MacBook Pro 14 inch M1 Pro test: the power of a workstation, the autonomy of an ultraportable, a Mac to be dreamed of
After ensuring the show during the start of the school year with four iPhone, the 13 mini, 13, 13 pro and 13 pro max, then new iPad, entry -level and mini, Apple again occupied the technological stage withThe announcement of two new MacBook Pro, resolutely placed at the top of the range, and two outstanding Apple Silicon SoC.
We have already had the opportunity to test the 16 -inch MacBook Pro, equipped with the M1 Max and the most solid configuration available.One observation was then essential, the teams of Tim Cook are in their business with these new fleas, which offer them unprecedented control over the performance and consumption of their machines.If, in line with the pre -existing MacBook Pro, this new generation does not intend to compete with the most powerful laptop configurations - the M1 max quickly gives in performance in the face of dedicated graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 3070- it succeeds what'No PC can do today.Being a real professional workstation, capable of holding the charge in the face of demanding requests (4K, 8k, heavy graphic rendering, etc..) Both connected to the sector and on battery.And, always (or almost) in a royal silence.
Anyway, it's now the 14 inch turn to be tested.It is interesting to note that for the moment, it does not replace the 13 -inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M1, released at the end of last year.
Apple builds its range by leaving the old design (with ascetic connectors) at the entry level.A good way to highlight that this MacBook Pro 14 inches (like his big brother) effectively tackles the correcting of the errors started in 2016, and to reaffirm that the MacBook Pro are the result of listening to their users.A very nice promise.Let's see if this ambition is held.
An "old" background, and a renewal
There is no question of making the trial of Jonathan IVE, who has chaired since the late 90s to the creation of Apple's visual identity.The heir to functionalist industrial design has changed the Macs in a new dimension, offering them an immediate means of distinguishing them from the tide of PCs.Nevertheless, the last iteration of MacBook Pro has greatly suffered from a clear desire to refine the case and simplify the whole in the extreme.The best provided did not embark that four Thunderbolt ports, in USB-C format.
This era seems to have come to an end.Apple does not strive to make her laptop lose weight unnecessarily.If the 14 -inch format makes any comparison with pre -existing models, we note, however, that this Mac is thicker than the 15 and 16 inch models released in 2019, which then turned with an Intel chip.However, it turns out to be much narrower and less deep than these two models and its weight is more contained, at 1.6 kg.Almost too heavy to be considered an ultraportable, even if in fact, you don't feel too much in a backpack.
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The design itself is close to that of the previous MacBook Pro and also recalls the era of the PowerBook and first MacBook Pro.The hood is slightly thicker, but the whole is still aluminum, and extremely finished.Only the side vents on the lower part of the case are quite surprising and not very pleasant when you grasp the laptop placed on a desk.But it's really a detail.
The gain in thickness of the MacBook Pro marks especially the return of a connection that we no longer dared to dream.Judge rather.We obviously find the Thunderbolt 4 ports in USB-C format.There are three, two on the left and one on the right.They offer speeds up to 40 gbits/s.They make it possible to connect keys, discs, screens and provide a diet up to 15 W, in order to give life to the devices that would need it.They can also provide a DisplayPort signal.It is obviously always possible to recharge your MacBook Pro using one of its Thunderbolt ports.Even Apple brings back to life the Magsafe with a magnetic connector that will stand out so if you get your feet in its cable, without flying your MacBook Pro through the room.An appreciable detail.
In the department of large returns, Apple also offers an HDMI port again - 2.0, only -, 4K HDR compatible at 60 i/s.Note that the M1 Pro can manage up to two external screens Pro Display XDR.
The mini-jack port (3.5 mm) is also there, improved for the occasion.It can automatically modulate the voltage level for high impedance helmets, which will undoubtedly delight the editors or very high quality helmet lovers.
Finally, to finish with this physical connection tour, Apple engineers have succeeded again - miracle!- to slide an SDXC (Standard SD 4.0 and UHS-I and UHS-II) on the right side of the MacBook Pro.It will therefore be much easier to transfer photos and videos from a camera or a camera.
Of course, some will regret the absence of USB-A port.But Apple has corrected most of the through previous generations here.The impossible has already been obtained, let's not ask for a miracle.
In short, with its air as a powerbook or an old MacBook Pro, a little thicker, this new model claims as much the beginning of a new era as its desire to give the pros what they need.
