For student? MBP 16" 2019 Gray 2.3 i9 32GB 1TB 4GB 5500M

[Allen_Wentz]

Would an M1-Pro or M1-Max with 32GB RAM be better... yes; will an M1-Pro with 16GB be good enough for the next couple of years...yes.

Agreed, probably, if we shorten the life cycle to couple of years. But the Mac will be sub-optimal for the entire time, frequently paging to disk. I say probably above because RAM demands always are constantly increasing, and we do not know what the demands on the OP's new box will be in the future.

I know for a fact that 16 GB will not be good enough even today if it was an Intel MBP. Too bad there is not an easy way I could temporarily disable 80 GB of RAM and observe how the M2 MBP behaves with 16 GB and my workflow.

 

[darngooddesign]

Agreed, probably, if we shorten the life cycle to couple of years. But the Mac will be sub-optimal for the entire time, frequently paging to disk. I say probably above because RAM demands always are constantly increasing, and we do not know what the demands on the OP's new box will be in the future.

It will be fine for four years.

 

[YoitsTmac]

Agreed, probably, if we shorten the life cycle to couple of years. But the Mac will be sub-optimal for the entire time, frequently paging to disk. I say probably above because RAM demands always are constantly increasing, and we do not know what the demands on the OP's new box will be in the future.

I had an M1 air 16/512 doing a damn near identical workflow (LR, PS, PR, ID), and it was perfectly fine.

Sustained photo or video expert got hot, but still wouldn’t throttle either. I rarely had more than 1gb of swap.

 

[rovostrov]

60% over budget? Cmon guys.

If OP is going over budget, this is a better choice: https://www.ebay.com/itm/404733313898 and closer to the original budget. It’s like asking someone shopping for a $20k car to look at a $32k car.

OP was looking at a 5 year old computer stating a $1,000 budget. If they were looking at new, they would have said as much.

I would not consider this deal even for a second. This seller joined eBay Oct 2023 and only has 1 feedback rating. Also, they do not accept returns. Major red flags!! There are much more reputable eBay sellers to choose from.

 

[YoitsTmac]

I would not look at this deal for a second. This seller joined eBay Oct 2023 and only has 1 feedback rating. Also, they do not accept returns. Major red flags!! There are much more reputable eBay sellers to choose from.

That’s totally fair. To be honest, I just grabbed a link with a good value and photo. However, there are a number of good, equivalently specc’ed computers for under $1,000.

 

[Gary Kline]

Hey everyone, Gary, the OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions, comments and insights above! I truly read all of them and took them all in. After reading everything I take away the following general consensus:

1. It sounds prudent to spend a little more now to get an M1 based system (either Air with the 13.3 screen or MBP with the 14") instead of the last Intel 16" MBP. The consensus here seems that while the 2019 Intel system would work (and in any case is a tremendous step up from her mid-2012 MBP), in the end it's an EOL architecture with little path forward in a few years.
2. Memory is key and 16Gb is the way to go for her applications/need. 8Gb is off the table. (and in our case, 32Gb will probably be out of our target price band).
3. 512Gb storage as a min. but 1TB if we can find & afford it. In her case, she currently uses the cloud as her main storage and her current 2012 MBP with 256Gb SSD storage isn't even half full so either will fulfill her needs (but of course the 1TB would be better)

Again, I can't thank everyone enough!!!!

 

[YoitsTmac]

Hey everyone, Gary, the OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions, comments and insights above! I truly read all of them and took them all in. After reading everything I take away the following general consensus:

1. It sounds prudent to spend a little more now to get an M1 based system (either Air with the 13.3 screen or MBP with the 14") instead of the last Intel 16" MBP. The consensus here seems that while the 2019 Intel system would work (and in any case is a tremendous step up from her mid-2012 MBP), in the end it's an EOL architecture with little path forward in a few years.
2. Memory is key and 16Gb is the way to go for her applications/need. 8Gb is off the table. (and in our case, 32Gb will probably be out of our target price band).
3. 512Gb storage as a min. but 1TB if we can find & afford it. In her case, she currently uses the cloud as her main storage and her current 2012 MBP with 256Gb SSD storage isn't even half full so either will fulfill her needs (but of course the 1TB would be better)

Again, I can't thank everyone enough!!!!

