Advice on buying new MacBook.

[appleman3000]

I have a MBP mid 2015 at the moment. I've been working from home since March. The more I'm on it the more I realize it's not cutting it for my VPN work.

I've had it since early 2016. I feel like its getting a bit long in the tooth. Maybe time for an upgrade?

Should I get the M1 Air or Pro?

I’m going to keep my mbp2015.

 

[ght56]

It could be a good match! Are you confident the work you are doing and the software you use is compatible and works well with the M1 Macs? (M1 is rapidly flourishing so chances are yes, but it's good to be certain beforehand.)

 

[flaubert]

It might be a good idea for you to provide more details about what you're doing for work, and how specifically it is showing up as a problem with regard to your work VPN. For instance, are you doing all your work within a remote desktop app like Citrix?

 

[appleman3000]

It might be a good idea for you to provide more details about what you're doing for work, and how specifically it is showing up as a problem with regard to your work VPN. For instance, are you doing all your work within a remote desktop app like Citrix?

Microsoft Remote Desktop. Mostly for video and graphic editing over the vpn.

The delay is just enough to drive me insane.

 

[flaubert]

From what I've read about the M1 Macs, they can run video at speed more or less all day long without really breaking a sweat (or overheating). And since the main reason to go for the M1 MBP is to be able to handle sustained periods of high computational load, courtesy of the fan that can cool the process, I would think that you would be fine with the M1 MacBook Air, since virtual network computing is really pretty equivalent to video (and not a high computational load).

You can also audition a MacBook Air, and return it for a MacBook Pro if you find the issue persists.

However, that being said, I would look carefully at your network connection first and foremost as the culprit for latency issues. To start with, try switching from WiFi to ethernet as a test, and note whether there is improvement. If you have the opportunity to take your 2015 MBP in to work, and run the test off ethernet at work, that would be even better. You might find that the old laptop is not the bottleneck. But you can still tell your spouse that you need the new shiny to improve your work from home game. 🙂

 

[appleman3000]

From what I've read about the M1 Macs, they can run video at speed more or less all day long without really breaking a sweat (or overheating). And since the main reason to go for the M1 MBP is to be able to handle sustained periods of high computational load, courtesy of the fan that can cool the process, I would think that you would be fine with the M1 MacBook Air, since virtual network computing is really pretty equivalent to video (and not a high computational load).

You can also audition a MacBook Air, and return it for a MacBook Pro if you find the issue persists.

However, that being said, I would look carefully at your network connection first and foremost as the culprit for latency issues. To start with, try switching from WiFi to ethernet as a test, and note whether there is improvement. If you have the opportunity to take your 2015 MBP in to work, and run the test off ethernet at work, that would be even better. You might find that the old laptop is not the bottleneck. But you can still tell your spouse that you need the new shiny to improve your work from home game. 🙂

I'll try that. She will get my MBP IF/when I upgrade. Thanks for your input.

 

[James_C]

Microsoft Remote Desktop. Mostly for video and graphic editing over the vpn.

If you are connecting to a remote computer via VPN and Remote Desktop the delay is more likely due to your connection bandwidth either by your internet speed and / or the connection at your office. A new Mac will not make Remote Desktop run any faster. I would not recommend trying to video edit via Remote Desktop as the lag would drive me insane. Are you not able to do your editing on your own machine and then upload the finished files to the server in the office via VPN ? Or are all your video assets so large that transferring between your local Mac and the office not feasible? Or if you are able go into the office and transfer the files onto a portable SSD and edit off that.

 

[Moakesy]

Agree with the posts above about it being unlikely your current MBP is the culprit here. I work 100% using a Remote Desktop and whilst I can't imagine how bad video editing is in your scenario, I do know that nothing I do locally impacts the performance.

If I were you, I'd wait for the 2nd wave of AS machines to come out before making a decision to upgrade. Doing it now is tempting, but the current M1 machines will still be available, plus there might be something more appealing (and expensive sadly) that is a better longer term option.

 

[EmmEff]

A newer/faster notebook will not fix your broken workflow. Editing video over Remote Desktop over a VPN is... uh... ridiculous. Copy your assets locally, edit them, and upload them.

 

[appleman3000]

A newer/faster notebook will not fix your broken workflow. Editing video over Remote Desktop over a VPN is... uh... ridiculous. Copy your assets locally, edit them, and upload them.

Thank you for your opinion.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Agree with what has being said about VPN. For me, WFH, data transfer is the biggest source of lags.
Nevertheless, I am going to get a new M1 while keeping my early 2015 MBP. Because I will still have a laptop, I have ordered a Mac mini M1 for the desk (monitor, keyboard etc. are already there). The MBP remains for the "sofa office", the "dining table office" and the "garden office"
Maybe could the Mac mini also be an idea for you? MBA M1 of course seems perfectly fine, given the good experiences of so many people here. Look, for example, what @James_C has written https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-air-m1-1-week-review-switch-from-15-mbp.2271252/