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JuQuZ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 15, 2021
2
0
So right now I am in possession of a late macbook pro 2017 with a i5 and 8gb of ram, and I was wondering if it is smart for me to upgrade to a m1 macbook air with 8gb of ram. Right now I am a studying cybersecurity and I feel as if I upgraded to an 8gb machine with unified memory will kind of feel as a downgrade. So I was wonndering what do owners of M1 macbooks have to say of the performance of the mac while running vm's and such.

PS: For those wondering I don't have the money to upgrade to a 16gb model......
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,600
52,360
In a van down by the river
Why do you think it would be a downgrade to get a M1 MBA?

Is there a problem with your current Mac? Are you unable to work efficiently with your current setup? Do you need to run VM on a regular basis?

If you don't have a problem with your current Mac and need to comfortably run VM programs etc. stay with what you have for now.
 

4sallypat

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2016
4,034
3,782
So Calif
Why do you think it would be a downgrade to get a M1 MBA?

Is there a problem with your current Mac? Are you unable to work efficiently with your current setup? Do you need to run VM on a regular basis?

If you don't have a problem with your current Mac and need to comfortably run VM programs etc. stay with what you have for now.
Agree, if your current Mac does the job then leave it alone.

Before considering a switch, make sure the programs used currently are compatible with the M1.

I know that my M1 would not take older 32 bit apps as well as the licensed version of Adobe Acrobat Pro.

I got around the app limitations but did gain a massive performing device that I use daily...
 

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,858
4,598
So right now I am in possession of a late macbook pro 2017 with a i5 and 8gb of ram, and I was wondering if it is smart for me to upgrade to a m1 macbook air with 8gb of ram. Right now I am a studying cybersecurity and I feel as if I upgraded to an 8gb machine with unified memory will kind of feel as a downgrade. So I was wonndering what do owners of M1 macbooks have to say of the performance of the mac while running vm's and such.

PS: For those wondering I don't have the money to upgrade to a 16gb model......
The only way it would be a downgrade is if you use and require either Bootcamp or an x86 VM like Parallels or VMWare Fusion.

Performance is going to be at least twice on the M1—probably more.

Not that Geekbench 5 is always perfect, for a general idea of performance it is at least a good indicator. For comparison, the Kaby Lake i5 in the 2017 MBP is approximately 852 SC/2020 MC. The M1 MBA is something like 1700/7300. Just based on single core, the M1 is going to be noticeably faster.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,507
26,138
The only downgrade is the display.

I would wait until you can afford a 16GB config.
 
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xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
11,005
5,475
192.168.1.1
I would wait until you can afford a 16GB config.
Agreed. OP should not buy an 8GB system, especially going in to an IT-related field. If all you did was email, fine. But not for anything else. Save up some extra for the 16GB upgrade.
 

za9ra22

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2003
1,441
1,931
So right now I am in possession of a late macbook pro 2017 with a i5 and 8gb of ram, and I was wondering if it is smart for me to upgrade to a m1 macbook air with 8gb of ram. Right now I am a studying cybersecurity and I feel as if I upgraded to an 8gb machine with unified memory will kind of feel as a downgrade. So I was wonndering what do owners of M1 macbooks have to say of the performance of the mac while running vm's and such.

PS: For those wondering I don't have the money to upgrade to a 16gb model......

You shouldn't need to be studying an IT discipline to know that the best general principle in systems choice is to use what works, and to upgrade when it is needed.

On that basis, the question would be, does your 2017 MBP do the job you need of it. In your case, with the added possible complication of whether it can do everything you can reasonably project it will be needed to do while studying.

If it can and does, then there is no reason to replace it at the present time, and keeping it would also provide the benefit of observing how the Apple Silicon landscape develops, and thus provide a better option for upgrading when higher-specced systems are both available and affordable for you.

