Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Max, 16‑core CPU, 40‑core GPU and 128GB of RAM, production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Max, 12‑core CPU, 38‑core GPU and 96GB of RAM, production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Max, 10‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU and 64GB of RAM, and production 2.4GHz 8‑core Intel Core i9–based 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Radeon Pro 5600M graphics with 8GB of HBM2 and 64GB of RAM, all configured with 8TB SSD. Tested with Affinity Photo 2 v2.1.1 using the built-in benchmark version 21000. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro. Supported formats include AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos

READ NEXT: Our guide to the best laptops you can buy Apple MacBook Pro 16in (2021, M1 Pro) review: Performance Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 36GB of RAM and 4TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 19‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, and production 2.3GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, 32GB of RAM and 4TB SSD. Tested with Affinity Photo 2 v2.1.1 using the built-in benchmark version 21000. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro. Much though we’d have loved Apple to send us the top-end model, the model on test is more representative of the sort of specification most people will opt for, with an M1 Pro processor supplemented by 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 36GB of RAM and 4TB SSD, as well as production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 19‑core GPU and 32GB of RAM, production 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU and 32GB of RAM, and production 2.4GHz 8‑core Intel Core i9–based 16‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Radeon Pro 5600M graphics with 8GB of HBM2 and 64GB of RAM, all configured with 8TB SSD. Tested with MATLAB and Simulink R2023b v23.2.0 and Parallel Computing Toolbox using a vehicle dynamics model. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro. Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 36GB of RAM and 4TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 19‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, and production 2.3GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, 32GB of RAM and 4TB SSD. Tested using Adobe Premiere Pro (Beta) 24.1, and a project with multiple dialogue-heavy video clips. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

Customer reviews

Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 36GB of RAM and 4TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 19‑core GPU and 32GB of RAM, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU and 32GB of RAM, both configured with 8TB SSD, and production 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, 32GB of RAM and 4TB SSD. Redshift v3.5.18 tested using a 29.2MB scene utilising hardware‑accelerated ray tracing on M3‑based systems, and software‑based ray tracing on all other units. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro. Regardless of what processor you choose, both the M1 Pro and M1 Max are big leaps over the existing M1 chip, and the M1 chip was no slouch to begin with. Refurbishment procedures follow the same basic technical guidelines as Apple's Finished Goods testing procedures. Other aspects of performance hit the spot, too. The 2TB SSD drive inside this laptop is rip-roaringly fast, reaching sustained read and write speeds of 5,352MB/sec and 6,351MB/sec respectively.

The CPU has eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, and the M1 Pro will switch between these to optimize performance to whatever tasks you're running. For graphics, the M1 Pro comes with a 16-core GPU with 2,048 execution units, and a performance of 5.2 teraflops, which Apple promises is two times faster graphics performance compared to the M1. Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3, 8‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU and 24GB of RAM, production 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2, 8‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU and 24GB of RAM, production 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1, 8‑core CPU, 8‑core GPU and 16GB of RAM, and production 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 and 16GB of RAM, all configured with 2TB SSD. Pre‑release Blender 4.0.0 tested by rendering a 47.1 MB 3D scene utilising hardware-accelerated ray tracing on M3‑based systems, and software‑based ray tracing on all other units. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

We tested the HDR Video and the Internet and Web presets and found both to be pretty much spot on in terms of colour accuracy. In these tests, in the HDR Video mode I measured an average DeltaE colour error score of 0.98 and P3 gamut coverage of 98.8%, while in Internet and Web, I measured an average DeltaE colour error score of 0.5 and an sRGB gamut volume of 98.1%. The other major design change is when it comes to ports, with the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) featuring three Thunderbolt 4 ports, one HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, and a MagSafe 3 port.

I fired up DaVinci Resolve to see if I would be able to hit the limits of the M1 Max and, after adding 12 4K 25fps 150Mbits/sec 4:2:2 AVCHD clips to the timeline and seeing no slowdown whatsoever, I admitted defeat. This laptop is a video-editing monster.

Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2023 using pre‑production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M3 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 36GB of RAM and 4TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2 Pro, 12‑core CPU, 19‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, production 14‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 8TB SSD, and production 2.3GHz quad‑core Intel Core i7–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, 32GB of RAM and 4TB SSD. Redshift v3.5.18 tested using a 29.2MB scene utilising hardware‑accelerated ray tracing on M3‑based systems, and software‑based ray tracing on all other units. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro. While working on these projects we weren’t just impressed with the raw performance the 14-inch MacBook Pro offered, but how good they looked as well. The assurance that the unit meets Apple's rigorous quality standards, and that its defective components have been replaced by genuine Apple components