I've owned a 2019 16" MBP for the better part of this year (i9 2.3GHz, 5500M, 16GB, 1TB) and frankly am seriously disappointed with this machine. I don't use this MBP for creative pro work, and it still gets super hot and noisy ♨️. My usage is mainly having 50-70 Chrome tabs open (with Chrome RAM usage alone ~14-18GB), tabs loaded up with Google Docs, JIRA, InVision, Mixpanel, etc. Most of my other apps are Apple first-party, plus other lightweight Mac "friendlies" like Things, Bear, Alfred, etc
Zoom video calls all day plus the connection to my single 4K 60Hz external display gets my fans blasting 4000-5000 RPM nonstop. It's ridiculous. ? This is to say nothing of the speaker popping/crackling issue that randomly occurs too. I don't understand how true creative pros could happily use these machines.
Enter M1 Macs. This could be a game-changer, especially considering the early CPU benchmarks showing the M1 to rival 16" MBP chips. The only question I'm debating is whether to go fanless with the MBA, or get the MBP instead. Anyone here thinking similarly about this 16" "down-upgrade" strategy for people that have my type of workflow/usage?
To preempt the following concerns:
- No, I don't care about being limited to 2 ports. Hubs and docks exist for a reason, plus most of my peripherals are now Bluetooth.
- No, I don't care about a lack of ports on the right side of the machine. I can buy longer cables if that's what's forcing me to connect to the other side.
- No, I don't care about M1 Macs only supporting a single external display. One external is a good balance between expanding screen real estate without spending more time managing windows, creaking my neck, getting distracted, and so on.
- No, I don't care about a lack of a dedicated GPU. My workflow doesn't require it.
- No, I don't care about the Touch Bar.
- Yes, I care about the screen being smaller, but I'll make that trade-off.
- Yes, I care about the speakers and mic being worse, but I'll make that trade-off.
Zoom video calls all day plus the connection to my single 4K 60Hz external display gets my fans blasting 4000-5000 RPM nonstop. It's ridiculous. ? This is to say nothing of the speaker popping/crackling issue that randomly occurs too. I don't understand how true creative pros could happily use these machines.
Enter M1 Macs. This could be a game-changer, especially considering the early CPU benchmarks showing the M1 to rival 16" MBP chips. The only question I'm debating is whether to go fanless with the MBA, or get the MBP instead. Anyone here thinking similarly about this 16" "down-upgrade" strategy for people that have my type of workflow/usage?
To preempt the following concerns:
- No, I don't care about being limited to 2 ports. Hubs and docks exist for a reason, plus most of my peripherals are now Bluetooth.
- No, I don't care about a lack of ports on the right side of the machine. I can buy longer cables if that's what's forcing me to connect to the other side.
- No, I don't care about M1 Macs only supporting a single external display. One external is a good balance between expanding screen real estate without spending more time managing windows, creaking my neck, getting distracted, and so on.
- No, I don't care about a lack of a dedicated GPU. My workflow doesn't require it.
- No, I don't care about the Touch Bar.
- Yes, I care about the screen being smaller, but I'll make that trade-off.
- Yes, I care about the speakers and mic being worse, but I'll make that trade-off.