should I get MacBook Pro? Please help me with this decision

[clevins]

I didn’t say anything about drastically over-spec anything. Your own interpretation entirely.
If you buy Macs for speculation, you’re in the totally wrong business ?

The feel to buy a new Mac, or anything else for that matter, that you really want, is what matters.

"Buy the best you can afford when buying a new Mac, anyone, if you plan to have it awhile." implies buying more than you need just because you can afford it.

After all, if someone can afford a $3000 MacBook but what they do with it can be done just as well with a $1300 Air, should they still 'Buy the best [they] can afford'?

 

[Lioness~]

"Buy the best you can afford when buying a new Mac, anyone, if you plan to have it awhile." implies buying more than you need just because you can afford it. Not my issue if you can't write clearly.

No, again it's your interpretation. Not my issue if you have trouble understanding.
The best you can afford, doesn't mean over buying. It means being price aware, and knowing what you want.

 

[Realityck]

Yep 32 GB is an overkill but I was just thinking of future proofing. I don’t expect to change this laptop for another at least 5 to 7 years

from your OP

I'm thinking of going with M1 Pro 16 Inch with 512 GB disk and 32 GB RAM
I'm not going with 1 TB as I think I'll be better off using an external storage as it will be cheaper.

Just a tidbit but the SSD access with 14"/16" MBP is around 5000 Mb/s, so if you do store any amount of content, having a 1 TB at least is way better then best external TB3/USB4 NVme SSD storage. Using normal external storage will be dog slow comparably. So store content you don't access as much externally.

I lived with a 256 MB storage on a 15" late 2012 Retina 16G RAM MPB, back then SSDs were expensive, and you were stuck with soldered on memory. But one of the main things that makes the new 2021 MBPs so fast is yes the storage access speed. Something to think about versus the 32GB RAM.

 

[clevins]

No, again it's your interpretation. Not my issue if you have trouble understanding.
The best you can afford, doesn't mean over buying. It means being price aware, and knowing what you want.

Then say that. I'm not responsible for your inability to express your thoughts clearly.

 

[TheRdungeon]

I was in a very similar situation, I've used a 2011 (with 2012 logic board inside it) 15" non-retina daily ever since it came out, but just took the plunge and ordered a 16" M1 Pro with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. I pretty much only specced it with 32GB of RAM because my 2011 launched with 4GB of RAM, then I upgraded it to 8 and then 16GB. I will not be able to do that with this one once it's purchased. If I use this for another ten years then I don't really need to justify anything, just do it once and do it properly. You'll always live with what-ifs doing a big purchase like this, I just didn't want to be left with a machine i regretted not speccing properly. Hence the 16" for the bigger battery life, the 2TB SSD and the RAM. I would say buy the spec you're least likely to regret in 5 years

 

[MajorFubar]

You'll always live with what-ifs doing a big purchase like this, I just didn't want to be left with a machine i regretted not speccing properly. Hence the 16" for the bigger battery life, the 2TB SSD and the RAM. I would say buy the spec you're least likely to regret in 5 years

In 2016 I kind of regretted buying an over-spec'd machine five years earlier which by 2016 was already obsolete in some ways I couldn't have foreseen in 2011. I'm not saying you're wrong of course because everyone's requirements are different. Just offering a contrasting point of view in keeping with my personal experience.

 

[TheRdungeon]

In 2016 I kind of regretted buying an over-spec'd machine five years earlier which by 2016 was already obsolete in some ways I couldn't have foreseen in 2011. I'm not saying you're wrong of course because everyone's requirements are different. Just offering a contrasting point of view in keeping with my personal experience.

For sure, I just don't think it's the kind of thing you can really get advice from random people on a forum for (not that it stopped me sticking my own ego in!)

 

[Adarna]

I'm looking to upgrade from early 2013 MacBook Pro which is almost not usable. and the OS is not upgradable.

I'm mainly looking to buy Macbook Pro for Software development and delovoping YouTube tutorials or maybe in fututre develop a proper couse for Udemey etc. My confusion is that do I really need to spend almost £3,000 or is this an overkill.

I'm thinking of going with M1 Pro 16 Inch with 512 GB disk and 32 GB RAM
I'm not going with 1 TB as I think I'll be better off using an external storage as it will be cheaper.

What do you guys think? Do you think it will be an overkill for me and should I save some money and instead go with M1 MacBook Pro 2020

Anyone else here uses M! for Software Development? Any issues you face around this.

I would highly appreciate any input you guys can give me on this.

Go bonkers. Go for it. M!

