Let's talk about Intel MacBook Pro and buying them in 2025

[uacd]

You might want to do some clean installation on MacOS and cleaning inside of your computer.

Oh, I forgot to add.

Year 2020 offered a huge leap in terms of device longevity.

ARM processors are 3x cooler than Intel and it is a gamechanger. All Macbook Air models are now fanless. Some hate it but I would not buy any laptop with fan again in my life. I love that I can use this laptop as if it was an iPhone or iPad. I don’t even care if surface I am gonna put it on has cat’s fur, dust or sand since it doesn’t suck air inside.

And I guess it will be in same condition even 10-15 years from now and still won’t be overheating, unless battery goes south

 

[uacd]

In reality, there are lots people buying used iPhone XR or iPad 7th generation.

But there isn’t much fun. I have 11 Pro and already feel constrained when seeing all other people having fun with newest camera options like ProRAW, photographic styles and such.

I love that nowadays we can choose to upgrade and not do it because our current device is lagging. My phone still works lag-free, it just has no modern features.

Second, this brings license issue (as far as I know), Microsoft doesn't opening sell ARM version of Windows 11. There download link for Windows 11 ARM64, how would you go obtain license key is issue.

🏴‍☠️
Because f Microsoft and their stupid policies. They are the worst company not just in California but in whole United States. They are awful greedy bean counters whose main product is basically spyware disguised as operating system.

I get the appeal of using it for work-only and gaming. Other than that it is very bad. Creative work on it sucks, unless you are into Adobe products.

But honestly I didn’t even bother trying or cracking Windows 11 for my MBA M1, because I don’t want to stare at these stupid menus “OS updating” or “this Windows version is not genuine” EVER AGAIN.

I mean, Windows cannot even be officially installed on external SSD because of following “muh licensing issues”. Mac OS can run off external SSD or flash drive ever since Leopard or even earlier

 

[throAU]

What Intel Mac is better than a 700 buck M1 Air/Pro?
Intel Macs make sense if you still NEED windows without running a VM, apart from that they are trash.

as someone who has 4 intel macs in this room with me right now... 100% true

 

[throAU]

Probably. 8GB is just as not future proofing as Intel Mac.

A CPU from this decade is more future proof than an intel mac with dead end macOS and other software support.

 

[throAU]

But buying an old laptop today, at a decent savings, to run macOS for three years and then being able to continue using it safely online with Linux, is not so odd to my mind. People pay more to do less all the time.

If your end game is linux, just buy something to run linux today.

 

[familychoice]

Intel MacBooks are also going strong and performs great for basic tasks.

Interesting all these comments about Intel MBP's being 'trash', and only useful for basic tasks.

I'm basically earning a living and running a business from my 16" 16gb 2019 i7, and have been for the last 5 years. It's used for web development, graphics, email, spreadsheet work, Zoom/Teams training/meetings etc. I'm typing on it now, using the great keyboard and listening to music via the excellent speakers.

I bought a M1 Mini a few years back, and it's great, but I much prefer the portability of the MBP compared to sitting at a desk all day, so the M1 is mainly used for back-up.

I also have a 14" M4 Pro for personal music projects. It's lightning fast - obviously much faster than the Intel. But where the M4 Pro opens an application instantly, the Intel might take a few seconds. I can live with that.

But the thing is, the Intel is faster when used for my day job vs my new 14" MBP, as the bigger screen means I can have more windows visible, so there's no shuffling around like there is on the 14" (yes I can hook it up to the monitor, but that misses the point of using the laptop).

So, not trash. But, when/if this thing geets crippled by the next OS update, or the battery goes (still registering as 'normal' though) next year, I won't be replacing it with another Intel or working on the new 14", I'll see what the cheapest 16" 16gb option is M-wise, just to give me a few more years usage.

But I'm grateful for this piece of trash that's still helping to pay the bills, and keeping a roof over my family's heads.

 

[Aoligei]

A CPU from this decade is more future proof than an intel mac with dead end macOS and other software support.

There is no future proof with 8GB RAM period...Intel Mac has more software support than Apple Silicon Mac when support ends. Good luck running other OSes with AS Mac, once M1 software support ends, it is paper weight.

 

[Aoligei]

as someone who has 4 intel macs in this room with me right now... 100% true

As someone who has more than 4 Intel Mac and more than 4 Apple silicon Mac right now, this is 100% false.

There is nothing I can't do with Intel Mac, it maybe slower, but it doesn't mean Intel Mac aren't capable of doing heavy tasks. I can even do video editing with N100 mini PC, let alone full spec Intel Mac.

