Hello there,
This is Mr. David.
I've been teaching for a decade, and as I record this, I'm entering my 11th year. I want to share my thoughts on the 14-inch MacBook Pro after using it for over a year.
My first experience with a Mac was the 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro, equipped with touch bar functions. It had the infamous butterfly keyboard, flexgate, and battery issues. Despite these significant flaws, it was still an impressive device.
The MacBook Pro's lightweight and portable design made it ideal for moving between classes and events. At the time, Windows PCs were bulky, plasticky, and constantly in need of charging.
After using the 2016 model for nearly five years, it struggled to keep up with the media creation demands for my classes. Moreover, the battery couldn't last more than 2 hours during my teaching sessions, and I usually teach for 4-5 hours a day — not to mention the additional hours needed for paperwork.
In my quest for enhanced productivity and efficiency, I impulsively opted for an interest-free installment plan to purchase the 14-inch MacBook Pro.
I chose the base model, which is the M1 Pro: 8-Core CPU, 14-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, and 512GB SSD Storage. It's proven surprisingly adequate, so I don't regret not choosing the M1 MAX.
Over the past year, the 14-inch MacBook Pro's performance has been a game changer. The most significant improvement has been, and continues to be, the battery life. I no longer worry about the battery dying during my classes, provided I fully charge it beforehand. When I teach, I often have over 20 tabs open, along with the school's communication app and various other applications I use during class. Sometimes, I leave some applications open so that I can return to work on them during any spare planning time. Having to constantly quit all of my applications would be redundant, and the waiting time could make me lose track of my lesson planning.
The M1 Pro is impressively powerful. I frequently create content such as video editing and visual graphics creation. The M1 Pro chip has made video editing much quicker, and the time taken for editing and exporting has been significantly reduced.
Being a teacher means moving between different classes and to the teachers' office. The reintroduction of the HDMI port is one of the best decisions Apple has made. The convenience of not having to carry adapters is invaluable.
I admit that the 16GB Unified Memory may not be sufficient for intense video editing or 3D visual effects. I sometimes encounter stuttering lags when too many memory-intensive applications are open. Given this, I sometimes wish I had chosen the M1 Max model with 32GB Unified Memory.
If you’re thinking of upgrading to something stable and have the budget for it, I sincerely recommend you to get this model for yourself!
You deserve it!