What MacBook would fit my need?

[JM91Six]

I’m currently looking for a new computer to do my work on… I don’t do the most extensive of things of my computer. But also not the lightest. I usually have 2-3 excel documents open at a time with one of the, being a workook that could be anywhere from 30-100 tabs open. formulas aren’t the most extensive. I will also have around 2-3 pdfs open as well. I do engineering type work and have to have worksheets and plans open at the same time. i will also have Google sheets running on chrome.

I did go gang ho with a MacBook Pro 14” at launch but returned it because I got some specced out version at the time and didn’t need a 4500 computer. Now I’m loooking to find something that will comfortably fit what I need!

 

[coffee06]

I’m thinking a less specced-out MacPro 14 would be best ($2200) although an Air/13 would probably be fine with 16 GB RAM. I’d try one and load it up with a typical day‘s work and give it a 2 week run. That’s a lot of tabs and would depend on the size of sheets and formulas. Probably more memory issue than processing issue.

remember back in 90s on old PC running QuattroPro, I had to turn off auto-calc to do anything because it was slowing the computer down to a crawl…type “1” in a cell and wait 10 sec for it to appear kind of thing. I’d press to calculate, the screen would just blink and freeze for 23 minutes (yeah, I timed it) before I could see if my formulas worked. Thankfully those days are over. I use Excel a lot, some very large formulas at times, but never that many sheets.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I’m currently looking for a new computer to do my work on… I don’t do the most extensive of things of my computer. But also not the lightest. I usually have 2-3 excel documents open at a time with one of the, being a workook that could be anywhere from 30-100 tabs open. formulas aren’t the most extensive. I will also have around 2-3 pdfs open as well. I do engineering type work and have to have worksheets and plans open at the same time. i will also have Google sheets running on chrome.

I did go gang ho with a MacBook Pro 14” at launch but returned it because I got some specced out version at the time and didn’t need a 4500 computer. Now I’m loooking to find something that will comfortably fit what I need!

The 14 sounds perfect for you to be honest I would suggest the air but I think your workload would benefit from the extra screen real estate, I would go with the lowest model and upgrade the storage as required. $2200 for 1tb or $2600 for 2tb seems much more reasonable.

 

[JM91Six]

Thank you all for the responses. The formulas aren’t very extensive. They are more so just data entry type sheets we use in the field. But there are some macros and linking to table of contents. Some basic sum formulas. Workbooks can get large based on the size of job. But really not to crazy.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Thank you all for the responses. The formulas aren’t very extensive. They are more so just data entry type sheets we use in the field. But there are some macros and linking to table of contents. Some basic sum formulas. Workbooks can get large based on the size of job. But really not to crazy.

The one thing you know (and we know) is that your 4.500 MBP was too much. There is a good chance that the 13“ MBA could be enough, but it is not sure. You could nevertheless try and return it if it does not suffice.

I would agree with @coffee06 and @Samuelsan2001 that something around a base MBP 14“, maybe a little bit improved with more RAM and/or SSD, could be the sweet spot.

 

[chengengaun]

What are the specs of the computer you are using now? Do the tasks still perform well on your current machine? That might give a better sense as to which MacBook is a good fit.

 

[Lwii2boo]

Honestly a MBA M1 with 16 GB RAM is perfect for your work ! With the savings you can purchase a nice monitor if needed. Or just keep your hard-earned money !

If you really want a MBP, skip the 13" and get a base MBP 14" with maybe 1TB if needed. MBP 14" add some QoL upgrades such as nicer/bigger screen and more ports vs MBA, but it's a lot more expansive so it depends on how you value this.

I don't think you will benefit a lot from the CPU/GPU upgrade between M1 / M1 Pro (like most people!)

Hope it helps !

 

[LaMonte]

I would like a new Macbook pro 14 or 16 inch, “BUT” it comes with Monterey OS which will not run Adobe CS 6 or earlier. Same with Microsoft Office, you must use 365. The new Macbook pro forces me to go to subscription base software such as Adobe and Microsoft and many other which means I cannot own them. When hit comes to hardware, Scanners some printers and others. You are limited in software and drivers. No bootcamp, parallel, VMware so no Windows. I am staying with the intel Macbook Pro for now, IT COST TO MUCH MONEY TO SWITCH