Annoyingly my 15” rMBP from 2015 is no longer being upgraded to the latest OSX. Whilst it’s been showing its age in a few ways, it’s been one of the finest pieces of tech that I’ve ever owned. I think the 16” MBP would be an ideal upgrade. Part of the reason my old one lasted so long is that I doubled the memory to 16Gb. I’m not sure I need more than the base 24Gb really? If I’m honest I’m not really doing anything hugely intensive on it anymore.
*** The official M4 MacBook Pro thread (it has the M4 chip, 16Gb, AI and everything!) ***
- Thread starter Feek
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You can use OpenCore to install if you're comfortable with that.
I'd really suggest you try the 14 inch before option for the 16. I have both, and while I love the 16 it rarely leaves the house as it's quite bulky and a bit of a brick to be hefting about.
I'd really suggest you try the 14 inch before option for the 16. I have both, and while I love the 16 it rarely leaves the house as it's quite bulky and a bit of a brick to be hefting about.
Another option may be the 15.6” MacBook Air. I bought one to replace a 13/14” (can’t remember the screen size!) M1 MBP and have been very pleased with it. Although it takes up more acreage on the desk, it’s a nice light and slim device. If you don’t need the M4 Pro and couple of extra ports the MBP has then it’s a valid option
Agreed, they are fab machines. My daughter has the 13" M3 Air and loves it. The only reason (for me) the MBP pips it at the post is the quality of the screen. You get used to the high refresh rate I guess - not having it I really notice. I get that however is extremely subjective.
I need to get my hands on them and see really. I think I’m erring towards the 16” MBP in base spec, even though it’s a hefty price jump. If it lasts as long as my old one, then it’s pretty decent value really!
Might have a go at OpenCore. I read about it as a workaround. Happy to follow instructions and have a NAS based Time Machine backup if I need to go back.
Might have a go at OpenCore. I read about it as a workaround. Happy to follow instructions and have a NAS based Time Machine backup if I need to go back.
I’m running opencore on my mid-2014 and for now, it’s working great. It hadn’t been on previous releases but seems pretty stable now.
I’ve been looking to upgrade for a while but the most the machine does is a little light web development, ssh into my servers, web browsing etc. so with 16GB RAM it’s still going strong.
I have a 16” MBP M1 Pro as a work machine and honestly that’s not what I’d go for to replace the retina… It is great but it’s very heavy and bulky. I’m really tempted by the M4 Air, may even go 13” but I really want to set it side by side with my retina model and see if I’d miss the screen real estate. Performance wise it would be fine. Longevity is a question though, if extra RAM wasn’t so expensive it’d be an easier decision. Getting a new machine over 10 years later with the same memory specs seems…disappointing.
I’ve been looking to upgrade for a while but the most the machine does is a little light web development, ssh into my servers, web browsing etc. so with 16GB RAM it’s still going strong.
I have a 16” MBP M1 Pro as a work machine and honestly that’s not what I’d go for to replace the retina… It is great but it’s very heavy and bulky. I’m really tempted by the M4 Air, may even go 13” but I really want to set it side by side with my retina model and see if I’d miss the screen real estate. Performance wise it would be fine. Longevity is a question though, if extra RAM wasn’t so expensive it’d be an easier decision. Getting a new machine over 10 years later with the same memory specs seems…disappointing.
Picked up a MacBook Air M4 10/10/1TB today for GBP1279 (Student Discount). Setting up for my daughter to swap out with her M3. Have to say I remember the difference between the 60 & 120 being bigger! Very impressive for the form factor.
Out of curiosity I just had a Quick Look at the benchmark comparison between my (now gone) 10 core iMac Pro and the Air. A bit mind-blowing isn't it?!
Out of curiosity I just had a Quick Look at the benchmark comparison between my (now gone) 10 core iMac Pro and the Air. A bit mind-blowing isn't it?!
It's even flying through running Windows 11 in VM Fusion. It's astonishing how much hardware has come on isn't it?! I mean, my iMac Pro was probably one of my favourite Apple machines, but now even the Air makes it look like a toy. (Well, perhaps not quite, but you know what I mean).
Just curious if anyone here who uses xcode (swift) heavily and has recent experience going from the last intel mbp (mine's the loaded late 2019 i9). I have been putting this off for so long but the poor thing is on death's door and having been subjected to a lot ios development lately I'm not sure I can make it to end of the year for the next release.
Trying to talk myself out of it and wait for the machine to die properly but the compilation times with swift are ridiculous. For web work / go and java it's fine, just building swift is a bucket of puke.
Trying to talk myself out of it and wait for the machine to die properly but the compilation times with swift are ridiculous. For web work / go and java it's fine, just building swift is a bucket of puke.
I can only speak generally but if you rely on your laptop for your career then I wouldn’t be waiting for it to die on me before getting a new one!
The M series CPUs are miles ahead of the old Intels in terms of speed. For a speed comparison, I once transcoded a 4K video on a AMD 8600 (not an old chip) and it took about 60 minutes. On my M1 Max, the same film was transcoded inside a minute and a half. Although a different context, it provides an idea of how much of a performance boost you should get compiling your apps.
In short, just buy the new laptop. It’ll make you more productive!
The M series CPUs are miles ahead of the old Intels in terms of speed. For a speed comparison, I once transcoded a 4K video on a AMD 8600 (not an old chip) and it took about 60 minutes. On my M1 Max, the same film was transcoded inside a minute and a half. Although a different context, it provides an idea of how much of a performance boost you should get compiling your apps.
In short, just buy the new laptop. It’ll make you more productive!
Thanks for the feedback, have been nursing this one for a while (i run it on top of a heatsink+fan at home to reduce the thermal issues) but just I like to get as much mileage as I can for my thousands of £££ 
Pretty sure getting 6 years out of this portable nuke was a good run!
Pretty sure getting 6 years out of this portable nuke was a good run!
My MBP 15" 2015 is finally starting to show its age. Getting a little slow scrolling around on some websites now. What an absolute beast though, 10 years of service. It's been so good I'm going to stick with the Pro instead of the tempting £150 off offers on the MBA right now.
So I've pulled the trigger on a MBP M4 14", gets here on Monday, can't wait and hopefully I will notice the difference.
This will be used for web development, kubernetes, etc. Occasionally some music production (if I ever get time), and then the usual browsing / movies, etc. Here's hoping for another 10 years.
So I've pulled the trigger on a MBP M4 14", gets here on Monday, can't wait and hopefully I will notice the difference.
This will be used for web development, kubernetes, etc. Occasionally some music production (if I ever get time), and then the usual browsing / movies, etc. Here's hoping for another 10 years.
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My MBP 15" 2015 is finally starting to show its age. Getting a little slow scrolling around on some websites now. What an absolute beast though, 10 years of service. It's been so good I'm going to stick with the Pro instead of the tempting £150 off offers on the MBA right now.
So I've pulled the trigger on a MBP M4 14", gets here on Monday, can't wait and hopefully I will notice the difference.
This will be used for web development, kubernetes, etc. Occasionally some music production (if I ever get time), and then the usual browsing / movies, etc. Here's hoping for another 10 years.
I got a 16"" M4 Pro this week and it's insane, you won't be disappointed.
Oddly though the screen didn't seem to go very bright on the first day of use, even on max brightness. Not sure what happened but it's fine now, in fact it's crazy how bright it gets when you're outside in bright sunlight.
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