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Sold my 2015 mbp and kept the MBA M1

anubis1980

anubis1980

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 22, 2012
557
406
Not sure if I got a good price or what, but it was snapped up. 2015 mbp immaculate , new battery i7 2.5 quad, 16gb ram 512gb ssd and dedicated graphics card, sold for £800. Only got my MBA base yesterday, but it blew the old mbp out of the water in everything I did on it. screen is clearer, better speakers, much quicker, and the quiet!! I'd open calculator app and the fans would turn on haha.

just a post to let people know, the second hand market seems ok still for selling Macs, I was worried if I left it any longer it would be flooded with intel Macs after people tried the m1. Im still amazed at what this little MBA can do. I work in IT security, and ive been jaded about computing for ages, this is the first piece of technology to get me genuinely excited for the future of computing in a long while, sad but true haha.
 
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anubis1980 said:
Not sure if I got a good price or what, but it was snapped up. 2015 mbp immaculate , new battery i7 2.5 quad, 16gb ram 512gb ssd and dedicated graphics card, sold for £800. Only got my MBA base yesterday, but it blew the old mbp out of the water in everything I did on it. screen is clearer, better speakers, much quicker, and the quiet!! I'd open calculator app and the fans would turn on haha.

just a post to let people know, the second hand market seems ok still for selling Macs, I was worried if I left it any longer it would be flooded with intel Macs after people tried the m1. Im still amazed at what this little MBA can do. I work in IT security, and ive been jaded about computing for ages, this is the first piece of technology to get me genuinely excited for the future of computing in a long while, sad but true haha.
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Great sale. I sold the exact same 2015 15" unit of mine (except with 1tb) for $1100 a couple of months ago. I felt really good about it. That's about 800 pounds.. Loving my new air. It is such a huge upgrade from that. Enjoy =)
 
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You decided to drop down in memory size? I am genuinely thinking about switching from a 16" 6c/32GB/1TB to a MBA with 16GB/1TB instead. Not sure how less bright the Air screen is in reality and whether it will get hot at all with passive cooling. I have to run Turboboost switcher on my 16" when plugging a monitor in as it gets too loud.
 
Yes, I too have joined the sold my ( 2016 15") MBP yesterday after trying out a M1 MacBook Air 16GB Club. I ran a number of real world tests and benchmarks and the new Air was at least twice as quick. It is an amazing machine. Hated the butterfly keyboard and Touch Bar in the old MBP. Now my battery lasts longer than I can use a computer for in a day.
 
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badsimian said:
You decided to drop down in memory size? I am genuinely thinking about switching from a 16" 6c/32GB/1TB to a MBA with 16GB/1TB instead. Not sure how less bright the Air screen is in reality and whether it will get hot at all with passive cooling. I have to run Turboboost switcher on my 16" when plugging a monitor in as it gets too loud.
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twice, the memory pressure went into yellow for a very brief time , but since its stopped indexing, compiling photos etc, for what I use it for, 4k videos in YouTube, browsing , playing some games. It has been fine and memory pressure is always in the green. Zwift takes a fair amount of memory, but that is infinitely faster on this than my old Mac. M1 uses memory differently than the old x86 architecture, I think its going to take people a while to realise that (it has me).

16gb or not 16gb was a massive issue for me, but I couldn't justify the cost increase, and so far im glad I got 8.
 
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I resonate with two things you stated:

A. This is the first piece of tech (aside from a periscope lens in a mobile phone for shooting video) in a few years that has me interested.

B. The price differential of the extra RAM (£180 on £900 for me ... or exactly 20% isn't worth it or it would be indiscernible with my workload.) Same, with the extra SDD sauce for 20% more. I just do everything with Dropbox and the cloud as I awlasy have at least 5G/100MiB WiFi should I need it. Those two upgrade would be 40% of another machine in a few years at the same price point.)
 
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acidfast7_redux said:
I resonate with two things you stated:

A. This is the first piece of tech (aside from a periscope lens in a mobile phone for shooting video) in a few years that has me interested.

B. The price differential of the extra RAM (£180 on £900 for me ... or exactly 20% isn't worth it or it would be indiscernible with my workload.) Same, with the extra SDD sauce for 20% more. I just do everything with Dropbox and the cloud as I awlasy have at least 5G/100MiB WiFi should I need it. Those two upgrade would be 40% of another machine in a few years at the same price point.)
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That's my thinking too. I never have many apps on my phone, Mac or works pc. So SSD space isn't a huge issue. I knew Apple gets away with a lot less Ram on their phones, so was hoping it would be the same here, and so far it is. In a perfect world id love the 16gb , but in reality like you said its half a new machine. I can see me keeping this for a year or two and depending on new models and resale value, upgrading to the new M1X or M2 just because its something fun in the IT world for once.
 
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badsimian said:
You decided to drop down in memory size? I am genuinely thinking about switching from a 16" 6c/32GB/1TB to a MBA with 16GB/1TB instead. Not sure how less bright the Air screen is in reality and whether it will get hot at all with passive cooling. I have to run Turboboost switcher on my 16" when plugging a monitor in as it gets too loud.
Click to expand...
I dropped down in RAM for my M1 Mini and found the M1 handles the "Unified Memory" differently than a standard DDR RAM.

The 8GB Unified Memory Mini runs circles around the Intel Mini w/ 16GB of DDR RAM.

My new M1 Mini w/ 8GB feels like a 32GB+ computer without the fans and heat from the Intel i7 Mini!
 
