Whether you are a professional or just want to feel like one, the 16” MacBook Pro is for you. Here are the highlights of what you need to know:

It’s bigger

Jonny Ive is no longer at Apple. If you had any doubt about that, just look at the 16” MacBook Pro. It is basically the same design as the 15” model it replaces, but bigger. Grant it, the growth is subtle. You might not even realize you are looking at the bigger model if you didn’t know exactly what to look for.

But make no mistake about it: This MBP is bigger in every dimension. It is just a little thicker, longer, and wider. It is even a hair heavier. The one thing that actually shrank was the bezels. There is less frame and more screen, giving his notebook the illusion of being even larger than it really is.

That is not to say its overall size is an illusion. It isn’t. This thing is big. It is the spiritual successor to the PowerBook 17”. That was a ridiculously oversized laptop that demanded respect. Even so, it was far from alone in its size class. Today, it is much less common to see anything larger than 15”. This notebook is big and prominent and in your face. It is unapologetically huge.

Now that you know how big it is, you should also know how small it is. If you are okay with the 15” MBP, you will absolutely be just fine with this slightly larger version. You really wouldn’t know it is bigger without seeing the two of them side by side.

There are few professional computing tasks that wouldn’t be better on a larger screen. It doesn’t matter if you are an accountant working on spreadsheets, a photographer working in a photo editor, a videographer making movies, a podcaster or musician working a timeline and multiple tracks. More screen is more productivity. Even a writer making words will enjoy the more spacious canvas. This beast of a beauty is sized for professional-grade work.

Keys to success

I hate to spend even a moment talking about the most excellent keyboard on the 16” MacBook Pro. The story of the MBP for the last 4 years has been a defective keyboard that has been the source of embarrassment for Apple and a source of frustration for many fans. I am happy to say that I never had a problem with the previous keyboard. I am one of the few people who actually preferred it. But sadly, the die was cast for that keyboard very early in its cycle. It took Apple much too long to replace it with something better.

The keyboard on the 16” MacBook Pro is definitely something better, much better. My favorite keyboard of all time is the one on the Magic Keyboard for iPad. This one is very similar to that one. I don’t know that the two are identical. But they are close enough for this keyboard to be in my tope 2 all-time favorites. No matter what kind of keyboard you prefer, it is almost certain that you will love this one.

I suppose I could get technical with the details of the keyboard. But I am simply not that kind of geek. I love keyboards and I am a maker of words. But I am never going to be one of those people who buys a specialty keyboard with bespoke cherry switches. I tend to like a short throw keyboard with a hair-trigger touch. I want the keys to activate if I just look at them funny. But that’s just me. This keyboard is quietly clicks with about a mm travel. It floats like a butterfly but cuts through paragraphs with scissor precision. It’s finger-clicking good.

There is another aspect of the keyboard that received a major upgrade. The Touch Bar is still there. But it has been greatly improved by Apple making it smaller. The Escape key is now an honest to goodness separate key like god intended. And the Power button/TouchID button is also separated from the strip of glass. These are small but welcome improvements that really do add to the quality of your time spent with the keyboard.

It is also worth mentioning the return of the inverted T arrow keys at the bottom right. It is a little thing that means an awful lot to an awful lot of people. A more subtle change is in the spacing of the keys. I don’t know if the keyboard is larger or if the keys are smaller. But there is a more noticeable space between the keys. It feels like a more natural typing surface.

While we are on the keyboard deck, we might as well give an honorable mention to the trackpad. I don’t know why the trackpad is so big. But it is huge border-lining on ridiculous. Still, it is not getting in the way of anything. I have yet to register an accidental activation of the trackpad. So it seems like something Apple put a lot of thought into.

One group of people who will really appreciate that larger trackpad is the visually impaired. There are a number of ways a blind user of Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader can take advantage of the trackpad. A bigger surface makes those multi-finger gestures a lot easier. Is that really why Apple chose to make the tracking surface so large. I doubt it. There is just the practical reality that there is a lot of rum under the keyboard. Apple had to fill the space with something. It is probably no more complicated than that.

Bring on the noise

It’s true what they say: These are the best speakers you have ever heard on a notebook computer. They sound great as is. vocals are clear and present. There is no chest-thumping bass. But what is there is more than enough that you will not be tempted to add external speakers. These are already better than the external speakers made for notebook computers.

If you are doing a casual podcast, you will probably not feel compelled to add an external microphone either. I would not go as far as Apple and call them studio quality. But you are also not going to need to run out and buy something with which to record for casual usage. Skype and FaceTime calls are well covered by the microphones that come preloaded.

Speakers and microphones are not big headliners in most portables regardless of price. No one was asking Apple to beef up their offerings in these departments. By no means is it a reason to lay down $2,400 for a portable. But it is a reason why you will love it once you buy it. If you thought you would try this computer out for the 14-day period, little touches like outstanding speakers and mics will make it a hard notebook to return for a refund. You are simply not going to want to do it because there is a feeling that you are getting even more than you bargained for.

