Just admit it you hit it with a hammer to justify this MBA purchase 😛
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Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Ha ha ha. There are some days that i have thought about it, to get it to work.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
After talking with wifey, and looking at our finances, I couldn't justify upgrading my PC.
Upgrading can be a slippery slope:
Drop in CPU upgrade 5800X -> $200
Drop in CPU upgrade 5800X3D -> $350
Microcenter bundle 7500X3D, ASRock B850M -> $350 (not a fan of Asrock motherboards)
Microcenter bundle AMD 7600X3D/Gigabyte, CPU Heatsink, Computer case -> 729 (I probably need to buy a new PSU, that pushes the price into the 800 range).
So what started off at a 200 dollar price tag, transformed into a 700 - 800 dollar purchase. With money being what it is, dropping that much money is indefensible given our situation. My Studio handles all of the heavy lifting and with crossover gaming is adaquate. My current PC running CachyOS plays games really well (better then my Studio).
Upgrading can be a slippery slope:
Drop in CPU upgrade 5800X -> $200
Drop in CPU upgrade 5800X3D -> $350
Microcenter bundle 7500X3D, ASRock B850M -> $350 (not a fan of Asrock motherboards)
Microcenter bundle AMD 7600X3D/Gigabyte, CPU Heatsink, Computer case -> 729 (I probably need to buy a new PSU, that pushes the price into the 800 range).
So what started off at a 200 dollar price tag, transformed into a 700 - 800 dollar purchase. With money being what it is, dropping that much money is indefensible given our situation. My Studio handles all of the heavy lifting and with crossover gaming is adaquate. My current PC running CachyOS plays games really well (better then my Studio).
This is exactly how I ended up with an RTX 5090 and a 9950x3d the I barely use.
Tech being tech, it's so easy to justify to yourself to upgrade and then a better upgrade until you hit the top consumer specs and then wonder what on earth you were doing.
diamond.g
macrumors G5
You are leaving performance on the table by not swapping that 9950x3d for the 9950x3d2....
Aside from AI, tope tier hardware is a hard sell for other things. Not really cost effective.
Overclocking worked for me. Notable performance improvement and responsiveness.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Exactly,
The same exact thing happened to me last year, the mac mini as a secondary machine, transformed into the M4 Pro Mac mini, to the M4 Max Studio. I have no regrets over the M4 Max Studio, it's a fantastic machine, and is my main desktop. I'm really happy I took the plunge last year over dealing with the price hikes this year.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
That's why I think The mini Pro for my desktop and the air for my laptop will be fine power wise for what we are doing. the wife will get a iMac and macbook air as well. As for iPads, we will both get airs as well. the phone I need the Pro for the camera and accessories that are available for it.
eltoslightfoot
macrumors 68040
Yeah I had a MBA 15" to go with my gaming laptop 16" and decided to downgrade the MBA to the MBA13" and I love that size. So easy to throw in a bag and go.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
That's what we are going with too I would say. and 11 inch iPad airs. My Mac Mini will be connected to a 34 inch ultrawide kuycon monitor which is almost my 2 24s put together.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Did you really notice a speed issue when using it or just running benchmarks and reading about the upgraded cpus. I am on my Desktop now running the 10700, 2070 super, 128gb of ram and fast main ssd. I am editing the photos for the real estate agency for our home sale. it's instant. there are no slow downs etc. everything is super fast. Running the few games I do use on it, are fast, smooth and stable. The GPU fan ramps up a bit but nothing really noticeable just a low audible hum. Nothing screaming or jet engine like for sure.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
I didn't upgrade, so I can't speak first hand on performance increases. I reviewed benchmarks, and test runs, and the 3d cache equipped processors would give me a 20-30% uplift over what I'm seeing now. The thing is, I'm happy with the gaming performance of my PC. The 3d cache has a much lower impact on productivity apps, so I'd not see much of any uplift there.
My current setup is near silent, some games that push the GPU will cause the GPU fans to ramp up, but overall, how I have my system configured its silent. That's one reason why I picked the 3700X processor, it was only 65watts instead of the higher TDP of the newer processors.
Either way, its water over the bridge, as I've chosen to stand pat on my PC configuration - at least right now. I can't speak for the future. Just as an aside, this was my main reason why I opted for the M4 Max Studio over the M4 Pro Mini. Its whisper quiet, and cool running.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
That was sort of what I was getting at. Your system, if you never looked at any numbers etc would be fine. You would never notice any slow downs etc. It's only because you were investigating benchmarks etc. I fall into the same trap. I just finished up a photography editing stint. I edited 60 photos for A real estate agency one and my 5 year old system ripped through them like nothing. Now, If I started reading about benchmarks of my parts in my system, you would think it was useless.
