So confused...help..new 16" owner here

[rawweb]

I need advice and input from this lovely community! Please allow me to ramble my story.

So several weekends ago my precious 2013 MacPro decided it no longer wanted to power on, the repair estimate from Apple made it cost conducive to replace rather than repair.

I decided the mobility of a MacBook Pro 16" would be awesome, and spec wise was comparable (if not better in numerous cases) to my old 2.7 12-c, D700, 64gb ram. The 5600M seems like a great dGPU from some of the YouTube videos I watched over the summer. I happen to already own a Blackmagic Vega 56 eEGPU with an LG Ultrafine 5k. So I pulled the trigger on a refurbished 2.4 i9, 32gb ram, 5600m, 2tb SSD. I ordered it on 11/10, which I believe is the day Apple activated their extended holiday return window?

I'm a video editor by trade. So far, I'm loving this machine! I can literally do my job from anywhere I choose. These days, it's not far, the office desk, the living room, the patio lol. But it is nice not to be confined to the desk and help out with the kids remote school more. The keyboard is tremendous! Once upon a time I owned the 2016 15" and just never fell in love with it and sold it some years ago. This machine feels like a refined version of that 2016 design, with all of the bells and whistles. The audio quality on this little guy is something short of Voodoo. I occasionally booted over to Windows on the old trash can and played some Star Wars Battlefront in my down time. I've only had this notebook for about 5 days but my quick testing shows this thing is actually surprisingly good at everything I'm throwing at it, including the light gaming aided by the eGPU. The only downside I've noticed so far is my 85w eGPU can't power the MacBook on full load. I'm a primary user of the Creative Suite, and almost always have a project cooking in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Occasional work as needed in Davinci Resolve Studio for coloring. At times, I'm running Pr, Ae and Ps simultaneously and it appears the eGPU can't keep up with the power load and the MacBook starts drawing from the battery. Not sure if that is good or bad, so I've plugged the 96w power plug in anyway. Back in the old days, I remember it was bad for the battery if you used a smaller 13" charger with a 15" machine? Has that changed or just a myth I fell into?

So, all this Apple silicone talk has me super nervous that I just dumped $4k into a dinosaur. A quote from Federighi this AM caused me some concern - "But for now, the systems we're building are, in every way I can consider, superior to the ones they've replaced." Story here.
My fear is they may drop support even sooner on Intel than the previous PowerPC transition and unfortunately I'm stuck in a 4-6 year upgrade cycle at home. Had my trashcan not died, I wouldn't be in this scenario.

All of this rambling and here is the burning question that I need some input from this very smart community on: My office just went remote again because of COVID so I have my work 2017 quad core iMac at home and available to me. Should I count my blessings and return this MacBook Pro and just limp along until a 16" 'As' is released? I understand it could be a year or more out...I've always been one to believe that you buy the tool when you need the tool and that there is always something better ahead, but this feels totally different. I survived the last transition with a G5 until 2009 when it spewed liquid and don't really recall feeling this way. Any input you folks have is most appreciated!

 

[Grohowiak]

I need advice and input from this lovely community! Please allow me to ramble my story.

So several weekends ago my precious 2013 MacPro decided it no longer wanted to power on, the repair estimate from Apple made it cost conducive to replace rather than repair.

I decided the mobility of a MacBook Pro 16" would be awesome, and spec wise was comparable (if not better in numerous cases) to my old 2.7 12-c, D700, 64gb ram. The 5600M seems like a great dGPU from some of the YouTube videos I watched over the summer. I happen to already own a Blackmagic Vega 56 eEGPU with an LG Ultrafine 5k. So I pulled the trigger on a refurbished 2.4 i9, 32gb ram, 5600m, 2tb SSD. I ordered it on 11/10, which I believe is the day Apple activated their extended holiday return window?

