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Should I wait for the MBP 14" M2 Pro or buy the MBP 14" M1 Pro now?

nnavas13

nnavas13

macrumors member
Original poster
May 25, 2020
31
32
Spain
I am an engineering student and I need a new MacBook Pro.

If I buy the M1 Pro now, it will arrive by the first week of august (I live in Spain and there is no stock anywhere because of the supply chain crisis), just in time for the next academic year. (MBP 14", 8 14 16, 16GB, 1 TB)

If Apple announces the M2 Pro MBP, lets say in mid October maybe, it may arrive by the end of the year.

I don't think the wait is worth it because there is not much to upgrade besides de processor, and from what I've been reading the improvement over the M1 Pro shouldn't be that big either. We should also take into account that the crisis situation could worsen, that the m2 pro could have even more delay, and that apple could also raise prices more as it has done with the new MBA.

What are your thoughts on this?
 
A) M2 Pro likely won't happen until sometime in the first half of 2023. They will not be shipping it in October; that's too close to the base M2 and will take away the spotlight from it if they do that.

B) I just ordered a used 14" MBP on Swappa.com and should be getting it next week. Unless you're buying new specifically to get the extended AppleCare+ warranty, you can avoid all the supply chain issues by buying a gently used 14MBP and save a little money. And many of them come with an extended warranty, too.

You should go for the M1 Pro.
 
izzy0242mr said:
A) M2 Pro likely won't happen until sometime in the first half of 2023. They will not be shipping it in October; that's too close to the base M2 and will take away the spotlight from it if they do that.

B) I just ordered a used 14" MBP on Swappa.com and should be getting it next week. Unless you're buying new specifically to get the extended AppleCare+ warranty, you can avoid all the supply chain issues by buying a gently used 14MBP and save a little money. And many of them come with an extended warranty, too.

You should go for the M1 Pro.
Click to expand...
Yeah I will probably go for it
 
Ya, my guess is we are talking Oct/Nov at the earliest or more likely Winter 2023 for the next MacBook Pro release. Looks like M2 isn't a huge upgrade anyway, maybe a 30% boost in graphics. M3 is probably going to be a bigger deal if Apple moves to 3nm for that. The big thing I am interested in is if they fixed some of the I/O speed/connection issues with M2. Hopefully reviews on the M2 MacBook Air will shed some light on that.

Anyway, if you need it now, you need it now. You can always sell it and use the money to upgrade if you end up regretting the decision, so it shouldn't be a huge loss at a worse case scenario.
 
nnavas13 said:
I am an engineering student and I need a new MacBook Pro.

If I buy the M1 Pro now, it will arrive by the first week of august (I live in Spain and there is no stock anywhere because of the supply chain crisis), just in time for the next academic year. (MBP 14", 8 14 16, 16GB, 1 TB)

If Apple announces the M2 Pro MBP, lets say in mid October maybe, it may arrive by the end of the year.

I don't think the wait is worth it because there is not much to upgrade besides de processor, and from what I've been reading the improvement over the M1 Pro shouldn't be that big either. We should also take into account that the crisis situation could worsen, that the m2 pro could have even more delay, and that apple could also raise prices more as it has done with the new MBA.

What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
I don't see them shipping an upgraded 14" Macbook Pro until next year. Since you need a laptop now, I'd go for the current M1 Pro model. That said, the new M2 Macbook Air with 16GB and 1TB might be an attractive option. Lighter, smaller, and very capable.
 
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Yeah I don't think the M2 Pro will be a massive improvement. It's still the same 5nm process as the M1. The big gains will be with M3 with it's new 3nm process.
 
It may be a long wait, as they only release the M1 model this year.
Also looking at the 1.4x increase in performance for the M2 MacBook Air, it may not be such a huge base line increase.

If you get your MacBook Pro 14, I’m sure it will be awesome.
Just spec up as much as you can 😀

I kept waiting for the mythical ”updated” Mac Mini with the ”redesign”… never happened. So I waited almost 6 months then the Mac Studio came up. I paid more but very happy.

So something its best to get what you can an be happy, there will always be “one more thing” 😀
 
nnavas13 said:
I am an engineering student and I need a new MacBook Pro.

If I buy the M1 Pro now, it will arrive by the first week of august (I live in Spain and there is no stock anywhere because of the supply chain crisis), just in time for the next academic year. (MBP 14", 8 14 16, 16GB, 1 TB)

If Apple announces the M2 Pro MBP, lets say in mid October maybe, it may arrive by the end of the year.

I don't think the wait is worth it because there is not much to upgrade besides de processor, and from what I've been reading the improvement over the M1 Pro shouldn't be that big either. We should also take into account that the crisis situation could worsen, that the m2 pro could have even more delay, and that apple could also raise prices more as it has done with the new MBA.

