13–inch MacBook Pro

The M1 chip makes its debut in the latest update to the pro’s favorite

ALTHOUGH APPLE LAST revised its pro notebook line in May, it has introduced a new 13–inch MacBook Pro, starting at $1,299 — the same price as before — for a model with an M1 chip with 8–core CPU and 8–core GPU, 8GB unified memory, and 256GB SSD storage. A configuration with 512GB SSD storage is $1,499, and the same build–to–order options are available at the same prices as for MacBook Air.

The 8–core CPU is up to 2.8x faster than the previous generation, Apple says, delivering game–changing performance when compiling code, transcoding video, editing high–res photos, and more. The 8–core GPU is up to 5x faster, promising super -smooth graphics performance. Machine learning (ML) is up to 11x faster. With up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 20 hours of video playback, Apple claims, MacBook Pro delivers up to twice the battery life of the previous generation and the longest battery life ever on a Mac.

There’s also studio–quality mics, and the image signal processor in the M1 chip enables sharper images and more detail in shadows and highlights on video calls.

However, whereas the previous generation MacBook Pro can drive two external 4K displays, the M1–based model supports only one, although this can be up to 6K resolution. The M1–based models also have only two Thunderbolt ports, although these support USB 4; the Intel–processor models still in the line (two 13–inch models and two 16–inch) have four Thunderbolt 3 ports.