New laptop suggestions

[Lester P. Bagley]

14 hours ago, A. Smith said:

 

How much memory did you go with? 8, 16, or 24gb?

In general, you want as much memory as you can get. Especially to run Parallels (Windows 11) and several Mac side programs. You want to assign enough to Parallels for things to be fast and smooth without a lag when switching to the Mac side. Likewise, get as much storage space as you can. After a couple of years of use that minimum storage that you thought you could get by with is never enough. Yes, it's more expensive up front but nothing like getting a year down the road and discovering you are out of storage space or finding that everything is just grinding to a halt with the 8GB!

[Kristin]

15 hours ago, A. Smith said:

How much memory did you go with? 8, 16, or 24gb?

Hi @A. Smith,
I agree completely with @Lester P. Bagley's logic, that you should for sure go with as much memory as is reasonable, because it is true that memory needs more and more every year. However, I would only moderate what he said, saying what is "reasonable," as opposed to "as much as you can get," since you need to keep in mind that other parts of the computer will also become outdated. So factor how much to get based on how long you typically keep computers.

This all said, I agree with @Nathan Parker's answer of 16, as that is what I went with also and have had zero problems. I personally would not consider getting 8.

Kristin

[A. Smith]

3 hours ago, Lester P. Bagley said:

In general, you want as much memory as you can get. Especially to run Parallels (Windows 11) and several Mac side programs. You want to assign enough to Parallels for things to be fast and smooth without a lag when switching to the Mac side. Likewise, get as much storage space as you can. After a couple of years of use that minimum storage that you thought you could get by with is never enough. Yes, it's more expensive up front but nothing like getting a year down the road and discovering you are out of storage space or finding that everything is just grinding to a halt with the 8GB!

Yeah. If I do the mba I’ll max it at 24. If I do mbp, I’ll do 32. The price for that memory is absurd so I won’t do more than that!

[Lawrence]

@A. Smith

On 8/11/2023 at 8:36 PM, A. Smith said:

Has your impression of this changed? I don't keep up with the specifics but I think there is now strong support, even official support. At least I don't know anyone running parallels on an apple silicon chip that is concerned anymore. 

 

I use PCs these days, but according to a 9th August 2022 report from COMPUTERWORLD, things are looking good for you.

 

Quote

The company introduced support for Windows on ARM chips in Parallels Desktop 17, but installation of the OS is now built in and you no longer need to use the Insider preview version of Windows 11 for ARM.

 

Quote

The company also says 99.99% of existing Intel-based PC applications will run happily on Apple Silicon macs using Parallels.

 

 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I agree on getting as much memory as you can afford, especially if this is going to be your main/only system.

 

Since I have 32GB on my desktop and primarily work on a desktop and my MacBook Air is just for lighter use, 16GB has been plenty. I only need to boot it up and do light work on the go. 

[R. Mansfield]

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

[Mark Allison]

1 hour ago, R. Mansfield said:

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

 

It'll be interesting to see if the day comes when that isn't enough. 

[Tim Hall]

1 hour ago, R. Mansfield said:

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

@R. Mansfield, out of idle curiosity is there a specific reason for so much RAM? My new M2 Mac mini has 16GB and I thought that was a lot ...

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

5 hours ago, R. Mansfield said:

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

 

That should be enough to run Accordance smoothly.

[R. Mansfield]

5 hours ago, Tim Hall said:

@R. Mansfield, out of idle curiosity is there a specific reason for so much RAM? My new M2 Mac mini has 16GB and I thought that was a lot ...

I can’t stand it when a computer starts to feel sluggish. Granted, it’s an Intel processor, but my core i9 iMac with 64 GB of RAM is already feeling its age. 
 

The new MBP will replace the iMac and my M1 MBP. In the Intel days you could get so much more bang for your buck with a desktop machine, but now with Apple Silicon, the playing field is a lot more level. And I’m at the point of not wanting to worry about whether my files are truly synced or not. 
 

So a lot of this is just future proofing. I do a good bit of video editing, which will be the most stressful task on the new MBP. I realize that I don’t actually need 96 GB for what I’m doing now, but I’d like to eventually experiment with 8K video. 

