What Would You Do: Sell 16" MBP i9 / 32gb RAM / 2tb SSD For 13" MBP M1 16gb RAM / 1tb SSD Or Wait For M1X+ 14"/16" Relaunch

[MichaelMidnight]

Hi everyone, I'm kind of curious to see what you all recommend.

I currently have a 2019 16-inch Macbook Pro i9/32gb ram/2tb ssd and I really want to move to the Apple ARM architecture. Currently I use my machine for web surfing, media consumption, and MS Office / Google Suite webapps work. But I also plan on doing more video editing and photo editing in the future. But my dilemma is whether to either keep this machine or sell it. And if I do sell it, do I sell it now at a high resale price for an M1 2020 13-inch macbook pro OR do I wait towards the end of the year with the refresh of the 14/16 inch macbook pros with an M1 or better chip. On some sites I can get $2000 or $1600 with Apple. I can only imagine if I wait towards the end of the year it'll be half, so say $1000 on other sites and maybe $800 with Apple.

I mainly want a machine that will last 3 years but I fear sticking with Intel may not be in my best interest. Plus while I do enjoy the bigger screen, better speakers, and more hard drive space, portability and better battery life seems like better trade offs in the longer term.

But what do you all think?

 

[watchmainspring]

I think you're completely fine the the 16" MacBook pro. I have both the m1 air and the 16" MacBook pro. The 16" pro is a much better computer because of the screen and ports. The air has better battery life but unless you are using an external monitor it's not great for multitasking. I notice the m1 is snappier but not substantially more.

 

[pmiles]

Personally I would wait and see what Apple plans to do with the GPU et all on something other than an entry level machine. You didn't buy an entry level machine before... why would you now?

INTEL based Macs are likely to have a decent resale value being that they CAN run Windows.

Did you trade-in or sell your last Mac before getting this one? If no, why make your decision to purchase one now based solely on what you think it might sell for today as opposed to a year from now?

Honestly you are likely to get a machine more to your liking if you wait rather than buy one of these. There should be no, I'll give up a bigger screen for longer battery life... you bought this screen size last time irregardless of the battery life. There should be no, I can just buy yet another dock to add the ports the new Macs lack. Seems utterly confounding to me. It's like buying a car without wheels... but the engine is fast though!

If there were no ARM Macs yet, you'd wait for one... the ARM Mac you are looking for doesn't exist yet... so why not wait? If your sole reasoning for buying one now is that you might get a little more money for it than if you wait, then you're not interested in the Mac you are buying as much as the money you could get selling the one you currently have.

2022 isn't a lifetime away... less than 6 months away now. The very first ARM Macs are like 9 months old now. Every ARM Mac introduced is essentially the same Mac just with a different form factor. You waited this long... you surely could wait a little longer... to get something that you really want as opposed to settled for.

 

[mtneer]

Are you looking to edit video and photos on a professional setting where minutes and seconds count? If so, then make an analysis of whether the expected time savings at your professional rate will support buying a new computer (a tool). If you are only just going to dabble in some amateur efforts or try to learn, then you are better off keeping your machine going until a significant change in your circumstances.

 

[prospervic]

I've been wrestling with the same question, and have decided to wait until next year.

Why? Well, for one, I find 13-inch displays extremely unpleasant to work on (this rules out the current M1 MBP).
But more importantly, over the years I purchased 3 "first edition" MBPs (2006, 2008 and 2012) and regretted it every time. In each case, Apple introduced some new compelling feature in the second release that I wished I had waited for.

There are already rumors of Apple's 2022 M chips having greatly increased power. Besides this, there's also the possibility of faster ports, better WiFi, cameras, speakers, microphones or even refined mini-LED displays.

Apple's pattern has been: 1st release - "Wow! We actually pulled it off!" 2nd release - "Okay team, let's explore how to make it better."

Bottom line is: I thought this 16 inch MBP (i9/16gb/1TB) was great when I bought, and it still is now. It does what I need, and now that I know to only charge it using the right-side USB-C ports*, overheating and fan noise has not been a problem. The only thing missing is I wish I had doubled the RAM and storage when I bought it.

Hmmm. On second thought, maybe you should sell yours after all. Will you take $1800 for it?

* https://www.techspot.com/news/85002-charging-macbook-wrong-side-can-lead-noisy-fans.html

 

[Acronyc]

You have a great computer that is still working well and should give you many more years of use. If I were in your shoes, I would wait. The 16-inch is an awesome computer and if I already had one, I would wait probably until 2022 to upgrade to an Apple Silicon machine at the earliest.

In my case, the screen on my 2016 MBP broke and I didn't want to put money to fix an older machine. Since I am traveling for 5 weeks and needed something right away, I got a 16/1TB M1 MBP for now. I view this machine more as a temporary solution and will probably sell it next year an get the next version of the M-series Mac.

 

[pshufd]

A big factor is whether or not you need to run things on x86. If you do, then I'd keep the 16. I am waiting for the M1X 16 myself and will use my 2015 MacBook Pro 15 until they come out. So I would wait for the M1X in your situation.

 

[trevpimp]

I would say sell the 16" MBP and put the money you earned aside and wait till the end of the year so you can get a spec'd out MBP with the new design and processor

 

[Botts85]

I don't think you'll see as much depreciation as you expect from now until the 14/16" launches. I'd probably keep it, then upgrade to the 14 or 16". This is doubly true if you like the screen size. You'll notice a screen real estate drop going to 13". I often find myself reducing my browser scaling to less than 100% on my 13" to fit websites how I'd like.

The i9 is quicker for video editing and encoding, with the added benefit that QuickSync looks notably better than the M1's HEVC encoder if that matters.

If you do move to an M1 13", you will see a day to day improvement in how the Mac feels. I have an i9 iMac and an M1 MBP, the MBP definitely feels faster. Especially for web browsing and productivity tasks. (Unless you run out of memory - buy 16GB for sure).