Committing to a high-end macbook pro?

[softwareguy256]

So with the new scheme, we need to buy all the stuff up front. No more upgrades. My concern is not price. $5k for a laptop that can last me a decade is not an issue. Suppose I have the 8TB SSD option. My concern are parts breaking which seems to be a fairly common occurrence. Things like broken keyboard, broken trackpad, broken USB/thunderbolt port, or the infamous battery bulge all of which can take a multi-business day shipping and repair for hundreds of dollars.

The question is should I go down the path of building the high-end computer or simply go enterprise with a low-end dumb terminal connected to a sophisticated backend infrastructure? At my place of work a fast interconnect can access data off a Linux/NAS as fast as a conventional hard drives. I'm thinking the latter makes more sense from an operational perspective: More scale, more redundancy, less downtime.

In other words rather than Apple getting my money, I'm going to spend it on Seagate, Western Digital, Cisco and Mellanox/NVidia.

 

[duanepatrick]

Building your own is always a great choice. More configurable options, more freedom.

 

[posguy99]

Well, not Seagate, of course. I like my data, so definitely not Seagate.

 

[Fishrrman]

I've never bought a "high-end" Mac (although I've owned many Macs over the last 33 years).

Unless you earn money with one, and unless you can depreciate it as a business expense, I just don't consider them to be "worth the money" for what you get in return.

But one other thing:
Over time, from reading many posts, the Macs that seem to encounter the most problems in their service lives are the "highest-spec'd" ones.

The plain-vanilla and midrange Macs seem to have far fewer problems.

If you want to spend upwards of $5k on a MacBook Pro, well, it's your money...

 

[pmiles]

Laptops have the most issues honestly. When was the last time you up and moved a desktop computer? Laptops are dropped, shaken, and stirred on a daily basis. Then there's the small form factor that induces more heat onto the components (which is why Apple moving away from the INTEL chips in the first place). People also plug and unplug devices from them constantly, adding additional wear and tear to the ports. In a nutshell, laptops are brutalized by their owners just as much as they brutalize their mobile phones. This isn't even taking into consideration design defects or component failures due to manufacturing defects.

And above all else, the largest computer base for Apple is their laptops... which make them the most likely to have reported problems due to sheer volume.

So no, high-end doesn't make it more prone to problems.

In regards to the 3 new M1 Macs... they all share the same SoC, so the only thing different between them is their enclosure. One is roomy, not likely to be moved about, and has the biggest fan. One is mobile with a fan. And one is mobile without a fan. Of the 3, the one without a fan is likely to observe the most issues in use. The one that is roomy with the biggest fan is likely to observe the least issues in use. This all assuming Apple fixes the mess that is Big Sur. For a native OS built entirely for M1 Macs, it has its problems.

A smart buyer wouldn't even buy a new computer until their entire lineup has been revealed. Then you will know exactly what is on the plate and where Apple is going with these things. And we're not talking more than a 2 year wait at best. Most of the lineup will be revealed in the coming year. Add to that, Big Sur will have matured a bit more. You will also know what the developers out there have decided to do. Adopt or abandon.

Holidays and new toys make one easily depart with their money when they otherwise would wait. We've been trained all our lives to see spending money as a way to make ourselves feel better. We have this global pandemic destroying our lives giving us a reason to treat ourselves to something nice for a change. Like fudge brownies nuzzled in front of a cozy fire. Resist the temptation now and you will glad you did later. Because next month or 6 months from now, the machine that really fit your needs will be announced and that box that everyone sang praises about will have been all but forgotten. 2020 iMac anyone? Crickets.

But fear not, if that box turns out to be your best option, well then, it will still be available to get only it will arrive in a 2 day shipment instead of 2 weeks to a month. The computers aren't going anywhere. There is no rush to get them.

 

[ght56]

I have one of the 'higher end' MacBook Pros, but only with a 1TB SSD. I don't personally think the 8TB SSD option makes financial sense (at least not for someone who has to justify purchasing expenses) because you are still going to need redundancy for your project files and, should the MBP need service, you are going to have all sorts of security and accessibility issues given there are situations where you may need to send it in for service but be UNABLE to delete sensitive files prior to doing so. The exception might be if you need constant mobile access to massive project files and local or DAS are your only practical options as you absolutely need insanely fast speeds. In your case, it sounds like it is not, and for the price of the 8TB upgrade, you could not only purchase two 4 TB external SSDs where your project files could live while being backed up to your network, but you could also purchase a second 'lower spec' 13-inch MacBook Pro to function as a backup machine should your primary 'higher end' 16-inch need service or should you need to go into the field and not want to take a $4,000 computer with you.

If you plan to own the higher spec MacBook Pro for a decade, it's going to require service at some point. If downtime hurts your bottom line, purchasing a second, less-expensive unit makes sense to me.

 

[softwareguy256]

Redundancy is a big headache and essentially requires 2 laptops of similar quality. Downtime is a big issue. In terms of security, we have to put our full faith and trust in apple's encrypted filesystem...

Based on the overwhelming responses thus far I think I'm going down the path of:
NAS in redundant RAID, maybe in a 1U Xeon rackmount server not sure yet...
Cisco VPN / Global-Protect <-- for when I need my files on the go
Enterprise Firewall
10G+ ethernet switch
Might just get a 12U rack to put this all in. Need to be careful I don't blow out a standard 15 amp circuit!
Stick with my Haswell macbook pro, with a 500GB drive used as mostly a dumb terminal.

 

[trevpimp]

Coming from an average consumer

The most I would spend in a computer storage would be 1TB (current config prices) then I would invest quite a bit on external SSD drives as they are more durable than hard drives

Always best to go low cost to medium average in spending on Apple cause not only does a faster refresh sounds beneficial for you but Apple always seems to release the next best thing featured in a product (Saves you half the money and time)

cheers