I recently bought the 16-inch MacBook Pro, however, after a few weeks of work, I have come to the conclusion that it may not be the ideal equipment for certain workflows, which we are going to analyze below.
Excessive power, but in a laptop
Knowing that the computer had exceptional performance due to having a Mac mini with M1 and 16 GB of RAM, I decided to buy the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip, for when I had to travel to other workplaces and needed a team that would allow me to work with the same fluidity that I had at the desktop. The new equipment is perfect in that sense, a large screen and good quality, good configuration to work at the highest speed when I needed to export projects, render and model complex 3D texturing.
The battery life, a headache
Making it clear that the performance of the equipment is perfect, the battery is the negative point of this device. I was aware that in complex tasks, the battery would be diminished, the problem has been when the battery drops considerably in any task, whether it is a simple task or a complex task. In this way, it makes it almost mandatory to have the laptop connected to a charger all day or to be dependent on it, a situation that I was aware of, but not to the point of always having to carry it with me, where its weight and size are noticeable.
Weight and size
We concluded the previous paragraph by talking about its weight and size, which, as we have said, is noticeable, because it is a piece of equipment that weighs two kilos , where the charger and its weight are fixed in the backpack, so which makes it not the ideal equipment for transport.
It is true that when you start working with it, you forget about its weight because of its incredible screen and resolution , and above all, because it has perfect ventilation. Despite the fact that I have put the equipment at maximum performance (of my performance), I have not managed to make the fan have to work excessively, thus avoiding an increase in temperatures that in laptops with an Intel chip perfectly reached temperatures of 60 -70 degrees. Apple engineers have to be very proud of that.
In a laptop, what you are looking for is portability, and if you are looking for a Pro range, power. Apple, in this new 16-inch MacBook Pro you have power, but less portability, because always carrying the battery with you makes it a heavy piece of equipment and a bit annoying to transport, sometimes becoming more of a desktop device to connect it to an external monitor than a device designed to carry it.
Is the 16-inch MacBook Pro worth it?
After a brief analysis, every user has to ask himself the following question: is the 16-inch MacBook Pro worth it? The short answer could be yes, but the long answer is no, mainly due to the use that the user will give it in their day to day.
The user really has to ask himself how much time he spends in his work office and how much time he spends on the move, because if the percentage is 60% mobility and 40% study, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is not your team due to its weight and the battery duration. In this sense, the 14-inch MacBook Pro may be a more recommendable option, yes, with the problem that the battery, if you are working in graphic design, the screen is small and it shows.