Apple M1 Pro MacBook Pro - A Long Term User Review

The MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops you can buy right now in 2023 but how does a 2 year old MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip shape up right now? We've been using it as a creator device for things like Resolve, Photoshop and Adobe Premiere for two years straight and there are some amazing benefits but also some bottlenecks.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - My Current MacBook Situation
1:08 - Macbook Pro LONG TERM Build Quality
2:52 - Speakers & Headphone Jack are CLUTCH
3:57 - An (almost) Unbeatable Display
4:56 - Battery Life after 2 Years is...
7:29 - Its FASTER Now!?
8:03 - Thermals & Dust Buildup
8:53 - MacOS Evolution & Some Issues
9:52 - Some Tip & Tricks for Sonoma
11:00 - After 2 Years, Would I Buy it Again?

This video is not sponsored. The device was purchased. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

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[arjungandhi]

I have the baseline 14 inch M1 Pro macbook pro. It's my first time owning a mac, and to be honest it is great. It's a very well thought out and executed device. For my uses, I'm going to get a number of years out of it.

[reidevanson]

Purchased a 2021 M1 Macbook Pro 14" and it has been amazing. I purchased it used for a lower price and constantly use it every day for over 8 hours since purchase. I have AlDente so when i'm plugged into the wall it wont charge over 80% and my overall battery health is only at 87%. I have travelled 6 month of each year and still have no scratches or dents. Keyboard is flawless and trackpad is MINT. Dont forget about the crystal clear display! I was Linux and Windows my entire life before this and I've had no regrets with this beast.

[NicholasMcClure]

Got same model at end of 2021 - coming up on 2 full years now. Love it, handles everything I throw at it perfectly, graphic design (Adobe CC), Final Cut Pro, all smooth and quick, no issues. Love the design, the build quality, the screen and speaker quality. By far the best Mac laptop I've owned, and a huge step up from my previous 15" Intel MacBook Pro.

[jrwagh]

"it still works well after 2 years" - Man, what kind of world are we living in when that's a surprise?

[jinraigami]

People said Apple products are expensive, but when competitors like Razer creates products with the same build quality as Apple, they either cost the same or more, still their longevity isn't as good as Apple products. Especially the laptops. Till this day, I haven't found a laptop with good display, speakers, chasis and performance per watt as M-Series MBP yet.

[kevinmcauliffe]

I was never really a Mac guy, but my current employer assigned me an M1 MBP and it’s a phenomenal machine. Never gets hot, battery goes all day, and boots up incredibly fast. My wife bought an xps 13 this year and it was a sad, pathetic machine in comparison. She returned it and got an m2 mbp and she’s now a convert as well.

[SuperPudley]

I was very glad to hear your video! I have the same M1 MacBook Pro, and have gone thru all of the hype about the updated ones (M2) last year and the M3 MacBook Pros that were recently announced, but I feel they there is no way to justify any MacBook Pro updates!

[Tkourtog]

Same here with my M1 MacBook Pro. The performance is unbelievable, the battery is the best out there, speakers and screen are first class. For me the best screen size is the 16 inch over the 14 inch model since portability isn't a thing for me. Still using Ventura and I'm full satisfied with the experience of MacOS. The best laptop I've even used and owned.

[Piketom]

I have been using the exact same computer for pretty much the same period of time. The computer still feels new after all that time despite using it for work every day. The battery life is still exceptional, it’s still really fast, it’s still cool and quiet, and it still looks and feels great. If you can find a used or refurbished M2 Pro, it’s a great buy. In my experience, the most impressive thing about the battery life is standby time. I have left the computer asleep in my bag over a weekend and when I go to wake it up on Monday morning for work, it has lost AT MOST 1% of the charge.

[Aves_]

Saying it’s surprising that the OS running so well on a 2 year old laptop is a pretty mid take. It’s normal for software to still run well on 2 year old devices, so how is it a surprise?

[sl]

I also wanted to get the Pro but got the first M1 Air instead thinking to switch again in half a year or so. However, I really like the form factor now and am not rushing to switch any time soon. These chips and battery lives are mind-boggling.

