Cheap M1 MBP vs new M2 MBP... Still worth getting an "old" one?

[dinojr]

Hello

I see Apple have refurbished 16" MBP 16GB / 1TB for just under £2k , and John Lewis have the same at £2299 reduced to clear. (but with 2yr warranty)
Would these kind of savings make this a better buy than the equivalent new M2 MBP at £2900? ... 2k is a lot of cash for an 18month old laptop, so concerned about obsolescence vs a new one...

 

[maflynn]

Would these kind of savings make this a better buy than the equivalent new M2 MBP at £2900?

If it was me, I'd much rather spend 2000 then 3000. So yes, I think you're better off buying the M1 over the M2

so concerned about obsolescence vs a new one

The M1 is not going to be obsolete any time soon, you generally get about 7 years worth of support from apple, and even beyond that there are many people who hold onto their computer for 10+ years. If that's a goal for you, the M1 is just as suited for that endeavor as the M2

 

[tstafford]

Unless you are the kind of person who just has to have the latest/greatest, then I think the M1P refurb is a great deal.

The upgrades Apple included with the new machine are nice but not game changing IMHO:

• Single core performance - biggest reason I would consider the M2P. My M2 MBA is faster than my M1 MBP for things like web browsing. It's snappier. However the MBP is by no means slow
• BT/Wifi - don't do much for me. I have no issue with either on my current machines
• HDMI - a nice upgrade if you need it but the TB ports work fine for me

The improved single core performance wouldn't be enough for me to spend an additional $1.1K. Not even close really. The best thing about the MBP is the screen and you're getting the same one either way.

 

[lewchenko]

I just took delivery yesterday of a silver MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16GB/1TB (refurb) yesterday. Ordered Thursday, arrived Friday (UK) for £1999.

There was no way I was willing to pay £2900 for the M2 version of that machine. £900 more for features I won’t even need/use and won’t notice the peformance difference one bit.

Apple have gone crazy with their prices.

I’ve bought refurb a couple of times now. The machine was pristine , literally brand new from what I could tell in every respect. Packaged like new as well.

Really happy with it. It’s a hefty machine though compared to my works MacBook Pro 16” from 2019.

 

[lewchenko]

I should add that whilst John Lewis offer a 2yr warranty , it’s actually provided by a 3rd party. Probably one where you send it off for “repair” and wait weeks.

If the extended warranty is of value then I’d just get AppleCare and buy at £1999 from Apple. I think the Apple care though costs £349.

My machine will probably never leave the house and migrate from desk to sofa to bed so I’m probably not going to bother.

 

[StuAff]

Just bought an M1 Pro 16GB/1TB 14" refurb from Apple, £1839 so saved £500 or so compared to an M2 Pro (and only £90 more than a 16GB/1TB M2 MBA!). Delighted with it. Unless you really, really want HDMI 2.1 or the wifi/BT upgrades, save the cash. It isn't 'obsolescent' by any means- and it won't be for as long as it does the job you want it to. Went for AC+ to cover the cost of a battery replacement if needed within the three years.

 

[ilikewhey]

Unless you are the kind of person who just has to have the latest/greatest, then I think the M1P refurb is a great deal.

The upgrades Apple included with the new machine are nice but not game changing IMHO:

• Single core performance - biggest reason I would consider the M2P. My M2 MBA is faster than my M1 MBP for things like web browsing. It's snappier. However the MBP is by no means slow
• BT/Wifi - don't do much for me. I have no issue with either on my current machines
• HDMI - a nice upgrade if you need it but the TB ports work fine for me

The improved single core performance wouldn't be enough for me to spend an additional $1.1K. Not even close really. The best thing about the MBP is the screen and you're getting the same one either way.

really? you actually notice a difference with only a 200 single score higher in synthetic bench? i use my co-workers m2 mba all the time and in all honesty they load the same for web browsing. my m1 max is actually faster in chromium apps like slacks.

 

[tstafford]

really? you actually notice a difference with only a 200 single score higher in synthetic bench? i use my co-workers m2 mba all the time and in all honesty they load the same for web browsing. my m1 max is actually faster in chromium apps like slacks.