If it can't and doesn't, then ignore those who might tell you that 8Gb isn't enough or that M1 MacBooks are in some abstract way deficient. They aren't. I replaced a 2016 MBP with a base-level M1 MBA, and the difference is quite astonishing. But be aware that if your use case typically has multiple apps open, dozens of tabs in a browser (particularly Chrome) and multiple large documents such as images, 8Gb is likely not enough, regardless of processor architecture.

Otherwise, an M1 would likely give you a rather better overall level of performance.

In my job, the MBA is used for systems analysis, development and training, technical documentation and information security. 8gb is not spectacular, but it works just fine.
 

Royksöpp

macrumors 68020
Nov 4, 2013
2,407
4,025
Truth be told, I would wait until summertime. New Macs with the M2 and a redesign are right around the corner. The M1 Air is nice, but it’s a three year old design based on an existing design introduced in 2016.
 

Apple Knowledge Navigator

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2010
3,685
12,849
Apart from losing 100 nits of brightness, there would only be gains from switching to the new M1 MBA.

What it really comes down to - and I tell this to everyone - is whether you need it or want it. I'm sure your current MBP could last longer.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,201
13,256
IF the MBP you have now is still working "well enough", my suggestion is to HOLD OUT a little while longer until the upcoming 14" and 16" MBP's with the next-generation m-series chip are announced.

I expect "an announcement" around WWDC next month.
But they won't actually ship until a couple of months later, as the chips themselves (with which to make them) won't begin production until July.

I'd let the "first generation" m1 Macs "pass by".
The ones that come next will be much improved...
 

JuQuZ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 15, 2021
2
0
You shouldn't need to be studying an IT discipline to know that the best general principle in systems choice is to use what works, and to upgrade when it is needed.

On that basis, the question would be, does your 2017 MBP do the job you need of it. In your case, with the added possible complication of whether it can do everything you can reasonably project it will be needed to do while studying.

If it can and does, then there is no reason to replace it at the present time, and keeping it would also provide the benefit of observing how the Apple Silicon landscape develops, and thus provide a better option for upgrading when higher-specced systems are both available and affordable for you.

If it can't and doesn't, then ignore those who might tell you that 8Gb isn't enough or that M1 MacBooks are in some abstract way deficient. They aren't. I replaced a 2016 MBP with a base-level M1 MBA, and the difference is quite astonishing. But be aware that if your use case typically has multiple apps open, dozens of tabs in a browser (particularly Chrome) and multiple large documents such as images, 8Gb is likely not enough, regardless of processor architecture.

Otherwise, an M1 would likely give you a rather better overall level of performance.

In my job, the MBA is used for systems analysis, development and training, technical documentation and information security. 8gb is not spectacular, but it works just fine.
The main problem I have with my MacBook right now is how much it thermal throttles which in the long run slows my performance. The main reason I wanted to buy a M1 Macbook is because I saw that it has many advantages, and I was willing to sell my pc(i5 7500, 16gb RAM, 1TB SSD, RX 570 nothing special... getting quite outdated but it does it's job perfectly) and macbook pro to buy a macbook M1 Air.
 

za9ra22

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2003
1,441
1,931
The main problem I have with my MacBook right now is how much it thermal throttles which in the long run slows my performance. The main reason I wanted to buy a M1 Macbook is because I saw that it has many advantages, and I was willing to sell my pc(i5 7500, 16gb RAM, 1TB SSD, RX 570 nothing special... getting quite outdated but it does it's job perfectly) and macbook pro to buy a macbook M1 Air.

While the MBP will have a tendency to heat up when put under pressure with high CPU loads, the fact it is doing this in your case may also indicate that your workflow isn't well suited to an 8Gb platform. The M1 does seem to be rather more efficient in the way it performs generally, but it isn't a miracle system, so you may not get the results from it that you hope.

On the other hand, assuming that your apps are compatible (meaning, no 32-bit software) an M1 with 8Gb RAM is really not likely to do any worse than your present MBP, and if my experience comparing my own 2016 MBP and M1 MBA is anything to go by, the M1 would be notably quicker.
 
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