I'm a video editor by trade. So far, I'm loving this machine! I can literally do my job from anywhere I choose. These days, it's not far, the office desk, the living room, the patio lol. But it is nice not to be confined to the desk and help out with the kids remote school more. The keyboard is tremendous! Once upon a time I owned the 2016 15" and just never fell in love with it and sold it some years ago. This machine feels like a refined version of that 2016 design, with all of the bells and whistles. The audio quality on this little guy is something short of Voodoo. I occasionally booted over to Windows on the old trash can and played some Star Wars Battlefront in my down time. I've only had this notebook for about 5 days but my quick testing shows this thing is actually surprisingly good at everything I'm throwing at it, including the light gaming aided by the eGPU. The only downside I've noticed so far is my 85w eGPU can't power the MacBook on full load. I'm a primary user of the Creative Suite, and almost always have a project cooking in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Occasional work as needed in Davinci Resolve Studio for coloring. At times, I'm running Pr, Ae and Ps simultaneously and it appears the eGPU can't keep up with the power load and the MacBook starts drawing from the battery. Not sure if that is good or bad, so I've plugged the 96w power plug in anyway. Back in the old days, I remember it was bad for the battery if you used a smaller 13" charger with a 15" machine? Has that changed or just a myth I fell into?

So, all this Apple silicone talk has me super nervous that I just dumped $4k into a dinosaur. A quote from Federighi this AM caused me some concern - "But for now, the systems we're building are, in every way I can consider, superior to the ones they've replaced." Story here.
My fear is they may drop support even sooner on Intel than the previous PowerPC transition and unfortunately I'm stuck in a 4-6 year upgrade cycle at home. Had my trashcan not died, I wouldn't be in this scenario.

All of this rambling and here is the burning question that I need some input from this very smart community on: My office just went remote again because of COVID so I have my work 2017 quad core iMac at home and available to me. Should I count my blessings and return this MacBook Pro and just limp along until a 16" 'As' is released? I understand it could be a year or more out...I've always been one to believe that you buy the tool when you need the tool and that there is always something better ahead, but this feels totally different. I survived the last transition with a G5 until 2009 when it spewed liquid and don't really recall feeling this way. Any input you folks have is most appreciated!

It's quite simple actually.
You either need it or you don't.
Make decisions accordingly.

 

[rawweb]

It's quite simple actually.
You either need it or you don't.
Make decisions accordingly.

Hah, thanks for the help pal!

 

[Fuchal]

From everything I've seen, the M1 Apple Silicon machines excel at video editing workflows. So, we could assume that whatever chip they use in a 16" would well exceed the base M1 performance. If you can limp along, then I'd say do that and wait. However, if you have good use for a very fast Intel-based machine, such as VMs, or software compatibility, it can't hurt to have the final, fastest Intel Macbook Pro. It's no slouch!

 

[enthawizeguy]

except you dont have the ram you need for graphics and video apps ... otherwise id be making the switch from my new 16

 

[jerryk]

The Intel Macs are end of life. From here forward with few exceptions it is Apple Silicon. Which is good, because even the lowest Apple Silicon SOC, the M1, seems to kick butt. And the next version will be even more powerful and it's likely we will see that in a 14" or 16" next year.

If you can get by without the 16" I would consider sending it back.

 

[rawweb]

except you dont have the ram you need for graphics and video apps ... otherwise id be making the switch from my new 16

Yep, feel the same. Honestly picking up this  refurb with 32gb felt wrong, my Mac Pro had 64gb and I didn't have the cash to shell out for 64gb new (there was no refurb 64gb at the time). So far, 32gb hasn't felt bad for my workflow, even though Ae seems to eat it for breakfast. MacOS is doing great at managing it, feels zippier than my old trashcan. For certain though, I don't know enough about the unified memory approach of the current M1 lineup. I honestly can't even believe 8gb is an option, why they didn't just leave it at 16gb and call it good on those bottom tier models?

The Intel Macs are end of life. From here forward with few exceptions it is Apple Silicon. Which is good, because even the lowest Apple Silicon SOC, the M1, seems to kick butt. And the next version will be even more powerful and it's likely we will see that in a 14" or 16" next year.

If you can get by without the 16" I would consider sending it back.

That's where I'm leaning. I'm really loving this 16". If I had a crystal ball that said for certain Apple will hold to their alleged 2 year transition plan and intel apps would continue to be supported for a number of years, I'm inclined to just stay put. We got 4 years of support from them during the PowerPC transition, but I have a feeling they'll move faster than that this time around. It seems the stakes are higher.

