Back in 2020, I purchased the 16-inch MacBook Pro. I’d never been a fan of large laptops and so not sure what got into me but decided I’d buy the largest one Apple sold and I regretted the minute I got it. I mentioned in my original review that a month into using the laptop I had gotten slightly more comfortable with it but it really didn’t progress much further than that. It definitely wasn’t a laptop to take on trips with, and I’m not even talking plane trips, I hated taking my laptop to the office or into the next room just because of how big and bulky it was.
I don’t tend to change laptops a lot, my average cycle is around once every 4 years so this is the quickest change I’ve done, 2 years after purchasing the 16-inch MacBook Pro I went ahead and purchased the latest 14-inch one.
The new 14-inch Macbook Pro might be the best laptop I’ve ever owned, even competing with all my favorite iBooks from the early 2000’s including the 12″ PowerBook.
Where do I begin? Let’s talk about the size first, although 14″ doesn’t sound much smaller than 16″, and even though in photos it doesn’t look that much smaller, in reality, the difference is huge. As I’ve been doing since 2001, the first thing I order when I buy a new laptop is a black Waterfield SleeveCase. The sleeve offers plenty of protection so I tend to throw around my laptops into the backseat of my car, on the car floor, or onto my desk. Throwing around the 14-inch feels so easy now that I’ve come from the larger 16-inch. I know how easy throwing around a laptop isn’t something you’d think of when buying a new laptop but it’s really something that we all do. The 14-inch is easier to carry around, shove into places, and is a much more portable machine than the 16-inch was.
Another issue I had with the 16-inch was the battery life. It wasn’t that great and lasted around 4-hours. The new 14-inch lasts so much longer that I’m going to compare it to my iPad. I don’t charge my iPad daily even though I use it daily. The new MacBook is the same, since I got my MacBook over a month ago if I really think about it I could probably tell you exactly how many times I’ve charged it. The battery easily lasts over 10 hours so I don’t charge it every night but more like every 3 or 4 days now. I usually keep the laptop on my couch in my living room when I go to sleep while with the 16-inch I’d take it back to my desk so I can charge it and have it ready for the next day. It feels freeing not having to charge the laptop every night.
The keyboard is another thing that is just amazing about the laptop, the best keyboard I’ve used to date on any laptop. Firstly the touch bar is gone which is good news. Although I was a huge fan of it when it first came out, Apple never really expanded its features or abilities so over time I just started wishing I had regular buttons.
Other things to mention, the laptop has a notch similar to how new iPhones do but they’re less noticeable on the MacBook. It doesn’t bother me at all and it makes me feel like I have more screen space because the menu bar has now moved up to where the camera is, instead of it feeling like the menu bar is eating up important screen real estate. That top menu bar strip feels like bonus space. Apple also brought back some ports including the SD card slot which I just got to use now for the first time to move photos from my camera to my laptop. Very practical but I won’t use it that much myself. I also need to mention how good the new MacBook feels to hold. Both my MacBook Air and my 16-inch MacBook Pro have sharp edges whole the new 14-inch has softer rounded edges and so feels really great in my hands. Finally, the new MacBook looks very hot, one of the best-looking laptops to date.
So like I mentioned at the start of this post, this new 14-inch MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops I’ve ever owned. I love it a lot and already feel so attached to it that I put up my 16-inch for sale without hesitation. I also got it for a pretty good deal, Amazon had a $200 off offer on the 14-inch so I ended up buying it for KD530. I just checked now and they actually have the laptop discounted right now at KD546, so not as good a deal as I got but still cheaper than retail. If you’re looking for a laptop I can’t recommend this one enough. Definitely get it.
18 replies on “Review: Apple’s New 14-inch MacBook Pro”
Which configuration did you buy with, the M1 Pro or the M1 Max? I’m guessing since you do not lean in much heavy video productions you must have gotten the M1 Pro
Yeah exactly, I got the entry level model which is plenty enough for me.
Apple finally earned back the “Pro” title for their latest macbook pros. 2016-2020 was a dark time for these machines with the defective keyboard, throttling issues with the i9, lack of real function keys, smaller battery etc.
Blame Jony Ive for that nonsense, always putting form over function
I’m so happy that you finally came around and realized the touchbar was garbage.
Your 16″ MacBook was one of the worst laptops apple made (did it have the butterfly keyboard? I’m too lazy to check). Which is just as well, because the current generation of M1 MacBooks that apple sells has some of the best laptops ever made (the battery!). that’s coming from someone who never uses macs. I would buy one of these if all my apps worked for Mac.
I think it had the last iteration of the butterfly keyboard which wasn’t as bad as the first gen. I’m actually typing on it now (brought it to the office) and it’s really not that bad. I have my MacBook Air next to me and the keyboard on the 16inch feels closer to the one on the 14inch. The Air has less cushioning and travel distance under the keys.
Wondering which forwarding service you used for it, was it MyUS or Shop&Ship? I feel anxious ordering a laptop through a forwarding addresses, but they’re so much cheaper that whats available here.
MyUS so I don’t pay tax. No reason to feel anxious ordering through a forwarding address, been doing it since the early 2000s with no issues yet.
I usually do, but nothing too expensive after they had my package delivered broken and they refused to give me any sort of compensation/refund, so I stopped ordering expensive stuff thru forwarding addresses, but never tried with MyUS, so Ill give it a shot thanks
Do you mean you don’t pay USA tax or Kuwait import tax with myUS? I thought Kuwait charges 5% on imports with a value over 100kd or is that different now? I have only ever used shop and ship and not myUS. If this is the case I’ll be ordering through them.
You don’t pay tax on the laptop with MyUS because they r based in Florida. You don’t pay 5% customs in Kuwait because Kuwait doesn’t take customs on computers.
Thank you for clarifying! I will be ordering the iMac 24 as you did customised through the us store.
Yeah, I got it upgraded with 1TB and with shipping I paid KD635
Hi, my friends told me that there are customs charges in Kuwait due to the recent change. Can you confirm that Kuwait still doesn’t take customs on computers?
No customs on computers
Great, thanks
Hey mark, I wanna get a laptop from apple too, but I was wondering how warranty works here in Kuwait ? Do you know which stores will honor the international warranty? would appreciate the insight!
no idea