Advice Needed - Which MBP to go for?

[jtcameron]

Hello all,

Last week I managed to damage the lid and screen of my M1 Pro 16” MBP (16GB, 1TB). I took it to the Apple Store in both Bristol and Cardiff and they advised that it would be £950 to replace the lid and screen, and that my best bet would be to sell the MBP whilst it holds some value.

I decided to downsize and order a MBP M4 Pro 14” (24GB, 1TB) from the Apple Refurbished site. I just don’t like how small it is, and I think I want to take it back. Equally though, I bought my current one for £2000 from John Lewis in a huge sale.

I am a music teacher, so don’t use it for high end music production, but I do use Logic, Sibelius, GarageBand, PowerPoint, Word etc. and have them quite often open at the same time. My M1 Pro has been brilliant and never let me down. I do also use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for running the school website, but not as often anymore. I do also have two 27” monitors (that I probably don’t use enough). I just don’t think I like the size difference of the 14”, and don’t want to regret it.

Therefore, do I:

1. Keep the M4 Pro 14” and get over the size and use my monitors more
2. Get an M1 Max 16” that I’ve seen on eBay with 64GB Ram for about £1500
3. Buy a M4 Max 16” for about £3000 - would rather save money and get an M1 if the M1 is still a good choice
4. Is the MacBook Air 15” a contender? Personally I don’t like the look of the Air as much

Any advice is appreciated. Is a used M1 Pro or Max still worth it in 2025? Or is that dead money? I’d like to save money if possible - I’m not made of it

Many thanks,
Jam

 

[russell_314]

I am a music teacher, so don’t use it for high end music production, but I do use Logic, Sibelius, GarageBand, PowerPoint, Word etc. and have them quite often open at the same time. My M1 Pro has been brilliant and never let me down. I do also use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for running the school website, but not as often anymore. I do also have two 27” monitors (that I probably don’t use enough). I just don’t think I like the size difference of the 14”, and don’t want to regret it.

I wouldn’t go with the 15” Air because you’re already not happy with the 14” Pro. You said you don’t like the design of the Air so I would forget about that. It sounds like it’s another future return.

I’m curious as to why you’re looking at the Max chip at all? I don’t use those applications, but I don’t believe they require much if any GPU power. I think what you’re describing is you would like to have a bunch of stuff open so therefore you need RAM.

Anyone feel free to chime in because I don’t use those specific applications but it sounds like even the base model Pro with sufficient RAM would work. Of course the question is how much RAM and I will leave that for someone that uses those applications.

 

[jtcameron]

I wouldn’t go with the 15” Air because you’re already not happy with the 14” Pro. You said you don’t like the design of the Air so I would forget about that. It sounds like it’s another future return.

I’m curious as to why you’re looking at the Max chip at all? I don’t use those applications, but I don’t believe they require much if any GPU power. I think what you’re describing is you would like to have a bunch of stuff open so therefore you need RAM.

Anyone feel free to chime in because I don’t use those specific applications but it sounds like even the base model Pro with sufficient RAM would work. Of course the question is how much RAM and I will leave that for someone that uses those applications.

Hello,

Thanks for replying. I’d look for an M1 Max just because I think if I’m buying a used one in 2025, it would probably last a bit longer than a pro? Could be completely wrong! I’m not particularly fussed. I have seen a few on eBay for about £1300 - £1600.

In terms of an M4, because I need 1TB storage, from most retailers, I’ve noticed that it is either 512GB with the M4 Pro chip, or 1TB with an M4 Max. Apple direct obviously sells it how I want it, but the lead time is 2-3 weeks due to the 1TB.

I’d rather get 1TB than 512GB just because a lot of the software I use requires additional packages. I’m on about 800GB out of 1TB now - although I know I could clean the files.

Cheers,
J

 

[russell_314]

Hello,

Thanks for replying. I’d look for an M1 Max just because I think if I’m buying a used one in 2025, it would probably last a bit longer than a pro? Could be completely wrong! I’m not particularly fussed. I have seen a few on eBay for about £1300 - £1600.

In terms of an M4, because I need 1TB storage, from most retailers, I’ve noticed that it is either 512GB with the M4 Pro chip, or 1TB with an M4 Max. Apple direct obviously sells it how I want it, but the lead time is 2-3 weeks due to the 1TB.

I’d rather get 1TB than 512GB just because a lot of the software I use requires additional packages. I’m on about 800GB out of 1TB now - although I know I could clean the files.

Cheers,
J

I don’t think the M1 Max is going to receive support from Apple any longer than the M1 Pro. Will it have a usable life slightly longer? Maybe. If the price is close, then why not get the Max.

I kind of overlooked your comment about using the monitors more. Are you using it mostly at your desktop? If so, in theory, you should be using the monitors more because they are much larger than a 16” MacBook screen. Why don’t you like using the monitors? Is the screen quality poor so you prefer looking at the MacBook screen? I can definitely understand that. Expensive monitors are nice, but they can be more expensive than the MacBook itself.