The MacBook Pro 14” has only 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI and an SDXC card slot. One criticism of Apple over the last few years has been the removal of ports. To increase the drive to 1TB that requires a further $400. The machine also ships with a 512GB SSD, which is on the low side for those wanting to work mobile, after all, if one has purchased a machine for mobility adding external drives can be annoying. To increase to the same memory spec of the Mac Studio which is 32GB is an additional $200.

For most power users working in audio this is not enough. First, this machine ships with 16GB of unified memory. If your budget is $1999 then there’s some areas of concern. On the one hand you get a lightweight machine that offers enormous power, however to offer that Apple has had to make some compromises. Spectrasonics Omnisphere Tested On MacBook Pro M1 Max If you use a lot of virtual instruments then also take a look at our test using the MacBook Pro 14” M1 Max on a huge virtual instrument session. Pro Tools Post-Production Session Tested On Apple M1 Max We ran a different test with a post session that included video and the results of that rest were equally impressive. Pro Tools Tested On MacBook Pro M1 Max With Staggering Results We ran a test using an unqualified version of Pro Tools running under Rosetta 2 some time ago and the results were frankly staggering. We joke you have more chance of seeing a unicorn than hearing the fan. It does lead one to wonder if there is a fan, but there is. We’ve had both a 14” and 16” MacBook Pro M1 Max for some time now and the fan has remained silent. Even better, the new Apple Silicon chips use for less energy and generate less heat, which means the chance of hearing the fan is unlikely. For a lot of audio professionals you are going to get a lot of juice out of this machine, far more than a comparable Intel MacBook would have given you. The MacBook Pro 14” M1 Pro has power that belies it’s apparent spec. At first glance it might seem an easy choice, but when you dig deeper it’s a lot harder than one might think. We want to highlight the difference between each Mac and give some recommendations. We’ve taken two machines, both priced at $1999, the MacBook Pro 14’ and the Mac Studio. With the introduction of Apple Silicon and more recently the powerful M1 Max chip, we can now compare a MacBook Pro with a Mac Studio. More audio professionals are considering portable computers instead of a traditional desktop machine.

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