[Gordon Lyons]

 

 

1 hour ago, R. Mansfield said:

I realize that I don’t actually need 96 GB for what I’m doing now, but I’d like to eventually experiment with 8K video. 

If you're doing video editing at high resolutions you're better off with a dedicated graphics card with plenty of graphics memory. Unless it's

shared memory (not recommended) graphics memory is distinct from your 96GB RAM.

 

10GB is the minimum recommended amount of VRAM for 8K video editing. 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Gordon Lyons
Update

[R. Mansfield]

Yes, I know all this. Experiment is the key word. The 38-core GPU, which will handle up to 10 streams of 8K pro res video, will be more than enough for what I want to do. 

[Michel Gilbert]

On 8/11/2023 at 2:19 PM, Mark Allison said:

I have the least expensive M1 you can buy— a first-gen 13" M1 with 8GB of ram and 256GB SSD. And it's the fastest (and best) computer I've ever owned. 

 

17 hours ago, Tim Hall said:

@R. Mansfield, My new M2 Mac mini has 16GB and I thought that was a lot

 

I have the cheapest M1 mini with 8/256 and I agree with Mark and Tim.

 

If you are an average user who uses a word processor, some Bible programs, and the Web, I think 16 GB would be plenty. If I were to buy another Apple device today, I would choose 16. Since I use Parallels, I would also choose a processor with extra performance cores, say 6/4 compared to my 4/4.

 

Regarding Apple’s unified memory, I find that 8 GB feels more like 12 on my Intel machine. And regarding the very few times when swap memory had been used (I checked Activity Monitor every few hours at first), I couldn’t remember any slowdowns. I also ran one of the programs (don’t remember which one) to check the health of my SSD, and based on the results I had more than twenty years of life left on it. So, swap hasn’t caused any noticeable slowdowns or done any damage to my SSD.

 

Regarding future proofing, I think that by the time I would need more than 16 GB RAM I would want to have the newer, better, and faster CPU to go along with the extra RAM.

 

I also understand how people with other workflows (e.g., video editing) would need more.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

21 hours ago, R. Mansfield said:

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

Thanks for sharing the great news!

I hope it gets there safe and sound! I am Sure you will love the new M2 MBP's! And WOW 96 GM of RAM!!!

 

By the way I am long time windows user and after my pc broke a few months a go I decided to switch over to MacOs and I got a MBP 14th inch. So, far it is the best built laptop (or as we call them in my neck of the woods notebook) computer I have ever owned. I am also happy I can finally experience Accordance on a Mac!

Edited August 14, 2023 by Brian K. Mitchell

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

14 hours ago, R. Mansfield said:

So a lot of this is just future proofing. I do a good bit of video editing, which will be the most stressful task on the new MBP. I realize that I don’t actually need 96 GB for what I’m doing now, but I’d like to eventually experiment with 8K video.

 

And 16K and 32K video. :-)

[Brian K. Mitchell]

On 8/11/2023 at 2:24 PM, A. Smith said:

So, it’s been some time and the new 15” mba is out. I’m leaning heavily that way. Anyone else have experiences to share? I’m headed stateside next year and will upgrade then. So I’m eager to collect reviews

I am not sure I will be of much help, but like you I was recently in need of a new computer. I weighed my options between the MBP 13 and the MBP 14. I did not even consider the MPA models even though they have more colors, no internal moving parts, and are bit cheaper in Japan than the same sized MBP variant. I mostly worried about over heating issues on the MBA series. There were some rumors that the M2 chip is kind of like an overclocked M1. I wasn't sure how true those claims were but if they were true then overheating might be even more likely on an MBA. The MBP 13 and 14 inch are basically the same size with the 14 being just a hair or two larger. The MBP 13 has the Touch Bar which looks neat, but I would rather have physical function keys always available and one less screen to worry about scratching, cracking, or smudging. So, I went with the slight more expensive MBP 14 inch. Coming from a windows laptop the battery on the MBP is amazing! The most I ever got on my old windows laptop was about four and half hours, but the one charge on the MBP seems to last me a day and half or even there days If I lightly use it. Even if the MBP isn't turned off but the lid is closed (I guess it is in sleep mode) the battery does not seem to drain at all. Thus far I have not heard the fan start up at all, I not sure if it because the fan in quiet or it is because I am not doing anything super demanding. Accordance by the way opens and is read to go almost instantly so much faster than it ever did on my  i7 windows 10 laptop. 

