Apple launched the 16-inch MacBook Pro (late 2023) with the new M3 Max processor early November 2023. I wrote that no Windows laptop could rival with the 14-inch model but it is a very different landscape for the bigger model launched at the same time.
Lenovo sells the ThinkPad P16 Gen 2, its most powerful mobile workstation ever (and one of the most powerful Windows laptops ever), fully loaded for just over $5,500 at the time of writing, that's $2,700 less than the equivalent 2023 MacBook Pro 16-inch this Black Friday.
Apple’s newest workstation lacks a number of business-oriented features as well. You not only get Intel’s fastest mobile CPU, 128GB RAM and 8GB SSD in RAID-0, the laptop also features a 4K+ touch display and a dedicated Nvidia mobile GPU, the most powerful ever, the RTX 5000 Ada Generation with 16GB GDDR6 memory. There’s also a 4G modem, NFC and more ports than Apple’s flagship laptop.
Add Premier Support Plus for an extra $400 and you can get up to five year support with next business day repair, accidental and extended battery warranty. Not something Apple can match - but where it does have the upper hand is when it comes to finesse, weight and battery life.
As we noted in our review, “the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3) is the latest and greatest version of Apple’s powerful prosumer laptop. With a choice of the new M3 Pro or M3 Max chips, and support for up to 128GB unified memory, this is an incredibly powerful laptop that’s ideal for heavy workloads, especially graphically intensive ones.”
