Apple MacBook Pro 14.2" M1 Max 2021, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Silver

A $990 USD ticket to the best laptop display Apple ever made, with a chip that still punches above its weight. Just don't expect to game on it or push past that 16GB RAM ceiling.

The M1 Max absolutely rips through creative work. Video editing, photo work, music production, you name it. The 32-core GPU sits in the 78th percentile, which sounds modest until you remember this is a 2021 chip still trading blows with current mid-range discrete GPUs while sipping power. The surprise is that 16GB of RAM. Apple paired a flagship chip with entry-level memory, and it shows in the 36th percentile RAM ranking. For most everyday tasks it's fine, but if you're stacking 4K timelines or running a bunch of VMs, you'll feel the ceiling.

Against something like the Lenovo Legion 5i or MSI Raider, the MacBook Pro wins on display quality and build, but loses badly on gaming and RAM flexibility. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is a different beast entirely, more tablet than laptop, but it'll actually play games. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is the closest Windows competitor here, with a similar compact footprint and better gaming chops, but you're giving up that XDR display and macOS. If you're not tied to Apple's ecosystem, the Windows options give you more RAM and GPU headroom for the same money.

At $990 USD, this is a genuinely good deal if you need Mac power and don't care about having the latest thing. A new M4 MacBook Pro with similar storage would cost you more than double. The catch is that 16GB of RAM, which you can't upgrade later. If your workflow is RAM-hungry, this 'deal' becomes a compromise you'll feel every day.

The M1 Max MacBook Pro is still a monster in 2025, even as a refurb. That 10-core chip and 32-core GPU were overkill for most people when this thing launched in 2021, and they're still overkill now. The real story here is the display. A 14.2-inch mini-LED panel hitting 1600 nits peak brightness is the kind of screen that makes you squint at every other laptop you own. At $990 USD for a refurb with a 1TB SSD, this is a lot of laptop for the money, but that 16GB of RAM is the elephant in the room.

If you're a gamer, skip this. The 22.6/100 gaming score isn't a fluke, macOS just isn't the platform for it. Go grab a Lenovo Legion 5i or MSI Raider instead. If you need more than 16GB of RAM for heavy VMs or massive creative projects, this isn't your machine either. Find a 32GB or 64GB config, even if it costs more.

Buy this if you're a creative professional who lives in Final Cut, Logic, or Photoshop and wants the best laptop display you can get under a grand. The M1 Max is still a workhorse, and the 1TB SSD means you won't be juggling external drives immediately. But if you need more than 16GB of RAM or want to play games, look elsewhere. This is a specialized tool, not an all-rounder.