No chrome use for me. I think it's definitely a tad faster loading pages in Safari. But like I said, not worth any meaningful amount of $$$. Bought the MBA as a bedside device instead of an iPad Pro - I like it a lot (great battery, ok screen and decent size/weight).

 

[ilikewhey]

No chrome use for me. I think it's definitely a tad faster loading pages in Safari. But like I said, not worth any meaningful amount of $$$. Bought the MBA as a bedside device instead of an iPad Pro - I like it a lot (great battery, ok screen and decent size/weight).

not chrome, chromium apps.

i on the other hand haven't noticed a single real world instance where the m2 mba were any faster than m1 in single core performance.

 

[tstafford]

not chrome, chromium apps.

i on the other hand haven't noticed a single real world instance where the m2 mba were any faster than m1 in single core performance.

Do you like your M2 MBA otherwise? (I find it to be a solid machine. Not as good as my MBP14, but for the $$$ impressive).

 

[ilikewhey]

Do you like your M2 MBA otherwise? (I find it to be a solid machine. Not as good as my MBP14, but for the $$$ impressive).

i never had one as personal, my company provided the base model out to my department so i get to play around with it til my 14inch mbp came in. two of my subordinates still uses the company issued m2 mba and i had to hijack it couple of times.

the one upside with the mba i definitely noticed is the battery life, but besides that the mbp 14 screen pretty much beats it in every other category, there are some die hards mba owners in the MBA section who "claim" the mba has better sound 😂 and better display 🤣 in fact it got so bad at one point it becomes a personal pissing match lol

for the money the base model is ok, but when you start adding specs on par with the base 14inch, the dollar ratio goes bye bye.

 

[Doc69]

I'm also in the market for a new 16" MacBook Pro and have the same question. Unfortunately, I need a 4TB SSD, so it's going to be very expensive regardless. However, I can save $600 at B&H on an M1 Max vs M2 Max or $400 on an M1 Max vs M2 Pro. Do you think it's worth saving 14% to go with the old 2021 M1 Max vs a new M2 Max?

Apple 14.2" MacBook Pro with M1 Max
$3,699.00 Reg Price $4,099.00 Instant Savings $400.00
M1 Max 10-Core (GB 12590), 24-Core GPU
32GB, 4TB SSD

Apple 16" MacBook Pro M2 Pro
$4,099.00
M2 Pro 12-Core (GB 15079), 19-Core GPU
32GB, 4TB SSD

Apple 16" MacBook Pro M2 Max
$4,299.00
M2 Max 12-Core (GB 15242), 30-Core GPU
32GB, 4TB SSD

 

[xraydoc]

Do you think it's worth saving 14% to go with the old 2021 M1 Max vs a new M2 Max?

All depends on what you plan to do with it.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Typing this on my 2015 Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch. I mentioned that just to let you know Macs don't just go obsolete because there is a new one out. Also, its on Big Sur, haven't even upgraded to Monterrey. Even though I have a 2020 M1 which I also, I can still get use out of this. You probably will get a good 7 years of macOS upgrades or even more out of the M1.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Add me to the list of people side-grading this year. I wanted to downsize from my 16" to a 14" inch since I am traveling more these days. I had originally planned to upgrade to the M2 model but ended up grabbing a barely used (only 14 cycles on the battery) 14" M1 instead. Got the binned M1 Max with 64GB ram/2TB storage for $300 less than the binned M2 Max 32GB/1TB machine I had been looking at (and for a whopping $1100 less than the comparable configuration with the new machines).

Saving that kind of money for slightly less performance is more than "worth it" in my book, especially since the M2 models don't bring anything else to the table besides some upgraded I/O. I should be able to cover most of the cost of the new machine by selling my current one and will put the savings toward a future M3/M4 model, which should be more of an upgrade.

 

[scouser75]

Just bought an M1 Pro 16GB/1TB 14" refurb from Apple, £1839 so saved £500 or so compared to an M2 Pro (and only £90 more than a 16GB/1TB M2 MBA!). Delighted with it. Unless you really, really want HDMI 2.1 or the wifi/BT upgrades, save the cash. It isn't 'obsolescent' by any means- and it won't be for as long as it does the job you want it to. Went for AC+ to cover the cost of a battery replacement if needed within the three years.

