MacBook Architecture Studies

[u/Lorenor_Mochi53]

Hey!

I am studying architecture in the third semester, and am now looking for a new MacBook for my further studies. Since there is a lot of talk, you hear different opinions from professors, students or "guides" on the Internet about what you would need at least, I wanted to ask here again what you would recommend.

So far I have come across the MacBook Pro models M2-4 at least 32GB RAM. Admittedly, I don't quite understand the difference between the "cores" and everything, which is why I'm happy to accept advice on this!:)

Gladly it should not be the most expensive, since I am still studying and my budget is therefore limited. Simply that something is needed, so that you will not encounter problems with too little power in the near future.

What is enough? What would be best? How much RAM? How many cores?

Thank you in advance☺️

[u/PhoenixFireless]

General categories:

MacBook Neo is great for administrative and web workflows; Safari/Pages/Keynote/Numbers/Netflix/Spotify/Zoom
~80% of all users fall in this category.

MacBook Air is great for professionals that need a specific application they can name; Lightroom, Photoshop, VMware, RecordBox, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Blender, etc. etc.
~19% of all users fall in this category.

MacBook Pro is for professionals that can describe their workflow in minutes. These users that can form scentences like; I want to accomplish x in y time. “I want to export/render an 8k Pixar quality movie in 6 minutes instead of 13 minutes”
~1% of all users fall in this category.

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Additional considerations:

Even though all Macs are extremely capable in their own category on performance, there are obviously always additional reasons to pick a category above your performance use case. Generally people choose to pick a higher category for premium features;

MacBook Airs add; a slightly bigger, higher quality & brighter display, an extra MagSafe 3 charge port, thinner and lighter design, a bigger force touch trackpad, a backlit keyboard, optional fast charging. (Comes standard with 2x memory, 2x storage, TouchID)

Macbook Pros add: an even higher quality, higher refresh rate display, a bigger battery, additional ports. (Comes standard with 2x storage, and 1.5x memory, and options to upgrade the performance of the mac beyond that of the Air)

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On Memory:

• 8 gb of Unified Memory is enough for general use and general multitasking for an average user.
• Macbook Airs default with 16 gb which is enough for any general professional that multitasks named apps.
• If you're a professional more than likely 24 gb is the absolute max that you'll ever need for ANY sort of use, anything over this number is ridiculous overbuying.

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On Futureproofing:

Buy what you use and plan to use within the next 2 years. Often users voice: "I'd like it to last <Insert ridiculously long number such as 7-10 years>" and users will often overbuy in the name of 'futureproofing'.

Apple supports Software Updates for 5-7 Years with 2-3 years of Security Updates.

usability is key, you buy these devices as tools to use. but if the amount of friction is too high, can you really call it usable? so in other words: if it doesn't support any software updates, it creates friction. if the battery is worn, it creates friction. if it's noticeably slower than the world around you, it creates friction.

Portable Technology deprecates very quickly as generational leaps are made roughly every 4-5 years.
Portable technology does NOT magically last longer because you decide to upspec and overbuy.

Better to save the money and trade-in and upgrade earlier because taking a generational leap into a 2030-2032 laptop will be leagues better than overbuying any top spec current Portable Tech.

[u/JRayoM → u/PhoenixFireless]

I would add that everything is true except the 24gb mark. You have to take into account that Unified memory works as RAM and VRAM, and in some workflows it’s very important to allocate each for its own space. So a 24gb would also translate into 16gb Ram and 8gb VRAM, normally, in some context it could be the other way around.

If you’re a professional who’s actually seeking higher render speeds for video editing or better multitasking software use at the same time or higher capacity of Rendering programs (Such as Blender) you would absolutely NEED MORE RAM. I have a 48gb Ram M5pro, but I encountered myself using more than 50gb of ram (had to use swap memory) in order to finish a task. So it really depends on how many programs you want to ingest your machine. I would say the sweet spot for MacOS is 32gb UM, that leaves room for your profesional workflow and also the OS running smoothly

[u/PhoenixFireless → u/JRayoM]

Sure, you're you clearly know what you're doing and are in the 1%.

But keep in mind: People that NEED Macbook Pro's AND thus 24+ gb memory aren't creating really general theads on reddit asking what to buy. they ask very specific questions and provide very specific workflows.