How far back should I purchase a Mac for video editing

[phantom13]

I am in the market for a MacBook which I will mostly use for video editing. I don’t need it to be my main driver, I have a high end pc for that and I don’t need it for media consumption.

My main use would be editing with da Vinci resolve, writing, and picture editing with affinity and the need for it to be on a portable machine. I was looking at older MacBooks at micro center and even Amazon but my concern is that I’m not sure how far back I should look .

For example is a 2017 model going to be too slow or too worn out to accomplish my tasks. I really don’t know since my last MacBook was a 2011. I would appreciate any advice on this matter as well as specs and configurations I should look for.

 

[Fishrrman]

Fishrrman's rules for used MacBook buying:

DO NOT BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
MacBook Pro 15" -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
ALL of these have the disastrous "butterfly keyboards" that are highly-prone to failure. Although Apple has a free replacement program running for 4 years "from new", when that time expires YOU will pay for the repair.
And it's NOT CHEAP -- $750 for even a single key gone bad.
That's because the entire top case has to be replaced... even for a single key failure!

DO BUY:
MacBook Pro 13" -- 2020
MacBook Pro 16" -- 2019 and later.
These have the new "magic" (scissors) keyboards, as did the 2015 and earlier MBPs. These keyboards have been very reliable.