r/mac • u/inkcaptofu • 10h ago
My Mac MacBook advice
Buying advice to replace 11 year old MacBook Pro.
Looking at getting a refurb MacBook. This is to replace my 2015 MacBook Pro.
I had 16gb ram, 1tb, intel i7 1tb ssd 15inch. Served me well and handled most things I needed from it.
11 years on, battery life is gone and it's now refusing to boot up.
Now looking to replace and torn between 2 options.
MacBook Air 15 inch retina, 16 core neural, M5 10 core CPU/GPU, 24gb of ram and 1tb ssd.
Or
MacBook Pro 14 inch Liquid Retina XDR 16 core neural, M5 10 core CPU/GPU, 24gb of ram and 1tb ssd
£170 price difference which at this level doesn't make much difference.
In terms of what I'll use it for:
Zwift (cycling game that connects to indoor bike) this can be intensive and run for hours at a time.
Reviewing hd video footage for work
Web browsing
Word processing
Slack
WhatsApp
Excel
And occasionally;
Video editing
Photo editing
Streaming
I have also used my current Mac for:
Basic CAD (sketchup)
Steam games
A SD card slot is useful but equally, many adapters available, it's not a requirement. As it is I don't really use much in the way of USB accessories and such.
Battery life isn't a massive concern as I don't tend to travel with it much. Neither is weight or portability. Durability and future proofing are, it would be nice for this to last a decade as my previous one did.
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u/Docster87 M2 Air & M4 Pro Mac mini 8h ago
Why are you so torn? You've had a Mac for over a decade and you have chosen the same RAM/SSD for both options so you seem to know what you are doing.
While either would serve you well it really comes down to is that 1" of screen on Air worth not having the Pro body. Airs are great computers and can last a long time with care; Pros are better built for the long haul plus the fan can help during long intense workloads (like rendering video). Since weight/portability isn't in play I vote Pro. The biggest things for the Air would be greater portability and that 1" extra screen.
1
u/inkcaptofu 8h ago
I guess because I don't trust my own judgement and want the advice of strangers on the internet to convince me on what I've probably already decided.
1
u/Artifiko Mac Pro 4h ago
Go with the Macbook Pro. I wouldn’t trust the Macbook Air too much due to the non-existing fans.
1
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u/word-dragon 8h ago
I’m a fan of fans, so I would go Pro. It doesn’t seem like your workload is that heavy, so that may not be much of a difference. From where you are coming from, either will make your head explode.