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Buy MacBook Pro 14 now or wait?

M

MrHoobs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 11, 2011
21
8
Hi.

Looking at buying a 14inch MacBook Pro in the very near future…

What are your thoughts on…

A) buying now, the price is slightly reduced (£1700ish bs £1899), knowing there’s a new one out very soon
B) wait until the new one comes out.

I’m expecting a price hike based on the iPad over here, so the base 14inch I’d imagine to be £1999 when it does hit the shelves.

I do family video editing (4K from an iPhone), going to start doing podcast videos etc… nothing professional though so I’m thinking grab a cheaper m1 now?

It would only be the base model, possibly upgrading ram to 32gb…

Discuss!
 
I've got the base model 14" and paid the full 1899 for it. I'd pay that again now for it. It's absolutely the best laptop I've ever owned and I've owned a very large quantity of them over the years.

You only need the base model for what you are doing I reckon. I've never hit memory pressure even hammering it hard with video editing (Resolve), photo editing (Lightroom) and programming (VScode + go + various bits of unix cack).

Only concern might be storage for you depending on what you need.

Very importantly though, only go with stock configurations because if it breaks it can take weeks to get swapped out if it's a build to order.
 
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Danfango said:
I've got the base model 14" and paid the full 1899 for it. I'd pay that again now for it. It's absolutely the best laptop I've ever owned and I've owned a very large quantity of them over the years.

You only need the base model for what you are doing I reckon. I've never hit memory pressure even hammering it hard with video editing (Resolve), photo editing (Lightroom) and programming (VScode + go + various bits of unix cack).

Only concern might be storage for you depending on what you need.

Very importantly though, only go with stock configurations because if it breaks it can take weeks to get swapped out if it's a build to order.
Click to expand...
Ooh good tip thanks!

Do you edit in 4K? That’s my only concern and why I’m considering the 32gb.

It is only occasional - couple of times a year if I do a gig or something - but massive files.. 30gig plus.

I guess 16gb would still be ok but take a while to process?
 
MrHoobs said:
Ooh good tip thanks!

Do you edit in 4K? That’s my only concern and why I’m considering the 32gb.

It is only occasional - couple of times a year if I do a gig or something - but massive files.. 30gig plus.

I guess 16gb would still be ok but take a while to process?
Click to expand...
Yeah 4k. I was using an 8Gb MBA before and that wasn't much slower.

The limiting factor is likely storage not CPU or RAM.

Edit: Worth pointing out the screen will break your eyes permanently. Nothing will ever look the same again it's that good 🤣
 
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I just ordered a 14" Pro 1TB with the 10/16 CPU/GPU at about $550 off retail, but I am having second thoughts with the new ones coming out in a few months. I could likely get by with my 2015 MBP for another year and pick up an M2 MBP at a discount, but then again I'd be without this great laptop (as Danfango noted) for all that time. IMHO you don't need the 32GB for your workflow. Even my 2015 MBP can edit 4K pretty well, it just takes a while to process, the new base M1 Pro is 10x faster easily, if not much more so. In your situation I'd wait a few more months to see if you can get a better discount as the M2 Pro launch nears. Honestly an M1 MacBook Air might be plenty for you at about half the price of the base 14", unless you want the higher quality screen, speakers, ports and processing power.
 
Base 14 MBP can be had for £1619 on Apple refurbished store. A good saving and any refresh is likely to just be under the hood, more expensive and no real world tangible difference for your usage.

www.apple.com

Refurbished 14-inch MacBook Pro Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8‑Core CPU and 14‑Core GPU - Space Grey

M1 Pro takes the exceptional performance of the M1 architecture to a whole new level for pro users. Even the most ambitious projects are easily handled with up to 10 CPU cores, up to 16 GPU cores, a 16‑core Neural Engine, and dedicated encode and decode media engines that support H.264, HEVC and...
www.apple.com
 
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Wait. New ones usually get discounted very quickly after launch. Unless you found a supreme deal during Black Friday, now is not the right time to buy.
 
JPack said:
Wait. New ones usually get discounted very quickly after launch. Unless you found a supreme deal during Black Friday, now is not the right time to buy.
Click to expand...
I love my base MBP14, but I'm leaning toward agreeing with this. We're all just guessing but it seems logical that the next machines to get a chip bump will be the Pros. I'd buy a Studio today but I think I'd hold out on at MBP for a couple more months. But if I could get a deep discount, that might sway me. The machine is fantastic so at the right price, heck yes.
 
