Apple's M1-based MacBooks are among the best laptops of all time. Thanks to the latest Amazon sale, they're also now a great bargain.
For a limited time, Amazon has the new MacBook Pro M1 (512GB) on sale for $1,399. That's $100 off and the best deal we've seen for this powerful Mac. That's not the only Mac laptop on sale. Amazon also has the MacBook Air M1 (512GB) on sale for $1,189.99. That's $59 off and one of the best Apple deals we've seen.
Both the current-gen MacBook Air and MacBook Pro use the same 8-core Apple M1 chip. However, the MacBook Air relies on a 7-core M1 GPU, whereas the MacBook Pro boasts an integrated 8-core M1 GPU. Likewise, the MacBook Pro also has a slightly brighter screen (500 nits of brightness vs. 400 nits on the MacBook Air). Otherwise, both laptops offers very similar performance.
That said, because both machines use Apple's new M1 CPU, not all apps are optimized for the new MacBooks. That means you'll need to run Rosetta 2 emulation technology when using non-native apps. (The software automatically downloads when you first try to use a non-native app). Even with that caveat, the MacBooks still delivers amazing performance.
On Geekbench 5.1, which measures overall performance, the MacBook Pro M1 scored 5,945 on the multi-core portion of the test. This number surpasses the 5,319 score from the Dell XPS 13 and the Asus ZenBook 13’s 5,084, and both of those machines pack 11th gen Intel Core i7 CPUs. The MacBook Pro will only get faster as more apps are released that are optimized for the M1.
Meanwhile, our MacBook Pro M1 battery test showed the Pro can last 16 hours and 32 minutes, which is significantly more than the 10 hours 21 minutes managed by the Intel-powered MacBook Pro released last year.
