OT: advice on buying a used Mac.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by rkhatibi

I'd argue with this interpretation. Both of those are true, but not limiting factors to design...<snip>

All true. My post was getting long, so I simplified.

We need an "ackchyually guy" in the smilies.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by benb

This strikes me as a software issue... I bet she was using software that was poorly optimized for the Mac. (Adobe perhaps?)

Well optimized software is not going to really heat up or show much difference between a MBP and MBA unless you are talking about some seriously hollywood levels of editing.

Heating up a little is of course fine anyway. The MBA will just throttle the processor sooner than the MBP will. The real thing is which computer is actually fast enough. If you're editing 4K or 8K video all day long and the MBA is slowing down then editing video is probably your job and you can write off the cost of the M3 Pro/Ultra/whatever to get the time savings.

This would be of course the issue with what I do. No one is building hardware accelerated software development tools & packages that use the fancy features of these new chips.. it is not cost effective to do so at all, the only case where it makes sense is for Apple itself and then if you are writing 100% Mac software you can take advantage.

In any case none of the stuff I work on is optimized for Apple Silicon and yet the fan doesn't even come on and I don't get any noticeable heat.

To keep it on topic I think we all know XXTwindad is not a professional video editor.

Absolutely true. I have no idea about 90 percent of the stuff in this thread. I’m OK with that.

[rkhatibi]

Originally Posted by Alistair

All true. My post was getting long, so I simplified.

We need an "ackchyually guy" in the smilies.

Hah, fair. I grudgingly impersonated a general IT dept at various startups during the HDD->SSD switchover years and the change in reliability was so worth it. Hell I'd have really thought hard about putting them in all laptops even it they were larger and heavier.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by benb

This strikes me as a software issue... I bet she was using software that was poorly optimized for the Mac. (Adobe perhaps?)

.

Adobe and Apple have been essentially monopolistic business partners since almost the beginning of graphic design on computers. Once Adobe swallowed up Macromedia, there was nowhere else to go.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Adobe and Apple have been essentially monopolistic business partners since almost the beginning of graphic design on computers. Once Adobe swallowed up Macromedia, there was nowhere else to go.

Eh.. you definitely don't need to buy Adobe for either music, photo, or video unless you had some business requirement from a customer/partner/whatever. Graphic design could be different, but then again we have designers at work and I can't remember the last time anyone I worked with was using any Adobe software.

And Adobe's software is pretty significantly compromised in a lot of cases by the way they have to straddle the line between the Mac and Windows worlds.

They have a very different cost:benefit analysis on spending money on rewriting parts of their applications for hardware acceleration on each platform than a company that makes software exclusively for one platform. Especially when one of the companies (Apple) constantly comes up with new systems & interfaces and says you need to rewrite everything cause they're dropping support for the old one.

All their stuff is also gigantic and sprawling and that makes everything harder too.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by benb

Eh.. you definitely don't need to buy Adobe for either music, photo, or video unless you had some business requirement from a customer/partner/whatever. Graphic design could be different, but then again we have designers at work and I can't remember the last time anyone I worked with was using any Adobe software.

And Adobe's software is pretty significantly compromised in a lot of cases by the way they have to straddle the line between the Mac and Windows worlds.

They have a very different cost:benefit analysis on spending money on rewriting parts of their applications for hardware acceleration on each platform than a company that makes software exclusively for one platform. Especially when one of the companies (Apple) constantly comes up with new systems & interfaces and says you need to rewrite everything cause they're dropping support for the old one.

All their stuff is also gigantic and sprawling and that makes everything harder too.

You are not a professional, I see.

[ridethecliche]

I know OP has already made their decision, but I honestly don't see any reason for someone looking for a kick around home computer to get anything more than an M1 at this time. If you're going to be doing things that demand more resources, then sure it makes sense, but if you're on a self described budget, you can get a used or at times refurb M1 MBA with 16gb ram for ~500ish. They're only 4 years old at this time and should be more than solid for the next 2-3 years if not longer.

If you're on less of a budget, then the M2's MBA's are going wayyy down in price and the M3 MBA's are nice and shiny with that super shiny sparkle.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

I know OP has already made their decision, but I honestly don't see any reason for someone looking for a kick around home computer to get anything more than an M1 at this time. If you're going to be doing things that demand more resources, then sure it makes sense, but if you're on a self described budget, you can get a used or at times refurb M1 MBA with 16gb ram for ~500ish. They're only 4 years old at this time and should be more than solid for the next 2-3 years if not longer.

If you're on less of a budget, then the M2's MBA's are going wayyy down in price and the M3 MBA's are nice and shiny with that super shiny sparkle.

yep, I'm still rocking a 2020 Retina with an Intel chip.. it needs a new battery, but does everything I need just fine.. and that everything is basically scrolling the web, running Zwift, and some very minor office-type work every now and then..

[Ewiser]

Long time Mac user. Buy an M series Mac I have Intel Macs but they can not be updated to the current OS. Unless you just go thru hoops. The battery life on the M series Mac’s is just incredible.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by fourflys

yep, I'm still rocking a 2020 Retina with an Intel chip.. it needs a new battery, but does everything I need just fine.. and that everything is basically scrolling the web, running Zwift, and some very minor office-type work every now and then..

The used macbook pro i bought is an M1 that basically lived on a charged. I picked it a few weeks ago and the battery is still at 95% capacity.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

The used macbook pro i bought is an M1 that basically lived on a charged. I picked it a few weeks ago and the battery is still at 95% capacity.

my battery still holds a decent charge, I've just noticed, depending on what I'm doing with it, the bottom will get warm and the fan will run a lot.. I just finish what I'm doing (usually a video or site that has a LOT of side ads, etc) and shut it down for 5 minutes.. the forum is never an issue for example.. usually good upon restart.. maybe it's not the battery, but that's my feeling I guess..

my requirements for a computer: I open the lid and it just works.. I don't care how or why the elves inside do their jobs, I just need them to.. that simple requirement was an issue after 6 months back when I was using PCs, never been an issue with Macs.. that's why I'm a Mac guy..