16" MacBook Pro 1 Year Later: Still the Best. 

Last year I finally took the leap and switched over to MacOS from Windows. I went with a 16” M1 MacBook Pro… to this day I still look at the same way I did the night it arrived. I’m totally enamored with it.

This laptop is just insane, had it for a year too and everything about it is glorious, even the battery health is still at 98% !

Love my M1 Max MacBook so much

I'm really glad that I went for the 16" MBP. My favorite Apple product in the last decade. With how incredible the battery life is, I've never had to carry my charger whenever I take the laptop with me.

One nice thing I've noticed from a lot of new laptops is the charge limiting options in an included program. Some laptops focused on gaming let you stop the charge at 60%, others at least keeping it between 75%-80%. The laptops that I left plugged in had shot batteries by the time I replaced them.

I got mine in January , i remember with my last MacBook the battery health went down way below 80 percent in 3+ Years of usage and it was always plugged in, given how bad the battery life used to be so i decided to use it unplugged most of the time and the battery seems to be holding on quite well , sitting on 100 % . So i would also recommend it using unplugged as much as possible.

I just got my 16 inches MacBook Pro yesterday and I’m impressed by the performance of the M1 Pro processor. I use a rendering software and the fans of the Mac never ram while I was rendering. I hope to own it for a long time as I used my last MacBook Pro from 2017 and I just did a replacement.

Yeah been rocking mine since Christmas Eve last year and it’s perfect. I’ve unfortunately used it mainly as a desktop up until the last few months and I’ve been really appreciating the other things on it lately.

I really want a battery limiter built into all Apple Products

AlDante is now better than ever, I had issues with it at first but after a few updates, it's working great now. I have used it with my previous Macbook Air M1 and it kept the battery health very high, even the shop owner I sold to didn't believe I had it for 11 months. It only lost less than $200 in value for 11 months. One of the first things I installed on my new Macbook Pro 16" M1 Pro was AlDante.

absolutely love mine. It’s my main work computer… only thing is, I type on it all day 5 days a week and the keys are so shiny already! Incredible machine though… never let me down

12:59 For those looking for a solution to this, AlDente is a battery plugin for macs which allow you to set a charge limit. Requires some set up but so worth it. My m1 air had dropped to 94% within a few months of me having it and trying to be careful with the charge state. Since AlDente battery health has stayed constant Edit: Whoops! Just continued the video and he mentions this the literal next second

Had mine only two weeks and it’s easily the best laptop I’ve ever had. Fully spec’d because plan to use it for 5 years. Thanks for the video.

I also have a MacBook Pro 16, and it is also docked most of the time and I had it powered via a Thunderbolt dock. I too noticed a decline in battery maximum capacity percentage during the first few months of ownership despite having very few recharge cycles. So on a hunch, I plugged in the power brick that came with the laptop that uses MagSafe, and since then the battery charge is being kept at 78-80% and the maximum capacity has remained the same. I’m not certain if this is caused by switching to MagSafe, but this has lessened my concern about the longevity of the battery. The battery widget on the menu does say “Charging on Hold”, and it is behaving as if I had set the maximum charge to 80%. I’ve gone through several system updates as well and this hasn’t changed. I suspect that if you seldom go to battery mode, it kicks in a different behavior than if you do use your laptop as a portable computer. I wish Apple would provide more detail on their battery charging logic so that we can make better decisions.

I been looking to upgrade my 2018 13” MacBook Pro and this video popped up right as I was searching to find the best bang for my buck 😂 perfect timing thank you!!

I'd say this is Drew's best intro ever 😂 Also, I'd have to agree, the main feature I wish my MacBook had is the ability to set specific charge amounts and tell it when to charge. I'm also wanting to hold on to my MacBook for quite some time since the hardware of the M1 is overkill for me and is running incredibly well.

Great review I've seen so far regarding MBP 2021

Completely agree with you. Nothing to add as an owner 16 m1 MacBook Pro.

I’ve had my 14” M1 Pro for about 6 months and I’m sitting at 92% battery health :/… I have been a heavy user though and I’m ok with paying up to replace the battery. In every other regard it really has been the best machine I’ve ever had and has more than paid itself off with the work and studying I’ve done on it.

I’m not sure what happened, but the optimized battery charging on my 14 inch has been great. Since the last software update before Ventura, it no longer charges to 100% without my permission and it fluctuates between 76-85% charge. It’s been plugged in for more than a month at this point. Shut downs, updates, and disconnecting the MagSafe cable doesn’t impact it. Possibly an update or optimized charging just started fucking working after a year of having it. Although I wouldn’t know if it works properly through USBC charging.

