Is a 16” November 2019 MBP i9 a good device?

[Makisupa Policeman]

I’m thinking of upgrading to this instead of a iMac M1 due to budget + just being a bit unsatisfied with the age and performance of my 2012 MBP. Should I splurge a bit on this or hold out for an iMac? I like the idea of having some portability while having a much more up to date device. The new 16” M1s are prohibitively expensive for my budget and I’m not super crazy about the new design language anyway.

Anyone own one of these? Likes? Dislikes? Bugs or hardware issue to watch out for?

 

[Sanpete]

Great device, huge step up from 2012. Generally not as good as the newer ones, naturally, but if you're using a 2012, you don't need the newer ones.

 

[macrumorsuser123]

If you are going to spend on getting a core i9 16", the cost is going to add up to essentially the equivalent of a base model M1 Pro 16" (unless you buy a heavily refurbished/used one). In addition, you get the benefit of apple silicon (better battery life, more power), a physically larger battery, a much better display (promotion, miniLED, etc), better speakers, better keyboard, and more. Plus it will have more resale value later on. Ultimately, the newer model ends up being a better deal in the long/medium run.
But to answer your original question if you are using a 2012 MBP you will likely prefer the i9 since you're probably used to portability and the i9 is still more powerful than the regular M1 chip (though not M1 Pro). The only cons I can think of in your situation would be 1. the touchbar, depending on how you feel about it and 2. the thermal performance + fans compared to an iMac (though probably the same/less than your current device).
If you want to get an M1 mac tho, you are probably better off with one of the M1 MBA or MBPs since they will give you the portability at same/better price with plenty of power for your needs.

 

[CalMin]

Only if you can get it for very cheap. You're far better off with a 13" MacBook Pro M1 (not the Pro) or an M1 Air for many computing tasks.

 

[synicalx1]

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the i9's - a couple of years back I looked after a bunch of them (maybe 10-15) and nearly all of them ended up going back to Apple with various heat-related issues.

We'd get throttling occurring VERY fast under high load which made the i9 pretty pointless, battery's would start swelling within the first 12 months on about 80% of them (I assume, due to heat), driving a pair of monitors + doing something CPU intensive would result in a thermal shutdown after roughly 1-2 hours so we'd have to ask our developers to unplug their second monitor during certain tasks. The few that we ended up keeping spend their life anchored to a desk with a USB air conditioner blasting cold air directly at them any time they were in use which actually helped quite a bit.

I'm sure for the same money or close to it you could get a M1 13" MBP which looks like the Intel ones, but will have none of the performance or thermal constraints + amazing battery life.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Only if you can get it for very cheap. You're far better off with a 13" MacBook Pro M1 (not the Pro) or an M1 Air for many computing tasks.

If you are going to spend on getting a core i9 16", the cost is going to add up to essentially the equivalent of a base model M1 Pro 16" (unless you buy a heavily refurbished/used one). In addition, you get the benefit of apple silicon (better battery life, more power), a physically larger battery, a much better display (promotion, miniLED, etc), better speakers, better keyboard, and more. Plus it will have more resale value later on. Ultimately, the newer model ends up being a better deal in the long/medium run.
But to answer your original question if you are using a 2012 MBP you will likely prefer the i9 since you're probably used to portability and the i9 is still more powerful than the regular M1 chip (though not M1 Pro). The only cons I can think of in your situation would be 1. the touchbar, depending on how you feel about it and 2. the thermal performance + fans compared to an iMac (though probably the same/less than your current device).
If you want to get an M1 mac tho, you are probably better off with one of the M1 MBA or MBPs since they will give you the portability at same/better price with plenty of power for your needs.

Thanks for the advice. I would gladly have gotten the 13” M1 MBP/MBA if either were sold as a 15 or 16” as well. That was my biggest deterrent. That and the lack of usb-c ports on the M1 MBA, which I would otherwise love as a daily driver.

I personally don’t mind the Touch Bar—I actually kind of like it, but perhaps it will grow to be a hinderance as many here feel that it sucks.

The used ones I’m looking at are in about the $1600–1800 USD range (used as in *very* light/like new or open box on ebay; that’s with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD.

I’ll have to think it over. The specs I’d want on a M1 Max are just a little outside my price range.

 

[DHagan4755]

My advice would be to stay away from Intel machines. Having had one, they run very warm & the battery life is mediocre. The Touch Bar is take it or leave it. It's understandable that the M1 Max models are outside of your price range. Most people don't need the Max chip & would be perfectly OK with the 8-core M1 Pro in the 14" model. As a way of lowering the price on the 16", Apple should have offered that same 8-core M1 Pro binned chip there as well but I digress...

 

[Big Jobs]

good as a toaster or hair dryer thats about it really

 

[A Happening in Hades]

I've had my 'base model' 16" MacBook pro for two years now and it runs very fast and (since Monterey) runs cool with an external monitor. Before OS 12 it had heat issues with an external monitor but now it is a very happy machine. The Monterey update made it better in a lot of ways including screen brightness, battery life and power management.

