© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
I vividly remember when I entered a thrift store in New York years ago and grabbed the Titanium PowerBook G4 the moment I saw it on the shelf. It was my first tryst with a pro-grade Apple laptop way before I got a 15-inch MacBook Pro which works fine till date. I knew I wouldn’t be using the machine to the fullest, it’s like driving a Ferrari on Delhi roads at midnight just to have a feel of a sports car. Using the M2 Max-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro is like giving you unlimited access to a luxury sports car that promises a greater level of agility and finesse to the driving experience. Not everyone needs all of the power the 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with unless you know what to do with a notebook that is purposefully engineered to squeeze out every bit of performance.
Here is my review of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro price in India (as reviewed): Rs 349,900
You must be convinced I’m obsessed with the Titanium PowerBook G4. The reason why I have mentioned my PowerBook G4 is that the new MacBook Pro resembles Apple’s 22-year-old notebook a lot. Not just the form factor but also the layout of the keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro matches that of the PowerBook G4. I am glad that Apple is revisiting its past to add a dose of nostalgia in creating a newer generation of products. The new MacBook Pro appears to be a grown-up, more mature version of the PowerBook G4.
The Pro has a rounded bottom case with less tapering on the edges and the lid is completely flat. I must say holding the notebook feels quite different from the 2016 MacBook Pro. It’s much thicker, wider, and even longer compared to the MacBook Pros I have used over the years. That’s not to say the 16-inch MacBook Pro is too heavy or thick making it impossible to travel with. The 16-inch model I have for review (Apple also sells the MacBook Pro in 14-inch screen size) weighs over 2.2kg. Sure, it’s not a MacBook Air-like compact but I haven’t had any issues slipping the notebook into the laptop sleeve and carrying it to the office every day. At times, the extra weight does feel noticeable but it never annoyed me, the same way as gaming laptops do. For a laptop that basically has the power of a desktop computer, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is remarkably portable.
It’s a beautiful laptop with the strong industrial design Apple is known for. As someone who has a passion for design, I look for the minutest details in a product. For example, Apple has etched the words “MacBook Pro” on the bottom of the machine. Not many will care about this, but the thing about good design, I think, is that it’s not in your face but is always invisible. Visual appeal matters. A lot.
But what also equally matters is the usability of the design. The new MacBook Pro is an anti-Jony Ive product — after all, Apple’s ex-famed designer would never have allowed a bevvy of ports on this machine. I am glad Apple reintroduced the HDMI port and an SD card slot on the MacBook Pro. I know you have noticed me supporting mobile-class laptops a lot in the past few years, but I can’t imagine myself taking a MacBook Air with me to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month. The reason is: I am going to take my DSLR to shoot product shots and thus a MacBook Pro with a built-in SD card slot will fasten the process of transferring photos to the laptop. There’s also a MagSafe that can fast-charge the laptop’s battery, along with dual Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, and a headphone/audio headset jack. I don’t know how many of you even remember MagSafe, but I am glad Apple brought it back in laptops. The cable is braided now, and it feels much stronger.
The display is stunning, and I am ain’t joking. This is the best display I have ever seen shipped on a portable Mac. The screen spans 16.2 inches with a resolution of 3456×2234 pixels and a peak brightness of 1600 nits for HDR content. It uses a mini-LED display, the one also found in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but the screen is brighter on the MacBook Pro.
I liked the MacBook Pro’s screen for multiple reasons. First, the screen produces realistic colours with deep blacks. I specifically subscribed to Crunchyroll to watch Anime shows on the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Second, the MacBook Pro’s display is great for reading Indian Express’s e-paper. It’s like viewing text printed on a physical page, something I haven’t seen on a laptop screen. Maybe you find this a bit of an exaggeration but ask any professional video editor or someone working in the news publishing industry about how meticulous and demanding they can be when it comes to a screen they like to have on their work computer.
I also liked the extra screen space. There are barely-there bezels on all sides, which means I could read a few more lines of an article on indianexpress.com on the 16-inch screen than reading the same piece on my M1 MacBook Air. The difference is huge.
