The new Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pros are here, and Apple’s presentation on the M1 Pro and M1 Max made both chips look like a dramatic improvement over the Intel processors and Intel and AMD GPUs they’ll be replacing.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, and the 16-inch model starts at $2,499. Both of those configurations get you an M1 Pro processor, 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage, and both represent only minor price increases from the MacBook Pros they’re replacing. But things quickly get complicated from there.
Even though Apple technically only announced two new chips today, both the M1 Pro and M1 Max come in an array of different configurations with different numbers of CPU and GPU cores (just like the M1). This is common in chipmaking—if you make an M1 Pro with one or two defective GPU cores, then selling it as a lower-end model is a sensible alternative to just throwing the chip out entirely. But this decision does complicate Apple’s high-level performance numbers slightly, and it means that you’ll still need to choose between multiple processor options when you’re shopping for a new MacBook Pro.
To help demystify this situation a bit and save you some clicking, we’ve pored over Apple’s Store pages for the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros to summarize the cost of all the upgrades. Let’s start by listing the varieties of M1 Pro and M1 Max you can actually buy.
There are three versions of the M1 Pro:
- 8-core CPU with 6 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, plus a 14-core GPU. This is the one in the $1,999 version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro.
- 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, plus a 14-core GPU.
- 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, plus a 16-core GPU. This is the one you get in the $2,499 16-inch MacBook Pro.
And there are two versions of the M1 Max. Upgrading to the M1 Max in either MacBook Pro also requires a $400 upgrade from 16GB of RAM to 32GB of RAM.
- 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, plus a 24-core GPU.
- 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, plus a 32-core GPU.
So here’s what each of those configuration options will cost you. Stepping up from the M1 Pro to the M1 Max is easily the biggest jump, costing at least $900 for the 14-inch Pro and $600 for the 16-inch model:
| 14-inch MacBook Pro | 16-inch MacBook Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| M1 Pro (8 CPU, 14 GPU, 16GB) | $1,999 | N/A |
| M1 Pro (10 CPU, 14 GPU, 16GB) | $2,199 | N/A |
| M1 Pro (10 CPU, 16 GPU, 16GB) | $2,299 | $2,499 |
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 24 GPU, 32GB) | $2,899 | $3,099 |
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 32 GPU, 32GB) | $3,099 | $3,299 |
If you want to use 64GB of RAM, Apple requires an upgrade to the M1 Max. The upgrade from 32GB to 64GB costs an additional $400 on top of what the M1 Max and 32GB of RAM already cost.
| 14-inch MacBook Pro | 16-inch MacBook Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 24 GPU, 32GB) | $2,899 | $3,099 |
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 24 GPU, 64GB) | $3,299 | $3,499 |
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 32 GPU, 32GB) | $3,099 | $3,299 |
| M1 Max (10 CPU, 32 GPU, 64GB) | $3,499 | $3,699 |
While the CPU, GPU, and RAM upgrades are all intertwined, storage upgrades are a bit simpler. All of the prices above include a 512GB SSD, and you add the following amounts to any configuration to upgrade from 512GB to any of the following storage tiers:
- +$200 for 1TB
- +$600 for 2TB
- +$1,200 for 4TB
- +$2,400 for 8TB
A fully maxed-out 14-inch MacBook Pro can cost as much as $5,899 before adding AppleCare or any other software, while the 16-inch model tops out at $6,099.
Apple rarely comments on supply issues, but the new MacBook Pros are going to be hard to get for the foreseeable future—higher-end configurations of the 16-inch Pro with the M1 Max and 32GB or 64GB of RAM are already showing shipping estimates of mid to late December, though the 14-inch model is holding up a bit better so far. These are Mac shortages we haven’t seen since the days of the 2013 Mac Pro.
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