 

[Hunter5117]

I have been using my 2019 16" I9 daily for about 18 months now and I find it no worse than my previous MBPs. I stayed away from all the 2015-2018 models mostly because of the poor keyboards and bought this one when they fixed that issue. Beside it on my desk I have a 13" M1 that I bought last black Friday. Under normal usage, they are both quite silent and relatively cool, the M1 has only spun the fans one time for an unknown reason. The I9 does run the fans at around 1600rpms with normal usage but that is still virtually silent. Occasionally it will get a bit noisy mostly from Safari, restarting Safari and sometimes a reboot is needed.

All in all, I find it to be a very functional and satisfying laptop, I will be keeping it for a few more years.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

I’m specifically looking at the November 2019 release of the MBP that was tweaked right before the M1s came out. It looks like Apple may have “fixed” some of the fan/thermal issues as well as “improved” the scissor keyboard as compared to the ‘15 to mid ‘19 MBPs

Order

MVVM2LL/A*

Model

A2141

 

[clevins]

The used ones I’m looking at are in about the $1600–1800 USD range (used as in *very* light/like new or open box on ebay; that’s with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD.

I’ll have to think it over. The specs I’d want on a M1 Max are just a little outside my price range.

So, you can't really compare a used MacBook with some highly tricked out new machine then say "gee, the Max is pricey" since you're not comparing similar configurations.

BUT... the entry level 16" Pro is $2499. So it's still $6-800 more than the intel machines you can get. Is that a lot to you? If so, the newer intel machine will still be a huge upgrade over the 2012 you have.

Another option is to wait a few months and see if any of the M1 16" machines hit their refurbished store which will be a 15% discount. That takes the entry level M1 16 down to $2125.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

I have been using my 2019 16" I9 daily for about 18 months now and I find it no worse than my previous MBPs. I stayed away from all the 2015-2018 models mostly because of the poor keyboards and bought this one when they fixed that issue. Beside it on my desk I have a 13" M1 that I bought last black Friday. Under normal usage, they are both quite silent and relatively cool, the M1 has only spun the fans one time for an unknown reason. The I9 does run the fans at around 1600rpms with normal usage but that is still virtually silent. Occasionally it will get a bit noisy mostly from Safari, restarting Safari and sometimes a reboot is needed.

All in all, I find it to be a very functional and satisfying laptop, I will be keeping it for a few more years.

My 2012 is usually around 1500-2000 with moderate use. Never below 1200 or so unless the machine is idle

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

So, you can't really compare a used MacBook with some highly tricked out new machine then say "gee, the Max is pricey" since you're not comparing similar configurations.

BUT... the entry level 16" Pro is $2499. So it's still $6-800 more than the intel machines you can get. Is that a lot to you? If so, the newer intel machine will still be a huge upgrade over the 2012 you have.

Another option is to wait a few months and see if any of the M1 16" machines hit their refurbished store which will be a 15% discount. That takes the entry level M1 16 down to $2125.

1800 is actually more than I can afford lol. I’m kind of splurging here as is. 2500 is out of the question for me. Plus, I really would prefer a 1TB storage and 16GB of memory if possible, so then I’m pushing 3Gs

 

[prisoner54]

i7 MBP 16" owner here. Honestly, when I first got it I almost returned it straight away because of the thermals. But macOS updates soon made it far more tolerable, and the fans rarely come on these days apart from when under sustained load, and then ramp down again. All good. I did think about doing an exchange for an M1 Pro 14" but even then, the cost wasn't worth it. This is powerful enough. The i9 - even better.

The only exception is when booting into Windows, where it's the Wild West in terms of thermal controls, but then there are apps that help control the fans.

 

[leperry]

I would go for the base model 16-inch

 

[clevins]

1800 is actually more than I can afford lol. I’m kind of splurging here as is. 2500 is out of the question for me. Plus, I really would prefer a 1TB storage and 16GB of memory if possible, so then I’m pushing 3Gs

How important is screen size to you? I mean, you can get a refurbed 13" Air for under $1300. If you just need a larger screen at a desk, grab a decent. 24" 4k screen?

 

[Malus120]

I’m thinking of upgrading to this instead of a iMac M1 due to budget + just being a bit unsatisfied with the age and performance of my 2012 MBP. Should I splurge a bit on this or hold out for an iMac? I like the idea of having some portability while having a much more up to date device. The new 16” M1s are prohibitively expensive for my budget and I’m not super crazy about the new design language anyway.

What are your primary use cases for the machine and does any of that require x86? (Intel?)
Without this information no one can give you a truly informed recommendation.

Thanks for the advice. I would gladly have gotten the 13” M1 MBP/MBA if either were sold as a 15 or 16” as well. That was my biggest deterrent. That and the lack of usb-c ports on the M1 MBA, which I would otherwise love as a daily driver.

For better or worse Apple correlates screen size with price so... you mentioned holding out for an iMac, why not just get an external 4K 27" screen? They're pretty cheap these days. The 13" M1 MBA not having enough ports is... true, and the fact it can only natively drive one external monitor is pretty annoying. Still, it's a great computer in spite of its flaws (which are, honestly quite small when compared to how amazing the overall package is.) Personally I'd wait for the M2 (or whatever the next revision is) even if you did want to buy the Air.