Sounds like you nailed it through all our rift raft. You’ll be alright . Do let us know what you end up getting! For what it’s worth I didn’t really get much more real estate from a 13” air to a 14” pro, if it helps your decision. But for 1-300 more, the 14” pro will feel more proper I’d say.

There’s a ton of 512gb for sale on eBay for 1200 and under. Pay with PayPal because their buyer guarantee is better than eBay’s. As someone else said, keep an eye out for age of the seller and their reputation.

Also if you haven’t heard of it, give Swappa.com a look. I’d sooner buy there than eBay personally.

 

[darngooddesign]

Hey everyone, Gary, the OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions, comments and insights above! I truly read all of them and took them all in. After reading everything I take away the following general consensus:

1. It sounds prudent to spend a little more now to get an M1 based system (either Air with the 13.3 screen or MBP with the 14") instead of the last Intel 16" MBP. The consensus here seems that while the 2019 Intel system would work (and in any case is a tremendous step up from her mid-2012 MBP), in the end it's an EOL architecture with little path forward in a few years.
2. Memory is key and 16Gb is the way to go for her applications/need. 8Gb is off the table. (and in our case, 32Gb will probably be out of our target price band).
3. 512Gb storage as a min. but 1TB if we can find & afford it. In her case, she currently uses the cloud as her main storage and her current 2012 MBP with 256Gb SSD storage isn't even half full so either will fulfill her needs (but of course the 1TB would be better)

Again, I can't thank everyone enough!!!!

Yeah, I think you have a good handle on things. One more thing, the M# computers really take advantage of swap memory so if you go with 16GB you'll want to make sure you have a hundred or two GB free on the SSD so apps like Photoshop have lots of space to work with. If not on the internal drive then she will want a fast external SSD for her swap disk.

 

[Moreplease]

After reading everything I take away the following general consensus: […]

I agree with your summary of the consensus and also the consensus.

I’d just add that you may as well ask her about any preferences she has about screen size versus portability. If she’s doing graphic arts she might have an informed opinion about that sort of thing.

 

[Andrey84]

It sounds prudent to spend a little more now to get an M1 based system

Your summary is great, but the consensus is to try and get an Apple Silicon system, not specifically M1.
You could get the M2 MacBook Air 15", or even an M3 MBA when it comes out within 4-6 months. Since your daughter said she needs a larger screen for design.

 

[gpat]

Air 8/256 may be miserable but I'd rather take that and swap to death for memory intensive apps, rather than deal with the mess that the 16" Intel was. Truly ghastly machine.

 

[Andrey84]

Air 8/256 may be miserable but I'd rather take that and swap to death for memory intensive apps, rather than deal with the mess that the 16" Intel was. Truly ghastly machine.

Mate this is a great comment, but looking at your signature, COME ON, you're using an Android phone! 🤮 How did that happen to you? I'm really sorry! I do realize it's an off-topic, but it feels like there is a traitor in this thread 😆

 

[darngooddesign]

Your summary is great, but the consensus is to try and get an Apple Silicon system, not specifically M1.
You could get the M2 MacBook Air 15", or even an M3 MBA when it comes out within 4-6 months. Since your daughter said she needs a larger screen for design.

And the Air has better battery life than the MacBook Pros, but the 14" MacBook Pro does have a higher quality screen which is bright enough to be used outside, something students do, when the Air's will be a bit overwhelmed by bright sunlight.

 

[throAU]

You can buy a 15" MacBook Air for about the same price as that old i9
and it'll be like 2x faster with 5x the battery life

And 1/3 the heat - with 100% less fan noise.

8-16 GB of ram is fine for a student.

 

[gpat]

Mate this is a great comment, but looking at your signature, COME ON, you're using an Android phone! 🤮 How did that happen to you? I'm really sorry! I do realize it's an off-topic, but it feels like there is a traitor in this thread 😆

I have an iPhone XR discarded from my family right next to it, but I can't bring myself to love iOS.
European so no stress for iMessage either.

 

[brofkand]

The problem with the i9 MacBook Pros is they cook themselves if they're actually used.

