Which M1

[Pastuh]

Trying to decide which M1 laptop I should purchase. I work a lot with email, documents, spreadsheets and edit 1-2 videos per month in Final Cut. Not sure if should go with Air or wait for the new 14” MacBook Pro? Would def get 16GB RAM to help future proof for next 5 years or so.

Appreciate your wisdom and advice.

 

[FSMBP]

I mean - pricing-wise, based on your workflow, I'd get a 16GB Air. The Air is fanless, so it won't be as fast as the MBP. However, spreadsheets/emails shouldn't be affected. As long as you stay with simple 4K video editing in Final Cut, you should be fine.

Personally, I would wait to see what they announce in the next week or so. I'm sure whatever they announce will be more expensive, but it would be more future-proof than current M1s.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The Air would offer you the most Mac bang for the buck. And it would be able to handle your workflow very easy.

 

[Pastuh]

The Air would offer you the most Mac bang for the buck. And it would be able to handle your workflow very easy.

I just had someone reach out to me who has a 2019 16-inch MBP with i7 and 16GB RAM, and 4GB Radeon Pro 5300M, & 512GB SSD. They are asking $800 for it. Would the M1 Air be significantly faster for my workflow or would be pretty comparable to 16MBP?

 

[Apple_Robert]

I just had someone reach out to me who has a 2019 16-inch MBP with i7 and 16GB RAM, and 4GB Radeon Pro 5300M, & 512GB SSD. They are asking $800 for it. Would the M1 Air be significantly faster for my workflow or would be pretty comparable to 16MBP?

In my opinion, that computer would be overkill for your current workflow which appears to be light use (overall). I would pass on Intel, unless price is the priority for you. I think the new M series will be much better for you over the next several years.

 

[glenthompson]

I just had someone reach out to me who has a 2019 16-inch MBP with i7 and 16GB RAM, and 4GB Radeon Pro 5300M, & 512GB SSD. They are asking $800 for it. Would the M1 Air be significantly faster for my workflow or would be pretty comparable to 16MBP?

At this stage I would stay away from Intel Macs unless you need Windows on a VM or Bootcamp or a very powerful Intel cpu with lots of memory.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

I just had someone reach out to me who has a 2019 16-inch MBP with i7 and 16GB RAM, and 4GB Radeon Pro 5300M, & 512GB SSD. They are asking $800 for it. Would the M1 Air be significantly faster for my workflow or would be pretty comparable to 16MBP?

It's not just the price and performance you should be considering. Also think about the experience.

Intel MacBook Pros can get very hot, especially under heavy workloads when the fan vents are obstructed (very common when placed on a lap or a soft surface, such as a mattress or pillow). Also with Intel you miss out on instant waking from sleep mode and ultra fast startup from the powered off state.

M1 Macbooks have insanely excellent battery life, and seem to hold a charge much better even in sleep mode.

You would love the M1 MacBook Air. It is an excellent machine that will be relevant and supported for many years.

 

[4sallypat]

I just had someone reach out to me who has a 2019 16-inch MBP with i7 and 16GB RAM, and 4GB Radeon Pro 5300M, & 512GB SSD. They are asking $800 for it. Would the M1 Air be significantly faster for my workflow or would be pretty comparable to 16MBP?

$800 for a then $2400 machine ?

I'd take it.

But then, it's an Intel Mac and prone to get hot and suck the battery life...

At this time, I'd wait for the 14" or 16" M1 MBP.

 

[Fishrrman]

POSTPONE any buying decision until AFTER the WWDC next week...

 

[Yebubbleman]

Trying to decide which M1 laptop I should purchase. I work a lot with email, documents, spreadsheets and edit 1-2 videos per month in Final Cut. Not sure if should go with Air or wait for the new 14” MacBook Pro? Would def get 16GB RAM to help future proof for next 5 years or so.

Appreciate your wisdom and advice.

I think a key element here is to what degree you're working in Final Cut Pro. If your workflows are simple enough and your needs are casual enough and if you're not doing anything terribly complex or high resolution, an M1 MacBook Air would probably be fine (though I'd probably opt for the 8 GPU cores version of the M1). Certainly, if you could afford the extra $250, the current M1 13" MacBook Pro would, for sure, have you covered.

The only reason why I might be reluctant to recommend waiting on the 14" MacBook Pro to emerge is that Apple has historically had problems with the first iteration of every new MacBook Pro body style since they renamed these laptops "MacBook Pro" from "PowerBook G4". And many of these problems had very little to do with the fact that Intel was inside. If you wanted to go the 14" MacBook Pro route, or even the redesigned 16" MacBook Pro route, I'd wait until the first refresh happens at the very least. Certainly, if you're worried about spending money on a model that is likely to not be current for too much longer, buying a 13" M1 MacBook Pro from the Apple Certified Refurbished section of the Apple online store isn't a bad idea as you still get a sizable discount and it will likely continue to be available for some time after the model is eventually discontinued.

