The MacBook Pro just got somewhat of a facelift as Apple introduces the new 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros. Just with the sizes alone, longtime MacBook users will already see a difference as previous MacBook Pros used to come in 13″ and 15″ variants.

Let’s rundown everything that’s new in what Apple promises to be hyper-powered notebooks.

M1 Pro and M1 Max

The new MacBook Pros are powered by Apple’s latest and greatest processors. Want the numbers that fly over most people’s heads? Here you go:

M1 Pro — Up-to-10-core CPU with eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, along with an up-to-16-core GPU. That’s up to 70 percent faster CPU performance than M1, and up to 2x faster GPU performance. Delivers up to 200GB/s of memory bandwidth–nearly 3x the bandwidth of M1 and supports up to 32GB of fast unified memory.

M1 Max — Has a 10-core CPU and doubles the GPU with up to a massive 32 cores for up to 4x faster GPU performance than M1. It also has up to 400GB/s of memory bandwidth — 2x that of M1 Pro and nearly 6x that of M1 — and up to 64GB of fast unified memory.

This allows for real time rendering on hyper demanding tasks like video editing, 3D modelling, game designing, and many others.

It has a notch

Now that we know what matters on the inside, let’s address what will likely be the most noticeable aspect on the outside. Like the iPhone, the new MacBook Pros now have a notch. It sits in the middle of the menu bar to be less of a distraction.

Housed in the notch is the much improved 1080P FaceTime HD camera with an f/2.2 aperture to let more light in — crucial in our daily working lives that is now dominated by video calling. Other features include machine learning based noise reduction and face detection, local tone mapping, auto white balance, auto exposure, and Smart HDR. Noticeably missing — there’s no Face ID.

A display for discerning eyes

The display on the new MacBook Pros get significant upgrades. Officially called the Liquid Retina XDR Display, it features the same mini-LED technology found on the iPad Pro. It’s promising 1,000 nits of sustained, full-screen brightness, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The display also has ProMotion which means a 120Hz refresh rate for an even more eye-pleasing experience.

As the sizes suggest, they are also indeed larger than their predecessors. The 16″ model offers a 16.2-inch display with 7.7 million pixels–the most ever on a Mac notebook. Meanwhile, the 14″ model has a 14.2-inch screen with 5.9 million pixels.

Bringing back the ports

Making a comeback in this iteration of the MacBook Pros are more ports. Both models will get the following:

• Three (3) Thunderbolt 4 ports
• SDXC card slot
• HDMI port
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Also making its way back to MacBook is MagSafe. MagSafe 3 makes connecting a charge cable quick and easy while protecting MacBook Pro. It also introduces fast charging to the Apple’s notebooks getting you to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.

M1 Pro users can connect up to two Pro Display XDRs. M1 Max, users can connect up to three Pro Display XDRs and a 4K TV, all at the same time. They also have Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connectivity.

macOS Monterey

Apple’s latest hardware will naturally come with their latest software. These new MacBook Pros have macOS Monterey right out of the box. That means users will get to enjoy the best of what Mac has to offer.

The long list of features include, but are not limited to: Live Text and Visual Lookup, Continuity, Shortcuts, SharePlay, Universal Control, and many more.

Of course there are the popular Mac apps which will run even smoother now and will allow you to create more like Final Cut Pro and Garage Band.

Pricing and availability

In the US, the new MacBook Pro models with M1 Pro and M1 Max are available to order today on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app. They will arrive to customers and will be in select Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers starting Tuesday, October 26. Pricing are as follows:

• 14″ MacBook Pro starts at US$ 1,999 (US$ 1,849 for education)
• 16″ MacBook Pro starts at US$ 2,499 (US$ 2,299 for education)

It will be available in Singapore soon with the following pricing:

• 14″ MacBook Pro starts at SG$ 2,999 (SG$ 2,769 for education)
• 16″ MacBook Pro starts at SG$ 3,749 (SG$ 3,449 for education)