Many of the 2021 MacBook Pro’s biggest features are simply undoing what the previous iteration insisted on. It’s not often that Apple products grow in size, but then again, Apple’s approach here is unorthodox.
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Importantly, the 16-inch MacBook Pro that I reviewed grew in size over the previous, Intel-powered generation, which was 0.02 inches thinner, but almost half a pound lighter.
The 14-inch is just 0.05 inches thinner, but it’s significantly lighter at just 3.5 pounds. That’s notably larger in both aspects to the previous-generation 16-inch MacBook Pro. I have the 16-inch model, and it’s now 0.66 inches thick and weighs 4.7 pounds. There are a number of reasons for the thicker chassis, including having room for additional ports and better thermals. And as some keen Apple historians have pointed out, it pays homage to an Apple laptop from 20 years ago, the Titanium PowerBook G4. That’s exactly what the 2021 MacBook Pro does. Most would happily trade a half-inch of thickness for some extra performance. That’s a departure from typical Apple products, but it’s also giving creative professionals exactly what they’ve been asking for. Unlike the previous generation, the primary design tenet of the 2021 MacBook Pro wasn’t being ultrathin. I often use Split View while working, and doing so automatically extends the top bezel over the notch.įor the most part, Apple finds reasonable ways of getting around the notch. I don’t love that your cursor disappears entirely behind the notch.įull-screen mode was the one exception. And thanks to dark mode, the default wallpapers, and the translucency built into MacOS, the notch wasn’t as notable as I thought it would be. The notch seems more intrusive on the 14-inch model, which has less room across the menu bar to accommodate the protrusion.īut it never got in the way in my time with the 16-inch MacBook Pro. That being said, given the options of either a chunky top bezel (older MacBooks) or a poorer webcam (Dell XPS 15), it’s not a bad compromise. I view it as a compromise, not a design flourish. Like it or not, it’s Apple’s way of standing out in a sea of identical slabs and clamshells.ĭo I love the look? No, can’t say I do. It does for the MacBook Pro the same thing it always did for the iPhone, creating a trademark look.
However, the notch is also about branding. In that sense, it bears a lot of resemblance to the screen on the Surface Laptop Studio. I view the notch as a compromise, not a design flourish.įor the first time in a long time on a MacBook Pro, the notch ensures an equal-sized bezel in every direction around the screen, and even allows Apple to introduce rounded corners at the top. And yes, the notch is where Apple houses a number of important components, which would have been very difficult to fit without increasing the bezel size or reducing the quality of the webcam. It’s a larger and more intrusive notch than what the iPhone has, opting for a boxier shape. A notch was even considered as a possibility in the first few years of thin-bezel XPS laptops, but it never came to fruition.Īnd yet, to the surprise of almost everyone, the 2021 MacBook Pro has a big notch hanging down from the top, housing the camera module and a host of other sensors. As companies like Dell pushed forward with razor-thin bezels in the XPS laptops, Apple stayed the course with its thick bezels in the years since then. The idea of a notch in a laptop has been something I’ve been wondering about ever since it debuted on the iPhone X in 2017. That bezel comes with a compromise, of course - though that’s not how Apple will hope you view it. The other small changes to the design include the removal of the “MacBook Pro” logo from the bottom bezel, new rubber feet on the bottom, and ultrathin bezels up top. It’s not unlike the strategy used in fashion and design industries. This is an expensive product, and Apple wants to welcome you to the cool club.
That’s why it most certainly includes a black Apple sticker in the box. Like the Space Gray iMac Pro and matching accessories, Apple uses the slightest change in color scheme to give a premium, exclusive feel. It also immediately distinguishes these MacBook Pros from the otherwise similar-looking MacBook Air (and 13-inch MacBook Pro). Silver laptops with black keycaps has become ubiquitous in the laptop world, and the MacBook Pro’s changeup is refreshing. The black keyboard, in particular, feels like a statement piece when so many laptops have copied the MacBook look. Black has become the dominant accent color, gracing both the Apple logo and the backdrop of the keyboard. It’s still made from a unibody aluminum chassis, it still comes in silver or space gray, and there’s still an Apple logo on the lid.īut the changes in this generation aren’t subtle enough to be missed. Taking a step back, the 2021 MacBook Pro still very much looks like a MacBook.