Sadly, I'm forced into the Adobe ecosystem and they seem slower than a cruise ship, so how long they'll take to port their ancient code over is also a huge unknown.

 

[ght56]

I don't think we're going to see an Apple Silicon product with GPU performance comparable to the 5600M for at least a little while, and to my understanding the apps you use can use a LOT of GPU resources. That said, the performance of this entry level AS SoC is pretty damned incredible and it probably marks not only a fundamental computing change, but a lot of people at Intel getting fired.

I recently bought a 16-inch with a 5600M intentionally knowing AS was coming, and even with the incredible AS performance I am happy with this choice. Look at it this way...you have a system that works well for your needs that will have support for years that sounds like it works well with your current software which you need in order to make a living. Unless you are worried about used retail value, keeping it seems to make sense while AS comes of age. It looks so promising, so awesome, and offers so many possibilities...but if you are depending on your system to make a living, AS is still an infant as far as tech goes, you are using (to my understanding) GPU-heavy software which your 16-inch is well-suited to handle, and the software you use is yet to be updated to run natively on AS.

And if in a year or two an AS 16-inch releases along with updated native Adobe software and it can further your ability to make a living, your current 16-inch will still have some value for those absolutely needing Intel. So provided your current Mac meets your needs now and in the short-mid-term future, I would say keep it (or swap it for a 64 GB version if you need 64 GB of RAM).

 

[phrehdd]

I need advice and input from this lovely community! Please allow me to ramble my story.

So several weekends ago my precious 2013 MacPro decided it no longer wanted to power on, the repair estimate from Apple made it cost conducive to replace rather than repair.

I decided the mobility of a MacBook Pro 16" would be awesome, and spec wise was comparable (if not better in numerous cases) to my old 2.7 12-c, D700, 64gb ram. The 5600M seems like a great dGPU from some of the YouTube videos I watched over the summer. I happen to already own a Blackmagic Vega 56 eEGPU with an LG Ultrafine 5k. So I pulled the trigger on a refurbished 2.4 i9, 32gb ram, 5600m, 2tb SSD. I ordered it on 11/10, which I believe is the day Apple activated their extended holiday return window?

I'm a video editor by trade. So far, I'm loving this machine! I can literally do my job from anywhere I choose. These days, it's not far, the office desk, the living room, the patio lol. But it is nice not to be confined to the desk and help out with the kids remote school more. The keyboard is tremendous! Once upon a time I owned the 2016 15" and just never fell in love with it and sold it some years ago. This machine feels like a refined version of that 2016 design, with all of the bells and whistles. The audio quality on this little guy is something short of Voodoo. I occasionally booted over to Windows on the old trash can and played some Star Wars Battlefront in my down time. I've only had this notebook for about 5 days but my quick testing shows this thing is actually surprisingly good at everything I'm throwing at it, including the light gaming aided by the eGPU. The only downside I've noticed so far is my 85w eGPU can't power the MacBook on full load. I'm a primary user of the Creative Suite, and almost always have a project cooking in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Occasional work as needed in Davinci Resolve Studio for coloring. At times, I'm running Pr, Ae and Ps simultaneously and it appears the eGPU can't keep up with the power load and the MacBook starts drawing from the battery. Not sure if that is good or bad, so I've plugged the 96w power plug in anyway. Back in the old days, I remember it was bad for the battery if you used a smaller 13" charger with a 15" machine? Has that changed or just a myth I fell into?

So, all this Apple silicone talk has me super nervous that I just dumped $4k into a dinosaur. A quote from Federighi this AM caused me some concern - "But for now, the systems we're building are, in every way I can consider, superior to the ones they've replaced." Story here.
My fear is they may drop support even sooner on Intel than the previous PowerPC transition and unfortunately I'm stuck in a 4-6 year upgrade cycle at home. Had my trashcan not died, I wouldn't be in this scenario.

All of this rambling and here is the burning question that I need some input from this very smart community on: My office just went remote again because of COVID so I have my work 2017 quad core iMac at home and available to me. Should I count my blessings and return this MacBook Pro and just limp along until a 16" 'As' is released? I understand it could be a year or more out...I've always been one to believe that you buy the tool when you need the tool and that there is always something better ahead, but this feels totally different. I survived the last transition with a G5 until 2009 when it spewed liquid and don't really recall feeling this way. Any input you folks have is most appreciated!

