New Apple Silicon M1 Pro Chip MacBook Pro Hands-on and First Impression

My 2016 MacBook Pro with Intel CPU was becoming powerless since last year. Especially when I started working with some React Native projects. The fan of the computer was running crazily. The windows may be freeze when I run up multiple applications. The spinner showed up regularly.

Since the battery of my 2016 MBP was dead last week, I have to ask the IT department to replace a new MBP for me. I think maybe our IT stocked some of M1 chip MacBook Pro, they said you can get a new one this week without any hesitation.

I unboxed this brand new laptop in the office (just can not wait) which still has the special smell from the factory. And quickly set up the development environment I needed. Everything is so fresh and familiar.

I have used this new M1 Pro MacBook Pro for about one week now. I have to say it is really fast! I can not feel any lagging issues during my daily development workflow. Additionally, the 120 herts refresh rate and extremely bright screen give me a new level of screen experience.

I still remembered that when I was watching the Apple Event, I saw the notch on the screen design. That felt so bad. It’s not OCD(Obsessive-compulsive disorder) friendly at all. But, when I handed on it, actually on the first day. I carefully observed the camera and the surrounding area for a while. After that, I almost forgot the notch! So, in my opinion as a non-OCD user, it doesn’t bother me too much.

Another very interesting thing is like this. Due to the COVID-19 spread so quickly in community and back and forth unstoppably. We’ve been WFH for more than half a year now. The camera of the previous 16 inch MBP is very poor. It can not handle with the low light environment very well. Especially in the morning, the location of my desk against the light. By in this way, every time when I open the Zoom in the standup meeting, it feels that I am in a very dark room. I have to DIY a fill-in light designed for the meeting. To avoid that colleagues may think I am WFC (work from cave)

But when I started to use new Apple silicon MBP, this problem solved without effort. In the morning, my room still a little bit dark, but if you look it through the MBP camera, it’s so bright. I even removed my spotlight behind the monitor, which is dedicated for the Zoom meeting.

By the way, the weight of the MBP is literally heavier than before, and thicker. But personally I am not care that much about it. I still believe that good laptop should be high-performance and high quality.

Just leave it like this. Overall this generation of MacBook Pro is highly recommended. I definitely will try to something more on it.