My experience going through two versions of the 2019 16" Macbook Pro in 2 years.
TLDR: Bought 16" mbp, loads of issues with using an external monitor. Got it changed to another 16" with a newer graphics card said to alleviate my issues. The issues persisted. But since this machine was the only option for me I figured I'd wait for the 16" M1max.Does the m1max have the same reliability issues as the 2019 16" macbook pro? What would you do?
I am a freelance photographer who also does a bit of videography. Up until 2020 I've relied on my trusty pc to do the heavy lifting.
But I had multiple system crashes and issues that occured every time I updated the machine. It just wanted something reliable enough for me to work with.
So I went and bought the 2019 16" macbook pro with these specs (16.0 SG/2.3GHZ 8C/16GB/5500M/1TB-KSW)
I had it a few months just as a stand alone machine without an external monitor alongside my pc as I made the transition. Everything worked absolutely fine.
But when I finally switched over to the mac and plugged in the mbp to the screen it all went to hell.
As soon as I plugged in the cable the fans on the computer ramped up to max. This was in idle mind you, no programs running.
I also had a lot of wierd bugs with strange frame rates. I could only use my external monitor with the mpb in clamshell otherwise it ran the screens in 30hz.
Started reading about this phenomenon here on macforums and after a lot of back and forth I decided to change out my current machine to a one with the Radeon Pro 5600M which apparently handled the issues with the fans ramping up.
Finally got the new machine and yes, the fans did not ramp up as frequent and as loud but it wasn't really far from the old one.
So I started thinking: If I return this unit what can I return it to that has similar size and specs, dedicated graphics. Oh right its the only model they have with that option. So whats the point of even returning it.
So I figured I'd hold up until the 16" M1 Max.
About a week before Monterey was release I called up apple and explained to them the situation. I payed almost 5000 euros for this machine and it hasn't worked properly since I received it. The issues I have are issues you cannot resolve. What do I do here?
I was asked to wait for the Monterey release and see if that fixed the issues I was having.
When the update arrived I was stumped. It was the first time everything just worked as intended. Not a single hickup and I so happy to finally have a machine I could count on for my work.
Then 12.1 came and ruined everything again. Now its worse than ever before. Freezing, crashing, crippning slowdowns etc
Time machine is completely borked, had to restore most manually through other backups.
I had to spend new years eve and newyears day to format and downgrade to 12.01.
And a lot of the bugs from 12.1 are still there. Probably because of firmware updates that are not downgraded when you downgrade your OS.
Sure it works better than prior to 12.1 but I feel like I'm back to square one.
So what would you do here?
I rely on final cut for video editing and I really like osx for my production workflow. I need a powerful laptop so I can work on the go.
If I somehow can convince apple to let me change to their m1max would I run in to the same reliability issues there?
