MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, MacBook M1, which Apple system you should choose for yourself

While historically one of the best laptops on the market, MacBooks have seen a revolution with the recent arrival of M1 processors. 15 years after the first Mac with an Intel processor, the Apple brand has once again decided to change its dairy. And unlike the switch from PowerPC to Intel, Apple is now sourcing internally. Directly derived from the chips developed for the iPhone, the M1 processor has proved particularly impressive, offering remarkable power at very low consumption. However, this new chip is not yet used across the range, some 13-inch still use Intel chips while the 16-inch model has not yet received ARM processing. At the same time, the iPad Pro M1 is always blurring the lines a little more, with a keyboard, an M1 processor, and an iPadOS increasingly pushed towards productivity. We, therefore, take stock of the different MacBooks to help you choose the most suitable for you. And if you want a bigger picture of the best laptops around, don't hesitate to read our dedicated guide. Apple requires, the connection is minimalist, to say the least (USB-C and Thunderbolt on all floors) and a USB-C hub will therefore be essential.

For this first generation of MacBook ARM, Apple is not going into originality and is using the same chassis as last year. We, therefore, find an impeccable finish, a pleasant touch keyboard, and a large touchpad. The Touch Bar is now mandatory and the connection is limited to a pair of USB 4 sockets. 

The screen doesn't change either; we, therefore, find a perfectly calibrated 13.3-inch high-definition panel. As a bonus, it is brighter than that used by the MacBook Air. On the other hand, touch is still missing, which is all the more annoying as iPad apps are now supported ...

Let's be clear: With its motherboard barely bigger than a phone, the Apple M1 redefines the level of laptop integration. In return, absolutely everything is welded and no update is possible. Not much of a surprise considering that Apple has been using this policy for years now on its laptops.

Macbook M1

But it is above all the performances that impress. It's simple: the M1 smashes absolutely every ultraportable on the market, both for CPU and GPU performance. Only much larger and more expensive machines have a hard time competing, and still, they lose in certain scenarios like video encoding. And if the MacBook Pro does have a fan, the latter is never heard, and this while the machine stays cool even after long hours of operation.

And this incredible power is not achieved at the expense of autonomy, quite the contrary! The craft lasted more than 10 hours in our tests and is capable of exceeding 20 hours under certain conditions. It is quite simply the most autonomous laptop on the market.

But beyond the pure hardware part, we expected Apple the turn in terms of software. Who says new architecture says incompatibility with X86 applications. And the transition will take several years. To facilitate this, Apple has integrated an emulation layer called Rosetta 2.

And we have to admit that the latter is formidable. Not only do the vast majority of programs run smoothly, but performance is also sometimes even better than native with the previous generation. A few programs may cause concern, but for the vast majority of users, the transition will be painless.

Big Sur is also taking the opportunity to bring native compatibility to iOS apps. It's not a bad idea, but in the absence of a touchscreen, the ergonomics are far from ideal.

Despite some weaknesses such as limited connectivity or a maximum of 16 GB of RAM, this MacBook Pro M1 crushes the competition, and this is often less expensive! So it's our favorite laptop to date. We strongly recommend that you choose the 16 GB version of the computer for long-term performance reasons.

The only potential reason to take an Intel MacBook Pro 13: you absolutely need more than 16 GB of RAM. But in this case, you might as well go up a gear and choose the 16-inch version.

Under the hood, on the other hand, the M1 chip works miracles and pulverizes the Core i which equipped its predecessors. It's simple: the performance is vastly better than an Intel MacBook Pro more than twice as expensive. Consumption is also dropping sharply since there is no longer even a need for a fan. The MacBook Air is now completely silent. However, this makes it a little less efficient than the MacBook Pro M1 whose fan will allow it to maintain optimal performance for longer. Note that two versions of the M1 exist, one of them being castrated by a GPU computing unit.

Autonomy is on its side up by 50% and reaches the fortnight without worries. Going all day without your charger is now quite possible.

Apple scores a big blow with this MacBook Air M1, which immediately makes last year's model obsolete. From a technical point of view, everything is superior and the software aspect is impeccable. A real success.

If Apple has spent most of its range under M1, a few models still resist: a MacBook Pro 13 singularly lacking in interest, but especially the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The latter is perhaps the most deserving of the “Pro” qualifier of the range. Size aside, the chassis is identical to that of its 13-inch little brother. Apple, however, took advantage of the reduction of the edges to fit a 16-inch panel.

As always, the latter is excellent craftsmanship: perfect colors, brightness, and contrast to match, it's almost flawless. Only a little high afterglow may bothersome, but we are not there in the presence of a gaming machine. The Touch Bar is also in the game, as is the new version of the Apple keyboard. Goodbye to the unreliable butterfly keyboard, we're going back to a more classic and solid mechanism. Connection side, we are entitled to 4 ThunderBolt 3 ports and a headphone output. In other words, you will have to juggle adapters and other docks.

Under the hood is a real racehorse, configurable up to an 8-core processor, a Radeon 5600M, and 64 GB of RAM. So, of course, everything is not ideal: Intel processors are 2 generations behind and the graphics card is starting to be a bit dated, but the whole is still very efficient. It sometimes gets scratched by M1 machines but retains the crown of raw power. Above all, it's the amount of onboard RAM that makes the difference. Many pro applications (3D, music ...) simply do not work well with only 16 GB of RAM and Intel Macs are currently the only ones that can go beyond this limit.

The battery life is not to be outdone, with almost 14 hours of use on a charge, a particularly impressive score given the configuration. Last detail that we had to salute: the quality of the sound. The MacBook Pro 16 is by far the best we've seen in the business, with internal speakers that carefree competes with dedicated speakers.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro is therefore an exceptional machine, as powerful as it is overpriced. Its cost can only be truly justified by serious professional needs. For the vast majority of users, a classic full-featured MacBook Pro 13 M1 will do better for less