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chmania

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 2, 2023
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Is anyone still using Intel MacBooks? If so, why? I have a 2018 Intel 15" MacBook Pro, and I don't feel inclined to replace it due to its slimmer design, Touch Bar, and a few other reasons. What are yours? I'm not particularly concerned about battery usage, as it has always been used while plugged in at around 80% battery level. Even when I used it on battery without charging it to 100%, it still lasts approximately six hours until the battery level drops to about 20%. Plus, I simply like its appearance—flat and thin.
 
I only caved in and bought an M4 Air because the battery in my MBP 2020 started swelling, and as UTM can run XP quite well nowadays, I didn't need the Intel processor anymore. If the battery had lasted I would probably have squeezed a few more years out of the old machine.
 
I’ve got a late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina that I still use I think 10 time/year. My main devices are iPhone & iPadPro, that’s why I’m still using an old MacBook.
 
I was running a 2020 Intel MacBook Pro (4 thunderbolt ports) until summer of last year, and it was generally fast enough for basic office tasks and watching videos, but it was slow for one thing I wanted: on-device AI tasks. I had discovered MacWhisper (a killer app for me) and was using it to transcribe video and audio files, but it was too slow on the Intel Mac for me. It was my main machine for 4 years.

I then bought a 15" M3 MacBook Air just to run MacWhisper faster, and it does run it much faster using the M3's GPU.

If it wasn't for wanting to run MacWhisper faster, I'd likely be still using the 2020 Intel MBP (which I have since given away) until the M5 machines come out.
 
I've got a 13" 2018 MacBook Pro, which is now stuck on Sequoia. I'll be replacing it whenever the M5 machines are released.
 
I've got a 13" 2018 MacBook Pro, which is now stuck on Sequoia. I'll be replacing it whenever the M5 machines are released.
I waited until the hype surrounding the silicon Macs had slowed down when they were first released, and I held off until the M4 was launched to get a Mac Mini. By the way, the first buyers of the M1 Macs were the experiment, not the Macs themselves. However, I won't be getting rid of my 2018 15" MacBook Pro, as it is still quite good, and that slim design is no longer available with the new MacBooks, and that the Touch Bar.

In three more years, there will likely be three more M series chips available, and most probably, my 2018 MacBook Pro will still be around. Intel won't die that quickly, I believe.
 
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I keep my 2018 MBP 13 to run Bootcamp only. The battery is almost completely dead. My primary machines are a pair of MBA M4 and Mac mini M4.
 
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