Can you imagine what the reviews would look like if Apple made a MacBook Pro with all the ports users wanted, but none of the processing power or software to back it up? Lucky for the masses, that’s not what happened – or at least that’s what the first reviews suggest. Still, the starting price and a display with a notch might be enough to suggest that mistakes were made – let’s take a peek!
As PCMag suggests, this notebook’s camera notch “may be obtrusive for some users or applications.” That’s the least of most reviewers’ concerns, it would seem, as most struggled to find anything about the notebook line they did not like. As The Verge suggested, “yes, the display has a notch, which we know will be polarizing, but I very quickly stopped noticing it, just like everyone stops seeing the iPhone notch.”
On the other end of the hardware spectrum, as Engadget notes, this device has great speakers, solid battery life, “most of the ports you want” as well as a standard SD Card reader and a “fantastic keyboard.”
CNET points to a “huge leap in graphics performance over earlier M1 systems.” This same review applauds the replacement of the earlier model’s Touch Bar with more traditional function keys, as well.
At Gizmodo, negative features include the lack of a USB-A port and a battery life that is “nowhere near as good as M1 MacBooks.” CNBC calls out the positive move from a 720p webcam to 1080p with this new model. The sharper resolution is noticeable, they suggest, adding, “you’ll finally look clear in video chats.”
As CNN suggests, after using this notebook for a few days “we don’t want to go back to a MacBook that doesn’t have lots of ports, booming speakers, big physical function keys, and a gorgeous Liquid Retina Display.”
Still, is the 2021 MacBook Pro good enough to warrant a $1999 starting price? Is this really Everything we hoped for? The release date for this MacBook Pro is October 26, 2021, in both 14- and 16-inch configurations, and both devices will be available for order from the Apple store online.