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Cadrian said:
Great sale. I sold the exact same 2015 15" unit of mine (except with 1tb) for $1100 a couple of months ago. I felt really good about it. That's about 800 pounds.. Loving my new air. It is such a huge upgrade from that. Enjoy =)
Click to expand...
Im in the same boat right now. I have a fully loaded 2015 15" 1TB, 16GB model in absolute mint condition i want to sell to buy the M1 MBP 16GB,1TB model. But after seeing the Air trade blows with other machines even at the base model level, im seriously rethinking it. Maybe all i do need is 8GB, 256GB (512GB?).
 
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anubis1980 said:
yeah strangely I prefer it, it fits now perfectly on my lap, I didn't realise just how big the mbp was!
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As someone who also uses a 15" MBP, im excited for the smaller display as well. Mostly the weight however. Carrying that with my iPad Pro 12.9 hasnt been nice to my back.
 
anubis1980 said:
Not sure if I got a good price or what, but it was snapped up. 2015 mbp immaculate , new battery i7 2.5 quad, 16gb ram 512gb ssd and dedicated graphics card, sold for £800. Only got my MBA base yesterday, but it blew the old mbp out of the water in everything I did on it. screen is clearer, better speakers, much quicker, and the quiet!! I'd open calculator app and the fans would turn on haha.

just a post to let people know, the second hand market seems ok still for selling Macs, I was worried if I left it any longer it would be flooded with intel Macs after people tried the m1. Im still amazed at what this little MBA can do. I work in IT security, and ive been jaded about computing for ages, this is the first piece of technology to get me genuinely excited for the future of computing in a long while, sad but true haha.
Click to expand...
I sold my 2015 Macbook Pro last month with The intention of replacing it with a Apple Silicon device. It has worked better than I believe it would
 
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acidfast7_redux said:
I resonate with two things you stated:

A. This is the first piece of tech (aside from a periscope lens in a mobile phone for shooting video) in a few years that has me interested.

B. The price differential of the extra RAM (£180 on £900 for me ... or exactly 20% isn't worth it or it would be indiscernible with my workload.) Same, with the extra SDD sauce for 20% more. I just do everything with Dropbox and the cloud as I awlasy have at least 5G/100MiB WiFi should I need it. Those two upgrade would be 40% of another machine in a few years at the same price point.)
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Wisdom right there. Apple's upgrade prices are way too high and people pay crazy prices for second hand MacBooks anyway. Why pay more to "future proof" which is really just hanging on to an old model for longer? Get into the habit of selling to upgrade. If in two or three years most users need 16GB, Apple will ship the base model with 16GB just like they moved from 4GB to 8GB. In reality there are very few power users, but a lot of folks who think they are. That's where they make the profit.
 
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Bacci said:
.....In reality there are very few power users, but a lot of folks who think they are. That's where they make the profit.
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Very good wisdom!

You are absolutely correct, there are so many "pre ARM" folks that have been brainwashed into thinking more RAM is better over the years - probably by Windows OS.

The Intel Mac customers also started thinking the same and had the same more RAM is better mentality.

Now with the M1 and unified memory, I can say that the @Bacci is correct - base RAM is fine for the majority and upgrade if you really are a power user.

There is no way a $200 differential between the 8GB and 16GB when RAM is priced so low - Apple definitely caters to those that still believe more is good....
 
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I’ve had a poor opinion of the Mac value proposition for some years for a number of reasons. These M1’s turn that on its head. I think they’re the best deal going.
 
Jimmy James said:
I’ve had a poor opinion of the Mac value proposition for some years for a number of reasons. These M1’s turn that on its head. I think they’re the best deal going.
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IMO the base config 2020 M1 MacBook Air is one of the best value laptops ever made. Like in the entire history of laptops.

The only thing that would come close is maybe a Core 2 Duo Windows laptop, one of the first MacBook Airs, or most recently an ultrabook with a Ryzen 4700U or 4800U released Aug to Oct. But you’d probably want 16GB for Win 10 to match the 8 on the MBA. And even though the multi-core is a bit higher for the 4800U, the thermal emissions are noticeably worse, and as many frustrated PC users have noticed, almost no one made a model with a great display before the M1 MBA. So arguably you can’t even beat a Ryzen laptop, which as of a month ago was a unicorn! And you’d have to rely on sales to approach the same value level, which IMO shouldn’t count in terms of comparison.

So yeah the base MacBook Air is probably the best value laptop, assuming no other gotchas come up. It’d be really neat in a few months to see a YouTube creator do a top 5 video comparing the history of laptop releases to see how it measures up.
 
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4sallypat said:
Very good wisdom!

You are absolutely correct, there are so many "pre ARM" folks that have been brainwashed into thinking more RAM is better over the years - probably by Windows OS.

The Intel Mac customers also started thinking the same and had the same more RAM is better mentality.

Now with the M1 and unified memory, I can say that the @Bacci is correct - base RAM is fine for the majority and upgrade if you really are a power user.

There is no way a $200 differential between the 8GB and 16GB when RAM is priced so low - Apple definitely caters to those that still believe more is good....
Click to expand...
I probably could have gotten away with 8Gb but I ordered the 16Gb before many of the reviews were out. Not going to send it back to downgrade now.
 
acidfast7_redux said:
Those two upgrade would be 40% of another machine in a few years at the same price point.)
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That’s such a clever way of looking at it. If you were able to sell the machine for 40% the price you paid after 3 years you’d be looking at brand new tech at almost no price! All depends if you sell or give to family I guess.
 
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