Apple M1 Pro laptop
Shares rank 42 of 63 laptops by recommenders
Recommended for smooth performance and enough power for most work, including iOS development and Lightroom. Common caveat: some report slowdowns and beachballs over time, and software quality is criticized.
Recommended for smooth performance and enough power for most work, including iOS development and Lightroom. Common caveat: some report slowdowns and beachballs over time, and software quality is criticized.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Smooth performance for years
“still snappy for me. that includes some iOS dev from time to time, lightroom classic, much better than my pc”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” “never really felt like it needed to be upgraded”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “New iMac with M6” “which still runs buttery smooth”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” Enough power for most people
“The M1 Pro with 16gb+ is still more than nearly everyone needs.”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Apple to Skip High-End M6 Mac Chips in Favor of AI-Focused M7 Line” “never really felt like it needed to be upgraded”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “New iMac with M6”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Software quality lags behind hardware
“their M-series hardware is held back by lack of quality software”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Lil Finder Guy” Slowdowns and beachballs over time
“mine is clearly deteriorating lately. Lots of beachballs.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” “my M1 Pro seems to struggle and take forever”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Claude Code Agent Teams”
Other laptops people recommend
The four most recommended other laptops, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro | 928 | 688 | 57% | 13 | 5 yrs248 owners | — |
| Apple MacBook Neo | 707 | 355 | 66% | 9 | 1 mo8 owners | — |
| MacBook Air | 633 | 209 | 75% | 12 | 5 yrs130 owners | Approved |
| Apple MacBook | 499 | 348 | 59% | 12 | 9 yrs77 owners | — |
| Apple M1 Pro laptopThis page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“never really felt like it needed to be upgraded”
“which still runs buttery smooth”
“mine is clearly deteriorating lately. Lots of beachballs.”
“still snappy for me. that includes some iOS dev from time to time, lightroom classic, much better than my pc”
“The M1 Pro with 16gb+ is still more than nearly everyone needs.”
“their M-series hardware is held back by lack of quality software”
“my M1 Pro seems to struggle and take forever”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.