I have a 2012 MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM and under Big Sur it runs very fast, if not faster than ever. It is not normal for the device the get (much) slower after time. Keep in mind, the M1 Air is ~17 months old and it would be worth to wait for the M2 (be it to strike a better M1 deal).īUT I‘m with you in keeping/upgrading devices as long as possible. (Although 8GB unified memory on M1 already offers better performance than 8GB on x86). Regarding your work scenario, I think M1 would completely suffice but perhaps with the 16GB RAM option considering many active programs and browser tabs. faster GPU and encoder/decoder capabilities faster CPU (Single Core and Multi Core) Simply said: all new MacBooks with Apple Silicon (Apple’s own SOCs with integrated RAM, GPU and SSD) have: I'm (obviously) going back-and-forth between upgrading or not.Ĭan someone help me understand the differences in specs between my Macbook, and the current new Macbook options? It seems that the M1 chips are made for my workload. Realistically there aren't that many issues with it, I think that my workload is starting to catch up with my computing power. It's been about seven years and I feel like it's done well for its course. I'm not too concerned about the battery life.īecause I've invested in the long-term maintenance of this Macbook Pro I'm trying to put off upgrading. When I take care of it, applications are responsive but the battery dies pretty quickly (probably two-hour runtime, max). Forget about running games (Minecraft, Portal) on the Macbook anymore. I'm starting to realize this is a bit more than the 'average user' and more often than not the cooling fans blast when I'm working - I'll shut off as many applications as I can but sometimes I need to have them open. I'm actively working on the computer for 10+ hours a day - I run email, music, messages, calendar, multiple browser tabs, Microsoft Office, and more all at once.

My Macbook Pro has run great over the past few years, but I'm starting to see a decline in performance. I've had to replace a few components over the years (the screen and trackpad) along with yearly dust cleanouts and thermal paste replacement over the past two years specifically. I'm currently sporting a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) with a 2.9 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 8GB of RAM.

2015 macbook pro 13 8gb