The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) offers superior performance for creative professionals with its high-quality Mini LED display, extensive color coverage, and better build quality. It excels in tasks like photo and video editing, thanks to its powerful Apple M1 Pro chip and long battery life, making it an excellent choice for demanding engineering and design work. Conversely, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3, with its dedicated Nvidia graphics card, is more tailored for gaming and can handle hardware ray tracing, though it may not perform as well in demanding professional applications due to its lower RAM. It's also more budget-friendly, but comes with tradeoffs in display quality, battery life, and overall build compared to the MacBook. If portability is crucial, the MacBook Pro is slightly lighter and thinner, offering a better balance between power and portability than the IdeaPad Gaming 3. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)
Excellent for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3
The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021).
Key differences
General Use
9.0/10
7.4/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
497.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
329.0 nits
17.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
8.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is excellent for general use, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
7.0/10
6.5/10
5.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
8.7/10
7.2/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
5.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
32.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) excels in engineering and design tasks due to its higher RAM, more advanced CPU with integrated GPU providing better screen resolution and color accuracy, which are crucial for detailed work, although its heftier build reduces portability compared to the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3. The Lenovo, on the other hand, offers a dedicated gaming-quality GPU and good processing power, which makes it suitable for engineering and design, but with less RAM and a lower-quality display, it comes in at a more accessible weight for carrying around.
Content Creation
8.8/10
7.4/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
32.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.9/10
7.3/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.9/10
32.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for software development, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
9.4/10
7.2/10
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
497.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
329.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) boasts superior display resolution and brightness, and its panel supports wide color gamuts like DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB, making colors pop and providing clarity that's essential for both general use and professional engineering and design work. However, it falls short for 3D applications due to a lower refresh rate, which can limit the smoothness of motion crucial in 3D and gaming scenarios. In contrast, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 offers a good balance between resolution and brightness for everyday tasks and engineering software, but its screen may not keep up with fast-paced gaming and 3D rendering due to a less optimal refresh rate.
Battery
17.5 Hours
8.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 has 8 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Good
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
4.7 lbs
WEIGHT
5.1 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) and Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 both have good portability, though the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has somewhat better portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.2/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,949
$549
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has a price of $1,949 and the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 costs $549.
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
"The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is one of the most powerful RTX 3050 Ti laptops. If you disregard the mediocre quality of the case in terms of the material and workmanship, Lenovo has created a successful budget gaming laptop with the IdeaPad Gaming. Thanks to high TDPs and constant performance development, the Core i5-12500H and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti are able to show their full power, while in contrast, the (mostly slower) competitors deliver a better battery life. However, hardly any of the alternative laptops are able to reach the image quality of the Gaming 3. Most of the competitors are left behind in terms of the color space and brightness."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) or the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Laptops Expert
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