The Mac ecosystem is changing in ways that are asking you to open your wallet wider than ever. The entry-level 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, the same as the M5 model did after this year’s price hikes. And yet, if you compare that to the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and its enormous $2,899 price tag, the base 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro suddenly starts to sound like a more reasonable ask. The regular MacBook Pro is the same as it ever was, and despite offering a newer, seemingly better model, at least Apple is giving us options. I wonder how long that may last.
Yesterday’s “Pro and Tell” event was a showcase of how OLED displays are just better than all those LCD-based models. So what are we left to talk about with an M6 MacBook Pro? More than a bit, actually. The M6 chip includes a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, and you don’t have to worry about potentially buying a lesser machine like you do with the M6 iMac. The chip is supposed to represent a big upgrade in both CPU and GPU performance, with Apple claiming it can hit a 30% jump in performance for graphics-related tasks. Apple may not be too far off the mark there. If I compare an M6 Mac mini to the M5 MacBook Pro in something like Geekbench 6 Metal GPU tests, the desktop computer manages about 24% better scores. That’s an apples-to-oranges test, so we’ll have to see for ourselves how much of an upgrade it actually is.
More than that, Apple wants you to know this is an AI-capable device. At its Pro and Tell event, the company showed off the M6 MacBook Pro running the engineering app Matlab, displaying a model of satellite connectivity for airplanes. The company used an AI coding tool to then make modifications to the simulation to allow more control of the number of orbiting satellites and their distance from the earth. It’s an interesting demo, if not one that only a few of the nerdier Mac users could appreciate.
Hardware-wise, this is the same machine you’ve used before. It’s still limited to three Thunderbolt 4 ports rather than any support for Thunderbolt 5’s improved power and data throughput. There’s a Magsafe charging port, HDMI, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack rounding it out. There’s nothing truly bad about this tried-and-true design, save for the notch that’s cut into the screen for the sake of the 12-megapixel Center Stage camera. The new OLED MacBooks fix this issue with the inclusion of a Dynamic Island, and, having seen those in action, too, it’s something I missed most often as I used the new 14-inch M6 MacBook.
Without any cosmetic upgrades, whether the new MacBook is worth your time will come down to internals. It now supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 thanks to Apple’s N1 chip hosted inside. That was previously only available to models with M5 Pro or M5 Max (which are all still available, by the way).
The MacBook Pro lineup is now bifurcated between the models with PROLED XDR and the older chassis with the Liquid Retina XDR screens, which means a bright mini-LED-type display that we’re all very used to after all these years. The new 14-inch M6 MacBook Pros are also going to be heavier than the new PROLED XDR models—3.5 pounds compared to 3 pounds on the touchscreen model. That is more significant than you may think. I’ve been lugging around a 14-inch MacBook Pro this entire trip, and I’ve been wishing for something less weighty with the same number of ports. While Apple’s PROLED XDR laptops are only a hair’s breadth thinner, the weight reduction is mostly thanks to the displays. Without any need for backlights, OLED layers are simply lighter.
Apple upgraded the memory bandwidth on this chip to 170Gbps (though the full speed will depend on if you opt for 24GB or 32GB of unified memory). Which is all to say, the more expensive Mac options are going to be very performant, so long as you’re willing to pay for the upgrades. The M6 chip is also running with Apple’s new 2nm process, which makes it more efficient. That’s why the company is claiming you’ll get a 24-hour battery life. I caution anybody against those claims, as they usually only refer to battery rundown tests when streaming at a low brightness. If we had to judge from the outside, we should expect enough juice to get through the workday and maybe more.
I feel safe betting that the M6 MacBook Pro will be a strong contender in the realm of all-rounder laptops. What confuses me more is just how Apple’s Mac ecosystem is shaking up. There is no 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M6 chip. You can only buy the bigger model with an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip. The more expensive MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR also supports those same chips, and Apple isn’t promising any boosts in performance if you spend more money for the OLED touch display. If you’re only looking for the most powerful Apple silicon, you can technically save money by opting for the current-gen MacBooks without the OLED touchscreen.
Apple didn’t give its OLED laptop a new name. It’s still “MacBook Pro.” Apple rarely if ever talks about future plans, but I can see a day when the next “Max” processor, whether that’s M7 Max or not, is exclusive to the higher-end OLED-based laptop. For now, Apple has the two laptop lines segmented on its store page. I imagine a future where you pick and chose your display type depending on what chip you stick inside. Add in the ever-rising price of memory and storage, and suddenly high-end Macs could cost way more.
Maybe our best hope for our wallets is to wait for Apple to launch an M6 MacBook Air. As for the 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro, the laptop is up for preorder and will start shipping Nov. 6.