 

[Elusi]

Hey everyone, Gary, the OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions, comments and insights above! I truly read all of them and took them all in. After reading everything I take away the following general consensus:

1. It sounds prudent to spend a little more now to get an M1 based system (either Air with the 13.3 screen or MBP with the 14") instead of the last Intel 16" MBP. The consensus here seems that while the 2019 Intel system would work (and in any case is a tremendous step up from her mid-2012 MBP), in the end it's an EOL architecture with little path forward in a few years.
2. Memory is key and 16Gb is the way to go for her applications/need. 8Gb is off the table. (and in our case, 32Gb will probably be out of our target price band).
3. 512Gb storage as a min. but 1TB if we can find & afford it. In her case, she currently uses the cloud as her main storage and her current 2012 MBP with 256Gb SSD storage isn't even half full so either will fulfill her needs (but of course the 1TB would be better)

Again, I can't thank everyone enough!!!!

Reading this thread seeing people clearly having no experience with Adobe apps weigh in and suggest that any M1 8GB Mac would be better scared me a lot. But it seems you have been able to sift out the bad advice from the good!

M1+ 16GB+ would be ideal but the Intel 16" is perfectly fine if there's a good deal and ~3-4hrs battery life during productivity is considered okay.

 

[ignatius345]

Probably not with 32 gb ram, though. And the Adobe suit loves memory. And the ports issue.

Real life experience here: I'm using an M1 Mini all day long running Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop plus tons of other stuff running. It's got 16 GB of RAM. It's absolutely fine and I never see any hiccups or glitches. Hell, I've even done a lot of that work on an M1 Air with 8 GB RAM and performance was acceptable even with that.

 

[brofkand]

Real life experience here: I'm using an M1 Mini all day long running Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop plus tons of other stuff running. It's got 16 GB of RAM. It's absolutely fine and I never see any hiccups or glitches. Hell, I've even done a lot of that work on an M1 Air with 8 GB RAM and performance was acceptable even with that.

Yeah people act like it's a mortal sin to swap to disk. In 1995 with a glacially slow hard drive and 4MB of RAM, sure. But today with the fast storage on ASi it's not a big penalty. I don't get it.

For the price Apple charges for their hardware, they should build in plenty of RAM. But they don't. So you have to spend more. It is what it is. Nobody is forced to buy Apple hardware.

 

[Elusi]

Yeah people act like it's a mortal sin to swap to disk. In 1995 with a glacially slow hard drive and 4MB of RAM, sure. But today with the fast storage on ASi it's not a big penalty. I don't get it.

Photoshop goes into a performance mode if you push against the RAM limits. It expects that it can put a certain amount of things directly into RAM and when it can't you get a terrible experience with terrible "draft"-like picture previews. "Swap is fast" is a fact the program simply does not care about.

 

[4sallypat]

Thanks everyone for the advise above! I'm looking to try and keep it around the $1000 or so number for a used system. (if that's possible - I'm really out of my element! LoL!)

I have a 2020 16" Intel based MBP and hate the heat, low battery life, and sluggishness.

If I had a college aged student, I'd have them go to their student store for a discount on a MBA Apple Silicon which will run circles around Intel based Macs.

Most colleges have them on hand with the discount for students.

 

[brofkand]

Photoshop goes into a performance mode if you push against the RAM limits. It expects that it can put a certain amount of things directly into RAM and when it can't you get a terrible experience with terrible "draft"-like picture previews. "Swap is fast" is a fact the program simply does not care about.

Assuming a 16GB system, you'd have to give Photoshop more than 10GB of RAM to see these kinds of issues. Not really a big deal.

 

[Elusi]

Assuming a 16GB system, you'd have to give Photoshop more than 10GB of RAM to see these kinds of issues. Not really a big deal.

Sure, but your argument was that the action of swapping to disk isn't an issue. I'm not arguing against 16GB machines.

 

[brofkand]

Sure, but your argument was that the action of swapping to disk isn't an issue. I'm not arguing against 16GB machines.

I'd still say it's not a big issue. We know that performance declines when you swap to disk. You've given no new information.

 

[Elusi]

I'd still say it's not a big issue. We know that performance declines when you swap to disk. You've given no new information.

I quite literally did. "Draft-like picture previews" is more than a performance decline. Photoshop is where you want to see pixel precise output. It disabling a bunch of features so that you no longer see what you're doing properly becomes more than a performance decline.