Trade i5 MBP for MBA M1 ($830 Credit) - Storage vs RAM?

[Spankey]

Thinking about this long and hard. Do I love my 13" MBP. Yes and no. Battery life is meh, Touchbar is hardly used.

Considering that I could trade in my current laptop for a new Air at the bast level for less than $200, I wouldn't mind the M1 MBA
for better battery life and performance while still being able to maximize the trade in value of the Pro.

Pros -
Better Battery Life
Better Performance
No touchbar
Improved keyboard

Cons-
Dimmer screen
Fewer Ports
Inferior Audio Quality(?)

Now, if I were to pull the trigger, would it be best to stay at the base and possibly upgrade RAM, or increase Storage and pickup a GPU core as well? If 8GB of RAM is enough I would probably stick with the base model.

 

[KrisLord]

I’d go for it.

The value of the older intel models will drop considerably when the performance of the M1 products is more widely known (ie by your average buyer).

 

[deeddawg]

M1 prices aren't going to go down.

Resale value of Intel macbooks isn't going to go up.

If one of the available ARM models meets your needs, and you don't have mission-critical software needs that you've not verified works fine (or are willing to buy/verify before selling the intel), then it seems a no-brainer to make the move now.

 

[Spankey]

Pulled the trigger on an M1 Air because of the current trade in value of the MBP. Considerably better performance and battery life. This can always get handed down to son or wife when its time for a refresh on a pro in a year or two.

 

[ghanwani]

8 GB of RAM has definitely been enough for me on Intel, but don’t know if that will be the case with M1. Perhaps we could start a thread asking M1 users to post a screenshot of memory pressure and the apps they are using at the time.

Based on my limited knowledge I would choose storage + GPU core over RAM if I had to pick only one upgrade.

 

[Spankey]

8 GB of RAM has definitely been enough for me on Intel, but don’t know if that will be the case with M1. Perhaps we could start a thread asking M1 users to post a screenshot of memory pressure.

Based on my limited knowledge I would choose storage + GPU core over RAM if I had to pick only one upgrade.

Yup. That’s what I did. With Bootcamp dead I may still need to launch Windows in a VM so the extra storage is definitely necessary.

 

[ghanwani]

Pulled the trigger on an M1 Air because of the current trade in value of the MBP. Considerably better performance and battery life. This can always get handed down to son or wife when its time for a refresh on a pro in a year or two.

And if you bought from Apple, you have a while to try it risk free, although you may have to check the time limit for sending in the trade in.

 

[Six0Four]

I got the M1 air and the speakers sound great. 400 nits is very bright. Brighter than 99% of other laptops.