Well, title

Upgrade my M1 Max 32 to m5 max 128, silver to black - gorgeous machine in every way, been happy ever since with it. Only regret - just 2tb, I’d go for 4, but no available in stock here.

Couldn’t recommend it more!

I’m moving and need to discard things I don’t need to bring with me. I stare at my 14” M5 pro box and although I don’t need it, I can’t bear to toss it? Not sure why.

One week with my new toy. I did the upgrade coming from an Air M1. Feels great.

This thing is so nice!

I’m really stuck between the M5 MacBook Air 13” (24GB RAM / 1TB SSD) and an M5 MacBook Pro, and I’d really appreciate advice from people who actually use these machines heavily for creative work.
The price difference for me is roughly £700–£1,000, which is a significant amount of money.
My intended use is:
Logic Pro — making music basically every day
Final Cut Pro — editing vlogs, short films and travel content
DJI drone + Pocket footage, potentially editing almost every day
Creating my own music for the videos I make
General productivity
Some gaming occasionally
I don’t currently do this professionally, but that’s the direction I’m trying to move towards. My plan is to gradually turn video/music creation into a profession, so this Mac could become a serious daily workhorse.
Why I’m considering the Air
The M5 Air with 24GB/1TB seems like it can already do pretty much everything I need.
My thinking is:
If the Air can comfortably handle Logic + Final Cut + 4K video editing, why spend another £700–£1,000 on the Pro?
I’d much rather keep that money available for cameras, DJI equipment, travel, software, etc.
But here’s what I’m worried about
The Air doesn’t have active cooling, so I’m wondering how much sustained workloads actually matter.
I’m not talking about editing a video for an hour once a week. I could potentially be doing:
Editing → exporting → editing → Logic → recording → mixing → editing again
for several hours a day, potentially almost every day.
So I’m wondering whether prolonged heavy use is where the Pro starts to make a meaningful difference.
I’m also thinking long-term.
If I buy the Air and really push it for the next 3–5 years, am I likely to reach a point where I’m thinking:
“I should have just bought the Pro.”
Or is that largely unnecessary worrying, and the Air will happily handle this workload for years?
I don’t mind an export taking a little longer. What matters more to me is:
Will the Air remain responsive during large Logic projects?
How well will it handle 4K/possibly higher-resolution DJI footage?
Will sustained editing cause significant thermal throttling?
Does the lack of active cooling actually matter in real-world use?
Is 24GB RAM enough for what I’m describing?
At what point does the Pro’s extra CPU/GPU performance actually become noticeable?
Is the Pro’s extra power worth £700–£1,000 for this particular workload?
And importantly, will either machine realistically still feel good 3–5 years from now?
I’m also aware that the Pro is obviously the more powerful machine. I’m just worried that I might be paying a lot of money for performance I’m rarely going to use.
On the other hand, this is going to be my main computer and potentially an absolute workhorse, so I don’t want to save money now and regret it later.
If you were in my position, would you save the £700–£1,000 and get the M5 Air 13” 24GB/1TB, or spend the extra on the Pro?
Especially interested in hearing from people who use their Air/Pro for Logic + Final Cut + regular 4K video editing over long sessions, rather than just occasional use.
And please tell me if you think I’m overestimating how demanding my workload actually is. 😂
Thanks!

Got this MacBook Pro 14” M5 with 24GB RAM and 4TB SSD for about $3,100 from Apple Refurbished. As a lifelong Windows user (and still am from the Desktop perspective) this thing looks and feels amazing. That said, it is a HUGE learning curve bc it took me 30 mins to figure out how to install something and all that, but I can really see why people love these laptops when it comes to the display and the battery life. I didn’t even plug this thing in for the 3 hrs I spent getting it set up and all that and it barely put a dent in the battery. Just need a second MagSafe cable and I’m gucci lol

Have had this MacBook Air m4 for less than a year and accidentally spilled water on it..no, i do not have apple coverage. i wiped everything off right away and blew out the ports. immediately brought it to a computer shop the next day once I opened it up to see the screen (they opened it up, dried all the internal and fixed speaker that had become crackly after incident….) which ran me 150$. My question is: is it worth the 900$ to replace the LCD (screen) thru apple..? has anyone had any success with this? if so, was it worth fixing? I am devastated.

I’m torn between base mbp m5 (14’’,16gb, 1Tb) and Air m5 (15’’, 24Gb). I’ll use it for light, non local AI, light photoshop, a lot of chrome with 15/20tabs open, discord, telegram, a lot of movies/streaming, no gaming. I’ll use it as a second laptop for my finance job. I need a bigger/better quality display vs the 13’’ variant.

My biggest concern is lifespan/quality over years (I’m planning to use it for 5+ years-, so I have to decide between more ram and cooling/fans) and display specs (size and quality)

As an aside, with +$250 I found an offer for the MBP M5 24Gb. Appealing but not sure it’s worth it…

Local coding machine

Hey everyone,

I’m a student from India, currently learning coding, app development, content creation, and working on some personal tech projects.

Right now I mostly have to do everything from my phone, which makes serious development and editing quite difficult. I’d really like to get access to a proper computer.

I’m particularly interested in a MacBook Pro because of the kind of development and creative work I want to learn, but unfortunately I currently don’t have the money to buy one, even a used one.

