I have a 2014 MBP that cost nearly $3k back then. You can barely browse the web without the heat and sound of a jet engine. I'd take an M1 MBA any day. But since Intel Macs are supposedly in such high demand, I'll sell it to you for $300.
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Let's talk about Intel MacBook Pro and buying them in 2025
- Thread starter Aoligei
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You might want to do some clean installation on MacOS and cleaning inside of your computer.
I don't think Intel Macs are a good buy at this point unless you have a very specific need for both Intel hardware and MacOS (which are pretty rare).
I think they would still be great, however, for people who want a premium feeling Linux machine.
For most people though, whatever spec of M series Mac you can afford would almost certainly be a better use of money than an equivalently priced Intel-based one.
I think they would still be great, however, for people who want a premium feeling Linux machine.
For most people though, whatever spec of M series Mac you can afford would almost certainly be a better use of money than an equivalently priced Intel-based one.
In answer to your questions
1) Only if your Intel machine is incapable of running Tahoe, which will get you to the end of 2028 before Security Updates dry up. My 2015 is running Sequoia via OCLP and I plan to use until the Security updates run out in 2027.
2) You should not purchase an Intel MacBook Pros unless you have a specific use case for needing one. Apple Silicon is fast, economical and the way of the future, period. Intel gets you dual boot Windows or Linux if you really need it or want to learn either. Intel Macs are relatively cheap now, so a later model one running Sequoia or Tahoe might be a decent investment if the ROI for 2-3 years makes sense.
OCLP is a great way to extended the life of an older Intel Mac, but by 2028 people should be seriously considering their path to Apple Silicon.
As of last year Apple was still producing and selling M1 MacBook Airs so it is unlikely that next year will be its last year of updates.
My brother in law had a fully spec'd 2019 i9 MacBook Pro. He has always maintained AppleCare on it. It has had a few problems that AC took care of over the years.
Few weeks ago it stopped booting altogether. It was determined that the logic board failed. This is anecdotal but I've heard from various sources that the logic board on the 2019's have a higher rate of failure than other MacBook Pros.
Apple does not replace those boards anymore.
They offered him a fully spec'd CPU, GPU, Ram 16" MacBook Pro M4 Max, with base storage at no cost. He happily took it.
Attention Intel Mac shoppers: Walmart’s M1 MacBook is now available for $599.00.
My 2019 i5 iMac still going strong. Fans sometimes kick when I use Topaz Labs with batch edit photos for denoising. Otherwise it’s running just fine - reluctant to jinx it and upgrade the OS.
If I was creating content for pay I’d upgrade. For now it will run for a few more years at least.
If I was creating content for pay I’d upgrade. For now it will run for a few more years at least.
Apple sold Apple Watch 3 was discontinued only few months before Apple dropped from WatchOS 9.
Apple has not sold M1 MacBook Air since 2022. Walmart selling M1 MacBook Air doesn’t mean it will get more software support.
yeah figured you would go there... but how about a 2019 intel? 2018? or are you now saying its only a 2020 intel people should be considering? and a year is not meaningless but okay regardless of how long something is supported on paper, you would be a liar if you said an the last intel is anywhere close to a M1. and define 'way less' than $500 which is the price of a M1 MacBook Pro with a warranty... because at some point way less of not a lot, just doesn't mean much.
If you didn't want different ideas you probably shouldn't have started a forum topic, or at least had said we all had to agree with you.
To be clear, M1 MBP are M1 Pro/Max SoC. The M1 MBA might be might be dropped from latest macOS support, but the M1 MBP are ludicrously capable machines and to drop them in even in 2027/28 would truly be planned obsolescence, especially since the hardware design is essentially identical to the M4 MBP. For Apple to drop support for hardware because of Apple Intelligence is beyond lame.
yeah figured you would go there... but how about a 2019 intel? 2018? or are you now saying its only a 2020 intel people should be considering? and a year is not meaningless but okay regardless of how long something is supported on paper, you would be a liar if you said an the last intel is anywhere close to a M1. and define 'way less' than $500 which is the price of a M1 MacBook Pro with a warranty... because at some point way less of not a lot, just doesn't mean much.
If you didn't want different ideas you probably shouldn't have started a forum topic, or at least had said we all had to agree with you.
Nope, it is gonna be depends on price.
I pulled out 2019 MacBook Pro 16 inch, base configuration. Geekbench is
M1 MacBook Air
For your reference, the 16" MacBook Pro I got under $500USD.