 

[throAU]

There is nothing I can't do with Intel Mac, it maybe slower,

That's false. you can't run apple silicon only software. Of which a significant amount, like all recent games - now exists.

You also simply can not run any reasonable sized LLM, as you do not have enough graphics memory.

Linux runs natively on apple silicon.

 

[Bigwaff]

Linux runs natively on apple silicon.

What distro are you using.. and on which M-series SoC?

 

[Aoligei]

That's false. you can't run apple silicon only software. Of which a significant amount, like all recent games - now exists.

You can always find x86 alternative.

You also simply can not run any reasonable sized LLM, as you do not have enough graphics memory.

Which on Intel Mac, you can plug in external GPU.

Linux runs natively on apple silicon.

The closest Linux is Asahi Linux. And it doesn't run on M3 and M4. Intel Mac can run most linux distribution.

 

[jktwice]

Which on Intel Mac, you can plug in external GPU.

Can you do this with Mac Pro M2 for strictly computing purposes or does that also require drivers? Silly question but I figured I would ask.

 

[Bigwaff]

Can you do this with Mac Pro M2 for strictly computing purposes or does that also require drivers? Silly question but I figured I would ask.

Apple Silicon Macs don’t support external GPUs.

 

[dmccloud]

There is no future proof with 8GB RAM period...Intel Mac has more software support than Apple Silicon Mac when support ends. Good luck running other OSes with AS Mac, once M1 software support ends, it is paper weight.

Asahi Linux would like a word with you...

 

[FastForwardTo2012]

I did it, I bought the Intel Macbook i9 in 2025. And you know what... its not half bad! It was super cheap compared to my 14in M3 Macbook Pro. No "Apple Intelligence" but I can totally see why people hang onto these. Its my hope that it'll last until my grad studies are completed because I really do like the 16 in display (albeit 60hz/no ProMotion).

For $425 USD and a 16in display, MacOS, 32gb of DDR4, a dedicated (power hungry) GPU, and a 1TB SSD, it is just fine.

Apple cutting it off of updates after Tahoe is disappointing but not the worst thing ever. It'll make a fine linux workstation in 4 years..

End rant. Hope everyone did something awesome with their Mac today.

 

[avz]

For $425 USD and a 16in display, MacOS, 32gb of DDR4, a dedicated (power hungry) GPU, and a 1TB SSD, it is just fine.

This is a great deal and what this thread is really all about.

How can anybody suggest that 8/256 M1 is a better deal is beyond me, let alone that for $425 the M1 Mac is likely to be heavily used. And there is probably a big difference between wear and tear on 1TB SSD and 256 GB SSD.

 

[jktwice]

This is a great deal and what this thread is really all about.

How can anybody suggest that 8/256 M1 is a better deal is beyond me, let alone that for $425 the M1 Mac is likely to be heavily used. And there is probably a big difference between wear and tear on 1TB SSD and 256 GB SSD.

It's a better deal in terms of power efficiency. If you want raw power, go get a brand spanking new M4 Mini. 16GBs of RAM is very usable and the machine itself even lets you upgrade the storage if you know where to look. You have to get your own display but people looking at a Mini as a viable path into the Mac ecosystem already has a display of some kind.

If you want efficiency and support, then the M1 Air is certainly a more compelling choice. Plus it's a MacBook obviously so you can use it on the go and it comes with a display already. The big problem with these is that, like I said before, they come with dogwater options. It wouldn't even be a big deal but Apple must solder the components on the board. I wouldn't be so hesitant if they weren't trying to push Apple Intelligence so much...

If you want options on a budget, this 16-inch MBP is a real winner. It's extremely undervalued and realistically should be worth more than $600. You can put Windows 11 on it probably and it would work just fine. It will serve as someone's Linux dev machine for ages I bet. Thunderbolt seems limiting until you remember that you basically have 4 PCIe slots on your laptop now and can do whatever you want with them, including hooking up an external GPU, mass storage devices, audio equipment, and more. It's just expensive unfortunately.

The 16-inch Intel MacBook Pro is good for the kind of person who does a lot of things on other OSs too and wants to compile Swift code for Apple devices, so they aren't just limited to Linux Swift development anymore. The only real concern for this machine is for people who depend on Xcode to do their work (which is ironic considering the case I just presented above). If you don't need that, then the 16-inch MBP has a lot of years ahead of it still.

The 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro 4Tb3 ports meanwhile should be avoided at all costs. They never have enough of a discount to where they make sense over the 2019 16-inch.

 

[aespana]

My Macbook Pro 2012 just went insane yesterday turning off after a couple of second of reaching the login screen..