And this will also materializes on the side of the keyboard and trackpad.The touchpad has always been excellent and continues to be, on this side nothing new.On the keyboard side, on the other hand, it is a renewal, or rather a reset to zero of importance.If the Magic Keyboard always provides incredible entry comfort, with a short, soft and silent race, we see above all that the Touch Bar has retired.
Sometimes useful, sometimes annoying, used too variable depending on the applications, she has never managed to seduce and completely convince.It therefore gives way to keys of function of the same size as the other keyboard keys.The ESC on the left is wider so that it is easily found in the fingertip.Developers (and all those who must cancel a window or message) will rejoice.
These function keys make it possible to launch Spotlight (if you do not use the traditional CMD space), to activate Siri (which will therefore activate much less often by accident than when its icon in the Touch Bar was placed right next toThe backspace key) or even activate the different concentration menus, without forgetting the volume, brightness settings, etc..
Finally, on the right, we always find the Touch ID button, which we no longer present.However, it benefits from a well -found modification, which facilitates use in the dark.The dedicated touch now has a hollow circle in its center which allows you to place your finger for sure, even in the dark, even without taking your eyes off the screen.A small ergonomic detail that proves, without the shadow of a doubt, which we have to make to one of the best portable keyboards of the moment.
Whether to type code, to enter a few emails or write long texts, the keyboard of the MacBook Pro is pure happiness, whose light noise will rhythm your working sessions without annoying your neighbors.
An extraordinary screen, with a notch, to be talked about
The revival of design, although apparently discreet, is accompanied by a significant reduction in the size of the edge of the screen.The 14.2 -inch liquid Retina XDR xDR slab thus displays 5.9 million pixels distributed in a native definition of 3,024 x 1964 pixels, adjusted in 1512 x 982 pixels by default and 1800 x 1169 pixels if you want to win again on the surfacedisplay.This allows you to juxtapose without worry two windows side by side, or display a complex and rich interface, like that of Final Cut Pro or Photoshop without having to hide too much the different elements.
But, this liquid retina xDR panel is above all an opportunity to introduce Mac the minled backlight technology, already present in the ipad pro 12.9 inch.It allows finer lighting of the display areas and also much greater light peaks when displaying HDR content.Apple announces a peak at 1600 cd/m2, we measured tips at 1,435 cd/m2, which is excellent.In classic and constant brightness, we have noted 468 cd/m2, which means that the MacBook Pro is 15.6% brighter than the average of the ultraportable tested by us these last twelve months.
But if it allows a more powerful backlight, the minled also allows more controlled lighting, and therefore much deeper blacks when it is not necessary to enlighten.We recorded a contrast at 46840: 1.It is not the “infinite” contrast (at 1,000,000: 1) of the OLED, but it is quite exceptional ... and no less than 2,884% more contrasted than the slabs of ultra -portable PCs that we havetested in the past twelve months.
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Especially since this brightness and this contrast are accompanied by a very high color fidelity.With a Delta E 2000 of 2.04, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro flirts with perfection on this point.Not to mention that it actually covers 100% of the Gamut DCI-P3, much wider and rich than that of SVGA.
Finally, this generation of MacBook Pro is the first to embark promotion technology, which we had the opportunity to see arriving in iPad Pro, then in the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, last September.It allows you to adjust the speed of refreshment of the slab according to the displayed content.This not only allows you to always have the required fluidity at the right time, but also to save a little energy.Thus, the screen will vary its cooling rate from 24 to 120 Hz, depending on whether you watch a film, play, or scroll through a long list or an endless text.
In fact, it is additional comfort when you work a lot, the fluidity gain is also appreciable as well to edit a video as to work with a long Excel document whose columns or rows are unrolled.
Obviously, it is possible to deactivate promotion and opt for predefined refresh speeds which range from 60 to 47.95 Hz.Just as it is possible to limit the brightness peaks of the slab.
Power: the M1 Pro, shock sock
Obviously comes the question of performance.The 14 -inch MacBook Pro that we tested is the very first model offered by Apple.Sold at 2249 euros, it has an M1 Pro processor with 8 CPU cores (6 high performance cores, 2 low-consumption cores), 14 GPU cores and 16 GB of unified RAM-that is to say that it is sharedBetween the central processor and the graphic processor.Finally, storage is provided by 512 GB - enough for basic uses, if you do not manage too large files or do not need to keep them for a long time on your Mac.
To take the measure of what this Apple Silicon configuration brings, we decided to oppose the configuration of the MacBook Pro 13 inch M1, released at the end of last year, as well as to the two MacBook Pro 16 inch 2020 (Intel) and 2021 (M1 max).The presence of the M1 Max justify itself all the more since it is possible to choose it optional on the 14 -inch MacBook Pro.
