MacBook Pro (13-inch)

Apple’s ultra-portable powerhouse now available with M1

- Rob Mead-Green

FEATURES 13.3in Retina display (2560x1600 resolution), Apple M1 chip, 8GB unified memory (16GB available), 256GB storage (512GB/1TB/2TB available), 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 2x Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, headphone socket

While there’s a huge difference in performance between the late 2020 MacBook Air and its Intel-driven forebear, the difference between the Air and the new 13in MacBook Pro feels more nuanced, chiefly because the two laptops have much in common – at least on paper.

With a starting price of £1,299, the new 13in MacBook Pro also comes with an M1 system on a chip (SoC), complete with eight CPU cores and a 16-core Neural Engine, although this time the GPU boasts eight-cores as standard rather than the entry-level Air’s seven. Like the MacBook Air, the entry-level 13in Pro also comes with 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory. For more, you’ll either need to up the memory to 16GB, or delve into the configuration options to increase the size of the SSD – to 512GB, 1TB or 2TB. Even at the upper limit, though, that’s a big step down from the maximum of 4TB of the previous-generation Intel models, which are still available at £1,799 and £1,999, depending on configuration.