of ports on the new 14” and 16” MacBooks as well, which is also one of the things people have been complaining about for years. And then at the same time, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg basically confirmed all of those rumours, which is really helping out the case since he’s a very reliable leaker. A week after that, Mark added more weight to the rumour about the MacBook Pro getting an SD Card reader, which is very exciting since you currently need some sort of a dongle to transfer data. And then Mark once again mentioned Apple ditching the Touch Bar for 2021 MacBook Pros.

And finally, about a week ago, Kuo discussed the casing design, saying that the new models cancel the curvy design and adopt a flat-edged form factor similar to the iPhone 12. This might seem like a very weird change, but it actually makes sense since the iPad already moved onto this design, Apple’s 6K Pro Display XDR uses this design, and the future Apple Silicon iMacs most likely will as well.

This is actually great because it’ll give extra room in the casing for a better 1080P webcam, or maybe even Face ID, which was leaked by 9to5mac when they dug into macOS Big Sur beta code. Another good reason that Apple might be able to add a 1080P webcam is the fact that the Mini-LED display upgrade is almost certainly happening, and that display will be thinner than current displays, leaving more room for a better camera. Now if you’re wondering why Apple has waited so many years to listen to their customer’s complaints and make updates, I think I have a pretty good idea why.

I believe that Apple has been working on this. Apple Silicon Mac chip transitioned for many years now, and they knew that they wanted to hold off on a major redesign until they had their new chips ready. That way, they can come out with one fell swoop and knock both the performance aspect and design aspect out of the park, creating the biggest supercycle we’ve ever seen in a Mac. We’re talking about the 14” MacBook Pro getting a totally new redesign, a bunch of features that people have been asking for for years, and the most powerful chip in any laptop, all at once, creating the best value laptop ever made. Now I know you probably have a hard time believing me, but I haven’t yet explained all of these new features and changes and why they are gonna be so important, so let’s get into that. The 14” MacBook Pro is gonna be replacing the high-end $1800 Intel 13” MacBook Pro, so because of that, we already know some interesting details about the specs.

It will 100% be coming with Four Thunderbolt ports alongside whatever other ports Apple is rumoured to be adding, like the SD card

slot and maybe a USB-A port. We should also expect other features like two cooling fans and better speakers as well since those are some of the advantages of that higher-end 13” model. Along with that, we know for sure that it’ll come with 16GB of RAM at the base price and a 512GB SSD since the Intel version already has that. And what’s interesting is that on that Intel model, you have the option of upgrading to 32GB of RAM, and I fully expect Apple to give the new 14” the same option. This basically means that the new 14” needs to come with a new processor, which I believe will be the M1X chip.

Way back before Apple ever revealed the M1 chip, the Verge reported that Apple was working on a 12-core ARM-based chip for their Apple Silicon Transition. But for some reason, Apple’s M1 ended up only being an 8-core chip, so I believe that the 12-core that was rumoured is actually the M1X which we’ll be seeing in both the new 14 and 16” MacBook Pro. In a previous video, I estimated the performance of the M1X and it’s extremely impressive, potentially outperforming the 12 core Mac Pro in terms of CPU performance, which is gonna be absolutely insane for a 14” laptop! As for the graphics side, I’m expecting a 16-core integrated GPU, basically, 2x more cores compared to the M1, and we estimated the performance to outperform the very best 5600M graphics in the 16” MacBook Pro, which is crazy because that machine is priced at $3200 with that GPU upgrade.

This level of performance is unbelievable for a 14” MacBook Pro, and if you’re worried about battery life, don’t be!. The M1X chip will have the same four efficiency cores, which use much less power, so the battery life will basically match the M1 MacBook Pro while doing common tasks. And if you consider all of the other features the 14” is expected to get, like the new design, the extra ports, the better Mini-LED display, potentially a better webcam, and everything else, it seems a bit too good to be true. And in the reality, all of that together is why I believe the 14” MacBook Pro is gonna be the BEST laptop ever made since it’s gonna outperform most laptops out there, while at the same time having a better battery life and a very premium design for only $1800. Because of that, I think Apple is gonna try to charge a bit more for it in one way or another, and I have 3 potential theories on what they can do.

Option 1 is that they raise the base price from $1800 up to $2000, which will still be an excellent value considering it’s gonna outperform the current top-of-the-line fully-loaded 16” MacBook Pro. Option 2 is that they keep the price at $1800, but you’ll actually get the regular M1 chip at that price, with an option to pay $200 to $300 for the better M1X chip. And Option 3 is the best-case scenario, where they keep the price at $1800 AND give us the M1X chip, but at that point, I would expect them to do something to make the 16” MacBook Pro a tempting upgrade, like maybe giving it more graphics cores.

Or they could even give the base 14” MacBook Pro a binned M1X with a bit fewer graphics cores and then offer an upgrade option to get the best version of the M1X chip. But either way, Apple needs to do something to make the 16” a worthwhile upgrade, because if they both get the same exact chip, I don’t see why anyone would pay an extra $400-600 for the 16” model. The value of the 14” MacBook Pro is gonna be absolutely insane, and I fully believe that it’s gonna be the best value laptop in the world, and it’s gonna spark a computing revolution, forcing windows laptop makers to scramble to get ARM-based chips packed into their laptops so they can attempt to catch up, but I have a feeling Apple’s gonna be king for a while, but we’ll just have.

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