The new MacBook Pro is the best work laptop Apple has ever made, but it still falls behind Windows rivals in two key areas

The MacBook Pro is designed for getting serious work done, and its larger display makes it even easier to do just that. But beyond simply fitting more content on the screen, the MacBook Pro's bigger display gives Apple's laptop a much more modern look that echoes the design changes it's made to the iPhone and iPad in recent years.

It's a small but necessary improvement for Apple if it wants the MacBook Pro's design to remain competitive with rivals like Dell's XPS lineup, which have boasted nearly borderless screens for years. The bezels on the new MacBook Pro still aren't quite as slim as those on Dell's XPS 15, but it's certainly an upgrade.

When it comes to quality, the 16-inch MacBook Pro's display won't disappoint. The MacBook Pro now features display with a slightly higher resolution of 3072 by 1920 pixels (226 pixels per inch) compared to its 15-inch predecessor, which has a 2880 by 1800 resolution screen (220 pixels per inch). I've been using the new MacBook Pro mostly for working and watching video on Netflix and YouTube, and I found that colors always look vibrant and crisp.

I also generally prefer reading and working on the MacBook Pro since it has Apple's True Tone technology, which adjusts color to match the ambient light of your surroundings. As a result, the MacBook Pro's display generally looks warmer and less blue than Windows alternatives.

That being said, as OLED screens become increasingly common on laptops, it could be more challenging for the MacBook Pro's display to shine against competitors. When I watched Netflix's "Stranger Things" on both the LED backlit MacBook Pro's display and the 4K OLED display on a similarly configured Dell XPS 15, the difference was surely noticeable. Colors looked bolder and more lively on Dell's screen, and the contrast was much more apparent.

The new MacBook Pro seemed more than capable of handling heavy workloads. The configuration I'm testing is one of the higher-end models priced at $3,899, which comes with a 2.4GHz eight-core Intel Core i9 processor with 32GB of RAM memory and AMD Radeon Pro 5500M graphics.

When I ran Maxon's Cinebench R20 test on it, a benchmark that evaluates the rendering performance of a computer's central processing unit, the Pro scored a bit higher than a similarly configured Dell XPS 15.

That performance translated to everyday use too. Whether I was getting work done with more than 20 tabs open in a browser while running apps in the background, or playing a game like "Tomb Raider" at its highest supported resolution, the Pro never seemed sluggish. The whirring fans, however, did get a bit loud when running "Tomb Raider," but wasn't noticeable otherwise while I was working.

If you frequently work outside of a traditional office setting or while traveling, you can expect to get several hours worth of work done on the MacBook Pro before you start scrambling for an outlet. The MacBook Pro lasted for around five-and-a-half hours when I used it for a regular day of work. That normally includes web browsing and using chat applications like Slack.

But battery life will always vary depending on the apps and programs you're running and the system settings. When I tweaked a few settings, such as keeping the display brightness set at 75%, turning off the keyboard backlight, shutting off True Tone, and disabling dark mode, I found that I was able to get closer to six-and-a-half hours out of the MacBook Pro.

The new 16-inch MacBook Pro's speakers put the audio on other laptops I've been using to shame. The MacBook Pro, which has a new six-speaker sound system compared to the 15-inch Pro's four speakers, offers boisterous, clean audio with rich depth. It made the Dell XPS 15 sound hollow and shallow in comparison.

I don't usually listen to music, videos, or podcasts on my laptop without headphones. But the MacBook Pro makes me want to. And with the new MacBook Pro's large size, I could easily see it becoming a fixture at my desk at home that I use for playing music or asking Siri requests, serving a similar purpose as an Echo Dot.

With its revamped keyboard, larger, crisp screen, and fast performance, the new MacBook Pro is probably the best work laptop Apple has made so far. After using it in place of my 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2017, I'm finding it difficult to go back — especially considering the new Pro's keyboard has been so drastically improved.

If you're a devoted Apple user that isn't open to switching to Windows and wants a large, powerful laptop with a reliable keyboard, the new MacBook Pro is probably worth splurging on. Given its roomy display and high-quality audio, I can imagine it being a particularly compelling choice for those editing video, music, or photos.

But if you're not partial to Apple, there are Windows-based options that will get you more for your money, particularly when it comes to the display. A configuration of Dell's XPS 15 that's priced the same as Apple's entry-level 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with a more powerful processor (eight-core Intel Core i9 versus the Pro's six-core Intel Core i7), more storage space (1TB compared to the MacBook Pro's 512GB SSD), and a 4K OLED screen.

But the new 16-inch MacBook Pro does make Apple's high-end laptop a better value for the price. Apple's older 15-inch model was available for the same $2,400 base price, but included a smaller screen, a less-capable speaker system, and the less-comfortable butterfly keyboard.