Is base MBP 14 fine for web and cross platform mobile development?

[TazExprez]

I currently have a base MBP 14 at home, but I also have a base MBP 16 with the M1 Pro, 32GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD on the way. I bought this MBP 14 because I got it for a fantastic price at Best Buy for $1,635.00 and couldn't resist. I am upgrading from an ancient 2010 cMBP 13, which feels really cramped, but this does not seem to be the case with the MBP 14. I also have it connected to an external 43" 4K TV. So far I have only ran a simple React Native project, with an Xcode iOS emulator and an Android Studio Android emulator, and this machine seems to handle all this with ease. The memory pressure does not seem to go beyond yellow, even with about 30 tabs open in Chrome, and the swap seems to be under 1GB. I really like this machine more than I though I would, but what really has me concerned is the 16GB RAM. Does anybody here get by with web and cross platform mobile development on 16GB RAM? I am thinking of returning the machine, but the savings of about $1,400.00, after additional taxes and AppleCare+ costs for the MBP 16, have given me a pause. This MBP 14 seems like a really nice machine, especially for the price that I got it. I am seriously considering returning it and settling for the MBP 16 that I have on the way. Thanks for any help.

 

[bsmr]

I would use the 14" for a year and then buy one of the new M2 ones.... You got a nice deal - so use it, until you need a new one.

The new chips coming later this year will be much better than the ones within actual 14" or 16" models.

 

[mashoutposse]

The smart move is to keep this machine and save the $1,400 for the next machine. Frankly, you're going to get a lot of mileage out of this one. If you need something better (which you probably won't for a while), you'll be able to sell it for reasonably close to what you paid when the incrementally updated MBP rolls out either late this year or Spring 2023 since you'll still be offering the cheapest way into the 2021+ MBP M1 Pro lineup.

Realistically, you should be able to get into the next 16" MBP base or mid-range for that saved $1,400 + the sale price of your current 14" BB unit ($1,200-1,400). And, if you decide to stick with the 14", you'll probably only need $800-1k on top of your current computer to upgrade.

The next MBP base will be better than the 16" machine you have on the way, and it's going to be $600 cheaper.

The 16" M1 Pro offers some real benefits, however. Best battery life of the new MBPs, best thermals/least CPU+GPU throttling, more screen real estate, 20-25% faster than your 14" M1 Pro base on CPU-bound tasks. If you like these benefits, the best move is to switch to the 16" base (no upgrades) and see if you can replicate the Best Buy deal (~$2,100). 16GB of super-fast shared LPDDR5 on modern MacOS is plenty for your use case.

Buying ahead for hypothetical future needs never makes sense since things like RAM and compute and GPU depreciate massively. Buy them when you need them.

 

[Nathan King]

I have not had any memory pressure issues with 16GB of RAM doing somewhat similar (but not identical) work. The only time I need more is when I have many VMs all running test scripts at the same time. I use a 16 core/64GB Linux box with QEMU/KVM for that.

 

[TazExprez]

Thanks a lot for all of your help! I will be keeping this MBP 14 and will wait and see what comes out in the future. This machine runs extremely quietly and I have yet to hear the fans with about one week of usage.

I have not had any memory pressure issues with 16GB of RAM doing somewhat similar (but not identical) work. The only time I need more is when I have many VMs all running test scripts at the same time. I use a 16 core/64GB Linux box with QEMU/KVM for that.

I also have another machine. It's just a Windows 10 machine with a quad core i5 and 32GB RAM. I run multiple VMs on that one from time to time.