I personally don’t mind the Touch Bar—I actually kind of like it, but perhaps it will grow to be a hinderance as many here feel that it sucks.

As far as Apple is concerned the TouchBar has basically been dead since it launched in 2016. Unless you're willing to really dig into (AKA spend a lot of time setting up and fine tuning) third party utilities for custom actions/shortcuts the TouchBar will mostly just... sit there... occasionally being used for trivial things. Oh, btw, did I mention the chip (T2) that runs it can freeze/crash/force shutdown your entire Mac if something goes wrong? It doesn't happen all the time (and last I checked it's gotten a lot better) but when it does happen its frustrating to deal with. Not worth the hassle for something Apple has effectively EOLed IMHO.

I’m specifically looking at the November 2019 release of the MBP that was tweaked right before the M1s came out. It looks like Apple may have “fixed” some of the fan/thermal issues as well as “improved” the scissor keyboard as compared to the ‘15 to mid ‘19 MBPs

Fixed is a generous word. The keyboard was markedly improved, particularly in the reliability department but if you haven't spent the last 4-5 years adjusting to it you may not like the typing experience. Personally I didn't have any problems with mine on my previous 13" 2018 MBP once it was replaced with the 2019 keyboard. Still, it's not a great design to buy into in 2022. As for the thermal issues... it's a slim and light chassis with an i9. Apple did the "best" they could while chained to the ethos of thin at all costs... Performance will still throttle under prolonged load. Battery life will stick be mediocre. The fans will still be loud and the machine will still get hot. Whether that's ok is up to you.

1800 is actually more than I can afford lol. I’m kind of splurging here as is. 2500 is out of the question for me. Plus, I really would prefer a 1TB storage and 16GB of memory if possible, so then I’m pushing 3Gs

I think the real questions you need to ask yourself are "why do I need to upgrade right now and will I really be happy having settled for this machine a (few) year(s) down the line?"

I totally understand the new MacBook Pros aren't cheap, but, to be honest $1800-$1900 isn't exactly chump change either. Think about what you want to get out of this upgrade, how long you plan on keeping it, and really consider whether its worth upgrading at this time and allocate your budget accordingly (AKA if you need to wait and save more do so rather than spending money today you'll regret later.)
Also, if you keep your machines for a long time (I mean 2012 - 2022 is probably almost 10 years depending on the month) consider that at some point Apple MAY decide to drop or at least deprecate support for x86 (Intel.) Already we're seeing features being walled away as "Apple Silicon only" and I can only see this trend continuing in the future.

 

[Micka88]

No, it is a terrible device (happy I got rid of it). Roaring as hair dryer most of the time. Try not to get it.

 

[Adarna]

I’m thinking of upgrading to this instead of a iMac M1 due to budget + just being a bit unsatisfied with the age and performance of my 2012 MBP. Should I splurge a bit on this or hold out for an iMac? I like the idea of having some portability while having a much more up to date device. The new 16” M1s are prohibitively expensive for my budget and I’m not super crazy about the new design language anyway.

Anyone own one of these? Likes? Dislikes? Bugs or hardware issue to watch out for?

Are there any other MBP 16" in 2019? Were there October or December models?

Were there MBP 16" in earlier than 2019 or in 2020?

Speaking ill of the 2012 MBP may cause loonies to say you're mean.

I do agree with you. After a decade's use it's time to upgrade to anything newer like say a 2019 MBP or any M1 Mac that isn't a Pro or Max.

 

[Freeangel1]

I have a 2019 i9 16"
I like it cause:
I can use external GPU boxes
I can run Windows.

You can't do that on any M1 machine. Your also stuck with BUGGY Big Sur or Monterey.
on the 2019 Intel i9 you can run Catalina.

 

[yabeweb]

Only if you can get it for very cheap. You're far better off with a 13" MacBook Pro M1 (not the Pro) or an M1 Air for many computing tasks.

This made me smile " MacBook Pro M1 (not the Pro)" it just show how messed the naming convention is at Apple.

Buy the pro not pro.

 

[Sterkenburg]

I have one as a company-issued device and while it's still a powerful and capable machine, it's difficult to look at Intel Macs the same way again once you have tried Apple Silicon.

If you find a killer deal on one sure, but definitely avoid splurging on it. A base model M1-based machine (maybe refurbished) would be a better choice in my opinion, and would not be that much more expensive.

 

[Hunter5117]

My 2012 is usually around 1500-2000 with moderate use. Never below 1200 or so unless the machine is idle

My previous MBP was a 2013 15" retina and the 16" is very similar in how it runs the fans and heats up.

 

[roman.stapunov]

I am a MacBook Pro 16 2019 base model owner and I decided to keep it till next generation of M Pro/Max chips after Monterey release as it became more usable from noise/heat point of view. If I were you I would buy i7 base model. It will be huge step forward from your current 2012 macbook pro and will have less issues with heat I guess.