Need another laptop, have one for work but want personal laptop... not sure if its worth even getting at this point if new ones are on the horizon? I don't see anything definitive for the 13 or 16 so if I have missed that please let me know (only concerned if in the next 3-4 months) - and there's always the screen size game… love the thought of larger, but not carrying it around...
There will likely be a replacement to the MacBook Air, the 13" MacBook Pro or both. If the former and not the latter, then the odds are decent that the raw benchmarks will still outclass the Intel version of the latter. Suffice it to say, if you need a 13" Mac Notebook, then, unless you have a specific need for an Intel Mac (such as Boot Camp or virtualization of x86 of Windows and/or Linux or Intel only releases of macOS), it makes sense to wait as you won't be waiting much longer (November at the latest).
The only one I'd buy with the safety of knowing that the Apple Silicon transition is not for another year would be the 16" MacBook Pro. There may be a model of Intel 16" MacBook Pro still yet to come (with 10th Gen and updated graphics). My guess is if that's coming, it'll be coming imminently. If such a refresh is imminent, it will only be a modest bump from the current 16" MacBook Pro at best (with the main boost being in the GPU department) as 10th Gen H series Intel processors that ordinarily go into the 15" and 16" MacBook Pros are not much better than the 9th Gen H series currently in the 16" MacBook Pro.
So, in short, if it's the 13" MacBook Pro, wait. If it's the 16" MacBook Pro, get it now if you need it now (or wait a year if you want to be on the Apple Silicon side of the transition).
Being an early adopter to this kind of a transition CAN come with pitfalls. While you will surely get longer support than you will on an Intel Mac, you may still get less support than a more mature Apple Silicon Mac model. Similarly any major Apple product redesigns might entail design defects. The first Intel iMacs didn't have any design issues, but did suffer from being cut off from support quicker than later Intel iMac models. However the first Intel MacBook Pros suffered that fate plus many thermal issues (primarily stemming from the ATI GPU that Apple put in there). It's hard to predict what, if any, issues like that there will be. I'd say the lower end Macs are likely safe in this regard (as, 2016-17 13" MacBook Pros aside, most issues have been with the higher-end systems). But that's just theorizing at this point.
Hi, I’m in the same situation, I currently have my MBP pro 13 2015 and I wanted to upgrade but I also have a ryzen desktop so I think it’s worth waiting a bit longer maybe early 2021. If new macs are good the current ones will devalue a lot, but again that’s only my opinion.
I also have the Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro. I'm looking to buy a 2020 Intel 4-port 13" MacBook Pro, not to replace my Early 2015 model, but to compliment it. The former machine is still plenty good; I just do IT for a living and need a Mac with more RAM and storage to do x86 virtualization with. The point being that if you don't need to upgrade or buy a new machine for a particular reason, then there's no practical reason to.
Also, Mac devaluation doesn't work like that. People still pay tons of money for butterfly Macs despite the keyboard totally sucking. The only reason why certain Mac models might retain their value would be due to the rarity of a much desired feature (such as the 2012 Mac minis having both a quad-core option as well as replacable RAM and storage). You might see the 16" MacBook Pro become such a Mac because it will be the only high-end Intel based Mac notebook introduced after 2015 that doesn't have the butterfly keyboard. I don't know that you'll see the same kind of high valuation on 2020 Airs and 13" Pros (especially considering that between both product lines, that's three distinct products that meet those needs on the lower-end).
I think that only high tier models will devalue. For example my friend bought loaded MBP 15 for $2500, and after 1 month 16 inch was released with double the storage and better specs for less money.
If you buy now MBA or MBP for around $1000, there is no space to go below $500-700.
No, Mac models devalue at the same rate regardless of cost. If you spend $3000 on a 16" MacBook Pro, it will be worth more three years from now than a 13" MacBook Pro that originally cost $2000, but that's because the initial cost was larger to begin with. Check eBay over the course of time and you'll see what I mean.
I was planning to buy a new laptop this year to replace my 2011 MBP but the ARM announcement at WWDC made me change my plans. I didn’t want to buy the last Intel Mac or the first ARM Mac. Picked up a nice used 2015 MacBook Air. Should hold me for 2-3 years until we see how the ARM transition goes.
Buying a last generation Intel Mac will be substantially safer than buying a first generation Apple Silicon Mac from the standpoint of potential quirks. But honestly, both ought to be safe. I'd say that buying an Intel MacBook Air is a bad idea in general (given thermal issues). I'd say that buying an Intel 13" MacBook Pro is a bad idea unless you need x86 and don't have need for beefier processors and graphics; otherwise, it's a bad idea because Apple Silicon replacements are heavily rumored to be right around the corner. I do not feel the same about the notion of buying a 16" MacBook Pro as there's more time to wait, and, for more of the high-end use cases, users will likely want to wait until more software is Apple Silicon native (which won't be as immediate on the higher-end as it will on the lower-end).
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