This video couldn’t have been posted at a better time for me. I’m going to Apple today to upgrade from my current 17” from 2017.

I have my doubts about certified refurbish but after all that you said about it. Finally updated my intel macbook pro (2009) with a certified refurbish macbook air M1 8/8 16/1T. Really happy

Yup. I have one too and it will be a year old on January 4. Unlike you though, I don't have an issue with my battery. It still says 100% capacity after a year. I don't use it much away from my desk, so it's plugged in almost all (99%) of the time. However, I have been using AlDente on it since the beginning, and yes AlDente needs to be restarted each time you run an update on the Mac, but that is almost always the case for many things like the servers that I'm constantly connected to for storage and TimeMachine and CCC backups. I bought the top-of-the-line model, but only opted for 1TB of storage because I don't use the Mac for anything but web browsing. I know, getting a laptop with 64GB of RAM and maxing out everything is way overkill for Safari, but like you, I want to be able to use this machine for at least 10 years. I have no regrets, this is absolutely the best Mac I have ever used, and I have been using them since 1985.

got my macbook pro 16 with m1 pro in january. love it! i try to charge it before i go to bed sometimes to arond 80 lately to the full 100. cycle count at 113 max capacity at 96. i would love it if they put a max charge like you said as i dont usually use my battery fully everyday

The best laptop i have ever owned hands down, might even be the best machine for work i have ever used. Faster than any mac pro and imac pro i have ever used in the studios plus it's portable.

Couldn’t agree more. Not seeing myself replacing this beauty in the next 5-6 years :)

I have 14 inch 2021 MacBook Pro with 49 cycles with 100% battery capacity (updated to Ventura on launch day so that was the last time battery health was recalculated). Definitely thinking the lack of battery optimization working is the cause of your battery degrading to 93% in a year

Purchased my M1 pro 16" 2 months ago, loving it so far, the screen is awesome, I can't use any 60hz MacBook anymore, the performance is great, the speakers are bonkers, I personally agree with you on the Magsafe charger. I'd rather have 2 USB-C ports on either side, most of the time my charger is actually on the right side which means I have to put the cable behind the laptop. I also wish there was an option to have the USB-C cable by default, because my only USB-C cable is c to a which means I have to charge at at 18w, which is super slow. Your battery health degrades so fast since it does many cycles hovering below 100%.

I've been using my MacBook 14 base model for almost a year.After switching from windows, I still love Mac so much. My battery has 87 cycles and still at 100% battery health. One thing I do is when Im using it in desktop mode, plugged in power and connected to monitor with apple keyboard and mouse, I unplug power for the night and put laptop on sleep mode - my Magic Mouse, and keyboard stay on and the hdmi cable still stays connected.

Got my 16” M1 Pro on launch day and love it still. My only regret is that I under spec’d with only 1TB storage and 16gb RAM. Thought I might sell it and get a refurb with 32gb RAM and 4TB storage (if I could find one on the Apple Certified Refurb site). But with the M2 MBP not coming until Spring with rumored 3nm chips, I may as well keep saving up to get what I really need and then hang onto it for several years!

It continues to floor me. Amazing!

I use it very often plugged to my TB3 hub, I have 55 cycles and it still shows 100% Maximum Capacity

I have the base 14 inch M1 MacBook Pro. I really love this machine but I regret not getting the 16 inch version as I miss the extra real estate. Apart from that the machine works flawlessly. One gripe that I have is that the keyboard feels very sticky after long usage if you live in a hot environment. I have to use a 3rd party keyboard as the Macbook keyboard gets dirty very easily.

The battery point was a banger. While buying an external display for macbook bro, one should consider this problem. The monitor must support a Display/HDMI/Usb-C port in order to solve this problem. HDMI and Display port can be used when the laptop is charged and when you are low on battery you should be able to usb c port for charging.

It’s possible that energy “passing through”the battery is what degrades the battery, not the cycles (whatever the definition is of what a cycle is). Could be a lithium ion battery thing, possibly a specific type of a lithium ion battery? Just my guess.

I still have my late-2015 15” Macbook Pro. Seeing the 16” is huuuge! My current laptop is still fine tbh, and seeing that you love this has convinced me to buy this on sale in 2024 😅

i'm gonna get a 14 inch macbook pro next week, really looking forward to finally upgrading from my 2015 macbook air

I love mine! Upgraded from a mid-2012 this summer.

