To be clear, Apple did just that. I am the proud owner of a preorder for a 16” base model M1 MBP. It is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. I was going to buy it no matter the specs. My wife is getting my M1 Air. So no matter what, my credit card was coming for the 16” version of whatever Apple announced. I am not disappointed. But I do have a few questions that could leave others disappointed. First, a disclaimer:

I am not the target audience

I should not be purchasing this notebook. I personally know very few people who should spring for one. I am a writer and sometimes podcaster. I am incapable of pushing the M1 MacBook Air. Apple describes the MBP user as a professional photographer, film maker, high-end developer, and the like. And you need to be using the kinds of apps most people have never heard of and even enthusiast like myself would have a hard time explaining what they do. That’s who these powerful books are for. So why did I put my hard-earned credit down on a $2,499 laptop that is way too much computer for me? Here are my inadequate answers:

16”

I have had the 16” before. I both loved and hated it for obvious reasons. It is too big to casually lug about. It is large and heavy and awkward. It will not get as much use as a smaller laptop because it takes a bit more of a commitment to pick it up and move it about. You don’t have as many casual encounters with the machine.

I loved it because I don’t see well and that big display is just what the doctor ordered. I run my computers at the lowest resolution. So all those advanced pixels are totally lost on me. I want as much information density as I can get while keeping the fonts as large as they get. If there was a 16” MacBook Air, I would buy that. I really have no need for the power of a pro machine.

Power to waste

That takes me to another con. It is too much machine. Like a lot of people, I feel a certain amount of luxury guilt. I can never fully appreciate the item beyond a superficial level. In my care, no matter what I throw at it, the machine will never break a sweat. I doubt I will ever get it to spin up the fans. When I review it, I will say, “Fans? What fans?”

When it comes to raw power, I just don’t care. I never benchmark machines. Benchmarking done right is more than running an app and looking at the numbers. There is a skill to doing it right. It is a skill I don’t have and never wanted. I’m not going to start now. I will only know the power at the most superficial level. I will marvel at how fast it boots up and wakes from sleep. I will note how quickly apps open. I will feel how snappy the interface is. I am already impressed with how crazy fast these things are on the M1 machines. I can hardly imagine them getting noticeably faster. So what exactly will I test? How will I quantify the power in a meaningful way? I won’t.

About that display

I love the look of my 12.9” M1 iPad. Though I don’t get much use out of it sense I gave up on making it my work mobile. Even so, that Liquid Retina XDR display with those bright brights and dark darks is great when you are looking at the right content. With the regular content most people will be looking at in their day to day, the mini LED is a little better than a traditional display. But it is not the reason to upgrade.

That brings me to one of my biggest question marks. How bright is the display. The tech specs say that it is 1,000 nits of full-screen sustained brightness. It does not give a smaller number which represents max typical brightness as you will find on the iOS devices. So can you crank the thing up to 1,000 nits? Doubtful. But what is the true brightness? That is unclear. It would be nice to have more than the typical 500 or 600 nits for working outside when you can’t get away from direct sunlight. I am not getting my hopes up for it being any different from the iPad Pro.

i/o

I guess it will be nice to have all those ports. But I don’t see myself using any of them. I don’t hook up to TVs or make presentations. I don’t have any SD cards. If I did, I would be a little disappointed that the SD and HDMI standards Apple included are not the latest spec. I suspect many will be upset about that once it is more widely know.

It is also a shame that the 16” can’t fast-charge from USB-C. It has to be connected via MagSafe for that. I just hate there are three ports on the machine I will likely never use. I’m guessing a lot of people will be happy just because the ports are there despite the fact that they will not use them any more than I will. One wonders why Apple didn’t spring for the more up to date standards.

Future-proofing

A lot of people buy way too much computer under the auspices of future-proofing. I don’t know how valid that is. I am the type of person who turns over machines very quickly. It has been a while since I kept one in use for more than two years. In two years, this machine will still be like new without ever having broken a sweat. The same will probably be true if I keep it for four years.

I know myself pretty well. I’m hoping to get three years of use out of this machine. I have even thought about replacing my iMac with it and returning to a single-computer lifestyle. The problem with that is I would be without a backup if something went wrong. And I hate being without a backup. I don’t work if I don’t have a computer. Though I could use my iPad in a pinch for the kind of work I usually do. We’ll have to see how it goes.

My wife’s need for a mobile computer is very modest. So I will probably just keep a profile on the MBA. That way, I really would have a backup even though my wife will have possession of the computer most of the time. I like having an iMac on the desk for ergonomics. If I decide to sell it off, I would need to replace it with another monitor. Thanks to Universal Control, I could just use it as an external display to the notebook. Again, we’ll just have to see how it all pans out.

I was hoping for cellular. I would have gladly paid the upgrade fee. Speaking of which, I saw no need to upgrade from 16GB ram and 512GB SSD. That has always been sufficient for me. And I generally run with less of both. I have an external USB-C external drive if needed.

I will have a lot more to say about it when I take possession of it Tuesday. I guess it is time to do some bag shopping. I’m open to suggestions.

David Johnson