Do I really need a macbook pro ?

[Giaxy]

Hi guys,
I am writing this post since I am interested in buying the new macbook pro but I don't know if it is too much for my needs.
I am an engineering student in his last months ( I am preparing my master thesis) and I mainly use my pc for numerical simulations, CAD and coding.
I am not a "typical content creator" so I don't edit photos or videos, even if I think it is something that I would like to learn cause they seem to me a sort of basic skills to know in this historical period.
Now, I don't know what my job will be in the future and this means that I don't know if I will have a work-PC and what kind of stuff I will do with it.
I am really interested in buying the new Macbook Pro, specifically I am interested in the "basic" version of the 16" with M1 Max, the reasons are :

- Longevity : I assume that the machine will satisfy my needs for the next 10 years
- Battery : I always suffered the fact of having a laptop that needs to be always near a plug
- Power/Quality of screen,materials and sound
- Student discount : You can save some $ which is not bad
- Black Friday Discount : Maybe
- iPad : I have an iPad Pro which can synergically interact with the Macbook

Now I have a windows PC (16 gb RAM, ssd, core i-7 6th generation, gtx960m), which does his Job quite well ( with my normal activity at least 75% of ram is used) , the main issues are the low battery longevity, the fact that becomes extremely noisy when doing normal tasks, and extremely hot in summer espcially in the wrist zone. The PC is 6 years old and can't be upgraded to Windows 11. What do you suggest me ?

 

[velocityg4]

You're using a 6 year old Windows laptop and it does fine with your school work. Except for battery life.

A Macbook Air, 8 Core, 16GB RAM, whatever SSD you need. Should handle the work without a problem with stellar battery life. While the Macbook Pro 32GB and M1 Max or whatever sounds awesome. It also sounds like overkill.

You'll have your Master's soon. Before the Macbook Air starts showing its age. It'll have a nice useful life after school. Your work will probably provide you a laptop they want you to use anyways.

If you can afford it. Sure, go for it. Although I'd say consider 32GB RAM to maximize useful life.

 

[SpotOnT]

My main thought is that this is just the very first generation of Apple Silicon. We don't know how much Apple will improve their chips every year yet, or how long they will provide macOS support, etc so expecting the computer to last 10 years might be a bit risky at this point. Given that, I would suggest just grabbing the 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro, rather than going for the Max. The big thing for you is that the M1 Pro and the M1 Max have the same processing power (which is what you need for CAD) - the only thing the M1 Max adds is more GPU, which it sounds like you don't really need. Also with the savings of the Pro instead of the Max, maybe you can upgrade sooner if the laptop starts getting outdated after 4-6 years.

Now some here might suggest saving even more money by waiting until the spring and buying a M2 MacBook Air instead. That could also be worth considering if you have an external monitor that you use, because there is a big screen size difference between the 16" Pro and 13" Air.

Personally, if I were going to be using CAD, Matlab, etc frequently, I would go for the Pro now. The active cooling will serve you better in the long run compared to the Air. And it is great to use your student account to get as much software from the University onto your Mac as you can. Maybe your new employer won't provide you with a CAD license, but if you already have that on your personal laptop - that can be a huge asset.

 

[satcomer]

AT ever sense you will be using the same high programming for school so if you go with just a M1 get double to Max RAM sense it not accessed after the sale sense it is intergraded to the chip!