 

But, going back to the MBA according to one report: 

Quote

the YouTube channel Max Tech loaded the recently releasedParallels 18 onto the 2022 MacBook Air and tested it with Geekbench 5. The laptop scored 1681 on the single-core test and 7260 on the multi-core one.For comparison, the Dell XPS Plus scored 1182 single-core and 5476 multi-core on the same test while unplugged, losing to the Mac on both test segments. That said, take the Windows PC off its battery and its scores rise to 1548 single-core and 8103 multi-core, so one of its benchmark scores beats the MacBook.

https://www.cultofmac.com/788405/m2-macbook-air-runs-windows-11-faster-than-pricier-dell-laptop/

 If true you probably will able to run everything you need to on a MBA.

[JonathanHuber]

I was recently helping a student who had a Mac with a Touch Bar, except the Touch Bar no longer worked, which meant there was no escape key, which means I could not figure out how to get her PowerPoint out of presenter mode. It was kinda ridiculous. In that moment, I was sooo glad to have a newer mba without a Touch Bar. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I've tried pushing my M2 MacBook Air a little. Doesn't get overheated at all, even sitting in the oven we call Hot Springs, Arkansas.

[Robb B]

3 hours ago, JonathanHuber said:

I was recently helping a student who had a Mac with a Touch Bar, except the Touch Bar no longer worked, which meant there was no escape key, which means I could not figure out how to get her PowerPoint out of presenter mode. It was kinda ridiculous. In that moment, I was sooo glad to have a newer mba without a Touch Bar. 

The TouchBar is one of my favorite features on my MacBook Pro. Mine has a physical escape key, so your scenario would not be an issue for me if it broke. But I also have AppleCare+, so if it breaks, that's on Apple!

[Robb B]

On 8/13/2023 at 1:55 PM, R. Mansfield said:

My new MBP (which should arrive tomorrow) has 96 GB of RAM. 

 

I remember paying extra to upgrade from 4MB to 8MB of RAM in high school. My first iBook had a 40GB hard drive. 96GB is RAM is on another level! You're going to love that.

[Robb B]

21 hours ago, R. Mansfield said:

Yes, I know all this. Experiment is the key word. The 38-core GPU, which will handle up to 10 streams of 8K pro res video, will be more than enough for what I want to do. 

 

What do you have planned? I'd be curious to see your video content.

[A. Smith]

1 hour ago, Robb B said:

The TouchBar is one of my favorite features on my MacBook Pro. Mine has a physical escape key, so your scenario would not be an issue for me if it broke. But I also have AppleCare+, so if it breaks, that's on Apple!

I love the touchbar on my 2018 15" mbp. I wish they weren't discontinuing it. 

[Brian K. Mitchell]

7 hours ago, A. Smith said:

I love the touchbar on my 2018 15" mbp. I wish they weren't discontinuing it. 

The current M2 MBP 13 inch still has the Touch Bar. I wonder if the rumored M3 MBP 13 inch will continue to have the Touch Bar?  

[R. Mansfield]

15 minutes ago, Brian K. Mitchell said:

The current M2 MBP 13 inch still has the Touch Bar. I wonder if the rumored M3 MBP 13 inch will continue to have the Touch Bar?  

 

As soon as the case is changed, the TouchBar is no more. If trends follow, the 13” MBP will be the first to get the M3 chip, but if they go with the new case designs, it will go back to physical keys—again, based on everything done in the last couple of years. 

 

Speaking of case changes, I knew the case changes in the new 16” MBP made it beefier, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so reminiscent of the 17” PowerBook of the early 2000s. But I like it. 

 

 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I never got to experiment with the touch bar, but I do like Touch ID in my MBA. Makes Apple Pay a breeze on websites.

 

I just recently gave away my super-speedy 12" PowerBook G4 with a roomy 80GB hard drive. Surprisingly, when I had Accordance 9 on it, it ran as fast as Accordance does on my iMac Pro. Shows how good the speed of Accordance engine has been over the years!