Some urgent computer advice, please!

learningtofly

learningtofly

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I currently use an ageing MBP from mid-2012 which is creaking badly now. It's not a bad spec (2.6 Ghz, 16GB DDR3, Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 512GB SATA SSD, NVIDIA GeForce 650M 1GB), but for a while now the graphics card has been giving me issues with regard to artifacts on images that I open natively; I can't upgrade the OS beyond Catalina; and I've had to roll back Photoshop to avoid GPU-related problems (which is annoying as I use the cloud photography subscription specifically to stay up to date).

Long story short I decided that it's upgrade time and - having thought long and hard - also decided to go all in with this powerhouse. It's a one year old, fully refurbished and warranted Grade A MBP with the best spec I can give it and coming in at £1200 under the equivalent machine from Apple.

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It'll last me at least a decade, all being well, and given my age of 61 might just be the last computer I need to buy. The only thing that's literally stopping me hitting the buy button is that it's not an M1 chip - they're no doubt due soon on the 16" MBP, but I have no idea when.

Given the spec of the machine I want to buy, am I worrying about nothing in that performance wise there's likely to be little gain? I may also have to wait quite a while for an equivalent saving on a pre-loved example too. Any thoughts appreciated.

Edit: A friend elsewhere, who's an IT pro, just said this:

There will be new MacBook Pros using the M1X chip in the next couple of months. If I were you I’d buy a low spec M1 MacBook Air, keep it for a couple of months then sell it when the new Pro models are released to fund the purchase of a new MacBook Pro.

Intel MacBook Pros are a dead end now. MacOS is being developed with the new M processors in mind. MacOS Monterey has features that are only supported on M1 Macs. I really don’t think you’ll get 10 years out of the MacBook you’re proposing to buy.
 
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Its a very well specced machine, I have similar. It is US keyboard, which means $ rather than £ and possibly a funny shaped return key.

you’ll lose 32 bit software, but that night not be a problem.
 
Pound Coin said:
Its a very well specced machine, I have similar. It is US keyboard, which means $ rather than £ and possibly a funny shaped return key.

you’ll lose 32 bit software, but that night not be a problem.
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Thanks for the quick response. The £ symbol is an easy shortcut (Option+3) so I'm not worried about that, and whatever I buy I'm going to hit the same issue with regard to 32 bit software. It's really whether I'd gain anything of substance by waiting for the M1 chip.
 
A couple of musings, first its a lot of cash, second you say it might be your last.
Personally I would listen to your friend , if it were me and I was spending that sort of cash I would want the latest and most up to date kit which would be as future proof as I could get.
 
I agree with waiting for the M1 version. The M1 Mini is noticeably cheaper than the Intel equivalent, and I suspect that may be true of the MBP with M1X. The only query is regarding how much memory the M1 MBP's will be given and may need. One question about your spec: do you actually need 2Tb onboard storage? I store most data on the cloud (iCloud and Dropbox) or external devices for backup/local library. I daresay you wouldn't save much going for a smaller disk, but worth considering.
FWIW I just bought a new Win10 laptop for work, a refurbished Dell 5750 Precision with i9, 64Gb memory, similar Radeon graphics board and 500Gb storage for about £2400, so price wise the MBP you are looking at is about right.
 
troutfisher said:
A couple of musings, first its a lot of cash, second you say it might be your last.
Personally I would listen to your friend , if it were me and I was spending that sort of cash I would want the latest and most up to date kit which would be as future proof as I could get.
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Yes it is, and that's where my thinking is right now.

lindsay56 said:
I agree with waiting for the M1 version. The M1 Mini is noticeably cheaper than the Intel equivalent, and I suspect that may be true of the MBP with M1X. The only query is regarding how much memory the M1 MBP's will be given and may need. One question about your spec: do you actually need 2Tb onboard storage? I store most data on the cloud (iCloud and Dropbox) or external devices for backup/local library. I daresay you wouldn't save much going for a smaller disk, but worth considering.
FWIW I just bought a new Win10 laptop for work, a refurbished Dell 5750 Precision with i9, 64Gb memory, similar Radeon graphics board and 500Gb storage for about £2400, so price wise the MBP you are looking at is about right.
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I want 2TB as it would preclude me needing to have an external drive for photo and video storage plugged in (I already have two backup solutions in place, so don't need it for that). It does look like waiting a while is a better option, and your comments on relative pricing are certainly pertinent (thanks).
 
Your friend is bang on the money - don't waste cash on a machine that's already being obsolesced, and will have support from Apple for only another couple of years.
 
I agree with everyone on here and your friend who says don’t buy an intel Mac. Now apple silicon chips are here they are the future. Apple will be pulling support for intel macs very quickly. We will see the compatibility list jump quickly dwindle down faster than before apple silicon came.

I’ve got a2012 iMac that I’m trying to make do with until the new faster chips are released. Sadly it’s a waiting game until they’re released.
 
I have pretty much that exact spec MacBook Pro. I bought it new to replace my 2015 Mac book pro which was unable to render 4k video efficiently or at all in some circumstances. Whilst it's a big leap in specs and price, I don't think the performance increase to price ratio is very good.

I do wish I'd have waited for the M1 macs, but then I wouldn't have been able to complete several projects I had planned with the old one.
If you can wait, wait.
 
learningtofly said:
It'll last me at least a decade, all being well, and given my age of 61 might just be the last computer I need to buy. The only thing that's literally stopping me hitting the buy button is that it's not an M1 chip - they're no doubt due soon on the 16" MBP, but I have no idea when.
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I would hold off given the change in CPUs.

I don't know how many people remember when Apple switched from the PowerPC CPU. New Mac OS X releases supported PowerPC for only about another three years. It was harder to get application support as well for some packages.
 
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