MrHoobs said:
A) buying now, the price is slightly reduced (£1700ish bs £1899), knowing there’s a new one out very soon
B) wait until the new one comes out.
Click to expand...
Buy now, if you need it get it. The concensus is that the M2 isn't going to be terribly faster, its appearing to be more of a spec bump so you'll be paying more for not much more performance. Plus you get to enjoy a new machine sooner

JPack said:
Wait. New ones usually get discounted very quickly after launch. Unless you found a supreme deal during Black Friday, now is not the right time to buy.
Click to expand...
Rumors of price increases, means that a M2 may be much more expensive purchase, and so even if they get discounted. Plus where are those discounts? Apple - not usually. So that means third party sellers offering the base unit. If the OP wants a higher spec'd machine those never get discounted imo
 
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will the battery technology be any better? My 16 inch m1 mbp took a big battery health hit after 1 yr.
 
What sort of discount would people think is good? Amazon still has its Black Friday prices of £1725, vs apple at £1899.. that’s not too bad I don’t think?
 
I’d buy my MBP 14” right now again if I had to. Use it for business with two external displays most of the time and have been very satisfied with the performance so far. I’m guessing the new chips might be a tad faster but is it worth the wait and a potential hefty up charge? I don’t think so.
 
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LiE_ said:
Base 14 MBP can be had for £1619 on Apple refurbished store. A good saving and any refresh is likely to just be under the hood, more expensive and no real world tangible difference for your usage.

www.apple.com

Refurbished 14-inch MacBook Pro Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8‑Core CPU and 14‑Core GPU - Space Grey

M1 Pro takes the exceptional performance of the M1 architecture to a whole new level for pro users. Even the most ambitious projects are easily handled with up to 10 CPU cores, up to 16 GPU cores, a 16‑core Neural Engine, and dedicated encode and decode media engines that support H.264, HEVC and...
www.apple.com
Click to expand...

MrHoobs said:
What sort of discount would people think is good? Amazon still has its Black Friday prices of £1725, vs apple at £1899.. that’s not too bad I don’t think?
Click to expand...
 
I have the m1max/64 gb of ram 14 inch, it is easily the best machine I have ever used. I would have done 16 inch but it's just not portable enough for me.

Do a lot of pytorch/tf work so having the ram is crucial for panda table work, prob could have done without the m1max, though GPU cores help.

Plan to hold on this machine for 5 years then get whatever m4/m5 variant is out then.
 
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I just pulled the trigger on the 14" Pro today from the Apple refurbished store. Tired of waiting.

If we don't hear any rumors about a definitive timeframe for release in the return period (more specific than Q1 2023) I'm keeping it. If the update ends up being substantial (increase in battery life or we finally get HDMI 2.1) then I can just eventually pick up the new model from the refurbished store at a discount (usually hits 3-6 months after release).
 
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james2538 said:
I just pulled the trigger on the 14" Pro today from the Apple refurbished store. Tired of waiting.

If we don't hear any rumors about a definitive timeframe for release in the return period (more specific than Q1 2023) I'm keeping it. If the update ends up being substantial (increase in battery life or we finally get HDMI 2.1) then I can just eventually pick up the new model from the refurbished store at a discount (usually hits 3-6 months after release).
Click to expand...
I got a 14" Pro recently as well. No point in waiting. I needed a computer, and this one will serve me well for the next couple of years.
 
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m2 pro/max if comes out in march, will be on 5nm and i promise you it would be a very marginal upgrade in performance just like how we saw from the m1 mba to m2 mba.
 
MrHoobs said:
buying now, the price is slightly reduced (£1700ish bs £1899), knowing there’s a new one out very soon
Click to expand...
Be sure to check Apple's refurbished page. There are plenty of 14" MBPs on there right now in various configurations.
 
If we were nearing the end of the previous generation with a 5-year-old design running on Intel with rumors of the Touch Bar getting nixed, improved webcam, mini LED and possibly ProMotion, plus new Apple Silicon...well then yeah you should wait. BUT like has been said already, those awesome improvements are here! The current computer is really good & the only update will be from M1 Pro/Max to M2 Pro/Max will be great but nowhere near the game changer it was going from Intel to Apple Silicon.
 
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MrHoobs said:
Thanks all. Bit the bullet and got a base M1 Pro 14 for £1700. £199 saving from apple, and via John Lewis you get a 2 year warranty.

It’s awesome isn’t it?!
Click to expand...
congrats, from all the rumors the possible updated mbp would only be a cpu upgrade, and even then 10% at best.
 
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