Went to Ebay and found an auction of a 16GB/512GB Macbook Air M1 and won it for $420.. Wish me luck guys, I hope it works without problem.

I was really tempted to buy a 2019 16in Pro but I think that the battery life and the no fan is just priority for me. Also this M1 will be my first experience with M processors so, let's see what's Apple did with the transition.

 

[redcarian]

There’s no way in hell 8GB of RAM is remotely usable in 2025.

This is hyperbole. More is always better, but...

I mean I guess I am using a 4GB RAM machine right now to type this comment, but that’s on El Cap. You’re really saying that in 2025 a machine with 256GB of solid state storage and 8GBs of soldered on RAM can actually run an operating system with a modern kernel, graphical effects, web browser that takes up huge amounts of RAM by itself because of all of the heavy websites, and more?

Yes. My wife’s M2 MBA does that all day, every day. She even runs Microsoft Office on it!

 

[jktwice]

This is hyperbole. More is always better, but...

Yes. My wife’s M2 MBA does that all day, every day. She even runs Microsoft Office on it!

It’s funny because I ended up just buying an M4 Mac mini. It was on a slight discount on Amazon so I figured “I can return this if I want to”. Apple successfully scared me with lack of software support two years down the line. I own a Power Mac G5 Quad and it is without a doubt my favorite machine that I currently own, but I see the software support. It kept being really supported until late 2008 when Apple announced that PowerPC would not receive Snow Leopard. Even then, CS4 Premiere wouldn’t run on PowerPC. Apple left the G5 to die and while they have done a much better job with Intel I can’t really trust that interest won’t drop like a rock once Tahoe is done. I wanted to write Swift code for the foreseeable future and the best way to do that is to just get a new machine.

Six years of post AS release support for Intel isn’t the worst thing ever compared to the previous switches of 68k > PPC and PPC > x86. Even some x86 machines got royally screwed like the polycarbonate MacBook and the Early 2006 MacBook Pro: two machines hobbled by their bitness and EFI. Sorry, no upgrade for you.

That being said if you can get the 16-inch MBP for $300-$400 kitted out that is one sexy laptop.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

I don’t know what people are thinking, is everyone here in MacRumors are rich?

In reality, there are lots people buying used iPhone XR or iPad 7th generation. There are lots of people buying MacBooks for under $400CAD.

Take an example: there is a used computer/phone store beside my house. The store has 2 2018 MacBook Air, 1 2017 MacBook Pro, 1 2018 MacBook Pro and 2019 MacBook Pro 16”. Guess what, they were all sold within 1 week. The MacBook Air, which were sold around $340CAD were purchased by parents for their kids. I brought the 16” MacBoon Pro, I didn’t ask who brought 2017 and 2018 MacBook Pro. But none the less, they were sold.

There are reasons why sub-$300 Windows laptop or Chrome books being sold, and all of these are probably junk and poor investments. Can you really say Intel MacBook were worse than these cheap Windows or Chromebooks?

All am I saying is that if you are under budgets, Intel MacBook are good option. If one wants buy Apple silicon Mac, go ahead.

Intel Macs are ever decreasing value proposition, where unless you have very specific requirements, are a short dead end. If it's all you can afford, it's all you can afford, but having spent a lot of my life scrabbling for every dollar to stay fed and housed, there is still diminishing reason to buy Intel.

There's no way in hell 8GB of RAM is remotely usable in 2025. I mean I guess I am using a 4GB RAM machine right now to type this comment, but that's on El Cap. You're really saying that in 2025 a machine with 256GB of solid state storage and 8GBs of soldered on RAM can actually run an operating system with a modern kernel, graphical effects, web browser that takes up huge amounts of RAM by itself because of all of the heavy websites, and more?

Photo work can get pretty memory heavy but not like video editing can, and it isn't like I'm throwing on tons of really VRAM heavy filters like liquify or something. I do touch ups and that's it. I like using MacPorts a lot too. I could definitely see 8GBs of RAM working today but in a year or so I am not too sure. That's a scary low amount of RAM for me who has had 16GBs in all of my machines since like 2016.

Buying an 8GB machine now is definitely not ideal, but unless you are doing something that specifically needs more, will still be workable for a little while yet. General office type tasks, web browsing, email, etc., will still be competently served by an M1/8GB/256GB machine.

I was working in AutoCAD on an 8GB Intel MacBook Air until last year! 8GB machines will still work!

 

[Aoligei]

Intel Macs are ever decreasing value proposition, where unless you have very specific requirements, are a short dead end. If it's all you can afford, it's all you can afford, but having spent a lot of my life scrabbling for every dollar to stay fed and housed, there is still diminishing reason to buy Intel.