What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
Get the M1 Pro. As you said, let's assume the new Macs pop up in October, you'll likely see it till January due to all the delays.
 
I'd wait since for the M2 MBP since it's more likely to get 3nm than the low end MBA.
 
Won't happen...
M1 in 2020, M1 Pro/Max in 2021, M1 Ultra in 2022...
M2 in 2022, M2 Pro/Max in 2023, M2 Ultra in 2024...
repeat

We're on a 2-year cycle with M-series SoCs. So if you can wait till fall 2023, wait. If not, buy now.
 
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GrumpyCoder said:
Won't happen...
M1 in 2020, M1 Pro/Max in 2021, M1 Ultra in 2022...
M2 in 2022, M2 Pro/Max in 2023, M2 Ultra in 2024...
repeat

We're on a 2-year cycle with M-series SoCs. So if you can wait till fall 2023, wait. If not, buy now.
Click to expand...
What you said sounds plausibel but do you really think that apple won't release any new macbook pros during wwdc in october?
 
chad.petree said:
What you said sounds plausibel but do you really think that apple won't release any new macbook pros during wwdc in october?
Click to expand...
There is no WWDC in October (we just had WWDC and it's over), so no. They might have a hardware event in October/November to announce new iPhones and maybe updated iPads (M2) or Mac Mini (M2) and hopefully we'll get some news about the Mac Pro. Their 2-year transition is ending around that time and if they stick to the plan, every intel Mac should have a AS replacement then... it's awfully quite when it comes to the Mac Pro.
 
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GrumpyCoder said:
There is no WWDC in October (we just had WWDC and it's over), so no. They might have a hardware event in October/November to announce new iPhones and maybe updated iPads (M2) or Mac Mini (M2) and hopefully we'll get some news about the Mac Pro. Their 2-year transition is ending around that time and if they stick to the plan, every intel Mac should have a AS replacement then... it's awfully quite when it comes to the Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
You're right, I got it confused, I think there will be an event in September to announce the new iphones and then another event around october/november to announce the devices you mentioned: refreshed ipads, for sure the mac pro and maybe a mac mini with m2.
 
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just an opinion on what improvements the next pro iteration may bring

-10/16 as base model (doubt it lol but you never know)

-display fixes for the terrible response times

-double the led/zones ,again i doubt it ,but even 25% more zones would be incredible in terms of contrast and blooming improvements . as u may know there are 4 times as many leds as there are zones.meaning for 4 leds,u get one zone.i could see them increasing the amount of zones for greater and more precise control,as this seems to be a matter of power (meaning,SOC power/efficiency)rather than a display tech thing .maybe im wrong ofc

-better chip efficiency ,for a better battery. the 14's battery was far from terrific in my humble opinion

-again,better efficiency meaning a cooler chip,more comfortable to use

-more consistent keyboards across the units,but again i very much doubt it lmao

-FIXES for super slow external drives !! but that depends on m2 actually..
 
mi7chy said:
I'd wait since for the M2 MBP since it's more likely to get 3nm than the low end MBA.
Click to expand...
i bet you the m2 pro will just be the m2...pro ,with more cores,more bandwidth ,perfectly scaled as seen with the m1 pro

althouh idk if u can design a chip by "simply" changin the nodes...can you ?
 
nnavas13 said:
I am an engineering student and I need a new MacBook Pro.

If I buy the M1 Pro now, it will arrive by the first week of august (I live in Spain and there is no stock anywhere because of the supply chain crisis), just in time for the next academic year. (MBP 14", 8 14 16, 16GB, 1 TB)

If Apple announces the M2 Pro MBP, lets say in mid October maybe, it may arrive by the end of the year.

I don't think the wait is worth it because there is not much to upgrade besides de processor, and from what I've been reading the improvement over the M1 Pro shouldn't be that big either. We should also take into account that the crisis situation could worsen, that the m2 pro could have even more delay, and that apple could also raise prices more as it has done with the new MBA.

What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
*Update*
I just ordered it. Estimated delivery date between August 8 and 23
 
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Rumor has it that M2 Pro and M2 Max will be manufactured on TSMC's 3nm node and will be ARMv9 - according to ShrimpApplePro.
Also, Mark Gurman recently said these chips could come as soon as the end of 2022, but could be delayed to early 2023.
However, it is also a matter of you needing the computer. If you need it now, buy it now. If you can wait, I think you should and then get a better machine for the money you will invest.
Personally I'm waiting for M2 Pro ;)
 
Buy it now. M2 Pro is going to be super expensive.

Why would you wait for Apple to jack up the prices?

The M1 / M1 Pro / M1 Max / M1 Ultra are the ones to buy.
 
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Interesting video about the evolution between M1 and M2. As I said, the jump from the M1 Pro to the M2 Pro could be smaller than expected.
 
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