Geekbench, a first overview of the potential
To take the measure of a configuration, it is always good to start with proven synthetic tools.Geekbench is particularly reliable in this case.
It produces three scores.A first, which measures the performance of a heart of the main processor.A second, which tests and estimates the power of the various CPU hearts, and, finally, a third compute), which calculates the performance of the whole platform (CPU and GPU) in uses like thePhoto processing, video editing or 3D graphic elements rendering.
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For each of these results, we note some interesting details.For the Single Core score, we thus raise the performance gain between the three SOC M1 and the Core i9-9880h, of Intel, which equipped the MacBook Pro 16 inches 2019.A processor that was rather powerful.
For the multi -core part, we can only see the fact that even the M1 exceeded the Core i9. En l’espèce, le M1 Pro, intégré dans le MacBook Pro 14 pouces de test, avec ses 8 cœurs (six haute performance, deux basses consommation), est 1,5 fois plus performant que le Core i9 de 9e génération.While it is 1.4 times more powerful for the computed part, which is also interested in its 14 GPU hearts (opposite, therefore, in a 5500m Radeon which was already aging at the time).
It is interesting to note, for those who would be interested in the M1 Max in replacement of the M1 Pro, that the most powerful Soc of Apple is almost twice as powerful in multicore as the Intel processor and 2.5 times morePowerful in compute.
A good way to see what the ten CPU cores and 32 gpu cores of the M1 max bring.
Cinebench R23, CPU mastery
Let us now turn to the latest version of Cinebench.A benchmark that has the distinction of being both a synthetic tool, but also a way to know how a configuration will manage with the Pro Cinema 4D software.
This bench is especially thought of to take advantage of all the hearts of the processor and see what the machine has in the belly.
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The version of Cinebench R23 being quite recent, we could not perform it on the MacBook Pro 16 inches 2019.Nevertheless, it allows, executed on the three MacBook Pro, to measure the progress of performance between each chip.Apple is an expert in the art of range creation.He already did it very skillfully with Intel fleas, sometimes, alas to the detriment of performance and comfort of use, like these core i3 too weak macbook or MacBook Air, or core i9 which heated too much in the MacBook Pro.In this case, by mastering the design and the chip and the machine in which it takes place, we see that Apple draws a very controlled path.
The M1 Pro is 24% more efficient than the M1, while the M1 Max is almost 30% more efficient than the M1.
GFXBENCH, a GPU part in good progression
It is understood, Macs are not game machines.Not so much no lack of power as for lack...games.Even Apple Arcade cannot stem this reality, and it is enough to install Steam on a Mac and seek the games available to realize that gaming is not at the heart of the concerns of Cupertino Society.
In this case, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro processor is however capable of very pretty performance.With Shadow of the Tomb Raider, one of our test games, he displays 42 images per second in 1920x1200, and all the adjustments pushed to the maximum.
Avec GFXBench Metal, qui s’intéresse aux performances de la puce graphique, on constate également que les 14 cœurs CPU du M1 Pro offrent une belle progression au MacBook Pro 14 pouces.If the infographic above is not displayed, click here.
Thus, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro that we tested is 1.6 times more efficient than the MacBook Pro 16 inch 2019, while the M1 Max, tested in the 16 -inch 2021 MacBook Pro, but also available as an option with the 14 inch, ensures performance 3.3 times greater.
Creative Suite, the Photoshop and After Effects case
Let us now be interested in what the 14-inch MacBook Pro gives with great classics of professional applications.We have retained in this case Photoshop and After Effects.
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It is quite easy to see, in view of the times in seconds in the infographic above, that the M1 Pro (for the same amount of RAM, namely 16 GB) is twice as fast to apply the filters and modifications to ourheavy test images in Photoshop.There is therefore a certain potential for professionals who use this tool.
On the side of After Effects, the margin of progression is even more important between the last Intel machine and the 14 -inch MacBook Pro.Since we note a gain of X2.3 for the M1 Pro, and X2.4 for the M1 Max.
Finally, if we are going to take a tour of the Final Cut Pro side, with a set of large 4K files on which different rendered and corrections are applied, then an export in Compressor, we clearly see that the pro -proof acceleration modules (one inThe M1 Pro and two in the M1 Max) do not turn their thumbs.