I’ve used my brother in law's 13.3 inch M1 MacBook Pro and I almost pooped myself because of the speed of it. I can’t imagine how fast the M1 Max is.

Drew your battery health is clearly affected by leaving it at 100% all the time. My 14" from November has 175 charge cycles and recently just hit 96% health. I used AIdente for times when i was plugged in, it is buggy and doesnt work when you shut down or when you restart. I think its worth dealing with the bugs for the battery health longterm

IMHO, the 14” MacBook Pro even more impressive than the 16” and is my favorite computer ever. There are no significant downsides. It’s more powerful than the i9 16” MacBook Pro it replaced but not meaningfully less portable than a MacBook Air. I paired it with a studio display for use in my one office and it is the most complete package I have ever experienced. It’s also a pretty decent value considering how excellent the overall package is. I have had my 14” MacBook Pro since the end of January and can’t imagine using any other computer as my main system.

I have the benefit of having in my position both the 16” and 14” M1 Pro MacBook Pros. One is a personal device and another is for work. Mine is the 16” and it’s a full fat M1 Pro with 32G ram and the work machine is a base model M1 Pro. I arguably do more intensive work on the work machine and it handles it like a champ, making me wonder if I really needed to spend the extra money on a fully loaded Mac 🤔. No matter. I plan on holding onto it for at least 5 years so no sweat here.

yeah ive been using Aldente ever since I got my 14in. and its been great. No bugs to report from me. of course, while a update is going on aldente wont be running. So in those cases, I just unplug and update on battery power. An 10-15 minute update only drops my percentage maybe 3-5%, so I just recharge back to my limit. 50% Aldente charge limit 27 cycles (probably would have been lower if I didnt do the recalibration aldente recommends) and 100% battery health

I came from the 2017 15 inch Macbook Pro. That Macbook 's fans will spin up just on web-browsing. Apple knocked it out the park. They built a solid platform. Just minor updates would be needed for the next couple of years.

What is your battery capacity and charge cycles after a year of use? I got my MBP 16 M1 Pro since 6th of august, now I got 56 cycles, the capacity in Mac settings is 96%, Coconut battery shows ~ 92%. I think the battery pretty sucked for 6 months of overall plugged in workflow of using MacBook. Got about 8-10 hours using Safari, RU-vid. So disappointed about this battery capacity melting ~ 1%/month. Still on Monterey 12.3 out of the box

Which is better Mac Pro 14 or 16 ? Does 14 look very smallish compared to 16, or there is not much difference at all. I have used mac pro 16 once, and it kinda looked heavier and bigger compared to my Mac pro 15 (2013 Late).

Hey Drew, I'm just as concerned about the battery health of my M1 Pro 16 inch as well. I use all the battery tracking apps and charge limiter AlDente Pro. Yes, sometimes the app doesn't work but there are solutions to all the problems. If you find that MacBook charges past the limit, there are two possibilities. 1. the app malfunctions (I experienced this once I purchased the pro version. simply remove the license and then restore purchase to reset the app) 2. the MacOS battery percentage isn't the actual battery percentage (often higher than actual battery charge). You can see the actual battery charge (at least what AlDente thinks) by turning on "Hardware Battery Percentage". Monitor your battery temperature at all times, make sure it stays cool. With these in mind, your battery should deteriorate too much. FYI, my charge cycle is also 50, and MacOS tells me I have 100% battery health, and Coconut Battery tells me it's 97.2% health. Also, big fan. been watching you since the early days. It's a shame that your view count has dropped. What kept me watching is your unique take on topics and occasionally some surprisingly good points. I like the skits parts you started doing not too long ago. Keep thinking what you can implement in your videos to boost the view counts! However, keep your core Apple Sheep values and honest but interesting takes. Keep working on it!

bought mine a month ago, absolutely love it

I am so surprised no one has nit picked the sharp corners while resting your palms for an extended period. Too many times after working on my 14” mb pro i find my hands hurting with the edge imprinted in. idk maybe just me but i definitely miss the chamfered edge days of tech

i think a charge % limit should be implemented, or a toggle in which the computer bypasses the battery and use power straight from the wall

I checked my battery health and I hardly ever leave it plugged in. It's currently at 92% but it was weird to see yours only at 50 cycles whereas mine is at 126

I fully agree with the battery thing! I am using the alDente app, so my battery actually almost never went above 80% or below 20%. But somehow I lost 6% battery health within 1 month without any heavy usage (I'm speaking here about the real battery health measured via coconutBattery not the MacOS readout...)

