Products
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021)
HP ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (2021)
Tested using Methodology v0.8.2
Updated Oct 29, 2025 03:01 PM
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Amazon.com
Tested using Methodology v0.8
Updated Oct 29, 2025 02:42 PM
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Amazon.com
Size
16"
Operating System
macOS
Size
15.6"
Operating System
Windows 10
Our Verdict
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021)
HP ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (2021)
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021) is much better than the HP ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (2021). The MacBook Pro is a more premium-feeling device with a sturdier build, and it provides a better user experience overall, with a larger and more responsive haptic touchpad, a better webcam, and longer battery life. The MacBook Pro's Mini LED display has better contrast and full DCI-P3 coverage, making it more suitable for color work, while the HP laptop only has full sRGB coverage. If performance is the most important aspect, the MacBook Pro also comes out ahead as its M1 Pro and Max SoCs are significantly faster than the HP model's Intel 11th Gen CPU and NVIDIA Quadro T500 GPU.
Variants
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1H3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Max/10‑core CPU/32‑core GPU/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1F3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro chip/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1E3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1A3LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Max/10‑core CPU/32‑core GPU/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK193LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK183LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (38K64UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (38G42UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/32GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (38K69UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/32GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (38K70UT) (Gray - 4K/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/32GB/1TB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (38B50UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1165G7/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (63Q80UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1165G7/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (63Q89UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1165G7/Quadro T500/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (346W0UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1165G7/Quadro T500/16GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (63Q93UT ) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/32GB/512GB)
- ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (63Q91UT) (Gray - FHD/250 nits/i7-1185G7/Quadro T500/16GB/512GB)
Main Differences for
School
School
Threshold
School
8.6
7.7
Battery
9.4
7.3
Touchpad
9.7
8.2
Portability
7.2
7.9
Webcam & Microphone
9.1
6.6
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.5
8.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.1
9.4
Hinge Photo
Range
135°
165°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
7.2
7.9
Dimensions Photo
Size
16"
15.6"
Thickness
0.7" (1.7 cm)
0.9" (2.2 cm)
Width
14.0" (35.6 cm)
14.2" (36.1 cm)
Depth
9.8" (24.8 cm)
9.2" (23.4 cm)
Volume
91.6 in³ (1,500.9 cm³)
113.4 in³ (1,858.4 cm³)
Weight
4.7 lbs (2.2 kg)
4.0 lbs (1.8 kg)
Charger Size
13.3 in³ (218.3 cm³)
5.6 in³ (91.5 cm³)
Charger Weight
1.1 lbs (0.5 kg)
0.6 lbs (0.3 kg)
Serviceability
3.5
8.9
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
6.0
8.5
RAM Slots
0
2
Storage Slots
0
2
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
No
Yes
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
3456 x 2234
1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:9
Pixel Density
254 PPI
141 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
No
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
91%
85%
Refresh Rate
8.7
5.9
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
120 Hz
60 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
Apple ProMotion
No
Contrast
10
7.4
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
50,250 : 1
1,376 : 1
Brightness
8.5
6.9
Maximum Brightness
469 cd/m²
291 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
4 cd/m²
18 cd/m²
Reflections
8.8
7.7
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Glossy
Matte
Total Reflections
1.91%
4.26%
Indirect Reflections
0.18%
2.26%
Calculated Direct Reflections
1.73%
2%
Black Uniformity
10
8.3
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
0.355%
0.793%
Horizontal Viewing Angle
6.9
6.4
Horizontal Viewing Angle Video
Horizontal Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Left
25°
24°
Color Washout From Right
29°
23°
Horizontal Hue Picture
Color Shift From Left
39°
39°
Color Shift From Right
47°
41°
Horizontal Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Left
28°
26°
Brightness Loss From Right
32°
26°
Black Level Raise From Left
60°
60°
Black Level Raise From Right
60°
60°
Gamma Shift From Left
33°
21°
Gamma Shift From Right
38°
21°
Vertical Viewing Angle
7.0
6.3
Vertical Viewing Angle Video
Vertical Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Below
26°
25°
Color Washout From Above
31°
24°
Vertical Hue Picture
Color Shift From Below
38°
28°
Color Shift From Above
45°
40°
Vertical Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Below
29°
25°
Brightness Loss From Above
34°
26°
Black Level Raise From Below
45°
45°
Black Level Raise From Above
45°
45°
Gamma Shift From Below
28°
23°
Gamma Shift From Above
33°
24°
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
9.9
6.5
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
1.46
2.65
Avg. Gamma
2.22
2.34
Avg. Color dE
1
4.91
Avg. Color Temperature
6,709.7 K
6,594 K