Name one mass produced computer produced recently aren't ever decreasing value proposition. Apple silicon Macs are dropping value faster than Intel Mac used to.

Recently I saw 16" MacBook Pro M2X, 16GB, 512GB selling for $1000USD, where it was easily 3K 2 years ago.

Value proposition is depending if you can get things done, doing things you need at the lowest price point. In this case, some Intel Mac is better value than Apple Silicon Mac.

A very simple example:

Imagine I am a student, with a limited budgets. I need a computer to complete school assignments, doing researches, typing out papers, browsing website, watching videos etc.

A good value is a computer that can do all these things, with less money. I can pretty much do this with any Intel Mac, especially these from 2017 afterwards. I am typing this on a 2017 MacBook Pro and I am prefect happy that it can do everything,

Sure, you can recommend a student buy an Apple Silicon Mac with more money. This student might have to cut back spending on something else.

Buying an 8GB machine now is definitely not ideal, but unless you are doing something that specifically needs more, will still be workable for a little while yet. General office type tasks, web browsing, email, etc., will still be competently served by an M1/8GB/256GB machine.

I was working in AutoCAD on an 8GB Intel MacBook Air until last year! 8GB machines will still work!

If you can do AutoCAD on a 8GB Intel MacBook Air, this is prefect example of Intel Mac are capable doing lots of things. Intel Mac at this point is selling at lowest possible price and it can be a good value.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

Name one mass produced computer produced recently aren't ever decreasing value proposition. Apple silicon Macs are dropping value faster than Intel Mac used to.

Recently I saw 16" MacBook Pro M2X, 16GB, 512GB selling for $1000USD, where it was easily 3K 2 years ago.

Value proposition is depending if you can get things done, doing things you need at the lowest price point. In this case, some Intel Mac is better value than Apple Silicon Mac.

A very simple example:

Imagine I am a student, with a limited budgets. I need a computer to complete school assignments, doing researches, typing out papers, browsing website, watching videos etc.

A good value is a computer that can do all these things, with less money. I can pretty much do this with any Intel Mac, especially these from 2017 afterwards. I am typing this on a 2017 MacBook Pro and I am prefect happy that it can do everything,

Sure, you can recommend a student buy an Apple Silicon Mac with more money. This student might have to cut back spending on something else.



If you can do AutoCAD on a 8GB Intel MacBook Air, this is prefect example of Intel Mac are capable doing lots of things. Intel Mac at this point is selling at lowest possible price and it can be a good value.

The fact remains that Intel machines are old and getting older. I don't need to imagine, I can remember. To restate what I said, if all you can afford is an old machine, you get it and make do. Of course ALL computers depreciate quickly, but that's hardly an argument to go buy an obsolete machine.

Intel Macs can still be useful. I don't deny that fact. It is also a fact, that Intel Macs are old, and are likely not the best option. If you are on a tight budget, as I have been for the vast majority of my life, sometimes you need to make do with what you can get, but you need to look at the whole picture. Sometimes saving for an extra few months to buy something a couple of hundred bucks more will get you something that will be more useful for longer. If I were in that position again, I would be looking for a used M1.

If, as you assert, Apple Silicon Macs are depreciating faster (Where the heck do you live where that is true‽ Here, second-hand Apple Silicon machines are nearly as expensive as new ones!), that only makes Apple Silicon a BETTER value choice than Intel.

Other that simply not being able to afford an M1 or better, or needing to run a specific program that isn't Apple Silicon compatible, there is very little reason to choose an Intel Mac now.

 

[kPoponmyiPod]

There is a difference between "go buy in 2025" and "using the ones you already have".

I am using my Late 2008 unibody MacBook with its original HDD and it works great for paying bills etc. But I would be reluctant to spend even $5 on it at this stage.

I mean they're certainly not brand new, but for a retro enthusiast or someone on a very tight budget they work excellently, and if they're in good condition I, for one, would advocate buying them. But then, I'm not the average customer--I have a grudge against any OS released in the past ten years.

 

[kPoponmyiPod]

This is hyperbole. More is always better, but...

Yes. My wife’s M2 MBA does that all day, every day. She even runs Microsoft Office on it!

To be fair, so can my 2012 PC with 6gigs of RAM. (Assuming you'd count Windows to be a "modern kernel"--I'm not 100% sure of the meaning there). But this can run Win10 and even Win7 with all its transparency and graphical effects just fine, as well as a modern Web browser with a normal amount of tabs open... and all this off a Pentium and an HDD. So maybe not the highest bar.