Buying advice.

[Bishta]

Hello all,

I am currently using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 that has almost 1900 battery cycles, two bust speakers that are muffled and rattle a lot, and either a possible memory leak or failing graphics processor as every time I visit any image related gallery my temps go up and my fans kick into overdrive so I am due an upgrade.

Now the question is do I wait until the spring/early summer when the M2's are out or should I just go ahead and purchase an M1 now?

I am looking at either the Apple M1 Pro chip or Apple M1 Max chip. I do a lot of graphics related stuff including work in Premier Pro, After Effects and C4D and will also be wanting to download and install Stable Diffusion once I am on a Silicon chip, so am even undecided whether I need either the Pro or Max? Or as I have already said, am I best just waiting it out another 3-6 months?

Thanks in advance!

 

[rm5]

The M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pros will likely only be a small upgrade from the current ones. You're better off recycling that piece of crap and getting an M1 Max. The M1 Pro might be too underpowered for you given the fact that Adobe's "optimization" for Apple Silicon isn't really optimization, so it still runs deathly slow compared to Resolve and Apple Motion (from my experience). Adobe in general is a piece of garbage. But regardless, an M1 Max is your best bet.

 

[Bodhitree]

The M1-series MacBook Pro’s are going for significant discounts, so you end up making a saving by buying the slightly older device if you shop around. Plus you don’t have to wait.

on the other hand, the M2 Pro and M2 Max are rumoured to be manufactured on the new 3 nm process, which if true will yield significant power savings and maybe a speed boost compared to the M2 thats in the new MacBook Air.

 

[tstafford]

Several threads on this recently. No surprise given the rumored update in the works.

My two cents - given you don't want a base machine (which are the ones that generally are retail discounted) the only way I would buy now is if the right configuration showed up on the refurb store at a price I liked. It's very possible the exact config you want, at a price you want shows up. I'd shop that way for a while and pull the trigger if the right machine comes up for sale.

For most folks my guess is they will not be unhappy with the M1Pro/Max MBP. I love mine. So I'd say go for it, but don't compromise on config or price this close in to the potential update.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you can get a good discount on the current MBP 14" or 16", buy now.
By "good discount", I mean from $200-400 off.
The revised 14"/16" models aren't going to be "that different" (other than an upgraded CPU).

If you CAN'T get a discount, and can keep "holding out" a few more months, might as well "wait".

 

[stradify]

Bishta,
I agree with tstafford that a refurb is your best bet unless money is no object in which case waiting might be worth it.

Since you're used to a 15" display I recommend going with the 16". You can save almost $500 on a 16" MacBook Pro Max, 10 core CPU, 24core GPU and 1TB hard drive on the refurbished store: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch-space-gray-10-core-cpu-16-core-gpu-1tb# for $2819 as opposed to a new one for $3299.