Macbook at Work

[CSAppleFan]

Hi everyone,

I work in HR, specifically in Total Rewards, so I am in excel all day doing a lot of modeling/dashboard type of work in addition to all of the regular type of office tasks.

My company issues out PC laptops which I am not the biggest fan of. Constant issues, terrible battery life, etc. My company does allow BYOD so I wanted to get a MacBook. I'm specifically looking at the Pro's due to the better display when not hooked up to monitor.

I was thinking M1 Pro or M2 Pro chip. Probably leaning more towards M1 Pro. I know I can't find them new or on Apple Refurb so I'm looking on eBay.

Given that we are in 2026 would the M1 Pro still hold up for my work or should I look newer?

 

[chrono1081]

I would go M2. M1 to M2 was a big leap.

 

[hare_star]

While I'm not really familiar with HR work, Excel isn't exactly something that is similar to:
a) Big database like PSQL with contant access.
b) Or some big 3D rendering in Blender.
In the end it's office work not the hardest computing there is.
So I think the early M chips would be cool with solid amount of RAM (16 GB).

 

[Bigwaff]

My company does allow BYOD so I wanted to get a MacBook.

I would be hesitant. Review BYOD policies closely. Considering all the security and activity tracking software typically installed as part of BYOD implementations, I would never use a BYOD device for personal computing use -- ever. This is not a "best of both worlds" scenario, if that is a factor of your thinking.

 

[ifxf]

Need to check if capabilities you use in Excel are present on the Mac. Most are but, for example, VBA is not a fully featured on the Mac.

 

[Hajj.david]

Hi everyone,

I work in HR, specifically in Total Rewards, so I am in excel all day doing a lot of modeling/dashboard type of work in addition to all of the regular type of office tasks.

My company issues out PC laptops which I am not the biggest fan of. Constant issues, terrible battery life, etc. My company does allow BYOD so I wanted to get a MacBook. I'm specifically looking at the Pro's due to the better display when not hooked up to monitor.

I was thinking M1 Pro or M2 Pro chip. Probably leaning more towards M1 Pro. I know I can't find them new or on Apple Refurb so I'm looking on eBay.

Given that we are in 2026 would the M1 Pro still hold up for my work or should I look newer?

The Air M4 has better performance then the M1 Pro and possibly even M2 Pro. For the price and thinness unless you have a crazy workload get the Air. I make large and heavy Swift/SwiftUI apps on my Air and it barely gets warm. If you can wait and the price is good get the M5 Air

 

[CSAppleFan]

The Air M4 has better performance then the M1 Pro and possibly even M2 Pro. For the price and thinness unless you have a crazy workload get the Air. I make large and heavy Swift/SwiftUI apps on my Air and it barely gets warm. If you can wait and the price is good get the M5 Air

I have an M4 Air for personal use so want to get something different + have something separate for work only

 

[dmccloud]

Hi everyone,

I work in HR, specifically in Total Rewards, so I am in excel all day doing a lot of modeling/dashboard type of work in addition to all of the regular type of office tasks.

My company issues out PC laptops which I am not the biggest fan of. Constant issues, terrible battery life, etc. My company does allow BYOD so I wanted to get a MacBook. I'm specifically looking at the Pro's due to the better display when not hooked up to monitor.

I was thinking M1 Pro or M2 Pro chip. Probably leaning more towards M1 Pro. I know I can't find them new or on Apple Refurb so I'm looking on eBay.

Given that we are in 2026 would the M1 Pro still hold up for my work or should I look newer?

1. Check if the company even will support Mac OS in a BYOD scenario. I've seen many companies where BYOD only applied to Windows machines, and even a few where BYOD only applied to specific manufacturers because the company had existing contracts with HP, Dell, etc.

2. Read the BYOD policy, specifically if the IT department requires access to the device, what software they require to be installed, and device management policies. Even if the company supports Mac OS, if they use device enrollment to register Macs for device management, you could find yourself with a bricked device if you leave the company and they fail to properly deregister the MacBook from their system.

3. I would go with the most recent model of Apple Silicon that fits into your budget. If the company offers some sort of partial reimbursement for those who BYOD, then I would factor that into your budgeting.

 

[CSAppleFan]

I went with a refurbished M1 Pro off of eBay with a good return period to give it a try.