The 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro is one of the most popular mobile workstations for creative professionals thanks to powerful new Apple M-series processors, and the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are sure to get Apple fans excited.
But the 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021), powered by the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, is still a very powerful laptop across the board. And now with the latest models launching, you can expect to see some healthy price cuts on the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro, even though it’s arguably the second-best pro laptop Apple has ever produced (the successor to 2023 took the top spot).
As such, a lot of buyers who’ve been eyeing a new 14-inch MacBook Pro in the past year and a half may be tempted to see if the 2021 MacBook Pro models are still a good bet in 2023, or if they make sense. You simply save enough for the newer models even though they are likely to be more expensive.
Fortunately, we tested both 2021 and 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro models with the most powerful M1 Max and M2 Max chipsets available to help you figure out which MacBook Pro model is right for your needs and budget.
MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) vs. MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023): Price
As of now, you can no longer find the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro on Apple’s website, as it’s been replaced by the 2023 model, but at other major retailers like Amazon it’s still in stock. Some of these listings have already seen their prices drop, sometimes by as much as $500 on some high-end configurations.
Meanwhile, the 2023 model is unlikely to get any discounts anytime soon, with the M2 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro starting at $1,999 / £2,149 / AU$3,199, while the M2 Max version starts at $3,099 / £3,349 / AU$4,999. This is the same MSRP as the 2021 models saw in the US, though the 2023 model is slightly more expensive in the UK and Australia than it was in 2021.
Ultimately, the 2021 MacBook Pro 14-inch will be cheaper than the latest 2023 model, but it may not be that Much cheaper, at least not enough to offset the increased performance of the newer model.
MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) vs. MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023): Design
In terms of design, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is completely unchanged from 2021 to 2023, so there’s very little to compare in that aspect. They both have the same number and type of ports, as well as the same color options and the same screen and keyboard.
Where there is a difference, it’s in the internal specs of the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro. The M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets have more CPU cores than the M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets, as well as more GPU cores.
The 2023 MacBook Pro with M2 Max has the option to increase system memory up to 96GB, while the 14-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro goes up to 64GB. The new 2023 model also includes support for Wifi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, as opposed to Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 for the 2021 model.
Other than that, there isn’t much to tell the two model years apart, especially if you look at them side by side.
MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) vs. MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023): Performance
| ingredient | 2021 (M1 max) | 2023 (m2 max) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 10 cores | 12 cores |
| GPU | 32 cores | 38 cores |
| memory | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| storage | 4 terabytes | 2 terabytes |
Ultimately, performance is where the two 14-inch MacBook Pro models diverge, and in our testing, the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro definitively departs from the 2021 model.
The M2 Max chip manages to outperform the M1 Max chip by a healthy amount in our Geekbench benchmarks, with two additional performance cores making a difference to multi-core performance. There was also a significant improvement in CPU rendering in our Blender benchmark tests, too.
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single core CPU | 1,696 | 1,926 | 13.58% |
| Multi-core CPU | 11477 | 14,939 | 30.17% |
| average gain | – | – | 21.88% |
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| monster | 99.81 | 126.7 | 26.94% |
| junkshop | 56.97 | 72.61 | 27.45% |
| classroom | 43.76 | 56.64 | 29.43% |
| average gain | – | – | 27.94% |
In terms of GPU performance, the extra GPU cores in the M2 Max definitely make a difference, though perhaps not quite as big of a jump as Apple had hoped since TSMC’s 3nm process node – which many have predicted for the M2 Pro and M2 Max – can’t go. to mass production until December 2022. This means that the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are still using the 5nm process, so there’s not much to gain there on the 5nm M1 Pro and M1 Max.
However, Apple managed to squeeze some significantly improved performance on the GPU side of the SoC in line with some of the claims it made during the announcement of the M2 Pro and M2 Max.
