Its more expensive too… not sure why anyone would buy it over the air. Two more usb-c but you can only hook in one external monitor! Also 200 more nits on screen but… is it really that important?
I cant wait for the 14/16 with the m1x. These are already barn burners.
The Touch Bar is also well-integrated into QuickTime Player as well as Quicklook, making video navigation much more efficient.
I only wish VLC would use it for timeline navigation.
Actually you still only get two USB-C ports on the M1 MacBook Pro. The four-port model is still Intel.
That lower-spec Pro has never made much sense. The last time an entry level MacBook Pro made sense was 2015, where you got a noticeably higher TDP chip (28W vs 15W in the Air iirc—could be mistaken), more IO (two Thunderbolt 2 ports vs the Air's 1, and a full-size HDMI port), and of course an IPS retina screen.
I think the low-end Pro came to existence because they intended it to replace the Air, but the tiny 12" MacBook had already claimed the unadorned "MacBook" name, which would have made a lot more sense.
But then they ended up refreshing the Air as people just never stopped buying the old one, despite its ageing internals and garbage 2010-era screen (possibly because it was the only computer Apple were selling at the time with a keyboard that worked).
I have no idea while it still exists though. It's filling a niche that isn't there. I think the intent is for it to be basically an "upmarket" alternative to the Air, but they only thing they have to offer right now is a Touch Bar. Which for most people, including myself, is more of a reason not to buy it.
A lot of the time it’s really nice to have a context sensitive/modal form of input.
It only have 99% of the performance under specific loads. The Air is ~12W TDP, the MBP is a ~20W TDP. That is quite a bit of difference ( 70% ) when you absolutely pushes it to the limit in both CPU and GPU.
That is why half of the not "throttle" comment in this thread dont make much sense as they only consider the CPU usage pattern.
There are also a lot of other use cases where GPU or NPU are important.
As I wrote in another comment, I produce video news.
My M1 MacBook Pro is a beast of a machine, but I work it to the point of full-blast fans every day.
You can run multiple monitors on an m1 with a DisplayPort hub. (not relevant to the point about the number of usb-c ports of course, since you're plugging into the hub anyways)
Go back 5+ years and you had the (2010+) Macbook Air, which was fantastic. A good compromise of size and power at a really low price. Like competitors just couldn't compete. The only problem? By 2015 or so the display was pretty outdated. It needed a thinner bezel and a retina display and it would've been perfect.
But no, Johnny Ive came along with his war of thinness and foisted the butterfly keyboard on us and added the Touch Bar to increase the price. There's no other reason for it to exist.