Do You Need the MacBook Pro M1 Max or M1 Pro for Your Work?

Apple's latest MacBook Pros are here, and while they brought with them a bevy of new features and the return of some that many creatives have missed, the headline features are the newest iterations of Apple's in-house processors, the M1 Max and M1 Pro, which promise top-level performance and remarkably long battery life. Now that you have multiple options for a processor, which is right for your work? This helpful video will give you a first inkling.

Coming to you from Scott McKenna, this great video compares the Final Cut Pro performance of the new MacBook Pro M1 Pro and M1 Max laptops. What really impresses me about the new laptops is the performance-to-power ratio. We are seeing some remarkable performance that is typical of chips that draw four or five times as much power. This used to mean either having to use a desktop or a massive gaming laptop that would last three hours on a battery if you were lucky. However, with Apple's new laptops, we are seeing ludicrous levels of battery life on top of that impressive performance. It really seems like the new MacBook Pros are not just powerful portable computers but possibly desktop replacements as well. 

Check out the video above for the full rundown from McKenna. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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4 Comments

YES, of course I do.

Yes, I’ve gone full gearhead central and actually got 2 MacBook Pro’s, my old one for DJ gigs that is supporting some legacy hardware the company decided not to provide Apple silicon compatible drivers for (thanks Rane) and then my new M1 MBP for photo editing (that I was planning on using for music but see above)

The M1 is amazing, I can only imagine how ridiculous these new ones are.

keep in mind that Apple benchmarked the M1 Max 32-core to be 180% faster than the 5300M. The 5600M was almost twice as fast as the 5300M. Graphic wise, you are not getting anything mind blowing. The real strength of the M1 is the CPU and frankly I don't even understand why Apple even bother with a Max 24-core version. The difference is $200. They should do the Pro 16 and the Max 32 in my opinion.

This video isn't by Apple.

It's not uncommon for Apple and Intel to pick a weaker competing product; or display a benchmark that favors their own product. That's why it's best to watch independent reviewers.

Games are not these machines primary focus.

The strength of the M1 isn't by any one part, it's by its entire architecture.