The M1 Pro is 2.4 times faster than the Core i9 of the MacBook Pro 16 inch 2019, while the M1 Max is 2.6.
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We are flirting there with performance worthy of fixed workstation.Without the shadow of a doubt.To finish convincing yourself, let us quickly turn to our little test, carried out with Logic Pro X.The objective is to subject it and activate a growing number of tracks until the processor requires thanks.
As a reminder, the 13 -inch M1 MacBook Pro had reached a remarkable and unrivaled number of 100 tracks.The M1 Pro with its eight hearts made it possible to add 39 more.While the M1 Max reaches 175 tracks, it must be said that it has 10 hearts.
But moreover, with adjustments that spare the configuration more, especially at the level of buffers and the number of cores asked, we managed to work on a composition that contained more than 1,500 tracks ... What to see, and easily createWhether you are at your office or on a plane, in the mains, or on a battery.
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MacBook Pro storage modules will not slow down your workflow.However, you should not hesitate to see big, immediately, so as not to be short of storage.If you work with high definition video rushs, the size of the files should not go down, and be able to store several hours of locally accelerated and will undoubtedly fluid your work process - offer a first calibrated assembly on the set locationIn order to be sure that all the required plans are good is possible with such capacity and storage speed.
Autonomy: the almost perfect compromise
It is understood, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro is a king of silence, which he rarely breaks, his fans sometimes activate...always discreetly.But the interest of its M1 PRO chip is that it ensures a performance report by Watt that the current competition is very difficult to reach: both on the side of the CPUs and GPUs.
This relative asceticism in energy consumption is transcribed in two ways.The first is that the MacBook Pro ensures the same degree of performance whether connected to the sector or on battery.The giants such as Intel or Nvidia, quick to point the finger that their chips are more powerful, are unable to do the same.The second is that the 14 -inch MacBook Pro thus offers a good endurance - which will obviously depend on how you will request it.
Nevertheless, in our two autonomy tests: versatile and video, the 14 inch Apple succeeds in very good performances.With its 3:45 p.m. in versatile autonomy, which simulates classic daily use (web, email, video, etc..), there is no less than 37.7% more enduring than the average of the ultraportables that we have tested in the past 12 months - remember that ultraportables are classically machines equipped with less efficient low -consumption chips.Let us specify in passing, as you can also see in the table above that the holder of the autonomy record is the MacBook Pro M1 (2020), with its 4:57 p.m..Record autonomies therefore seem to be a family affair.
When we turn to autonomy in video streaming, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro displays 11:08 a.m..It is always less good than the 13 and 16 inch models of Apple, but despite everything enough to be 20.6% more autonomous than the average of the ultraportables that we have been rocked in the past year.Once again, the first place in this category is occupied by the MacBook Pro M1…
You will have noted that the 14 -inch MacBook Pro is systematically placed below MacBook Pro 13 inch and 16 inches.It is the price of intermediate compactness, which does not allow a battery as large as on the 16 inch, and the M1 Pro chip, certainly less powerful, but whose CPU base is identical (with less hearts) to thatM1 max.In other words, the 14 -inch MacBook Pro has power to resell, but a slightly smaller battery.He cannot therefore hold the comparison with his big brother and his little elder.Nevertheless, the compromise is good, very good.It would be interesting to measure the autonomy of a 14 -inch MacBook Pro equipped with a M1 Max, with 10 CPU cores and 32 GPU.But as it stands, difficult to complain about the endurance offered.
Finally, last point, the battery charging time.Where the 16 -inch MacBook Pro, whose battery is more important, as we have said, recharges in 1:30, according to our measurements, it takes 1:40 to this 14 -inch MacBook Pro.Why ?Simply because Apple the book with a 67 W charger, not 96 W, like the upper model (2,749 euros).However, it is from this charger model that you can benefit from the so -called fast charging function.It gives you 50% battery in 30 minutes of load.You will need to spend 20 euros more to buy the 96 W charger optional.To tell the truth, we still can't believe that Apple shows this little mesquinery ...
Anyway, to finish with autonomy, in fact, in "classic" professional use, which mixes simple use, such as email, surfing on the web and the execution of more demanding tasks likeVideo montages, photo touch -ups, we manage to keep a working day without too much problem.Everything will obviously depend on the ratio established between the different uses.One thing is certain, if the 14 -inch MacBook Pro must accompany you on a shoot, a photo shoot, or for a day of development with a customer, you should be able to be serene long hours away from a sector outlet.All the laptops of this ilk cannot say as much at present.