 

[clevins]

... If I use this for another ten years then I don't really need to justify anything, just do it once and do it properly. You'll always live with what-ifs doing a big purchase like this, I just didn't want to be left with a machine i regretted not speccing properly. .

Except, if the performance of your Mac is important to you, keeping a machine for that long or anywhere close to it is a mistake.

I'd spec for what you need in the next 3 to 4 years, MAYBE 5 since (as I keep saying here), you can sell a 3 to 4 year old machine for a good fraction of the purchase price and buy whatever is current at that time and you'll have a more powerful machine than what you can buy now by over-speccing.

The very longest I'd keep a machine (assuming I have the $$ to buy a new one) is about 6 years, when it's getting close to not being supported by upcoming OS releases. Resale after that drops like a rock.

Mind you, this all assumes that one is after good performance for more than 'ohh new shiny' reasons. That is, that the Mac is used to run a business, do serious work, etc. If it's basically a glorified web browser box, then you can get by for much longer.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Except, if the performance of your Mac is important to you, keeping a machine for that long or anywhere close to it is a mistake.

I'd spec for what you need in the next 3 to 4 years, MAYBE 5 since (as I keep saying here), you can sell a 3 to 4 year old machine for a good fraction of the purchase price and buy whatever is current at that time and you'll have a more powerful machine than what you can buy now by over-speccing.

True, actually probably a large amount of why I kept that machine for so long was the ability to keep upgrading RAM/SSD space, replacing the battery easily and even things like the wifi card which was upgraded to ac wifi. But the only mild over-spec was the RAM this time around. The 2TB is just meeting what I already have. One thing I am keeping in mind is that these new machines are in Apple's self repair program meaning that at least the official Apple batteries will be available to purchase by us, which was last possible in around 2008 in the first year of the Unibody. Third party batteries are universally pretty terrible for MacBooks. This is also an insane jump up in processing power, similar to when I bought the 2011, which was the first time they put the Quad Core CPUs in their laptops

 

[clevins]

True, actually probably a large amount of why I kept that machine for so long was the ability to keep upgrading RAM/SSD space, replacing the battery easily and even things like the wifi card which was upgraded to ac wifi. But the only mild over-spec was the RAM this time around. The 2TB is just meeting what I already have. One thing I am keeping in mind is that these new machines are in Apple's self repair program meaning that at least the official Apple batteries will be available to purchase by us, which was last possible in around 2008 in the first year of the Unibody. Third party batteries are universally pretty terrible for MacBooks. This is also an insane jump up in processing power, similar to when I bought the 2011, which was the first time they put the Quad Core CPUs in their laptops

Yeah, the inability to upgrade is definitely a factor now.

 

[appleArticulate]

I'm thinking of going with M1 Pro 16 Inch with 512 GB disk and 32 GB RAM
I'm not going with 1 TB as I think I'll be better off using an external storage as it will be cheaper.

None of what you described sounds like it needs 32 GB of RAM. It barely qualifies as needing 16 GB of RAM.
Yet you want to cheap out on storage which EVERYONE uses.

This is a one time opportunity. You can't decide later that you need more storage. The same could be said about the RAM, but your workload is far less likely to change than your storage needs, because everyone uses storage, and then needs more. External storage for a laptop doesn't seem like a good solution unless you're working off this thing tethered to a desk 100% of the time. iCloud storage is handy and makes it possible to have less local storage, since macOS can automatically move things off your machine to iCloud to save space, but that is better used as a backup then as a primary solution.

Of course this all implies you actually need a MacBook Pro to begin with. You sound like more of an entry level M1 Air user.

 

[vikky2426]

The only time to over-spec is when each generation brings very minimal gains. This was the case the last few years of the Intel stuff, but I think we'll see the next several generations of M processors each bring significant speedups, so I'd plan on doing what I noted above.

I think with your comment I've made up my mind. I think i'll actually buy M1 Pro 14 Inch base model. I'll pay £450 extra over M1 Air 2020 but this will give me:

• New and improved processor over M1
• Brand new laptop as compared to over 1 year old M1
• one inch bigger screen size - this is something i definitely want
• all the extra ports including MagSafe which i really like
• better screen

I'll save around £1,100 and i won't have to stick to this laptop for another 9 to 10 years. I could upgrade in like 5 years or something and I think this laptop will be more than enough too.

all I need is software development and some video editing(max 4K).