M1 benchmarks better than this Core i7 MacBook Pro, about 56% higher benchmarks. But I get a 16" laptop, double the RAM, double the storage. So in my book, it is well worth it.
Here is 2017 MacBook Pro with Core i7,
Again, M1 MacBook Air is lot faster, more than two times faster. It is more than two times faster and 66% of the price. but consider I am getting a 15 inch screen, double storage etc.. and if I am looking for 15 inch laptop, I am looking at M2 Air... The cheapest on eBay is no less than $620 (with 82% battery health). For an excellent condition M2 MacBook Air, 16GB+ 500GB, you are not looking under $720.
Also keep in mind, if people are living oversee, like me.. The M2 MacBook is well over $1000CAD and shipping cost is more around $200, plus import duty. The cost might well over $1200. Locally, I couldn't find anything under $1000CAD either.
Here is the screenshot for 2019 MacBook Pro, Intel Core i5, 8GB and 128GB SSD. This is about $290USD, which I brought last October 2024.
Yes. M1 MacBook Air would be better deal, if you can purchase for $500USD. And I agree if you can buy M1 MacBook Air and you trust the seller enough, you should absolutely buy M1 MacBook Air.
But it still doesn't mean $290 2019 Intel MacBook Pro isn't worth the money. It can be very good Windows or Linux Machine while experiencing macOS. It could be a good computer for kids or for my parents.
P.S. I bet you can't do this easily on M1 MacBook Air
Connecting more than 1 external display.
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If you’re a collector, buy an Intel MacBook, one of the „good” years.
If you want or need a cheap laptop, and are prepared to upgrade it, yes.
If you’re prepared to put up and find ways around certain quirks ( e.g. streaming video not working correctly on Safari, even when running OCLP, the yes.
It’s becoming a case of diminishing returns on MacBooka though, even two or three years ago you had less compatibility issues, the gap is widening between “old intel” and “new M chip” Macs in terms of “It just works”. But that’s absolutely not a reason to say “no”, just be aware there can be issues and do research.
From my experience, destops are a better bet, the best overall “old intel” macs to buy, in terms of upgradibility and adaptability for repurposing in 2025 are Mac Minis 2012 - 2014 ( the 2011s with AMD dGPUs are to be avoided because the GPU dies), Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 (but they are very power hungry, so no good for 24/7 servers), and MBP 2012 and 2015.
Intel MacBook Pros from 2016 onwards might be a bargain, but’s there’s an awful lot that can and do go wrong with them, and they are far more difficult to repair. Same goes with the 12” MacBook. You might be lucky but you might be unlucky.
Avoid the 2014 MAC mini with the i3 with only 4gigs of RAM.But the 16gb andeven the 8gb are good. The 2014s have soldered on memory, but they have one SATA bay and can also take a standard NVMe (with an adaptor) and have very low power consumption.
Almost all components from mac minis 2010 - 2014 can be „mixed and matched’ which is a huge plus if you’re looking for parts.
Quad-core 2012 mac minis are golden. 2 sata bays and slotted RAM.
imacs are tricky because they’re cheap but often have screen issues of one sort or another, or they are too old to run more up to date versioms of macOS smoothly.
2018 mac minis should be good except that second-hand price is still too close to the price of a second-hand M1 Mac mini. They’ll be a good buy when the price drops - soldered on storage but slotted RAM and USB-C ports(3.2) - so decent speeds on external storage.
Low End Mac on Facebook is your friend. iFixit is your friend. OCLP is your friend. There are some lemons out there, so do research before you buy.
Ultimately , Intel Macs are very cheap. You just have to put the work in with them, and accept that they are hotter and slower than AS.
If you want or need a cheap laptop, and are prepared to upgrade it, yes.
If you’re prepared to put up and find ways around certain quirks ( e.g. streaming video not working correctly on Safari, even when running OCLP, the yes.
It’s becoming a case of diminishing returns on MacBooka though, even two or three years ago you had less compatibility issues, the gap is widening between “old intel” and “new M chip” Macs in terms of “It just works”. But that’s absolutely not a reason to say “no”, just be aware there can be issues and do research.
From my experience, destops are a better bet, the best overall “old intel” macs to buy, in terms of upgradibility and adaptability for repurposing in 2025 are Mac Minis 2012 - 2014 ( the 2011s with AMD dGPUs are to be avoided because the GPU dies), Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 (but they are very power hungry, so no good for 24/7 servers), and MBP 2012 and 2015.
