Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021)

Is the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) Apple's best ever creative laptop?

5 Star Rating
MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) in the office
(Image: © Future)

Our Verdict

The MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) is the best laptop creative professionals can buy right now. It’s expensive, but the performance and build quality this laptop offers is currently unrivalled.

For

  • Great performance
  • Stunning screen
  • Excellent battery life
  • Good selection of ports

Against

  • Not the largest screen

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With the new MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021), Apple is well and truly back when it comes to making the best laptops for creative professionals. While the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020) was a step in the right direction, thanks to Apple’s own M1 chip that powered it, the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) is an even more confident showing from Apple, packing drastically improved hardware courtesy of the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, which are follow-ups from the M1. And that goes for its larger brother, the MacBook Pro 16-inc (2021).

This has led to even more impressive performance from the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) when it comes to creative workloads, with the laptop easily handling even the most intensive tasks we threw at it with ease. While the M1-toting MacBook Pro 13-inch only offered a maximum 16GB of memory, the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) can be configured with up to 32GB with the M1 Pro chip, and up to 64GB with the M1 Max. This doesn’t just make multitasking even better, but as it’s unified memory it means it can be used with the M1 Pro and M1 Max’s graphics processing unit (GPU) to offer exceptional performance when working with complex graphics, including ultra high resolution textures, often beating what even powerful (and expensive) professional graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD can manage.

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The Verdict
10

out of 10

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021)

The MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) is the best laptop creative professionals can buy right now. It’s expensive, but the performance and build quality this laptop offers is currently unrivalled.

Matt Hanson

Matt has been a technology journalist for over 15 years, writing for publications such as T3, MacFormat and Creative Bloq. He's a managing editor of TechRadar, Creative Bloq's sister site, where he can be found writing about and reviewing laptops, computers, monitors and more. He often writes for Creative Bloq, helping creatives find their perfect laptop or PC.

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