Power to spare

There are few professionals that will want a more powerful portable than the 16” MBP. There are plenty of professionals that would never use a notebook computer at all because their workload is too intense. One very famous YouTuber carries an iMac Pro with him on the road because absolute speed is a much higher priority for him than portability. For such people, no laptop will ever be good enough. Just don’t mistake their choice as a repudiation of any particular laptop.

If you are a pro user with pro needs who also prefers carrying a laptop, you will not be disappointed with the 16” MBP. It has power to spare for just about anything you want to do. One of the best things about Mac laptops is that they will run at full power regardless of whether or not they are plugged in. Many PC notebooks only hit their top speed when tethered to a wall outlet.

This is where you would expect a lengthy section with benchmark numbers. I don’t bother with such things because benchmarking is actually a skill that requires a bit more than running a program. And there is a lot more to interpreting the data than just looking at the big number at the end of the session. I will simply say that the handful of professional reviewers actually qualified to speak to such matters extol the virtues of this laptop. It is as much of a beast as you would expect from a computer in this price class. If you purchase this computer, it will very likely be the most powerful computer you have, and likely, ever had.

Most people don’t do anything in their computing lives that would ever crank of the fans to audible levels. When it comes to power, this is too much computer for the vast majority of people. To be clear, as a content creator, it is even too much computer for me. Regardless of whatever applications come out in the next five years, this will still likely be too much computer. And that suits me just fine since it is unlikely I will keep it that long.

There are at least two types of speed. The type that professionals care about has to do with how quickly the computer can complete complex operations. What most consumers care about is the speed of the system on a micro-operational level. In other words, they care about how fast it feels. They will notice the speed windows open, how fast webpages load, how smooth graphical elements render - that sort of thing. If you put in a slow hard drive in the most powerful computer, people will say it is an unbearably slow computer.

There is no operational aspect of this computer that feels slow. The SSD is blazing fast, as is the ram and 6-core i7. 16 GB of RAM will always make things feel faster than the more typical 8 GB found on most systems. The Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB doesn’t hurt either. Apple claims twice the graphical performance of the 15” this computer replaces. Those professional benchmark mavens I mentioned earlier bear this out.

This computer has two things that professionals and prosumers want: headroom for whatever they are doing, and future-proofing for the years to come. You don’t have to worry about this computer hitting its power ceiling, or becoming outdated anytime soon. For its effective lifespan, this computer will grow bored waiting for you to do something worthy of its vast stores of power.

Quality on display

I have never seen a nicer display on a laptop. Honestly, it is probably nicer than your desktop display. I have a 32” LG 4K. And the display on the 16” MacBook Pro is more pleasing in every way with the exception of square footage. I have scoured the internet for objective information from graphical professionals. Apparently, you can trust what you see on the display for print, video, color accuracy, and everything else.

I’m not the person to judge such things. My vision is not good enough to tell whether or not a monitor is pixel-perfect. It simply doesn’t matter to me. That said, I can tell when I am looking at a bad monitor. Everything I see on this monitor just looks right. Nothing makes me want to do any extra calibration or adjustment. And that is not true for almost every other monitor I have owned.

Watching TV on a 16” MacBook Pro is a waste of its talents. Still, you’re going to love it. It looks better than your TV and sounds better than your TV. Unfortunately, you are going to have to sell your TV if you are going to afford this beast. There is also the matter of text looking fabulous. What can I say? Writers get excited about text. In truth there is only a slight improvement in pixel density over the 15”. Perhaps it is the amount of money I spent to trade up. Either way, it looks way better to me. Your mileage may vary, but probably not by much.

One other thing worth mentioning is the difference that half-inch of screen size makes. I normally only use a notebook for certain low-density tasks such as writing, then switch to the desktop for casual games and web browsing and such. I have found myself using this computer all day without giving my desktop a moment’s thought. The 16” MacBook Pro is the first laptop I can use for all tasks without feeling like I need to switch over to something bigger. This is the first laptop I have ever owned that really could be my desktop without the need to hook up an external display. Again, your mileage might vary.

Conclusion: Not just for pros

My honest opinion is that if you are not a particular kind of pro, you are wasting your money on this computer. That said, we waste money on all sorts of stupider things than this. You don’t have to be a restaurant chef to want a professional oven and walk-in freezer. If you hav the room and the money and an amateur’s love of cooking, why not? You don’t have to make a living on YouTube to want to up your videography game. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to try your hand at Photoshop. You don’t have to be a professional musician to have some fun with Logic Pro. And you certainly don’t have to be any of those things to justify owning a professional-grade computer.

If it keeps you excited about building, go ahead and buy that $100 hammer with the custom grip and impossibly balanced weight and swing away. Get that Steinway piano if it keeps you motivated to practice everyday. And if you spend most of your life on a computer, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be the best one you can afford. Sure, you can write your novel on a Chromebook. But if it inspires you to write 3,000 words a day instead of 1,000 words, get a 16” MacBook Pro and be your best self.

I don’t need this notebook and I don’t feel guilty about having it. I had a more appropriate notebook that I liked a lot. But it was sitting unused. Now that I have this one, it is all I want to use. Appropriate be damned. You do you on the grandest scale you can. And if that involves a computer, then you have all the justification you need for the 16” MacBook Pro. Right now, it is as grand as it gets.

David Johnson