M1 MacBook Pro

So, I just purchased a new MacBook Pro from Apple and I must say, WOW! This laptop has the new M1 chip and I seriously cannot believe how fast this machine is. I don't know all of the terms and stuff for talking about computers but I can tell you from experience, that this thing is on a whole new level.

I took it out of the box and this being my first MacBook, I was astounded by the build quality. This thing looks and feels incredible. It has some heft to it, and the all aluminum body just feels like a solid piece of equipment. I always heard and read about the "Apple Tax" but I am not seeing it here. Comparable laptops are going for around the same price for the same specs. The thing is though, the other laptops have old chips in them.

I have been taxing this machine with my standard workflow. Nothing extravagant but, enough to crank the fan up on my Windows laptop. This MacBook has not broken a sweat. I haven't heard the fan kick on at all. It has stayed cool to the touch. Don't get me started on the battery life either. It is mind bogglingly good!

OK, I will stop gushing about this thing. One negative that I have found, it is a pretty big one, is there is a lack of dual monitor support. Technically these first generation M1 MacBooks, including the Air, only support one external display. That is a major bummer as I have a setup for my work from home office that has dual monitors.

I did do a bit of research to see if there was some kind of work around for this limit. Interestingly enough, there was! All you need to do is purchase a DisplayLink compatible docking station. Once you have this and your monitors plugged into it, you need to download the drivers from the DisplayLink website and that is it! You are off and running with your dual monitors. There are some caveats to this setup though. I haven't tried it, but I don't believe you can use your Apple Watch to unlock your device while it is running, the MacBook sees this as screen recording. Not really sure why that would be a hold up for Apple Watch unlock support. You would think that the less typing of your password the better, especially if the screen is being "recorded". This is a negative for me because I wished it had out of the box support for more than one external display. Plus, this is an additional cost to anyone who expects their laptop to support multiple monitors.

Anyway, I highly recommend this laptop for anyone who is in the market for a mobile workstation. Unless you are tied to Windows for some reason, this is the laptop to get. The performance and battery life have no match for this price range. This thing is beating out fully loaded Intel MacBooks on some benchmarks.