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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
Looking for advice on which new Macbook to choose.
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<blockquote data-quote="Randy B. Singer" data-source="post: 1946228" data-attributes="member: 190607"><p>It's hard to answer your questions because most of them can only be answered by you based on how you do your work, how badly you feel you need a new computer right away, how much you need the very last bit of available performance, etc.</p><p></p><p>One huge consideration is that you probably have a large investment in expensive graphics software. If you get an Apple Silicon-based computer, you will likely want to buy all-new software that runs natively. (Your old software will likely run fine under Rosetta 2, but doing so will likely defeat the speed advantage of having an Apple Silicon Mac.) So, if you aren't prepared to make a huge investment in both a new computer and new software, you might instead want to purchase one of the very last Macbook's with an Intel processor.</p><p></p><p>I can tell you that the larger your internal hard drive, the longer that your new Mac will last, not because you will need the extra storage for apps, but because your internal hard drive is used for virtual memory, meta data, etc., and the more writes there are to an SSD, the sooner it will start slowing down. The larger your SSD is, the more that slowdown is delayed. (This all has to do with blocks needing to be erased before they are re-used, which slows things down. Don't worry about the particulars. Just know that larger SSD's last longer, even if they aren't filled up with apps.)</p><p></p><p>The biggest speed difference will be between the last Intel processor and the first Apple Silicon processor. There was a huge jump there. The speed differences between the M1 and each succeeding Apple Silicon processor have not been as pronounced. No one is expecting a huge general speed difference between the M3 and the M4 either. Though the M4 might be able to run AI-based graphics programs that are pretty amazing that earlier processors cannot, or which then can't run nearly as fast.</p><p></p><p>Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Randy B. Singer, post: 1946228, member: 190607"] It's hard to answer your questions because most of them can only be answered by you based on how you do your work, how badly you feel you need a new computer right away, how much you need the very last bit of available performance, etc. One huge consideration is that you probably have a large investment in expensive graphics software. If you get an Apple Silicon-based computer, you will likely want to buy all-new software that runs natively. (Your old software will likely run fine under Rosetta 2, but doing so will likely defeat the speed advantage of having an Apple Silicon Mac.) So, if you aren't prepared to make a huge investment in both a new computer and new software, you might instead want to purchase one of the very last Macbook's with an Intel processor. I can tell you that the larger your internal hard drive, the longer that your new Mac will last, not because you will need the extra storage for apps, but because your internal hard drive is used for virtual memory, meta data, etc., and the more writes there are to an SSD, the sooner it will start slowing down. The larger your SSD is, the more that slowdown is delayed. (This all has to do with blocks needing to be erased before they are re-used, which slows things down. Don't worry about the particulars. Just know that larger SSD's last longer, even if they aren't filled up with apps.) The biggest speed difference will be between the last Intel processor and the first Apple Silicon processor. There was a huge jump there. The speed differences between the M1 and each succeeding Apple Silicon processor have not been as pronounced. No one is expecting a huge general speed difference between the M3 and the M4 either. Though the M4 might be able to run AI-based graphics programs that are pretty amazing that earlier processors cannot, or which then can't run nearly as fast. Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
Looking for advice on which new Macbook to choose.
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