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| wild animals | maxed out | maxed out | Unavailable |
| Unlimited wildlife | 46,039 | 89902 | 95.27% |
| Extreme wildlife | 13,120 | 13383 | 2.00% |
| Wildlife Unlimited | 16,633 | 21,420 | 28.78% |
| Average performance | – | – | 42.02% |
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| wild animals | 90.7 | 96.4 | 6.28% |
| Unlimited wildlife | 275.7 | 538 | 95.15% |
| Extreme wildlife | 78.6 | 80.1 | 1.91% |
| Wildlife Unlimited | 99.6 | 128.3 | 28.82% |
| Average performance | – | – | 33.04% |
Apple’s bread and butter is creative workloads though, with a specialized media engine built into the SoCs to speed up video encoding and decoding, as well as 3D rendering work. There wasn’t much difference between the two model years in terms of Adobe Premiere performance, but there was a significant improvement in Handbrake encoding speed and Adobe Photoshop performance.
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| frames per second | 56.51 | 71.6 | 26.70% |
| duration of the workload | 05:12 | 04:06 | 21.15% |
| Average performance | – | – | 23.93% |
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo shop | 981 | 1199 | 22.22% |
| Premiere Pro | 1,000 | 1009 | 0.9% |
| Average performance | – | – | 11.56% |
With the release of Resident Evil Village as an original Mac title in late 2022, interest in Mac gaming has been renewed, especially with the upcoming release of No Man’s Sky as an original Mac title as well. There aren’t a lot of Mac games with built-in benchmarks, unfortunately, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider has been a mainstay of PC gaming benchmarks for a few years now, and it shows modest improvement over the M2 Max over the year. M1 Max in gaming performance.
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1200px, lowest settings | 69 | 73 | 5.96% |
| 1964p, highest settings | 31 | 34 | 9.45% |
| Average performance | – | – | 7.71% |
Finally, there is the matter of battery life. One of the biggest advancements in the MacBook lineup after moving to Apple’s own in-house silicon is energy efficiency thanks to the larger M-series chips. LITTLE engineering developed by British semiconductor company Arm. We’ve seen massive gains in battery life for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but the M1 Max and M2 Max are very powerful SoCs that are meant to perform some power-intensive workloads, so you’d think they’d be serious power hogs.
They don’t guzzle quite as much power as the more popular MacBook Air, but they still manage to get decent battery life overall, with the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro slipping a bit in the programmed web browsing battery benchmark.
| Exam | M1 Max (2021) | M2 Max (2023) | Increased performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programmed web browsing | 15:32 | 12:51 | -22.66% |
Overall, the claims Apple made in announcing the 14-inch MacBook Pro (2023) about the new model’s increased performance over its predecessor seem to be more or less on the right track, other than battery life.
In terms of CPU performance, the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro is about 22% faster than the 2021 model, while the 2023 model’s GPU performance is about 37% faster. The 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro boasts 17.75% better performance for creative workloads, with gaming performance notching a more modest 7.7% gain.
| Exam | Increased performance | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 25.52% | ||
| GPU | 36.89% | ||
| creative | 17.74% | ||
| the games | 7.70% | ||
| battery | -22.66% |
- winner: MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023)
Which one should you buy?
If you’re in the market for a new 14-inch MacBook Pro and aren’t sure which year is the best MacBook Pro for you, it likely comes down to two main considerations: performance or price.
If you want the best possible performance, the decision is fairly straightforward. The 14-inch MacBook Pro (2023) outperforms the 2021 model by a fairly wide margin, especially in professional workloads. Battery life takes a step back, but it’s still nearly 13 hours, which is great for a professional workstation.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro will be selling at full price for a long time, and there will be a lot of retailers looking to offload some excess inventory from the 2021 model to make room for the latest version, so you’ll likely be able to get some decent discounts online, and if you can For a great deal, the 2021 MacBook Pro is still a great device.
Just don’t sell yourself — and your new MacBook Pro — in short: Unless the price of the 2021 model is cut by about 20% or more, you’ll still get more benefits if you opt for the latest model, and these kinds of discounts will generally be rare on the MacBook Pro. Unless you have a very hard limit on how much you can spend on a new MacBook, the new 2023 model is probably the one you want to get, even at full price.