Great overview. I agree with almost all your viewpoints. On battery health though - you may already know that batteries degrade through use and age, accelerated by high or low charge states. It's worth remembering that they have a shelf life and will degrade over time even with 0 more cycles - so good charging discipline helps a lot but it will still age.

DREW: Totally agree... The 16 inch MacBook Pro is AMAZING 🔥 I LOVE MY 16 MP... The screen and the sound and the keyboard is AMAZING...

I'm still happy with my only Mac, a 2012 15" Macbook Pro, 512gig SSD and 16 gigs RAM. Only use it for all my iPhotos and iTunes, but it is in mint condition and has a new battery, easily replaced.

I used AlDente, set the cap at 80%, yes it gave me some issues initially but mostly worked as it should. I have 96% battery health after 68 cycles, well worth it

It would be great if you could completely bypass the battery and take power directly from the outlet. With the limiter the electricity still has to go through the battery; the system just draws less electricity by not also increasing the charge of the battery.

I have 16 M1 Max, 64 ram and 1tb ssd. I’m pro photographer and use it strictly for photography. But I have problems with it. When I open Psb files, it takes between 2 and 3 minutes for them to open in Ps. Psd files generally are also not snappy, it takes between 10 and 20 seconds for them to open. In addition to that, when I’m in the process of saving the open file, and then in the same time go to create a smart object, a dialog box pops up with the forward moving progress bar, it takes about 4-5 minutes each time for this to finish. Can’t to anything but wait. I tried resetting and redownloading photoshop. But didn’t help.

my mac book patato/air 2015 has 1141 cycles. About to upgrade to 16inch, been saving a while.

What is the best Mac app to avoid charging it to 100% when plugged?

I just got a 16 inch M1 Max MacBook and I’ve only had it two days and it already got a small chip on the screen. No idea how it happened. It seems other people are having screen issues as well

Thank you for the video!! I'm new to apple and I picked up refurbished MacBook Pro M1 16', but I don't know how to find out the CPU/GPU info. Any thoughts?

Have the 14” and I LOVE it.

I have a 14" i also took delivery of in October 2021 and I also have 93% battery health, but 219 cycles haha

Wait where can I watch the live stream of you editing the video?

I have the last Intel 16” pro that was done pre knowledge of the M1 chip. Best laptop I’ve used

There really needs to be a long term powered option that leaves the battery at 50% for optimal battery life, and runs solely off mains power.

I got the base 14" MacBook Pro and it's been wonderful. I didn't think I needed the 16" version. I decided on portability as a priority and 16 seemed too large. Now, that things are back to "normal," I've taken it with me when I am out and about. The M2 ones are just going to be a spec refresh which is totally fine. If someone is hanging on to their Intel MacBook for another year or so, that's who will benefit the most from the next versions of the MacBook Pro. Apple used to do small refreshes all the time. They don't need to do anything different with the design.

My 14” inch cycle count is at 106 and battery life is at 100 percent. I unplug it a lot when I take it to school, So yeah leaving it in is definitely impacting the battery life greatly

1000000% agreed! This is the best laptop on the market, even a year later! I took delivery of my M1 Max MacBook Pro on Halloween of last year. It is still is more than I need at this moment. The screen is by far the best on any laptop given how bright it gets. I am still shocked by how fast it is for just about everything. It would be an excellent gaming laptop IF more games were optimized for Apple Silicon. It has plenty of power for graphics, but games written for Intel really can’t unlock it. Oh well. There are gaming consoles / gaming PCs for that. As far as using the laptop as a mobile workstation, have you tried to use your iPad as a second display? I have tried that feature a few times and it worked well. Lastly agreed on MagSafe. It is cool but I have never used it. The charger that came with the laptop still sits sealed Iim the box. I use my dock or an Anker wall adaptor to charge it.

I love how your Craig always says “I have no idea what you’re talking about” and “who’s to say?” It’s hilarious everytime

I just ordered the Macbook pro 16" with the M1 chip today from B&H with 16gigs of ram and 1TB of storage for $1,899. Can't wait to get it!

I had to downsize and move into an RV for a year, so I put up my Pro Display XDR in storage, and bought a 16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro and my new laptop is really filling the void of my desktop set-up. Hopefully when my self imposed exile is over Apple will have released the Pro Display XDR 2.

I have the same machine - it’s an absolute monster. Don’t need to charge it during the day.

My 14-inch has only 83% of battery health left after 60 cycles and I did a battery replacement last month. I think these newer generation MacBook Pros have battery aging flaws.