[its_maalik]

8:29 that is what blew my mind as well. Using it from the past 2 months and the only time I have heard the fans were when I ran hardware diagnostics. And I am very heavy user multiple monitors with a dozen of applications open all the time. Big props to apple 👍

[mugeo]

I'm no Apple fanboy but the M1/M2 range have been awesome.... I've got the 16" Macbook Pro M2 and despite the fact I didn't even need it (I already had a Lenovo Legion 7 pro 2021), it has been simply glorious and I don't regret it for a second...

[TheIndulgers]

Remember when he ignored the M1 Macbooks for the better part of a year, all the while recommending terrible Dell options to viewers?

[iali]

Had mine for 2 years and it’s in awesome shape. No drop off. Can easily see myself using it for another 5 years.

[BalaKrishna-bqiz]

Upgraded from M1 MacBook Pro 14 to Lenovo Legion Pro 5i with RTX 4070 and I don't regret it a bit. I got MBP mostly just for video editing and I thought it would enable me to edit on the go (Mostly Davinci Resolve Studio and occasionally Adobe Premiere Pro). But in practice, I never really "needed" to edit "on the go". This ability to edit videos at the coffee shop is peddled by YouTubers but unless you are a YouTuber (especially of the type who needs to travel a lot and can't wait until you get to the hotel room to edit/upload videos) this doesn't really matter much in the real world.
Now that Intel also added media engine for hardware video encoding/decoding and with Nvidia's RTX cards, video editing has been a breeze. It was also a breeze with MacBook Pro but now I also carry my games with me which is a lot of fun when I'm traveling and stuck at a hotel. Carrying a MacBook just felt boring. The only thing I really miss about it is it's speakers when I don't feel like wearing the headphones.
The great battery life everyone talks about didn't really translate for me. I got like 7-8 hours of light use, 5.5 hours of mixed-use, and 2-2.5 hours if I push it hard. Which is fine but these days a lot of AMD laptops also get the same or more battery life on light workloads. So, I don't understand why battery life gets so hyped by these YouTubers. And yes, I appreciate how it is quiet and doesn't spin the fans much but it is not a deal-breaker for me. Also, I experienced a lot of lags with it that I don't do with my current laptop. Surprised how little this is talked about. I use a lot of tabs in browsers and that routinely caused me lags. I believe this is due to the quick swap functionality Apple implemented where it kinda uses some SSD storage as RAM on demand and swaps between the RAM. I guess this shouldn't be an issue if you got a 32 or 64 gig model but we know more than 90% get the 16 Gig one. There were way too many times if felt like I was using a cheap walmart laptop because of these cursor-spinning lags when I'm just browing. Luminar Neo and sometimes Adobe Lightroom also caused such lag when dealing with large libraries of photos. I don't experience those lags anymore with my current laptop. You don't hear these very often if you were to just listen to YouTubers.

Bottom line being, really think what kind of a user you are and what features make an actual difference in how you use/want to use your computer. Youtubers review a lot of laptops, because of that naturally they are biased/sensitive towards the differences between laptops. Don't make a purchase decision based on their bullet points. A lot of things are nice to have but may not really add much value to your usecase. There will be plenty of users for whom a MacBook Pro will be a perfect choice but its not a one size fits all and not "superior" to everything else out there. While Apple decided to ride on the M1 success with a lackluster M2 update, there are laptops out there now with much more raw power but it all comes down to how much power you will actually use and what provides you more value.

[Quinsterrr]

Got the same model, been programming on it for the last 2 years. It’s a beast and I see no reason to upgrade for a long time

[vxnzlgi]

Same MacBook pro.. mine has 467 charge ciclus and battery condition is normal and 87% maximum Capacity
Strange you have 81% maximum capacity and only 125 cycle count…

[DCuerpoJr]

I also have a M1 Pro MBP and it's been the best laptop I've ever owned. It replaced a 2015 15" MBP that was also a fantastic machine, but the leap in performance, heat management and battery life were way above what I thought was possible. I use it for photo and video editing along with producing livestreams and I've never encountered an issue. Only reason I'm tempted to upgrade to a new M3 MBP is because the Max chipset supports more than two external displays. Plus the black option looks very nice.

[jvm-tv]

I was undecided between Air 15 (16GB, 512GB) and M1 Pro 16 refurbed. I ended up with M1 Pro 16 which was even cheaper than the Air 15. Super happy so far. Great deal for a great piece of tech.