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This is the brand new MacBook Pro, and I don't like it.

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Yes, it's got the same look, same amazing display, better battery life, and convenient

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I.O. And yet, at $1,600, its starting price is actually a full $400 less than last year.

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But that's because it's not actually the same.

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Because even though this is the new M3 chip, it's not the M3 Pro.

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Therefore this cheapest MacBook Pro actually replaces the 13-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro

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from last year. So compared to the previous entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro, this has less power.

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And outrageously, only 8GB of RAM.

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Okay, there's actually lots of reasons why I don't like this laptop, and I'll tell

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you all of them, but don't worry because I still have a recommendation of what I think

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you should buy instead, even though I think you're still going to buy this.

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I do not like this color, silver is way better.

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If you buy the brand new MacBook Pro in space grey, you're making a terrible purchasing

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mistake, because you'll be signaling to the world that you're poor.

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I can't say that. I can't, because space grey is only available on the inexpensive model.

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People with money, looking for power, have available to them space black.

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Though not exactly black, I think many of the dark soul MacBook users are really going

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to like the way this looks. It's certainly much, much better than space grey.

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It's also better than the MacBook Air's midnight. I've been using that laptop for well over a year now, and I cannot keep it clean.

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Apple's new anodization seal does in fact reduce the sight of fingerprints, though except

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maybe mine, which is why it of course stick with silver, which is available across the

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line.

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But back to power. As I discovered with the iMac, the M3 chip is good, good enough to work for me day to

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day. But only if I get an upgrade of memory.

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8GB of memory is really hard to justify in a computer that says pro and looks pro.

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And it shows that Apple is stubbornly and frustratingly holding its users back with

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flash memory. Remember when Apple still sold their flagship iPhones with a paltry 16GB of storage?

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God, that was awful. You'd have to delete everything off your phone just to update it.

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And it's even worse than that because if you wanted a storage upgrade, the next year was 64GB.

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This feels like the MacBook Pro version of that, and you'll be pining for that extra

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memory. In my DaVinci Resolve export test, which is a GPU and memory intensive export, the cost

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of reduced memory is 12 minutes. And in the real world, the cost is constantly using swap memory, which taxes the SSD.

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While I do feel like Apple did improve memory management somewhat in Sonoma, it's little

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consolation for anyone who's spending a lot of money for a laptop they hope will last

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the many years. Speaking of the SSD, this is technically a storage upgrade compared to the Touch Bar

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MacBook Pro, but you're still paying for it.

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The next issue with this MacBook is that, well, just look.

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I have an HDMI display plugged in here and still have spare USB-C ports for a second

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monitor here, except I don't.

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Because you can't use both at the same time, which is not very pro, especially considering

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that you could do this on the previous much slower Intel MacBook Air.

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While I'm on the topic of ports, the cheapest MacBook Pro has fewer and older Thunderbolt

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ports. The one found on the right side of the more powerful versions is gone, and the two on

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the left that are left support Thunderbolt 3 instead of the current Thunderbolt 4.

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I don't like this MacBook because it's so hard to explain, but it's not entirely without

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merit. Because experientially, it's great.

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This is equipped with the same ProMotion mini-LED XDR display that the more expensive models

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have been getting for years now. It looks stunning.

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ProMotion is especially great for when you're gaming at the 40s frames per second as things

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deliver as an evil village. What I noticed most, however, was the brightness.

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The screens on all new MacBook Pros support 600 nits, and when you're sitting opposite

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a sunny window, it really makes a difference. Furthermore, this has the same great speakers found in the other MacBooks too.

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This actually matters because I don't know if you know this, but the previous generation

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two-port MacBook Pros actually had a different speaker setup that sounded worse than the

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nicer models. Not the case here. Oh yeah, and then there's the battery life.

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This is at the top of the heap. In our video playback test, Labs measured around 24 hours of battery life, and in my

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general usage, I got around 12. Nice.

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And there remains the handy SD card reader as well.

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Photographers rejoice. But wait, a few months ago, I suggested that the 15-inch MacBook Air is the perfect laptop

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for photographers. I still believe that, but specced with the same storage, that MacBook Air is only $100

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less than this. This dang ladder, Apple prices things in such a way that when you start upgrading your Mac,

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you get so close to the next model, you think, I might as well just get that anyway.

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And for the past few years, it seems that all roads lead to the M-Pro-powered MacBook

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Pro, which I have no problem recommending even today.

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But you're in the market for a cheap one, so what should you buy if you have $1,600?

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I'd recommend you look for the M2 Pro MacBook Pro.

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In sale, or in the referber store, it costs about the same as this.

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But the M2 Pro is a faster chip, unless you're doing single-core tasks.

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The extra performance and graphics cores make a big difference.

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But the reason I think that even with this awesome recommendation, you're still going

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to get the base model MacBook Pro is because you can't buy the M2 Pro.

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I searched high and low, and I'm having a really hard time finding one.

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And I think Apple knows it's better. So if you do find one, snag it.

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So what other options do you have? If you know you're not going to be taxing the GPU in any of your tasks, but you still

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want the best screen and speakers, get this in silver with 16GB of RAM for $1,800.

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If you need to save more, a 13-inch MacBook Air with the same upgrades can be had for

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as little as $1,500. And if you want to save the most, a basic version of that is less than $1,000 in the

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referber store. The biggest issue I have with this MacBook Pro is what I fear it could potentially mean

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for how the lineup shakes out over the next few months.

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The MacBook Air's price drop and 15-inch version release this summer makes me worry

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that those computers are going to be stuck with the old and slow M2 for a while.

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What should make this MacBook Pro more appealing, right?

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No, it means that the steps in the ladder are getting closer together.

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Thanks for stepping up to this Mac Address. Make sure to like and subscribe, and in the comments below I'm curious how you feel about

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the 8GB of RAM available in this.

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And if you want to watch another video, I guess you can watch the one I did on the M2

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Pro MacBook Pro because those thoughts are still relevant.