 

[ctjack]

In 2016 I kind of regretted buying an over-spec'd machine five years earlier which by 2016 was already obsolete in some ways I couldn't have foreseen in 2011. I'm not saying you're wrong of course because everyone's requirements are different. Just offering a contrasting point of view in keeping with my personal experience.

In 2012 i bought used rMBP 13 with 8gb of RAM and 128gb of ssd. I was lucky to have it with upgraded 8gb of RAM instead of 4. I saw a lot of 4gb Ram users were selling it in 2015. My friend bought the same mbp 13 of 2015, and his laptop was only 30 percent faster by CPU and came with 8gb of RAM as a standard, while i just kept sitting on my perfect 2012 until 2020.
Currently, "not over specced" my M1 Air with 8GB of RAM and feeling strugle every day for the last 6 month. If i redo it again, i would buy 16/512 instead of my 8/512. But makes no sense for me to do any movements as of now, so I will just keep struggling until full year 2 or 3?!

 

[vikky2426]

In 2012 i bought used rMBP 13 with 8gb of RAM and 128gb of ssd. I was lucky to have it with upgraded 8gb of RAM instead of 4. I saw a lot of 4gb Ram users were selling it in 2015. My friend bought the same mbp 13 of 2015, and his laptop was only 30 percent faster by CPU and came with 8gb of RAM as a standard, while i just kept sitting on my perfect 2012 until 2020.
Currently, "not over specced" my M1 Air with 8GB of RAM and feeling strugle every day for the last 6 month. If i redo it again, i would buy 16/512 instead of my 8/512. But makes no sense for me to do any movements as of now, so I will just keep struggling until full year 2 or 3?!

I think 16 GB is a must now - 32 is an overkill for M1 as MacOs manages RAM way better than windows. If I were getting a windows laptop I would go for at least 32 GB.

I hope you get 16 GB soon.

 

[pshufd]

If you've been using a 2013 13, then a MacBook Air would be a huge upgrade. The 2021 MacBook Pros have too much power I think.

 

[MajorFubar]

Computers have long since reached a performance-level where they will technically meet the needs of most consumers for a very long time. Like, 10+ yrs, if they don't break down. My 2011 quad core iMac is still capable of breezing through Logic Pro sessions of dozens of VST tracks with real-time plugins without breaking into a sweat.

But computer manufacturers like Apple need to keep selling new gear to survive. So, what to do?

It's not really much of a conspiracy-theory to state the obvious that they have to find ways of obsoleting old powerful tech to make you buy new gear. For example, my iMac doesn't have a metal-compatible gfx card and its OS is pegged at High Sierra, so there are certain 'modern' things it can't do, and there are various apps I use a lot that I can't download the latest updates for, because I'm pegged on HS.

It sounds all 'tin-foil-hat', but it isn't really, it's just business. If they didn't find clever ways to make powerful old computers obsolete, people who bought them would never have to upgrade for about twenty years, and that's not good for business.

 

[vikky2426]

Computers have long since reached a performance-level where they will technically meet the needs of most consumers for a very long time. Like, 10+ yrs, if they don't break down. My 2011 quad core iMac is still capable of breezing through Logic Pro sessions of dozens of VST tracks with real-time plugins without breaking into a sweat.

But computer manufacturers like Apple need to keep selling new gear to survive. So, what to do?

It's not really much of a conspiracy-theory to state the obvious that they have to find ways of obsoleting old powerful tech to make you buy new gear. For example, my iMac doesn't have a metal-compatible gfx card and its OS is pegged at High Sierra, so there are certain 'modern' things it can't do, and there are various apps I use a lot that I can't download the latest updates for, because I'm pegged on HS.

It sounds all 'tin-foil-hat', but it isn't really, it's just business. If they didn't find clever ways to make powerful old computers obsolete, people who bought them would never have to upgrade for about twenty years, and that's not good for business.

And this is precisely why it’s not a wise decision to spend over £3,000 on a MacBook M1 Pro when I can have the base model for £1900 that will work great for at least 4 to 5 years and then I’ll upgrade.
With £3,000 I’ll be super cautious for using such an expensive machine all the time plus I highly doubt I’ll be utilising all its power and I’ll have to wait at least 8 years or so before I can think of upgrading.

I can’t wait to get hold of the M1 Pro base model 16 GB ram 512 GB storage

 

[TheRdungeon]

Computers have long since reached a performance-level where they will technically meet the needs of most consumers for a very long time. Like, 10+ yrs, if they don't break down. My 2011 quad core iMac is still capable of breezing through Logic Pro sessions of dozens of VST tracks with real-time plugins without breaking into a sweat.

