Buying help for new MBP

For your use case, as you describe it in your post, it sounds like the M1 Pro would be more than adequate.

When it comes to Mac RAM, I’m quite sure I waste a fair amount of money…but since it is not upgradeable, I always buy, at the minimum, the next optional upgrade level from what I believe I need. So, if you believe 16 GB is adequate for your needs, I would recommend 32 GB for future-proofimg.

There are three additional considerations:

  • budget: don’t overspend what you can actually afford…debt sucls!;
  • technology: the new unified memory is so much faster than the traditional bus architecture that we are used to that I may need to rethink my buying strategy;
  • upgrade frequency: if you upgrade to each new model as it is announced, or every two or three years, “future proofing” is a moot point - you can just buy what you need when you place your next upgrade order.

Finally, SSD size! My general rule of thumb on this one is…how much data do I currently have on my SSD? Then double that size to accommodate future growth. Again, consider that rate at which you tend to see your current drive filling up and how frequently you upgrade…however this “rule” has served me well over the years.

One important thing you need to decide beforehand however is where you intend to store your digital images and videos. This is commonly the largest personal data category most of us have. If you want all of it stored locally on your system SSD, you will likely need a larger size drive.

Personally, I believe the cost of Apple’s SSDs is pretty expensive relative to other options. While local storage is FAR more convenient, I keep that data on a separate external drive and just connect it as necessary. Most of my files are still images and wouldn’t benefit much from the speed Apple’s drives can provide. However if you have more video data…particularly very high resolution…and tend to edit it as well, the local storage speed may be a valuable option for you. PDFs however, even at the sizes you mentioned, won’t benefit from the speed - they just require additional storage SIZE if you need to keep them!

I hope this helps…good luck!

I think this is probably right, but the largest PDF I have on my Mac at the moment is 24 GB…

it’s not so much of an issue my end. I am a trial lawyer, not a litigator, so I don’t need long term storage. I can easily delete the papers at the end of the trial, as it is the responsibility of the litigator to retain them, not me. I am minded to up the storage a bit though.

I’d also be interested to chat with you as another lawyer on what software you use to manage your practice/workflows. Always helpful to have the input from others.