What is the sweet spot?
32 GB RAM? 2 TB SSD? Are the higher tier CPUs and graphics worth it?
Have yet to decide whether to go with 32GB RAM ($400 more…) or 1TB SSD ($200 more but I’ve never come close to running out of space in my 256GB work laptop!). Don’t think I can afford both at the moment.
Always go with more RAM first !
Interesting, I’m leaning towards the 2 TB SSD and 32 GB. What influenced you to select the i9?
Yeah worst case scenario for SSD space is an external hard drive or NAS… can’t really do the same with RAM!
I always choose:
- RAM
- SSD over Mechanical, but I don’t think the new Pro has any hybrid or mechanical configuration. 512GB has always been enough for me. And as you mentioned for external hard drive if needed.
- CPU
We weaned ourselves off of MBPs during the keyboard dark times and don’t have any plans to go back. For us the sweet spot is a more capable desktop plus an iPad for travel.
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I’ve looked at the price, and will stick to my iPad pro and my (older) iMac. This is a very nice laptop that is WAY too expensive for me.
I’m running a similar config. iMac is too old to run 10.14+. Have to upgrade to something eventually, but MB 16 is pricey.
Looking at the lineup I think that if I need a new laptop I’ll opt for the macbook air or a mac mini. My iPad is now even more useful since iPadOS 13, so that’s become my 99% machine.
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I am bound by what my work provides. I don’t get to choose. Unfortunately its sad that I’m in that boat.
Well, my new MBP arrived today, DOA. What a huge disappointment. Apple will be sending another one but they anticipate 2 weeks. Not good, Apple, not good.
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Same exactly. The new machine looks good but though I could afford the high cost, I don’t want to, I will go for a high spec iMac and ios. These days my iPhone is good enough for most of my on the go stuff frankly
I just ordered mine to replace a mid-2017 MBP 15" (good trade-in offer helped me to pull the trigger).
I maxed out the specs on the 16" except for the SSD, which I’ve kept at 2TB. My reasons for this:
RAM: I often run 2 or more VMs and 16GB was getting a bit tight at times.
Video RAM: Inexpensive to max out. I probably don’t need it, but it’s unclear to me under what concrete circumstances it may be of value and I don’t want to be locked out of some feature in the future by some odd constraint that Apple puts in place.
Everything else is either future proofing or the cost of the upgrade (amortized over the expected lifetime of the computer) was so low that I opted for it. I expect to keep this computer as my primary for at least 5 years.
Just bought mine to replace my old 2011 MBP with high-res, matte display option. Made the move because they now have a bearable keyboard. Old one had 8GB RAM and a 1TB SSD (aftermarket). Since needs have reduced from having to run VMs and Final Cut Pro to just (still) photography editing in the field (Photoshop), writing, and light tasks, I went with:
- Base Model
- 1TB SSD option
- AppleCare+
I know that 16GB of RAM won’t be a problem because 8GB of RAM wasn’t a problem. More concerned about SSD capacity although unless I get back into my former usage I probably would have been fine with just the standard 512GB.
Historically, I just upgrade systems and migrate everything over. This is the first time I’ve ever done a fresh start. Everything Apple went fine and Apple Watch unlocking as well as fingerprint work 100%. However I had problems with about 50% of the non-Apple I wanted to install, mainly due to Apple’s tightened security, Catalina differences (this is the first computer I’m running Catalina on), and the App Store allowing downloads of incompatible software.
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This week I bought the base model of the MacBook Pro 16". 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Same configuration my last MacBook Pro had. I don’t edit sound or video, so this is a fine configuration for me.
I built a new user from scratch instead of using Migration Assistant. I’m glad I did. Got rid of lots of cruft (150GB) from the old machine, and as a result I have much snappier performance in many ways.
It’s a good machine. I like the feeling of typing. Good to have a real ESC key. TouchBar is a little weird, but I’ll configure the weirdness away as time goes on.
I use a laptop heavily every day, so I’ll see how long this lasts before I wear it down – should be a few years, I hope.
The Apple trade-in was excellent – haven’t returned the old machine yet, so I don’t know the final number, but buying this machine feels more like upgrade pricing than replacement cost.
Katie