I have to say, I'm surprised the M1s are holding their value at the priceenafter the release of the M2.

If anything, I'd downgrade to a 15" MBA if the specs looked good when released. The M1 MBP right now is massive overkill for me. But I was lucky to have got a spectacular deal for my 16" M1 Pro with 1tb drive and would've been silly to let it pass by.

 

[StuAff]

I have to say, I'm surprised the M1s are holding their value at the priceenafter the release of the M2.

If anything, I'd downgrade to a 15" MBA if the specs looked good when released. The M1 MBP right now is massive overkill for me. But I was lucky to have got a spectacular deal for my 16" M1 Pro with 1tb drive and would've been silly to let it pass by.

The M1 Pros have all gone from the refurb store, so it was definitely one of those deals to jump on when it was there. The MBA would have done me just fine, but I knew I'd use the extra ports- or want a dock/hub to bring them back- so it was clearly a better option.

 

[bchreng]

Was just wondering about this. The local stores frequently have the base 14” M1 Pro on sale for $1600. Between the faster SSD and larger CPU heatsink, I think I’d opt to save a little bit of money and get that one for now.

 

[MBAir2010]

Typing this on my 2015 Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch. I mentioned that just to let you know Macs don't just go obsolete because there is a new one out. Also, its on Big Sur, haven't even upgraded to Monterrey. Even though I have a 2020 M1 which I also, I can still get use out of this. You probably will get a good 7 years of macOS upgrades or even more out of the M1.

im still using my dinosaur MacBook Pro 2012 to do fast 2023 things like Monetreying!

 

[ascender]

Sounds like a bargain, go for the M1 Pro - that's a massive saving. The M2 chips are a spec bump with the sort of expected performance increase you'd expect at this point.

The M1 chips are so capable, your machine will last for years and for 99% of users will perform just as well as the M2 in real world use. Unless you're someone whose workflow will benefit from that performance bump in terms of time & money saved, save yourself some cash and get the M1.

 

[mzeb]

Both M1 and M2 machines fall in line at their current price points. The question comes about to a time calculation. Depending on the workloads you are doing the extra processing power might save you some time and time is money. You can decide by the numbers like this.

First, approximate how much work (via benchmarks or otherwise) you could get done with the M1 in a day. Next figure out how much less time it would take the M2 and take the difference of those two numbers. After that divide the difference in price by the difference in time it would take to finish the work. This will give you a number in $/hr. Compare this number to your hourly rate (if you're salaried this is approximately your salary/2000). This is also a $/hr value. If your rate is less than that of the difference the performance of the laptops the M2 isn't worth it for you. If it's greater it is.

Now that all said, I just got my M2 Max on Saturday because I wanted the extra power of it. I don't NEED it, but it's also part toy for me so I gotta factor that in too. If it's part toy for you feel free to put the value of your emotional enjoyment into the mix

 

[tango125]

I'm considering buying a used one too. Since that guy is selling a mid-M1 Pro with 1TB at around USD$600 less, but still has 2 plus years of Apple care left, so I guess the guy bought it last July.

 

[scouser75]

If you're in no urgent need, I suggest holding out till the M1s are a bit cheaper. I got my 16" M1 1TB in October last year for £1450. It was on offer then got a little more off with TopCashBack. Just couldn't say no to this as I desperately needed to upgrade from my 2009 Mac Pro, which then went boom a month later 😢

 

[McScooby]

If you're in no urgent need, I suggest holding out till the M1s are a bit cheaper. I got my 16" M1 1TB in October last year for £1450. It was on offer then got a little more off with TopCashBack. Just couldn't say no to this as I desperately needed to upgrade from my 2009 Mac Pro, which then went boom a month later 😢

Oooft, top price for the 16", where you get it from?

 

[Eccentric Arcanist]

I went for the £1999 16-inch M1 Pro 1TB from the Apple refurb store and I’m absolutely delighted. It’s the first Apple refurb product I’ve bought and honestly the thing appears absolutely brand new. Aside from not having the picture on the box everything else was the same as buying a MacBook from a retail store. I’ve checked over every inch and can’t find a single mark. And battery cycle count is only 3. My original plan was to get the M2 Pro version but I just couldn’t justify paying £900 more for it.