9 ms·
Hmm, I was thinking of buying an M3 Pro 16” this summer, but maybe I should wait then
by capl 2y ago
Hmm, I was thinking of buying an M3 Pro 16” this summer, but maybe I should wait then
- Waterluvian 2y agoApple’s tempo is so regular that this has been a problem my entire adult life. I’ll buy a little later. I’ll buy a little later!
- MrFantastic 2y agoI've had several devices fail right before the new model was released. So frustrating.
- capl 2y agoHehe yeah, same when I think about it… I guess best thing to do is buy on launch and update every 2-5 years.
- nothercastle 2y agoThat’s a good strategy with most things that aren’t prone to mfg variability . For cars having a launch version there are a lot of initial manufacturing defects that need to be worked out.
- spacebanana7 2y agoIf staying on the latest model isn’t important to you, there’s significant cost savings to be made from just buying the previous version.
- asddubs 2y agoso wait for M5 to buy M4
- MediumOwl 2y agoIt entirely depends how long you keep your devices. I try to keep my iPhones until release year + 6, so I would need the price of a previous version to be reduced by more than 1/6th on a new version release, which is usually not the case.
- spacebanana7 2y agoSimilar to cars, most depreciation happens in the first year. So owning a device for 6 years between age 1 and 7 will generally have a lower cost than owning a device between age 0 and 6. For Apple products it’s generally feasible to effectively buy first hand devices aged 1+ because they’re still available for sale (at least in some retailers) after a new edition is released.
- wombat-man 2y agoYeah, feels like if you don't buy in the first few months you might as well hang on for the next one.
- a-french-anon 2y agoThe way to exit that loop is to convince yourself that the next one will bring a truly lasting difference. Which is why I'm still waiting for GDDR7 GPUs with my 4GB RX 480.
- uptown 2y agoGet the math co-processor! It'll rip.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoThat's why my desktop CPU is 11 years old.
- vundercind 2y agoI just only buy every fourth or fifth whatever it is. Usually the previous model, too, when I do, sometimes used or official-refurb. Works great.
- yardie 2y agoI'm still on a i7 MBP because everytime I think I'm ready to update the next one is announced.
- 0_____0 2y agoThese machines are great. I still use my 2015 rMBP as a secondary. It's a little slow now but a couple years ago I was still running Solidworks (in Bootcamp) on it with minimal issues.
- tmalsburg2 2y agoMy wife is still using her 2012 MBP. We maxed out RAM and gave it an SSD in 2016. She uses it for video editing and music production. The thing look like new. Completely ridiculous. Only downside: no OSX updates since I don’t know when.
- jasomill 2y agoYou might find OpenCore Legacy Patcher[1] worth a look. In many cases, it allows later-that-supported Mac OS versions to be installed on older Macs. As a data point, I still use a 2013 Mac Pro as my primary desktop, and I've been using Sonoma on it for several months, have been able to install all Sonoma patches over-the-air on release without incident, and have only experienced a single, trivial problem: the right side of the menu bar occasionally appears shaded red, in a way that doesn't affect usability; switching applications immediately resolves the problem (the problem appears to be correlated with video playback). [1] https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/ https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
- manquer 2y agovideo encoder/decoder support and performance has order of magnitude improvement in M series, I am surprised that didnt sway you. Not just that, for high res stuff or modern codecs like AV1 or h265 is probably not supported at all in a 2012 device without updates for so long? Even if support was possible it would be software encoding and even short clip it can take hours to render ? I would happily use an older device for development a lot of dev work especially if not frontend or UI usually i can use any laptop just as a terminal, but UI or video editing I wouldn’t be able to.
- tedivm 2y agoI wait until the new release, and then look at the refurbished store to get a discount on the last generation model. I do this every four years or so.
- a13o 2y agoI do this technique too, and it's a great time for it. The OLED screen on the new iPad signals that Apple devices are moving to a better panel. If you've been waiting for the right time to move off an Intel Mac and onto a SoC Mac, it's now. Pick up a refurbished M2 MacBook. They're in the sweet spot for support, power, and cost. The next one will probably have an OLED screen; so if you wait til then, your refurb M1/2/3 will be on Apple's short list of devices they don't want to support. (And you might have panel FOMO.) Or you'll have to pay the premium price for the latest model.