But computer manufacturers like Apple need to keep selling new gear to survive. So, what to do?

It's not really much of a conspiracy-theory to state the obvious that they have to find ways of obsoleting old powerful tech to make you buy new gear. For example, my iMac doesn't have a metal-compatible gfx card and its OS is pegged at High Sierra, so there are certain 'modern' things it can't do, and there are various apps I use a lot that I can't download the latest updates for, because I'm pegged on HS.

It sounds all 'tin-foil-hat', but it isn't really, it's just business. If they didn't find clever ways to make powerful old computers obsolete, people who bought them would never have to upgrade for about twenty years, and that's not good for business.

I'm not sure if you've used a new machine or not recently though, I've just gone from a 2012 Quad core macbook non-retina to a M1 macbook air and soon to be a 16" pro, they just feel so much nicer and there's less workarounds you have to do to get things going or things to worry about, like having Touch ID, or the insane battery life or even the fact it gives off basically no heat, it's more quality of life improvements than performance, but even the performance is uncomparable. Logic/Ableton projects load nearly instantly, exports are ******* fast, you can run things like a limiter at 16x oversampling or maybe even more without worrying about it. I held out for ten years (11 actually, mine is a 2011 with a 2012 logic board inside it) because none of the intel models were compelling but Apple Silicon is more than worthy of the new jump

 

[MajorFubar]

Yep I’m looking forward to upgrading shortly. The time is right. But technically my machine has been obsolete for about five years. Even now it still runs fast enough for my needs other than the geriatric hard drive.

 

[vikky2426]

Except, if the performance of your Mac is important to you, keeping a machine for that long or anywhere close to it is a mistake.

I'd spec for what you need in the next 3 to 4 years, MAYBE 5 since (as I keep saying here), you can sell a 3 to 4 year old machine for a good fraction of the purchase price and buy whatever is current at that time and you'll have a more powerful machine than what you can buy now by over-speccing.

The very longest I'd keep a machine (assuming I have the $$ to buy a new one) is about 6 years, when it's getting close to not being supported by upcoming OS releases. Resale after that drops like a rock.

Mind you, this all assumes that one is after good performance for more than 'ohh new shiny' reasons. That is, that the Mac is used to run a business, do serious work, etc. If it's basically a glorified web browser box, then you can get by for much longer.

following your suggestion, I just bought the 14 inch base model which will be more than enough for me. I'll pick it up this weekend. Super happy and excited.
I saved over £1000 by not going crazy on spacing up my laptop which means I can think about upgrading in the next 4 to 50 years.
thanks again.

 

[clevins]

following your suggestion, I just bought the 14 inch base model which will be more than enough for me. I'll pick it up this weekend. Super happy and excited.
I saved over £1000 by not going crazy on spacing up my laptop which means I can think about upgrading in the next 4 to 50 years.
thanks again.

Rockin! Let us know how you like it.

 

[wakka]

Great decision.

As much as people will always be quick to tell you that you don't need a new computer and if you just installed an SSD and Linux into your WallStreet Powerbook you'd be good for the next thirty years, ultimately there should be a balance between heart and head when it comes to these purchases.

We're all Mac enthusiasts on here who get pleasure from using the best machines we can afford, and there's nothing wrong with that. The only thing I would really say is worth perhaps warning some people off is doing very extravagant BTOs, where unless they are doing specialised power-hungry tasks they may not be able to feel the benefit.

With the 2021 MBPs, they're great to own in part because of the superb screen and the delightful new design. Plus you get the ports, the improved speakers, and 16/512 as standard.

I have a 14" base spec, too. Could I do my work on a cheaper Air? Yep. Do I want to? Nope. I love this machine.

 

[Frostbear44]

Different use scenario - photo and video editing. Went for the base 16 MBP Max, was a financial stretch but will see me good for several years. Also bought a cheap but magnificent Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga X1 (4th Gen) for all my windows usage, plus for its 'bashability'. This has given me peace of mind and some closure as I loved Bootcamp on my Intel MBPs, and liked running both systems on one MBP.

* sorry missed your post about getting your machine - enjoy - you'll love it!

 

[vikky2426]

Rockin! Let us know how you like it.

OMG I can not tell you how happy this MacBook has made me. This is an absolutely awesome laptop and I can't tell you how super fast it is compared to my older 2013 MacBook Pro.

everything works super fast, love the keyboard the Touch ID, screen is absolutely gorgeous, the new camera is amazing.Love the screen size too. Not too big not too small. This is all I needed. Super happy and smiling while I type on this gorgeous machine