Care to have more one computer? Seems that that the best fit for many will be when later models based on Apple's M1 are out for sale (as in a 16" M1 laptop that may have more advanced graphics or able to house more RAM than 16 gigs). If you can wait, maybe just get an interim item until such time. As for Intel EOL, exactly how long do you keep your computers? You can most likely bet that Apple, will support Intel machines for another 4-5 years easily. The question then remains whether your needed software will be supported on Intel machines. Perhaps you can look through some reviews on Youtube and elsewhere to see if either 13" would be a good fit for now or the m1 Mac Mini. Take the difference of cost compared to your 16" and put it aside for an up coming M1 MBP or MP.

 

[rawweb]

I don't think we're going to see an Apple Silicon product with GPU performance comparable to the 5600M for at least a little while, and to my understanding the apps you use can use a LOT of GPU resources. That said, the performance of this entry level AS SoC is pretty damned incredible and it probably marks not only a fundamental computing change, but a lot of people at Intel getting fired.

I recently bought a 16-inch with a 5600M intentionally knowing AS was coming, and even with the incredible AS performance I am happy with this choice. Look at it this way...you have a system that works well for your needs that will have support for years that sounds like it works well with your current software which you need in order to make a living. Unless you are worried about used retail value, keeping it seems to make sense while AS comes of age. It looks so promising, so awesome, and offers so many possibilities...but if you are depending on your system to make a living, AS is still an infant as far as tech goes, you are using (to my understanding) GPU-heavy software which your 16-inch is well-suited to handle, and the software you use is yet to be updated to run natively on AS.

And if in a year or two an AS 16-inch releases along with updated native Adobe software and it can further your ability to make a living, your current 16-inch will still have some value for those absolutely needing Intel. So provided your current Mac meets your needs now and in the short-mid-term future, I would say keep it (or swap it for a 64 GB version if you need 64 GB of RAM).

Awesome advice here, thank you @ght56 ! A buddy of mine recently went on a whim and picked up the base mbp 13" from the store and while he liked it, he's returning it because of software limitations and the 8gb of ram it's standard with. He wasn't too impressed with Resolve Beta 17. He's sticking with his loaded 2018 15" until the transition matures a bit, which in hindsight makes a lot of sense. Caught Max Yuryev's video editing review this morning and it further settled my mind (I'm not a FCP editor).

I also thought about your last point and ended up initiating a swap this morning for the 64gb of ram model. I think I'll be happier in the long run as I anticipate this maxed out beast of a machine will get me through the next 3-4 years as the As platform matures. And for fun, I get to bootcamp game a bit and have as many creative cloud apps open as I need without worrying too much about ram ceilings.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ght56]

Awesome advice here, thank you @ght56 ! A buddy of mine recently went on a whim and picked up the base mbp 13" from the store and while he liked it, he's returning it because of software limitations and the 8gb of ram it's standard with. He wasn't too impressed with Resolve Beta 17. He's sticking with his loaded 2018 15" until the transition matures a bit, which in hindsight makes a lot of sense. Caught Max Yuryev's video editing review this morning and it further settled my mind (I'm not a FCP editor).

I also thought about your last point and ended up initiating a swap this morning for the 64gb of ram model. I think I'll be happier in the long run as I anticipate this maxed out beast of a machine will get me through the next 3-4 years as the As platform matures. And for fun, I get to bootcamp game a bit and have as many creative cloud apps open as I need without worrying too much about ram ceilings.

Thanks everyone!

I think you will be very happy with this solution for years to come, especially with the 64 GB of RAM for your RAM-heavy workloads. AS is super exciting, and this transition is moving more smoothly than I think anyone could have ever imagined, but it's not an overnight thing, there are still going to be some hiccups, the timeline on native software rewrites for your apps are not clear, and right now there is not a comparable model to the 16-inch you have. Especially with the 5600M, the 16-inch is a brilliant computer and I hope the 64GB model serves you well!