Unfortunately, Apple had to bring an iPhone-like “notch” to make possible an edge-to-edge display on the Pro. Honestly, I did notice the notch in regular use but it never disrupted the web page. Yes, it’s there on top, right in the center of the screen and you have to live with it. Look, the screen notch is there to accommodate a 1080p webcam which is amazing due to its boosted resolution. I used it for taking virtual interviews on Zoom and the quality was excellent. I wish it could have Center Stage, Apple’s proprietary tech that uses a wide-angle camera and automatically zooms and pans to keep faces in the center of the frame.
The first thing I do before testing a notebook is to get a feel of the keyboard. I generally write about 12,000 to 15,000 words each week, if you don’t include replying to emails. So you can imagine how much I pay attention to the keyboard since I spend a lot of my time writing. The Magic keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro matches the experience one gets when using the desktop Magic keyboard on the iMac both in terms of stability and key travel. When pressing keys, they have this “thud” sound which is very satisfying. I love this keyboard as a writer so much that I can comfortably type on it for hours. It’s great for writers as well as developers. There are dedicated function keys for Spotlight, Dictation, and Do Not Disturb. Moreover, the Touch ID button has a new design that makes it easier to recognise, though it lacks backlighting so finding it in the dark can be difficult. The trackpad, meanwhile, is big and expansive. I like how it sounds when you click it and it works like magic with the haptic feedback.
I got an M2 Max model with a 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, 64GB of memory, and 2TB of storage — eight performance cores, four efficiency cores. The M2 Max is one level up from the M2 Pro which powers the 14-inch MacBook Pro and has 10 CPU cores and 19 GPU cores. I didn’t have the M2 Pro-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro, so let’s focus on the 16-inch MacBook Pro and what it brings to the table. I am not a power user, but when I sat with a video editor friend of mine who does a lot of intense tasks, he seemed to be impressed by the performance of the laptop. He could do certain tasks like editing a video in Final Cut Pro much faster than on his old 27-inch iMac. Rendering and exporting were quick with no drop in frames, though at times it does get hot when it pushes the processor harder for longer. For my type of work though, which includes writing and editing copies on Google Docs, chatting with colleagues on WhatsApp Web, editing photos on PhotoScape and occasionally streaming songs on Apple Music and YouTube, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is exceptionally fast. I know a device like this will be insanely overpowered for the kind of stuff I do but I could only imagine how useful the 16-inch MacBook Pro would be if you work on 3D rendering or 8K footage.
For me though where the 16-inch MacBook Pro really made an impact is in the battery department. I have used this laptop for the most part without the charger. On average, I got close to 15 hours of battery on the 16-inch MacBook Pro and it varies depending on the type of work I do. There have been days when I was getting anywhere between 18 and 19 hours of battery life. It’s just insane. For someone who takes long flights and covers international events and product launches, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is nothing but a portable editing machine that I can carry wherever I go. This might seem a bit too much for some but think about if I expand into podcasts and do video interviews in the future. I would need a machine that could perform as my main editing rig and lasts through a full day of work on a single charge.
The speakers sound incredible. They are loud, clear, and have thumping bass. When I listened to “As it was” by Harry Styles in Spatial Audio, it really sounded like the audio was coming from everywhere. I can already see why musicians and DJs will be gravitated towards buying the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Absolutely but you need to be sure about what you want to do with the 16-inch MacBook Pro. I am not going to recommend the 16-inch MacBook Pro to a beginner who wants to be a creator or someone who wants a Mac laptop for fun. This is a serious tool for heavy-duty content creators, video editors working in the news publishing business and architects. The MacBook Pro 16 is designed to handle the most rigorous tasks a creator or a developer would expect to do on a portable Mac without losing on the performance, battery life and even sound quality.
I don’t need all of the power that the 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with. Unless I seriously think about expanding my horizons beyond writing. But I will definitely choose the MacBook Pro 16 over a high-end Windows laptop. I know the MacBook Pro 16 with M2 Max is a little pricey (starts at Rs 349,900) but I see it as an investment into something that might give more returns in the future.
