MacBook Pro 16” - go w/ 5300M or 5600M?

[sidgriffey]

I will preface that I am not a video editor in the sense that i am, not currently busting out Final Cut Pro. I do, however, do a fair amount of video conferencing for work and graduate school and also see myself picking back up my video podcasting hobby. All this is to ask, are my needs such that I ought to spring for the 5600M graphics or just go with the most economical option, the 5300M? I will be using this machine to do teletherapy video calls, so I want it to be reliable, but is that something the base model will handle as well? Probably about an $800 swing.

 

[sidgriffey]

Bump

any insights as to real world benefits of the 5600m would be much appreciated! Am I more or less fine with the entry level model if I’m just doing word processing, zoom conferences and podcasts?

 

[alexfc]

Bump

any insights as to real world benefits of the 5600m would be much appreciated! Am I more or less fine with the entry level model if I’m just doing word processing, zoom conferences and podcasts?

The 5300M is more than enough. If you actually needed the 5600M performance, you'd know.

 

[sidgriffey]

if portability is not the most essential factor, would I be better off with that entry level 16” mac or a Mac Mini i7 16gb ram 1tb? Can get the mbp for about $2300 plus applecare+ or the Mac mini for $1450 and includes applecare+

 

[cheese01]

If you don't care about portability at all, Mac Mini + a decent monitor would probably be a better idea IMO. Aside from the better price, Mini will be quieter, especially seeing as it doesn't have to as close to you.

 

[sidgriffey]

My other devices currently:

- MacBook 12”
- iPad Pro 2020 12.9
- ipad mini

so if I am keen on perhaps going Apple silicon at some point, is there a more obvious current play for me then on the Mac front if I want a bit more power than what I get from the 12”?

 

[LinkRS]

I will preface that I am not a video editor in the sense that i am, not currently busting out Final Cut Pro. I do, however, do a fair amount of video conferencing for work and graduate school and also see myself picking back up my video podcasting hobby. All this is to ask, are my needs such that I ought to spring for the 5600M graphics or just go with the most economical option, the 5300M? I will be using this machine to do teletherapy video calls, so I want it to be reliable, but is that something the base model will handle as well? Probably about an $800 swing.

Howdy sidgriffey,

Others have already said it, but if you needed the added performance of the 5600M, you would know. The extra power between the 5300M and the 5600M would probably not be noticed by what you said you did. Plus, the extra cost of the upgrade could be put to better use by things you may actually need, extra SSD space, or RAM. I upgraded mine to the 5500M with 8 GB, and have still not found an application that really seems to need the extra performance over the base. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

I will preface that I am not a video editor in the sense that i am, not currently busting out Final Cut Pro. I do, however, do a fair amount of video conferencing for work and graduate school and also see myself picking back up my video podcasting hobby. All this is to ask, are my needs such that I ought to spring for the 5600M graphics or just go with the most economical option, the 5300M? I will be using this machine to do teletherapy video calls, so I want it to be reliable, but is that something the base model will handle as well? Probably about an $800 swing.

Probably don't need more than a MacBook Air for video conferencing and podcasting.

 

[Tankmaze]

If you keep your machine 5-6 years, and you have the finance I would go for the 5600M.

For example I have the 2015 15" MBP with the AMD R9, top of the line back in 2015. And now the performance (CPU & GPU) is comparable to 13" MBP in 2019, it is still work fast and great under Catalina. So if you upgrade every 5-6 years like I am I will go for the 5600M, BUT knowing Apple Silicon is coming I'm not so sure but that's a different topic. Buy what you need now.

 

[lobo1978]

My honest advice for you is to buy used MBP 2018-2019 with keyboard and battery replaced recently (plenty offers on Swappa). Or go with Mac Mini if you do not need portability.

For you workflow you do not need recent AMD 5X00M GPU - it is an overkill and heat/noise will be a big problem for you during telco sessions.

I have 2018 MBPro 15” (560M) and do at least 4-6 hrs of telco per day / 5 day a week (Zoom, Teams, Cisco, WebEx).
From my experience this 3 years old machine is a sweet spot for this case usage. Fast and cool, smaller footprint and reasonable heat dissipation envelope for CPU/GPU combo - comparing to the current 16”.

 

[dooyou]

You will be absolutely fine with the 5300.

 

[kaans]

16"'s are good machines but not perfect, buy the cheapest 16" - then sell and replace later on

There'll always be people buying Intel Macbook's for a long while

 

[magbarn]

If you’re going to using the MBP 16 plugged into an external monitor for long periods of time either: 1. Go for the 5600M upgrade or 2. Get the 2020 MBP 13 instead.

There’s a 100 page thread here about Apple or AMD’s failure to fix a 8 month old bug (Big Sur betas still have this issue) in the 5300/5500M that has them consuming 3x more power than they should when plugged into an external monitor when on idle. This causes to machine to run loud over time and limited the power of the CPU also as the thermal budget is being used unnecessarily on an idle GPU. The 5600M fixes this finally. Unfortunately there’s no way around it as Apple hardwired the external monitor circuitry to only the dGPU so it forces it on and turns off the intel GPU which uses much less power.

 

[norsemen]

None of Apple`s laptop are primed for teleconferences due to the bad FaceTime camera. I would soldier on with the 12 MacBook and iPad Pro until the new MacBook with Apple Silicon comes out.

nothing you stated as your use cases warrents a MacBook Pro.

Try using the iPad Pro as your main computer and the MacBook as your backup

 

[DoM-i-NiC]

Your usage case would not demand the 5600M, especially if you are upgrading to Apple Silicon in the next 2-3 years, and if your video editing/podcast hobby has become more demanding, you can then reassess your needs then too.

You could also browse the refurbished section in Apple's website to get more bang for your buck - you could use the extra savings for improved specs - extra storage, RAM, AppleCare or peripherials such as better lighting, a mic, a back up solution, an extra monitor - or even a better webcam.