As more people are getting their hands on the incredible M1 Max MacBook Pro, a question is arising: why?
The machine is eye-wateringly expensive and people on Twitter (where else?) are up in arms about it.
6000 dollars … What a fkin joke. Who needs 8tb ssd man and M1 max is good and all but this is just robbery. https://t.co/3UYSuMgIJZ
— Baby (@DanAtreides01) October 19, 2021
Honestly? It’s a reasonable concern. The most tricked-out version of the 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro will cost you $6,099, before tax — with the cheapest M1 Max build crossing the $3,000 mark. A huge sum, but with the new chips and high specs, there’s no doubt you’ll get a beast of a machine… but who really needs a machine that beastly?
Being a staunch advocate of democracy, I’m going to let Twitter provide us with the answers. That, friends, is called working smart.
Work, work, work, work, work, work
While a lot of Twitter users echo the point we’ve made before that Apple‘s new hardware won’t revolutionize how we use laptops — and that an 8TB SSD is ludicrously excessive — there’s plenty of people who are ready to defend it.
My brother is a professional composer and music producer. He has purchased a fully specced M1 Max MacBook Pro with 64GB RAM and 8TB SSD. Without any hesitation.
— Sanjiv Sathiah (@t3mporarybl1p) November 3, 2021
So this dude’s brother got the maxed-out version — without any hesitation. I think we can safely say all professional composers need this. And the same goes for any people doing intense video work (although most don’t specify if they actually went for a full 8TB SSD).
Been editing in FCP, RX9, and Photoshop, browsing, messaging (incl Electron!), downloading and installing, for 10 hours on the 16-inch M1 Max MPB, not a single beachball, freeze, fan, or furnace. All on battery. Still 40% left. So silent. So cool. Almost eerie! But so damn good! pic.twitter.com/nSK8YUysig
— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) November 3, 2021
Received my custom order yesterday.
14″ M1 Max w/ 24-core
32GB RAM
2TB SSDDamn it’s so quick. Rendering videos like nothing and still using the laptop whilst it renders. Doesn’t sound like a jet engine. The screen makes all other screens look crap. It’s crazy good. pic.twitter.com/vFs1RkCA11
— Oliur (@UltraLinx) November 2, 2021
Photographers are also deeply impressed, especially those averse to electrical sockets.
First look at the new MacBook Pro M1 Max for photographers! The speed is impressive but it’s the battery life that blew my mind! https://t.co/0Pz6WnWz4Ipic.twitter.com/2WLIlJQYgc
— Austin Mann (@austinmann) October 27, 2021
From what I can tell, the M1 Max is for professionals who can justify it to themselves (and have the means) to ‘invest’ in an overpowered tool. However, it also works great as a recruitment tool for ethically bankrupt corporations.
We are hiring iOS engineers today if you are interested. This will also probably be the future laptop of all other engineers at Uber fairly soon too: https://t.co/nfqNVUbizJ
— Mahyar McDonald (@mahyarm8) November 2, 2021
Sweet, sweet indulgence
The M1 Max doesn’t have to be just for work though, it can even be used for… gaming.
holy crap pic.twitter.com/ewEmQltm5F
— Quinn Nelson (@SnazzyQ) November 3, 2021
I know mentioning Apple hardware and gaming in a non-derogatory context is blasphemous, but hey, just look at that comparison.
To be fair, the PC performance in that screenshot might be slightly affected due to recently updating to Windows 11, but still, look at those numbers!
And this isn’t an isolated case.
Got Windows 11 running on the M1 Max 16”MacBook Pro.
Installing some great games now 🙂 pic.twitter.com/0eAUak3wK9
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) October 29, 2021
In the end though, no matter what the good netizens of Twitter claim, I think the honest answer to the question ‘who needs the maxed-out M1 Max MacBook Pro?’ is… nobody, but boy would it be sweet to get it.
So if you’ve got a lot of spare cash and the burning desire for a gorgeous piece of tech, just treat yo’self.
i’m getting it because im a nasty little piggy
— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) November 3, 2021