2016 MacBook Pro 15" to M2 MBA upgrade?

[rhor]

Hi everyone,

I'm rocking a 2016 MacBook Pro 15" fully maxed out. This machine is getting really long in the tooth. I work as a data scientist and besides running most experiments on clusters anyway, it's getting kind of frustrating that my current machine doesn't offer enough performance for such work. I'll need one of the new Mx Max MBPs at some point, but was waiting for the M2 Max MBP. I'll go for a fully maxed out machine then, too. Besides work, I like to shoot and edit 4K video as a hobby, but will upgrade to an EOS R5 which shoots 8K video soon. The 2016 machine at this point needs to be rebooted once per day and many things aren't possible at all, such as HEVC video editing. I purchased an M1 MacMini last year and am happy performance wise, but due to travel picking back up again, I'll probably need a laptop to bridge the gap between the current 2016 MBP and a new M2 Max MBP. Is the M2 MBA powerful enough to support my workflow or should I really go for an M1 Max MBP, then upgrade to the M2 Max when they come out?

 

[Funny Apple Man]

The M2 MBA (even the M1 MBA) will run circles around the 2016 MBP 15 inch so it's powerful enough to support your workflow. Just make sure the software you use for your work is compatible and can run on M1.

If you're only editing video as a hobby, then going for the Air is okay since it's still fast enough even when throttled down.

 

[Klae17]

Get the 14 in maxed. The mba m2 probably won’t cut it.

 

[jav6454]

While an M1 or M2 chip will work for day to day tasks, the demands you pointed out are only easier done via an M1 Pro chip. Don't get the Max as you'll sacrifice battery over a few seconds.

 

[Deanster]

Hi everyone,

I'm rocking a 2016 MacBook Pro 15" fully maxed out. This machine is getting really long in the tooth. I work as a data scientist and besides running most experiments on clusters anyway, it's getting kind of frustrating that my current machine doesn't offer enough performance for such work. I'll need one of the new Mx Max MBPs at some point, but was waiting for the M2 Max MBP. I'll go for a fully maxed out machine then, too. Besides work, I like to shoot and edit 4K video as a hobby, but will upgrade to an EOS R5 which shoots 8K video soon. The 2016 machine at this point needs to be rebooted once per day and many things aren't possible at all, such as HEVC video editing. I purchased an M1 MacMini last year and am happy performance wise, but due to travel picking back up again, I'll probably need a laptop to bridge the gap between the current 2016 MBP and a new M2 Max MBP. Is the M2 MBA powerful enough to support my workflow or should I really go for an M1 Max MBP, then upgrade to the M2 Max when they come out?

I think we’re gear-brothers, my daughter is an ML/Data Science major using my old 2016 MacBook Pro, I upgraded to R5 last year, my main computer is an M1 Pro 16” that mostly lives on my desk hooked to a big monitor, and I just ordered my base model M2 MBA yesterday morning. My daughter will get the 13” M1 MBP that I’ve been using as my travel rig this week to replace the 2016 MBP.

Long story short, that 2016 has been a great machine, but it’s getting mighty slow by modern standards, and won’t upgrade to Ventura this fall.

The M2 MBA should run circles around it, with something like 2.5x single core performance and 6x multi-core, along with substantially faster memory and disk access. Obviously I don’t have it in hand yet, but it should land between my M1 MBP and M1 Pro MBP, and that’s more than good enough for such a light and slim travel computer.

While the R5 does shoot 8K, it overheats pretty quickly in that mode, and realistically there’s not a lot of call for 8K footage in daily use. I mostly shoot 1080 or 2.7K with both the R5 and my DJI Mini 2 drone, unless I’m specifically intending to present it in 4K - even 4K footage is space-consuming, slow to transcode, etc. The quality is phenomenal, but it’s a hefty format, and the overhead is substantial if you don’t absolutely need that resolution.

Which brings us to the 8K question. If you’re really legitimately going to be handling 8K footage with any frequency, then all the rest of this conversation is moot, you need all the power you can get, Max/Ultra will still not feel fast and agile. M2 MBA isn’t going to be agile in that task at all, but even a dual-Xeon workstation is going to feel that load, so… there you are.

TL;DR, M2 MBA should leave you feeling light and fresh compared to 2016 MBP, but 8K footage is a computer-crusher, adjust expectations accordingly.

 

[rhor]

I think we’re gear-brothers, my daughter is an ML/Data Science major using my old 2016 MacBook Pro, I upgraded to R5 last year, my main computer is an M1 Pro 16” that mostly lives on my desk hooked to a big monitor, and I just ordered my base model M2 MBA yesterday morning. My daughter will get the 13” M1 MBP that I’ve been using as my travel rig this week to replace the 2016 MBP.

Long story short, that 2016 has been a great machine, but it’s getting mighty slow by modern standards, and won’t upgrade to Ventura this fall.

The M2 MBA should run circles around it, with something like 2.5x single core performance and 6x multi-core, along with substantially faster memory and disk access. Obviously I don’t have it in hand yet, but it should land between my M1 MBP and M1 Pro MBP, and that’s more than good enough for such a light and slim travel computer.

While the R5 does shoot 8K, it overheats pretty quickly in that mode, and realistically there’s not a lot of call for 8K footage in daily use. I mostly shoot 1080 or 2.7K with both the R5 and my DJI Mini 2 drone, unless I’m specifically intending to present it in 4K - even 4K footage is space-consuming, slow to transcode, etc. The quality is phenomenal, but it’s a hefty format, and the overhead is substantial if you don’t absolutely need that resolution.