Color Gamut
9.5
4.2
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.94%
66.06%
sRGB uv
99.76%
55.06%
Adobe RGB xy
88.91%
49.35%
Adobe RGB uv
94.33%
47.45%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
99.73%
49.08%
DCI P3 uv
99.09%
44.1%
Rec. 2020 xy
72.6%
35.21%
Rec. 2020 uv
73.59%
32.13%
Flicker
10
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
No
Yes
Flicker Frequency
> 1000Hz
No Flicker
Flicker Active Below
0%
0%
Interface
Keyboard
8.0
8.2
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.0
8.0
Numpad
No
Yes
Backlighting
Adjustable
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
59 gf
74 gf
Actuation Force
41 gf
36 gf
Pre-Travel
0.78 mm
1.01 mm
Total Travel
0.86 mm
1.62 mm
Touchpad
9.7
8.2
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
9.5
8.5
Size
24.8 in² (160.0 cm²)
12.3 in² (79.2 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
2
Speakers
8.4
9.1
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
76 dB SPL
83 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
4.9 dB
3.8 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
0.7
0.3
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
116 Hz
329 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
20 kHz
19 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
1.5 dB
0.4 dB
Webcam & Microphone
9.1
6.6
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
9.5
6.0
Resolution
1080p
720p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
Yes
Face Unlock
No
Yes
Connectivity
Ports
8.5
8.0
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
0
2
USB-C Ports
3
2
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt 4
Thunderbolt 4
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
2.0
2.0
DisplayPort
No
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
SD UHS 2
No
Ethernet
No
No
Proprietary Port
Apple MagSafe 3
No
Security Lock
No
Yes
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.0
5.2
Configuration
CPU
Brand
Apple
Intel
Model
M1 Max
Core i7-1185G7
Core Count
10
4
Thread Count
10
8
GPU
Brand
Apple
NVIDIA
Model
M1 Max
Quadro T500
Dedicated/Integrated
Integrated
Dedicated
VRAM Size
N/A
4 GB
RAM
Capacity
32 GB
32 GB
Modules
Unknown
1
Type
LP-DDR5
DDR4
Speed
6,400 MHz
3,200 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
512 GB
512 GB
Usable Capacity
463 GB
381 GB
Drive 1
Apple SSD AP512R
SK Hynix HFS512GDE9X073N
Drive 1 Type
SSD
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Performance
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
9.7
8.3
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
1,784 points
1,501 points
CPU Multi-Thread
12,733 points
4,757 points
GPU Compute
68,226 points
32,213 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
9.6
7.9
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
1,535 points
1,259 points
Multi-Thread
12,390 points
4,231 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
7.9
6.8
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
4.1 min
10.1 min
GPU Render Time
N/A
2.1 min
GPU Render Time (Optix)
N/A
113 s
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
9.0
5.8
Basemark Image
Overall Score
80,945
22,652
Storage Drive Performance
9.5
9.3
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
4,506.1 MB/s
1,281.3 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
4,846.1 MB/s
2,509.0 MB/s
Random Write Speed
54.2 MB/s
77.5 MB/s
Random Read Speed
57.5 MB/s
56.8 MB/s
Battery
9.4
7.3
Capacity
100 Wh
56 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
15.0 hrs
9.4 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
8.4 hrs
6.2 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
2.1 hrs
1.2 hrs
Charge Time
2.1 hrs
2.3 hrs
Borderlands 3
6.0
2.7
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
48 fps
16 fps
1% Low
30 fps
10 fps
0.1% Low
16 fps
7 fps
1% Low Delta
12 ms
36 ms
0.1% Low Delta
43 ms
89 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
58 fps
44 fps
Civilization VI
6.8
5.2
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
52 fps
34 fps
1% Low
37 fps
20 fps
0.1% Low
33 fps
18 fps
1% Low Delta
8 ms
20 ms
0.1% Low Delta
11 ms
27 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
97 fps
114 fps
Avg. Turn Time
9.69 s
8.5 s
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
9.1
7.7
CS:GO graph
Avg. FPS
129 fps
89 fps
1% Low
N/A
56 fps
0.1% Low
N/A
36 fps
1% Low Delta
N/A
7 ms
0.1% Low Delta
N/A
17 ms
Avg. FPS On Low
162 fps
139 fps
Counter-Strike 2
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
1% Low
0.1% Low
1% Low Delta
0.1% Low Delta
Avg. FPS On Low
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
6.0
4.5
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
93 fps
26 fps
1% Low
25 fps
18 fps
0.1% Low
11 fps
14 fps
1% Low Delta
29 ms
16 ms
0.1% Low Delta
77 ms
31 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
134 fps
54 fps
Thermals And Noise
7.7
7.3
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
25 °C (77 °F)
34 °C (93 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
45 °C (112 °F)
45 °C (114 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
43.4 dBA
45.0 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
No
No
Performance Over Time
9.8
4.8
Performance Over Time Graph
Performance Over Time Image
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
93 °C
65 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
1% loss
16% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
88 °C
70 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
19% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
macOS
Windows 10
Additional Software
None
Yes
Extra Features
RGB Illumination
No
No
Touch Pen
No
No
Secondary Display
No
No
Biometrics
Fingerprint Sensor
Face Recognition and Fingerprint Sensor
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Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021)
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Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021) vs HP ZBook Firefly 15 G8 (2021): Main Discussion
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