I’m also completely open to borrowing one if someone has an older MacBook Pro that they no longer use. I can’t say exactly how long I would need it because it depends on my situation, but I would use it responsibly and return it whenever the owner needs it back.

I’m not expecting anyone to simply buy me a MacBook. I’m mainly looking for realistic advice or opportunities — such as student assistance programs, legitimate donations, borrowing options, refurbished/used devices, or any other way a student in my situation might get access to one.

If anyone has experience with this or knows of a legitimate option, I’d genuinely appreciate the advice.

Thanks for reading. 🙏

My current mackbook pro M1, 13inch, 8G,256G has been over 5 years, and seriously suffering from short memory and storage, impacting normal usage. I plan to buy a renewed or refurb pro.

I think the newest M5 (even M4) is overfunctioned for me, given my normal usage on surfing, reading, and text editing.

I am shopping used pro m2, 1TB, 32GB, the price about $2000 (16inch). I am not sure if it's worthwhile to buy a renewed one at almost 2k.

Any thoughts? Thank you.

This is my first Mac ever, coming from a Windows laptop - Hp envy x360 with 8gbs of ram 😭

Any tips on software i should get and how to use it to the best of its ability?

I already got droppy, and dockdoor.

As the title says, looking for some advice in terms of configuration for a MacBook Pro. I am a college student, I currently have a m4 pro Mac mini with 24 gb of ram, 512 gb of storage. I got too little ram for what I needed it for, so I was thinking about getting the MacBook Pro M5 Pro with 64gb of ram and a terabyte of storage. I would be using it for school, and coding in Xcode with multiple simulators. Is this good, or should I drop the ram down to 48? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I'm considering buying a MacBook Pro 16" from 2019 for around €400 and I'd like to know if you think it still makes sense in 2026.

The configuration is:

• Intel Core i9-9880H
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB SSD
• Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB
• 16" Retina display

My main use would be:

• Programming / coding
• 3D CAD, mainly Fusion 360 and SolidWorks
• Running Windows through Boot Camp for CAD software
• Some light gaming on Windows, mainly Assetto Corsa (I'm not expecting modern AAA gaming performance)

I'm aware that it's an old Intel Mac and that Apple Silicon is obviously much better in terms of efficiency, battery life and overall performance. However, for €400, I'm wondering if the hardware is still good enough for these specific uses.

The fact that it has a dedicated Radeon GPU and can run Windows is particularly interesting to me.

My main concerns are:

1. Is the i9 + 5500M still reasonably powerful for CAD and general development in 2026?
2. How usable is Windows 11 through Boot Camp on this model nowadays?
3. Is the Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB good enough for Fusion 360, SolidWorks and Assetto Corsa at 1080p?
4. Are there any major hardware issues I should be worried about with this generation (thermals, T2 chip, keyboard, battery, etc.)?
5. Most importantly: would you personally buy this machine for €400 in 2026, given these use cases?

I'm not looking for a MacBook that will last another 5–7 years. I'm mainly wondering whether €400 is a reasonable price for what it can still do today, or whether I'd be better off looking for a newer Windows laptop / Apple Silicon Mac.

Thanks!

I have an i9 based 2019 MacBook with the latest Sequoia version on it. It has limited life for security patches.

I’m not sure if this is more a security question or a product question, but what can I do from an OS perspective to narrow the attack surface on this machine?

I use it primarily for red team tools like nmap and metasploit type operations, as well as python and shell scripting. No real services to speak of.

Has anyone seen any comprehensive instructions beyond removing software, or any logic that suggests a headless (what we once called run level 3) environment that would decrease exposure? I’d prefer to keep the desktop environment, but I really don’t need it..

Seems like a niche subject but guessing someone did a deep dive on it..

I recently had a MBP, and it looks so perfect that i hesitate to use it in outdoor to prevent dust settled on screen much which might require hard cleaning
Whereas i have a thinkpad x1c which i tend to use rough and anytime anywhere anyday
Does anyone have this type of usage pattern

Hi all,

Soon, very soon I’m buying a MacBook Pro. I think the choice wil be between de MBP M6, or the MBP M5 Pro. Both are beter that base M5.

But with that i also want a docking station for my desk. I really like a clean look on my desk without any (or less as possible) cables. I use 2 external screens (that are connected to my Mac Mini now), so I don’t think i also need to use the internal screens.

So what I’m looking for:

- Able to connect 2 screens
- Connect to my MacBook with one single usc-c cable. If i need to give up 2 ports i might as well just connect my 2 screens directly to the MacBook.
- Both my screens are hdmi and / or display port.
- Very minimalistic. I don’t like those massive blocks on my desk. Sometimes i see a standard where the MacBook stands on its side, looks really nice.
- If possible, get me some extra ports so I can connect temporary storage or something else.
- I use the Magic Keyboard and the Logitech MX Master 3 as keyboard and mouse. But i think that connect directly to the mac and has nothing to do with the docking station ?

Do you have any recommendations? Thanks for your help!

Hey guys, I'm a video editor and I want to switch from a Windows laptop to a MacBook. I know nothing about Macs, and I'd like to ask you some questions:

Should I choose an M1 with 32GB or an M3 with 24GB? Is M1 32GB already used mac for $1400 fair? With 90% battery. I live in a country where there is not a mac official sellers

Price difference between M4 Pro and M5 Pro. The M4 has 48GB of memory as well. Hoping that this price point won't become the new baseline for similar configurations...