M4 pro now, or wait for M5?

[jon08]

If you need a new flathead screwdriver because the one you have is worn out, you go to the hardware store and buy one. You don't sit around and wait for the next model of screwdrivers to be released.

Terrible comparison. You're comparing screwdrivers, which have remained the same since their inception, with ever-changing tech.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Terrible comparison. You're comparing screwdrivers, which have remained the same since their inception, with ever-changing tech.

Nowhere in my post did I compare the Mac to a screwdriver. Read my salient point again and place tv in place of screwdriver. I made a valid point and your retort is the screwdriver has remained the same since day one.

 

[throAU]

Thx for the replies. i'm not unhappy with the 2011. obviously old from a software and performance perspective. like an older car, it starts and runs, but some things aren't functioning anymore, needs safety upgrades, etc. i mainly do light work on my computer: word processing/documents, music, photo/video, internet, communications. now that the M4 has become available in the refurb shop, i've considered picking one up (either base or pro). however, in several months the M5 will release. so, i could hold out (as long as mine does), or just get an M4. either way, i expect a significant improvement over my 2011 (though i will miss the built in superdrive, and don't care for the full black keyboard).

I can tell you that even a base M1 from 5 years ago will be night and day several times faster than your 2011 machine, even if its a 15" with GPU. They're night and day compared to intel 10th generation core processors, never mind second generation core. I've owned a 15" 2011 machine as well in the past.

I would just call out that the M3 Pro is a bit of a black sheep of the Pro series chips, as for the M3 generation Apple really kind of hobbled it with a low performance core count relative to the M1, M2, and M4, and the M3 generation actually had worse memory bandwidth than the preceding M2 series.

This COULD work in the OP's favour for finding one cheap vs. M4 generation. If they're cheap enough - they certainly aren't "bad" and the GPU is still reasonably strong and well featured.

Newer than M2 gen, will get later support; sure the memory bandwidth on paper isn't as much but real world still as fast or faster than M2 Pro.

Can't stress enough - even a base model M1 will be massively faster than the 2011 in terms of both single and multi core performance. So any of the M generation parts will be a huge bump.

I'd suggest going as recent as you can rather than higher up the stack - if your 2011 is still acceptable performance wise consider a base model M4 with enough RAM instead of something like M1, M2 or M3 pro - if you're planning to keep this a long time the core generation is going to be more relevant (in terms of macOS upgrade support, WIFI and bluetooth spec, etc.) than its tier in the performance hierarchy.

 

[throAU]

Sorry to clarify by "base model M4" i mean the chip

Add storage and RAM to the machine as appropriate (i.e. not a "base model" macbook air, etc.).

Base model as in M4 rather than M4 Pro or Max.

Not to discourage the OP from Pro or Max if they think its relevant, but based on Core 2000 series from 2011 being acceptable, i just don't think its likely money well spent. Later model > higher model in this instance

Save the difference for next time!