Is an upgrade necessary?

[EvanEiga]

I know this is very subjective, but I am currently working wiht a 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (13,3) with 16gb RAM.

While the MacBook Pro is still capable of running anything and everything I throw at it, I'm starting to feel its age, as even safari can eat up the ram quickly and just a few word documents and safari tabs can eat up over 90% of ram, and the fans are constantly speeding at audible rate. This could be due to warmer weather but the slow experience is there.

On top of that, the 6 year old laptop won't support macOS Ventura, even though it may not affect my daily usage by any means, it is something that might irritate me however little.

What I have in mind is a M2 MacBook Air with 10/10/16G/512G.

Pro:
Faster processor
larger storage than my 256 MacBook pro
Identical screen spec
Magsafe
Lighter
Newest supported OS, services, or whatever that might come up in the next few years

Con:
Lack of dedicated GPU (is this an issue, or would M2 make up for the performance difference)
Slightly smaller screen
Lack of ports
$1500+ for an entry level machine.


What would you do? Any feedback and comments are welcome!

 

[ctjack]

Con:
Slightly smaller screen

Actually Air's screen is larger. Anyway, 2016 MBP13 was a dual-core machine, which means it was so-so back then and it is a dinosaur as of now.
If you have 1500 - why not? You will see immediate gains right away.

 

[EvanEiga]

Con:
Slightly smaller screen

Actually Air's screen is larger. Anyway, 2016 MBP13 was a dual-core machine, which means it was so-so back then and it is a dinosaur as of now.
If you have 1500 - why not? You will see immediate gains right away.

My MacBook Pro is 15", 13,3 is its model identifier. But yes, it is so crazy slow now that even even browsing around the web on safari is unpleasant. I could trade in my MacBook now for roughly $500 ish, which also sweetens up the deal.

 

[Howard2k]

I just upgraded from a 2015 13” 2.7 8GB to a MBA M1 8/8 16GB and the difference is gargantuan.

Lots of browsing and some Lightroom for a hobby (nothing serious).

Was an upgrade necessary? It was getting that way for me. The MBPro was bogging down with too many tabs open and my swap would sometimes hit 16GB. To be fair - regular reboots would have helped, without doubt. But I figured now was as good a time as any. I waited for the M2 release and went with a refurb M1. The M2 based MBA looks magnificent, and I hope I don’t find that I miss MagSafe, but I decided that the performance gains vs the M1 didn’t justify it for me personally. But if I was using it to make money my thoughts would have been different.

Midnight M2 would be super, but I went with an M1. It wasn’t a super easy decision but I didn’t really feel that either option was the “wrong” choice either.

 

[ian87w]

Things to consider, the butterfly keyboard. I feel that's like a ticking time bomb, and if your budget allows, then upgrade as soon as you can. Apple's repair program only covers it for 4 years from the day you bought it.

As for ports, the beauty of the M2 Macbook Air is that it has magsafe, so you have 2 USB-C ports available, and there are USB-C docks that you can buy to replicate whatever ports you need, and still have an extra USB-C port available thanks to magsafe.

Those are reasons to upgrade.

As reasons not to upgrade now, if the current machine still works within your expectation, then I would just consider reinstalling the OS from scratch to clear out any junks that have been collected for years. The fan spinning might indicate a rogue apps taking up resources, or maybe dust collecting inside. A bit of maintenance might make it better.

As for OS support, Monterey will still be supported for another 2 years. Within that time, you might be able to save some money to just get the 14" Macbook Pro (probably with an M2 Pro to boot).

 

[EvanEiga]

I just upgraded from a 2015 13” 2.7 8GB to a MBA M1 8/8 16GB and the difference is gargantuan.

Lots of browsing and some Lightroom for a hobby (nothing serious).

Was an upgrade necessary? It was getting that way for me. The MBPro was bogging down with too many tabs open and my swap would sometimes hit 16GB. To be fair - regular reboots would have helped, without doubt. But I figured now was as good a time as any. I waited for the M2 release and went with a refurb M1. The M2 based MBA looks magnificent, and I hope I don’t find that I miss MagSafe, but I decided that the performance gains vs the M1 didn’t justify it for me personally. But if I was using it to make money my thoughts would have been different.

Midnight M2 would be super, but I went with an M1. It wasn’t a super easy decision but I didn’t really feel that either option was the “wrong” choice either.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I also thought about M1 or M1 Pro, but I also have an M1 iMac and it is perfect for what I do esp. when I worked from home the last few months.

 

[EvanEiga]

Things to consider, the butterfly keyboard. I feel that's like a ticking time bomb, and if your budget allows, then upgrade as soon as you can. Apple's repair program only covers it for 4 years from the day you bought it.

As for ports, the beauty of the M2 Macbook Air is that it has magsafe, so you have 2 USB-C ports available, and there are USB-C docks that you can buy to replicate whatever ports you need, and still have an extra USB-C port available thanks to magsafe.

Those are reasons to upgrade.

As reasons not to upgrade now, if the current machine still works within your expectation, then I would just consider reinstalling the OS from scratch to clear out any junks that have been collected for years. The fan spinning might indicate a rogue apps taking up resources, or maybe dust collecting inside. A bit of maintenance might make it better.

As for OS support, Monterey will still be supported for another 2 years. Within that time, you might be able to save some money to just get the 14" Macbook Pro (probably with an M2 Pro to boot).

Sure, I had my keyboard replaced twice within a month in 2020, but everything was fine since then. Also with a keyboard replacement, Apple actually replaced the entire top shell with battery so my 2016 mbp battery is also only 2 years old. That being said, the 18-20 hours of battery life on a mba would still double what I have now.

 

[Shirasaki]

I would like to wait a bit if I were you before considering upgrade because of the potential M2 Pro/Max giving more power on the table And better long term experience.

Apple Silicon also means application support could be a problem, even With Rosetta. You have to make sure all your critical applications work properly or have healthy support, otherwise it’s going to be tough, since it is not an option to run older macOS virtualised on these Macs.

Regarding the RAM, I’d suggest thinking about raising RAM amount if possible, given the GPU also shares some of it, however dynamic it goes.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Sounds like a good upgrade to me. Go for it.

 

[Velin]

If you want a lighter, more portable machine, it’s a definite upgrade. I’m getting a new Air, ditching a 2019 MB Pro 16 inch. Tired of lugging it around.

 

[jav6454]

I know this is very subjective, but I am currently working wiht a 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (13,3) with 16gb RAM.

While the MacBook Pro is still capable of running anything and everything I throw at it, I'm starting to feel its age, as even safari can eat up the ram quickly and just a few word documents and safari tabs can eat up over 90% of ram, and the fans are constantly speeding at audible rate. This could be due to warmer weather but the slow experience is there.

On top of that, the 6 year old laptop won't support macOS Ventura, even though it may not affect my daily usage by any means, it is something that might irritate me however little.

What I have in mind is a M2 MacBook Air with 10/10/16G/512G.

Pro:
Faster processor
larger storage than my 256 MacBook pro
Identical screen spec
Magsafe
Lighter
Newest supported OS, services, or whatever that might come up in the next few years

Con:
Lack of dedicated GPU (is this an issue, or would M2 make up for the performance difference)
Slightly smaller screen
Lack of ports
$1500+ for an entry level machine.


What would you do? Any feedback and comments are welcome!

I'd say you wait until next MacOS iteration to upgrade. Right now your Mac is fulfilling your needs. You can use this time to start saving up so you can buy the next Mac at the higher end of spectrum. I would not suggest the MBA if you are upgrading both memory and storage as it looses value. At that point you'll be better served by either the 13" MBP or 14" MBP.