I got a 14" with cpu upgrade at launch, been on the charger 99% of the time since with daily use. The coconutBattery app says I'm at 17 cycles and 99.3% battery health. Apple says 100%. Just sharing what I'm seeing on my machine, couldn't be happier with the purchase. Edit: Just wanted to add that the battery icon indicates around 80% with the adapter as power source and "Charging on hold (Rarely Used On Battery)" displayed underneath.

As some who is going back to school in January I can’t decide between the iPad Pro 11” with Magic Keyboard and pencil or MacBook Pro 14. I know the MBP is the much better machine but I feel like the iPad would be way better for note taking. My course is in the trades so I’m sure an iPad would be enough to get me by but god damn that MBP looks sweet. I’m waiting to see what kind of black Friday deals I can get.

I have 16 inch base M1 Pro. Need the screen-estate for WFH. It is insanely great and I can now work from outside too. But as I am not a power user and neither is my wife a 15 inch M2 MacBook Air would be even more ideal.

I got mine from Amazon yesterday. Key reason for buying is the 16 inch screen size. I cannot work with a small screen. It is a great machine but well above my needs. Sadly Apple does not make MacBook Air in a 16 inch.

Echoing the battery health stuff here. Lifelong PC user who switched to my first Mac with the M1 Max (also my first ever laptop), and the only complaint after a year is the battery health. I'm at 59 cycles and 89% health after having it for 11 months. I'll have to try out AlDente, or just run the laptop on battery from here on out even though I'm at my desk 90% of the time I'm using it.

Very strange. Even though I’ve had my 16” M1 Max MBP and it’s been plugged in almost for the entire time I’ve owned it from the very first day of release, my battery health is still at 100%. I’m rather surprised. It shouldn’t be at 100% and I’m not sure why it is. Another thing is my MBP never charges past 80%, which seems to differ from yours and I don’t run any third party battery optimizer. I do use my MBP every day, perhaps not as heavily as you do since I use my iPad for 80% of my day, but it still shouldn’t be at 100%.

I have the base 14 and 16 and love them both. If I could only have one then I would go the 14” as it gives me just as much power with portability. My 16” never leaves my desk

I’m holding out for gen 2 of the M-series 16. Apples first gen usually gets outdated the fastest. Like the gen 1 iPad was dropped was sooner than the gen 2 original. So I guess Inhave to wait until middle of next year.

I treat my battery really badly, it's 98% with 67 cycles I have let it go to till it runs out of power a few times. Bought it day 1 as well

I have a based model macbook air m1 but would like to start editing video’s for youtube, what would be a better mac or the macbook air is good ?

Magsafe is perfect to use as an "ON/OFF" switch in clamshell mode.

hahahah thxx for your intro!!

Should Macbooks have an option to bypass battery charging and just power the mac?

Last one I bought 2016 and love that thing. I dropped tea on it and had to buy a new one and while it’s pretty it’s not the same and hate the new thicker style

I tooooootally agree with the battery software update. The sad thing is that if they haven’t done it yet, maybe they don’t want to do it?

Drew I think you'll find this interesting, I got my 14-inch in March. Cycle count: 96 Max capacity: 100% My guess is that this is because 90+% of the time I use it is at a desk so I'll watch the battery and keep it between 50 and 70%. On the rare occasions that I accidentally leave it in plugged overnight or go on a plane or something like that and purposely charge it to max, I just let it drop back down to 50%.

Every time I play music on it around people they ask me if I brought a speaker. It’s just so so so good

Finally someone who agrees with me about getting an 8tb MacBook. Each of my photography trips uses 4tb or more. Well worth the price premium.

Got 56 charge circles and 96% battery health (MacBook pro 16inch) after 3 months. And always using it on battery 🔋

It's the GTX 1080TI of Macbooks. Too damn good. The next one will have a hard time unseating it I think.

I still have my 2018 15 inch MBP and I’m still happy with it. I don’t do any content creation, I just wanted a MacBook with a bigger screen. I’m considering the 24 inch LG Ultrafine display, I think that would be a good choice for an average user like me.

I still have my 2017 15 inch with the Touch Bar. Don’t plan on upgrading anytime soon

Drew suggesting Apple ditching the webcam in future macbook pros sounds interesting. Opening the possibility of face id on the mac at last. Plus if you think about it, no webcam means less privacy issues which is totally what Apple would do.

Is that Open Shot you edit with? Any good?

Where can I find those videos that played at stamp 1:58?