Which brings us to the 8K question. If you’re really legitimately going to be handling 8K footage with any frequency, then all the rest of this conversation is moot, you need all the power you can get, Max/Ultra will still not feel fast and agile. M2 MBA isn’t going to be agile in that task at all, but even a dual-Xeon workstation is going to feel that load, so… there you are.

TL;DR, M2 MBA should leave you feeling light and fresh compared to 2016 MBP, but 8K footage is a computer-crusher, adjust expectations accordingly.

Wow, super useful response, especially since we actually seem to be using similar gear!

While I do agree that 8K isn't necessary for viewing, it provides some freedom in post. I've rented an R5 on a few occasions and find the 8K footage to be ok as far as editing goes on my M1 MacMini. The mini serves as my rendering machine. I edit off of external SSDs or for big projects off of my Synology NAS which is linked to my M1 Mini through 10GbE. Then render everything on the M1 Mini and output straight to the Synology. I don't really care if this takes a week or two to render, so that part of the equation is done.

I started shooting 4K only in late 2015 with only a handful of projects after that captured in 1080. When I finally upgraded the TV from an old 1080 panel to a 65 inch Sony 4k HDR last year, I had a library of almost 6 years of projects built in 4K and instantly fell in love with old content again. The whole family library (grandparents who are long gone now) is there and it's awesome that this stuff exists. That's why I'll go for 8K if I can. In addition I've been covering some wildlife stuff on the side and am planning on getting the R5 C, not the R5. Will probably order the M2 MBA maxed out tonight and then an M2 Max when it comes out for more desk and domestic stuff, will use the MBA when traveling internationally. The 2 ports work out really well to back up media from a CFexpress to external SSDs. For most day-to-day stuff, the MBA should be fine. I don't see thermal throttling as a major issue for now, but will put it through its paces once it arrives.

 

[Deanster]

Wow, super useful response, especially since we actually seem to be using similar gear!

While I do agree that 8K isn't necessary for viewing, it provides some freedom in post. I've rented an R5 on a few occasions and find the 8K footage to be ok as far as editing goes on my M1 MacMini. The mini serves as my rendering machine. I edit off of external SSDs or for big projects off of my Synology NAS which is linked to my M1 Mini through 10GbE. Then render everything on the M1 Mini and output straight to the Synology. I don't really care if this takes a week or two to render, so that part of the equation is done.

I started shooting 4K only in late 2015 with only a handful of projects after that captured in 1080. When I finally upgraded the TV from an old 1080 panel to a 65 inch Sony 4k HDR last year, I had a library of almost 6 years of projects built in 4K and instantly fell in love with old content again. The whole family library (grandparents who are long gone now) is there and it's awesome that this stuff exists. That's why I'll go for 8K if I can. In addition I've been covering some wildlife stuff on the side and am planning on getting the R5 C, not the R5. Will probably order the M2 MBA maxed out tonight and then an M2 Max when it comes out for more desk and domestic stuff, will use the MBA when traveling internationally. The 2 ports work out really well to back up media from a CFexpress to external SSDs. For most day-to-day stuff, the MBA should be fine. I don't see thermal throttling as a major issue for now, but will put it through its paces once it arrives.

All of that makes sense to me right up to the last sentence.

My base model M2 MBA has arrived now, and it's doing great at what someone else called 'bursty' jobs, including short video transcodes.

It's clear though that maxing the CPU for more than a few minutes results in pretty substantial thermal throttling, you can watch any of a dozen reviews with tests.

I mean this warmly, but I honestly think it's just cracked to talk about intentionally buying a fanless laptop to routinely use for editing 8K footage in the same sentence.

You do you, of course, but a 13" M2 MBP seems like a vastly better bet for what you're talking about, unless I'm totally misunderstanding what you're working on.

All the upsides of the M2 MBA, another half-pound of weight, a couple mm of chonkyness, and wildly better CPU/GPU performance over long high-usage stretches with the fan, all for a couple hundred dollars more. A base model 14" MBP would do even better, and there are starting to be sales that bring the price into a very sane range.

I adore my M2 MBA, it's cute as a button, and I'm going to love it for taking to campus to teach, write, grade, and powerpoint. I'll do a wee bit of video editing on it, and I'm excited that it's legitimately capable of doing 4K video editing of short clips without getting just crushed - that's a HUGE upgrade for an MBA.

But buying a fanless machine with the kind of video demand you're talking about? That seems like a hard path, amigo.

 

[Deanster]

Amazon has a 14" MBP M1 Pro 16/512 right now for $1799... Given that an M2 MBA 16/512 is $1699, that $100 seems like a meaningful upgrade for someone looking to do a ton of 4K+ video.

.8 of a pound heavier, two fans, much improved cooling flow, XDR screen, sd card slot, HDMI port, wildly better speakers, etc. etc. all seem tailor made for the workflow you're describing?

2021 Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M1 Pro chip with 8‑core CPU and 14‑core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - Space Gray

The new MacBook Pro delivers game-changing performance for pro users. With the powerful M1 Pro to supercharge pro-level workflows while getting amazing battery life. And with an immersive 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display and an array of pro ports, you can do more than ever with MacBook Pro.

www.amazon.com

Don't get me wrong, I'm obviously gonzo for thin/light laptops, but as someone who has (unwisely) attempted to run Final Cut Pro on a 2015 m3 12" MacBook...

I'd move up to the 14" MBP and take the $100/weight/chonk penalty in a heartbeat if even 1080 video was a meaningful part of my expected workflow.