- rkuska 2y agoThat’s actually a nice side effect of all the *rumors pages. The rumors of future products keep me of buying the current products. I keep on using my previous products while saving money and planet and being excited about what future holds.
- repelsteeltje 2y ago> The rumors of future products keep me of buying the current products. Spot on! Back in the nineties, Intel managed to push competing RISC architectures (UltraSparc, MIPS, DEC Alpha, PowerPC) out of the market using nothing but promises that Itanium was going to blow them all out of the water. And apparently Apple is okay with procrastinating and cannibalizing current sales of M1, 2, 3 if it helps prevent some Snapdragon (or Ampere) sales.
- thfuran 2y agoThere may be a world in which Apple is procrastinating in chip design, but it's not this one.
- gumby 2y ago> And apparently Apple is okay with procrastinating and cannibalizing current sales of M1, 2, 3 if it helps prevent some Snapdragon (or Ampere) sales. Not sure where “procrastinating” fits in (a typo?), but as Scott McNealy once said, “If someone shows up and eats our lunch, it might so well be us.”
- ruined 2y ago>And apparently Apple is okay with procrastinating and cannibalizing current sales of M1, 2, 3 if it helps prevent some Snapdragon (or Ampere) sales. sales of what i actually can't think of a single competing product. admittedly i don't keep up with laptop news but still, i haven't heard of anything yet that can meaningfully compete with the m1 from four years ago
- nolongerthere 2y agoMicrosoft just announced some lackluster arm laptops that they claim can compete with M-series chips. The question is what windows programs are gonna run on them...
- throw0101d 2y ago> this summer In recent years the MBP line has been updated towards the end of the year (Oct/Nov) or early (Jan): * https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook_Pro_16 https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook_Pro_16 So if you can 'limp' along towards the autumn/winter/Christmas, then it's probably worth the wait to get the M4 (or pickup an M3 when the price presumably drops to clear inventory).
- andy_ppp 2y agoI just bought a second hand M2 Air in perfect condition and it feels faster than my M1 Max in a really beautiful body for travel. I’m not certain it matters that much anymore to be honest. What are you using it for?
- zorrn 2y agoThis is so real. I have this exact problem... but I think I'm just buying a? refurbished MacBook Air M2 13"
- pmontra 2y agoOsborne effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
- deergomoo 2y agoSince the move to Apple Silicon you are realistically never more than 12-18 months away from a new chip generation in a MacBook. An M1 is still plenty good for the vast majority of workloads, especially if it's an M1 Pro/Max/Ultra. Actually probably the best thing to do is wait until the M4 machines launch then bag a good deal on a clearance M3.
- rbanffy 2y agoThe next ones to get M4 will probably be the Mini, the Studio, and the Pro. iMac and MacBooks got an M3 refresh, but the other desktops have M2s now.
- alwillis 2y agoFor those with MacBook Pro FOMO, do not read about the rumored foldable 18.8-inch screen MacBook Pro running on the M5 coming in 2026 [1]. [1]: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/23/18-8-inch-foldable-macbook-rumor/ https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/23/18-8-inch-foldable-macb...
- JulianWasTaken 2y agoWithout anything but a skim, surely there is no way a MB Pro ships with a virtual keyboard, that is pure torture.
- solardev 2y agoMaybe it uses the camera for gesture recognition so you can air-write each letter one at a time? Air-quotes will be fun... air-tabs, not so much. "Space, but <widens arms> BIGGER!"
- LordDragonfang 2y agoIf anything, they'll probably use the "studio" branding (or more likely just have it under the iPad line, since they have desktop chips in them now anyways)
- cjk2 2y agoKill me with a blunt spoon before I take on a foldable touch screen.
- jascination 2y agoI just bought a refurbished 16in M3 pro, no regrets at all. There's always a new one around the corner, it's really just about whether your setup achieves what you need it to. Look at real world differences between M2 and M3, it's not a massive jump at all. I do cross platform app development and the machine is excellent for that. Glad to have it now rather than waiting months for a slightly better system