Note: Don’t use this review to decide if you should buy the M1 Pro or not. Regardless of my thoughts, it is a great product and at par with previous MacBook Pros (MBPs) or might be even better.

Some background, I recently upgraded to M1 Pro from my 2019 MacBook Pro as the touch bar stopped working as shown below:

So what is my first impression of the M1 machine?

To begin with, the 16 inch space gray model looked absolutely gorgeous the moment I unboxed it. Few other things which caught my immediate attention: the keyboard is a breath of fresh air compared to previous models, loved the giant Esc key and the best part, it doesn’t have the touch bar. Also, the display and notch are beautiful, especially the few extra inches of screen real estate which this model provides.

However there are certain things about the new M1 pro which are worth mentioning:

1. It is quite thick and on a bulkier side. So if you are used to using light and thin MBPs then this might take some time for you to get used to.
2. It only has 3 USB-C ports as opposed to 4 USB-C ports. I actually found 4 USB-C ports to be very handy and used them all. But with one port now gone, I would have to probably buy a new connector to extend my USB ports. Not a big deal but kinda annoying as you have to always carry that extra connector.
3. On the other hand it has an HDMI port unlike previous models. However, by now all the good/new monitors have started supporting direct USB-C connection for the display. Also most users now have the HDMI to USB-C port connector. So perhaps the HDMI port was not needed and I bet as the form factor of the M series MBP will improve, this HDMI port would again get replaced by the missing USB-C port.
4. And yes, it also has a USB-C to MagSafe connector to charge the laptop which is good but to be honest I have got used to charging via USB-C and find it to be more convenient.
5. Coming to the performance, my workloads are pretty straightforward so I don’t think I have a valid payload to conduct any benchmarking tests. Also, I haven’t experienced any slowness or hang with this new M1 Pro so it seems to have performed very well so far.

To summarize, it is a great laptop and will not disappoint you but it might take a while to get accustomed to its new form factor.