It's a trap alot of us fall into. Ohhhh this new shiney part will make my pc X% faster than my current system. But in reality the system right now is performing fine, and really not slow at all. I gave up on all that. I am moving to Apple, not for speed of the systems, but for integration between the wife, my 2 sons and I and our stuff. All apple, just makes things work together better.
I am debating trying to find refurbished M1 series systems for both of us to get into the swing of things. And last gen iMac and Mini for us.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
I don't see it that way and its not a trap I'm falling into.
I use benchmarks to objectively compare how my current system performs, against newer hardware. Its objective, and provides clear feedback on whether its I should spend the money.
The non-objective portion is really how content am I with my equipment. That is, does my PC provide satisfactory results? Take Starfield, I can get about 50 to 60FPS (depending on the settings) right now. If I were to upgrade, I'm looking at 75-90 FPS. Does that qualify as a "slow down"? No but its improvement over my current setup. Does that additional FPS matter to me? No and that's what I'm getting at. The newer CPUs offer clear cut improvements but what I'm saying is I'm happy with that 50 - 60 FPS.
The upside of taking one of those bundles from Microcenter, is that I'm moving off the AM4 socket platform, and onto the AM5, That was one of my main motivations when considering those bundles. Given the reported benchmarks, I'm not feeling like its money well spent, not when I'm largely happy with my PC.
I could still take the 5800X or the 5800X3D, but the small uplift in FPS isn't worth the cost of the upgrade, especially when you consider these chips consume more power and generate more heat.
conmee
macrumors 6502a
I think we have similar experiences and I’ll just say if someone is a gamer or at least someone with a gaming display and used to high refresh rates and pixel response times, ProMotion will not be very impressive by comparison.
My Alienware display I run at 4K/165Hz and when I occasionally game I’ll run it at 1080p/360Hz and it’s noticeably smoother than ProMotion. Both of us may be conditioned with the higher resolutions so that when we go back to ProMotion it doesn’t seem as significant.
I think the biggest issue is as you allude to, pixel response rate on the ProMotion displays is very slow compared to even a mid range gaming display, so even the 120Hz refresh rate can only do so much and often you will produce blur. My Alienware pixel response rate is 0.03ms while the Apple display is supposedly 8.3ms! Apple doesn’t list this number in their official documents but I think various reviewers and Reddit folks have uncovered the specs of the LCD panel. Also Apple implemented ProMotion much like on the iPhone in that it isn’t constant 120Hz but “adaptive” refresh depending on what’s on the screen. So that combined with slow pixel response means it will never look as good or smooth as our gaming displays.
But I do notice ProMotion improvement with Tahoe animations and pop ups for example. You should be able to readily see how much nicer Mission Control looks with and without ProMotion. Open up five or six windows/apps and then toggle the refresh rate, launch Mission Control, you should see a difference in the animation.
It won’t be as impressive as 165Hz or 240Hz but it is noticeable if someone is not already used to higher refresh rate displays.
conmee
macrumors 6502a
@maflynn you could have just stopped after “talking with the wifey” 😉
When I’m trying to justify an upgrade, I always use benchmarks as part of the discussion with my wife, but they have about the same influence with her as benchmarks do with @Steve Adams lol 😉
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
True dat lol
Though she’s awesome in that if I really wanted to upgrade she wouldn’t have stood in the way
Another way to put this is: A want vs a need. There is no need in my upgrading, just a want
conmee
macrumors 6502a
I hear you. I think the reason I got the okay this time around is two-fold. She knocked her 2015 15” MBP with Monterey off the dining table in January I think it was. I’d been trying to convince her to upgrade to at least a modern MBA. She’s been doing some videos and the fans were always screaming and the thing would get hot as hell. I’d already replaced the display and the battery twice during its lifetime. So when I finally bought her a new 15” MBA she was blown away how much faster her video work was and no fan noise and no heat like her 2015 MBP. First time she’s been that enthusiastic about tech in a long time.
So that made it easier to discuss my upgrade. Like your wife mine is usually always on board with my upgrades and especially since I was using a 2019 Intel MBP until this March. She’s cool with upgrades every 4-10 years lol… probably wouldn’t be as understanding if I tried the 1-2 year upgrade cycle. Especially now with the AI tax driving prices through the roof.
P
ha, thankfully it wasn’t out when I built pc because knowing me I’d have justified it to myself, haven’t even read the reviews.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Same as my wifey. We always discuss but If I want something I know I can go get it without issue. She's the best!