The new MacBook Pro lineup is an exceptional upgrade over its predecessors, with new M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets that offer more mobile computing power than ever before. And big companies are scrambling to reap the benefits.
The likes of Reddit, Twitter and others are rolling out 2021 MacBook Pro units to employees so that they can take advantage of the massive performance gains. “Engineering hours are much more expensive than laptops,” one said.
2021 MacBook Pro a hit with big companies
Yes, the new MacBook Pro also sports an all-new design and even more spectacular displays with ProMotion technology. But it’s the incredible power offered by the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that enterprise customers really need.
Apple’s new chipsets offer up to 70% faster processing performance than their predecessors, while graphics power is up a whopping 200%. That means big productivity boosts for those engineering, video production, and other roles.
It’s no surprise, then, that big companies are scrambling to put the 2021 MacBook Pro in the hands of employees who need it most. Many have already made the switch, and they couldn’t be happier.
“We recently found that the new 2021 M1 MacBooks cut our Android build times in half,” said Reddit engineer Jameson Williams. And though it may be expensive to buy new Apple machines in bulk, the long-term savings are bigger.
“So for a team of 9, $32k of laptops will actually save $100k in productivity over 2022. The break-even point happens at 3 months,” Williams added. “Engineering hours are much more expensive than laptops!”
Shopify and Uber
Popular e-commerce platform Shopify and ride-hailing firm Uber have also been buying up new MacBook Pro units, according to Gergely Orosz, founder of The Pragmatic Engineer, who calls Apple’s new chipsets “an instant buy.”
Shopify and Uber “obsess about developer productivity, and the M1 is such a big, measurable step-up that it’s an instant buy,” he wrote. “Not just for them, but any other company who cares about engineers similar to how they do.”
“The most “idle” time engineers spend – especially in mobile development – is waiting on the build … The $4,000 per engineer spent will bring back so much more productivity versus top-of-the-market Intel ones, including the 2021 one.”
That was a really fun thing to announce. We put in a huge order for Apple Silicon.
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Twitter developer John Szumski was one of the first to confirm a switch to the 2021 MacBook Pro. However, he also warned other professionals that the transition from Intel to Apple’s custom chip architecture isn’t simple.
“I’m excited to be rolling out fully loaded M1 Max MBPs to all of Twitter’s iOS & Android engineers!” he announced. “We’re seeing improvements in both top line performance and thermal throttling that currently plague our Intel builds.”
“For folks who want to do the same, please know there’s a ton of work that happens behind the scenes to make an architecture change like this happen. It’s much more than just writing a check for hardware,” Szumski added.
“Getting to this point was a huge team effort from IT, architecture, and tooling teams to validate all the key parts of the business still operate correctly on ARM and Monterey.”
Others to follow suit
“Great companies provide the best tools for their developers,” tweeted Kenneth Rose, the chief technology officer at OpsLevel, who also confirmed that all new engineers will be getting a brand-new MacBook Pro.
It’s only a matter of time before others follow suit given the benefits Apple’s newest silicon brings. And while that’s great news for Cupertino, it’s yet another kick in the teeth for Intel, which simply hasn’t been able to keep up.
