M4 Max or M5 Base (2 hours to decide need help)

[sweenyy]

Hi guy, here is my first post and just looking for some advice.

Before the edu sale ends I have to decide and I am a little tired of thinking.

I got M4 Max 16” binned MBP(36gb ram base one) for 2600$ (brand new)

I was happy with the deal. Base M5 costs me ~2000$

initially I was waiting for M5 Pro but it is delayed and I cant wait till march.

On paper I am sure M4 max will beat base m5 for many aspects, but for resell value when m5 pro released which one will be better?

I think gpu improvements will be huge on M5 Pro and I am afraid M4 Max’s value afterwards.

My questions might be silly generally but I am fairly new to macs and switching from windows first time.

 

[Alameda]

Hi guy, here is my first post and just looking for some advice.

Before the edu sale ends I have to decide and I am a little tired of thinking.

I got M4 Max 16” binned MBP(36gb ram base one) for 2600$ (brand new)

I was happy with the deal. Base M5 costs me ~2000$

initially I was waiting for M5 Pro but it is delayed and I cant wait till march.

On paper I am sure M4 max will beat base m5 for many aspects, but for resell value when m5 pro released which one will be better?

I think gpu improvements will be huge on M5 Pro and I am afraid M4 Max’s value afterwards.

My questions might be silly generally but I am fairly new to macs and switching from windows first time.

You really should describe what you expect to do with the laptop.
I bought both of my college-aged children MacBook Airs with M1 and 8/256, and they've both been happy with them for years now. But neither of them does ray tracing, video editing, or other CPU-intensive things. They use them for standard school work. So what you do with the computer makes a big difference. You might be very happy with the portability of an M4 Air computer paired with a 27" screen on your desk.

First, you cannot get a 16-inch M5 laptop, only a 14". So if the 16" size matters to you, there's you answer. Personally, I prefer a smaller screen size and external monitor, but that's because I edit photos and I want the large desktop display.

At $1,900 I see an M5 with 10/10 cores and 24GB/1TB.
Compared to a $2,600 M4 Max with 36 GB RAM? You get a bigger screen and the Max CPU 14/32 cores or 14/20 cores and $2,600 is very cheap for that. Also, it has Thunderbolt 5, which is twice as fast as the Thunderbolt 4 on the M5 laptop.

So there are substantial benefits to the M4 Max laptop. I don't think it's an even comparison, really. The only thing the M5 will improve upon is single-threaded performance, but that kind of thing is rarely where you'll find lag anyway. Lag comes from the big things, like rendering video, which will be much faster on the M4 Max.

As far as resale value, these are computers and they will drop in value like rocks over two years. I personally don't think you should buy a computer with resale value in mind, because they all fall in value by more than half and then even more.

 

[sweenyy]

You really should describe what you expect to do with the laptop.
I bought both of my college-aged children MacBook Airs with M1 and 8/256, and they've both been happy with them for years now. But neither of them does ray tracing, video editing, or other CPU-intensive things. They use them for standard school work. So what you do with the computer makes a big difference. You might be very happy with the portability of an M4 Air computer paired with a 27" screen on your desk.

First, you cannot get a 16-inch M5 laptop, only a 14". So if the 16" size matters to you, there's you answer. Personally, I prefer a smaller screen size and external monitor, but that's because I edit photos and I want the large desktop display.

At $1,900 I see an M5 with 10/10 cores and 24GB/1TB.
Compared to a $2,600 M4 Max with 36 GB RAM? You get a bigger screen and the Max CPU 14/32 cores or 14/20 cores and $2,600 is very cheap for that. Also, it has Thunderbolt 5, which is twice as fast as the Thunderbolt 4 on the M5 laptop.

So there are substantial benefits to the M4 Max laptop. I don't think it's an even comparison, really. The only thing the M5 will improve upon is single-threaded performance, but that kind of thing is rarely where you'll find lag anyway. Lag comes from the big things, like rendering video, which will be much faster on the M4 Max.

As far as resale value, these are computers and they will drop in value like rocks over two years. I personally don't think you should buy a computer with resale value in mind, because they all fall in value by more than half and then even more.

Thank you for all the explanation and reply.

I agree on your points but my initial plan was getting M5 Pro on long term, but it is delayed and now I want to pick the one till M5Pro release and at the end of the day considering the amount of money paid 2000 vs 2600$ which one can save the most of money. One is launch full price and m4 max is a bit cheaper than list price I can not justify because its my first mbp and the improvements each year on apple silicon is too aggressive

 

[nperei]

Well getting M5 you can save extra $$ money for later when you trade in or sell your Mac (I doubt it great system). M5 gonna be fine for you need since you are in college. I assume you are college student?

Also, 14" size that might be easy to carry around if size and weight don’t bother you.

Check out iJustine’s video review of the MacBook Pro 5 today. She mentioned that a few video editing programs were very fast and smooth.

I also believe the Engadget article on the game with the new MacBook M5 is quite impressive and smoother.

 

[Alameda]

Thank you for all the explanation and reply.

I agree on your points but my initial plan was getting M5 Pro on long term, but it is delayed and now I want to pick the one till M5Pro release and at the end of the day considering the amount of money paid 2000 vs 2600$ which one can save the most of money. One is launch full price and m4 max is a bit cheaper than list price I can not justify because its my first mbp and the improvements each year on apple silicon is too aggressive

I guess you’ve purchased by now, but honestly I don’t think it makes sense to upgrade one version, because the difference between each of these CPU revisions is only about 15%.

Now, when I upgrade my M1 to an M4 or M5, it will be a big upgrade. But M4 to M5 probably won’t be a noticeable upgrade for anyone.

 

[wonderings]

Why can't you get an M4 Max and just use that for years? What are you going to get in an M5 Pro that you can't do with an M4 Max? Seems like a huge waste of money to get one now and then sell to buy another one.

 

[tadzooks]

From my experience, do NOT trust said YouTubers, they are in it for two things and that’s views and $. I followed that path for iJustine and other big name YouTubers and what I found was they’re full of crap, just pretty faces to get clicks. I’ve stopped following these folks. Best advice, buy the laptop you desire, with Apple you get a 14 day return policy, no questions asked. I’m in the same boat as you are, I went with a 14" M4 Max Binned 1TB. I tried about 5 MacBooks returning them all, settling on the 14.

 

[IJustWannaTalk]

Have you considered buying a laptop with specs for the job you need to do with it now?

 

[Alameda]

From my experience, do NOT trust said YouTubers, they are in it for two things and that’s views and $. I followed that path for iJustine and other big name YouTubers and what I found was they’re full of crap, just pretty faces to get clicks. I’ve stopped following these folks. Best advice, buy the laptop you desire, with Apple you get a 14 day return policy, no questions asked. I’m in the same boat as you are, I went with a 14" M4 Max Binned 1TB. I tried about 5 MacBooks returning them all, settling on the 14.

There are a lot of horrible YouTube channels. There are also some exceptional ones.