 

[Pastuh]

I think a key element here is to what degree you're working in Final Cut Pro. If your workflows are simple enough and your needs are casual enough and if you're not doing anything terribly complex or high resolution, an M1 MacBook Air would probably be fine (though I'd probably opt for the 8 GPU cores version of the M1). Certainly, if you could afford the extra $250, the current M1 13" MacBook Pro would, for sure, have you covered.

The only reason why I might be reluctant to recommend waiting on the 14" MacBook Pro to emerge is that Apple has historically had problems with the first iteration of every new MacBook Pro body style since they renamed these laptops "MacBook Pro" from "PowerBook G4". And many of these problems had very little to do with the fact that Intel was inside. If you wanted to go the 14" MacBook Pro route, or even the redesigned 16" MacBook Pro route, I'd wait until the first refresh happens at the very least. Certainly, if you're worried about spending money on a model that is likely to not be current for too much longer, buying a 13" M1 MacBook Pro from the Apple Certified Refurbished section of the Apple online store isn't a bad idea as you still get a sizable discount and it will likely continue to be available for some time after the model is eventually discontinued.

I mainly edit in 1080 with occasional 4K. Should I spend the extra for 16GB unified memory or think 8gb is sufficient for my workflow?

 

[Yebubbleman]

I mainly edit in 1080 with occasional 4K. Should I spend the extra for 16GB unified memory or think 8gb is sufficient for my workflow?

8GB is probably going to be sufficient for your workflow, but I'd still spend the extra on 16GB. And since you're primarily editing in 1080 and only occasionally editing in 4K, the Air is probably just fine for your needs. I've heard others say that 8K is better suited for the M1 13" MacBook Pro whereas 4K is perfectly fine on the Air. Again, since you're not doing this crazy often, then, even if you do experience CPU throttling, it probably won't inconvenience you enough to annoy you or be worth the extra $200.

That said, I'd still opt for the 8 GPU core model and, again, 16GB of RAM (primarily for additional overhead and future-proofing). Definitely get one size of SSD larger than you think you will need (even if you primarily work out of external drives).

 

[furqan8421]

There's no "wrong" answer but to give a different perspective.. people often advocate for more RAM or more hard drive space. That's not bad advice since you can't upgrade those but I personally feel there's only so much future proofing you can do.

By the time you start running into real bottlenecks it's essentially time to upgrade the computer anyway and the additional stuff will be upgraded along with it. If you need an upgrade then buy it, just be careful you don't end up spending more money now than you may potentially need to.

 

[Pastuh]

I decided for now to wait till Monday and see what happens at WWDC. I'm leaning towards the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM but will see what is shared this Monday before make purchase.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I decided for now to wait till Monday and see what happens at WWDC. I'm leaning towards the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM but will see what is shared this Monday before make purchase.

Practical decision. If new Macs do get officially announced, they will be more expensive than the M1 MBA.

 

[adamjackson]

I decided for now to wait till Monday and see what happens at WWDC. I'm leaning towards the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM but will see what is shared this Monday before make purchase.

This was me as well but now that the keynote is over and I need a machine right now, I've purchased a current M1 in the hopes that an M2 or M1X announcement doesn't hit the resale value too much and I can sell it for a couple hundred less than I paid for it.

 

[Pastuh]

This was me as well but now that the keynote is over and I need a machine right now, I've purchased a current M1 in the hopes that an M2 or M1X announcement doesn't hit the resale value too much and I can sell it for a couple hundred less than I paid for it.

I've been on the road traveling. Did they not announce any new Macbook Pros? You going with a MBP or MBA?

 

[Pastuh]

I ended up purchasing a M1 MacBook Air base model from the Apple Refurb store for $849 + plus tax.

Contemplated getting 16GB but after watching several YouTubers who edit way more than I do and they said they have had no issues with 8GB…I think I’ll be okay.

Appreciate the wisdom and feedback.

 

[adamjackson]

I ended up purchasing a M1 MacBook Air base model from the Apple Refurb store for $849 + plus tax.

Contemplated getting 16GB but after watching several YouTubers who edit way more than I do and they said they have had no issues with 8GB…I think I’ll be okay.

Appreciate the wisdom and feedback.

good machine. I went the opposite direction, MBP, 16GB + 1TB. Needed something with more oomph for camera / video editing for the next 6 months.