I need a new MacBook Pro. Which one?

[billeba]

Hi all, I know this is a broad topic, but I’d really appreciate your input. I’m ready to buy a new MacBook Pro. I waited for Apple’s September 9 event to see what would land, and now I’m set on buying. The big question: what’s the “best buy” right now if I don’t absolutely need the very newest top-tier spec?

I keep seeing praise for the 2021 16” MacBook Pro (M1 Max). The problem is availability in Norway—it’s not easy to find new anymore, and used/refurb units pop up sporadically. Given we’re approaching 2026, is the M1 Max still a smart purchase in late 2025, or should I move to something newer?

Thank you!

 

[aries81]

We need more info to answer this accordingly. So, what do you usually do with your MacBook Pro?

 

[billeba]

My main use case is photo and video editing — Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Final Cut. I batch-process large RAW files and work with 4K+ timelines pretty regularly, so GPU performance and memory bandwidth matter to me.

 

[Bigwaff]

My main use case is photo and video editing — Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Final Cut. I batch-process large RAW files and work with 4K+ timelines pretty regularly, so GPU performance and memory bandwidth matter to me.

If you are doing this for personal use/pleasure, M1 Max (regardless of GPU core config) w/ 64GB RAM should be more than adequate. If this is your livelihood, time is money, so spend more for M2/M3 Pro/Max. Check Geekbench Multi-core/Metal benchmark charts which should help you find cost/performance sweet spot.

Mac Benchmarks - Geekbench

 

[DaveEcc]

Youtuber ArtIsRight maintains very comprehensive comparisons on performance across generations and RAM levels for Photoshop, Lightroom, FinalCut, etc. See

for example.