Intel MacBook Pros from 2016 onwards might be a bargain, but’s there’s an awful lot that can and do go wrong with them, and they are far more difficult to repair. Same goes with the 12” MacBook. You might be lucky but you might be unlucky.
Avoid the 2014 MAC mini with the i3 with only 4gigs of RAM.But the 16gb andeven the 8gb are good. The 2014s have soldered on memory, but they have one SATA bay and can also take a standard NVMe (with an adaptor) and have very low power consumption.
Almost all components from mac minis 2010 - 2014 can be „mixed and matched’ which is a huge plus if you’re looking for parts.
Quad-core 2012 mac minis are golden. 2 sata bays and slotted RAM.
imacs are tricky because they’re cheap but often have screen issues of one sort or another, or they are too old to run more up to date versioms of macOS smoothly.
2018 mac minis should be good except that second-hand price is still too close to the price of a second-hand M1 Mac mini. They’ll be a good buy when the price drops - soldered on storage but slotted RAM and USB-C ports(3.2) - so decent speeds on external storage.
Low End Mac on Facebook is your friend. iFixit is your friend. OCLP is your friend. There are some lemons out there, so do research before you buy.
Ultimately , Intel Macs are very cheap. You just have to put the work in with them, and accept that they are hotter and slower than AS.
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M1 MBP is certainly very nice and powerful. The reason that I went for 16" Intel MacBook Pro is due to price. I couldn't find anything less than $1000CAD, shipping is around $220CAD. Not considering import duty, it is already well over $1200CAD..
For little over $650, I think it is a good deal. It gonna support all the way until 2028, so I think I am good for other 3 years.
The 2014 MBP is probably my favorite retina model. Great keyboard, last MBP with Nvidia GPU, real trackpad click not haptic, and runs Linux very well. If the screen were a bit brighter and it supported TB3 and 32GB memory I would still be using it today. Never encountered fans on while browsing but I did reapply thermal paste and cleaned out dust a few times before selling it in 2019.
I passed the 2014 MacBook Pro as a Windows machine for my dad, as the old Lenovo from 2009 (which I passed down to him as well) is no long working. Upgraded the storage to $500GB, did clean installation of Windows 10. He use it for his CAD staff..
Maybe for his Mac. But it doesn’t work for every Intel Mac. I have a 2019 16 inch MacBook Pro with an i9 chip, 64 GB RAM, AMD 5600M 8 GB and 2TB. It was the highest end model back then. I’m still at 200 battery cycles because this is not my main machine for work, my Mac Pro is.
I value Intel chips only for running a specific program on windows using parallels and I love the Touch Bar. But I otherwise hate my MacBook Pro. It is clean and I always do a fresh install. But the thermal constraints of the laptop can’t beat the laws of physics. It sounds like a jet engine taking off even when I’m not running the most demanding tasks. Battery life also sucks. The 2019 Mac Pro on the other hand I will keep for another decade. It’s still user upgradeable, and barely makes any noise. I’m probably getting the next MacBook Pro with M6 and a redesign (hoping Touch Bar will be a user upgrade option, I’d pay for it). Until then I’m continue to use this Intel MacBook Pro but I hate it every time I use it.
Walmart has the M1 MacBook Air for $599 brand new with Apple warranty and APP+ available. Yeah it’s a few years old but it’s CHEAP and gonna last much longer with much better performance than an Intel Mac. Shoot even the current gen M4 MBAir is only $849 on Amazon https://amzn.to/4nMAEF3 I remember when the least expensive iBook G4 was $999 TWENTY YEARS AGO! Compare how much more expensive everything is these days (what happened to the $1 menu at McD’s?!) and these brand new Macs today are an incredible value. Spending anything on an Intel Mac today is just crazy to me.
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Thank you for bring back this topic.
I'm thinking about buying a Macbook and I'm not totally sure which one should I buy:
- Macbook Pro 2019 16" with at least 32GB of RAM and if possible, a Radeon. You can find them for about $350-$400 in ebay.
- Macbook Air M1 with 16GB of RAM and at least 512GB. I was checking today on ebay and it looks like you can get one for $450-$500.
- Macbook Pro M1 with 16GB and 512GB. Just looked for one of these ones and it sells for about $500-$550. Looks like a better deal over the Air
After this post it's clear which one is just better. I was thinking about the possibility of use Windows in the Macbook to play some games but I just thought that I have already a Series S and some portable consoles and also, battery life is a priority in a higher level than Windows... And also the performance should be much better (no fan is a plus)
Do you think that a M1 for $450-$500 worth?
I'm thinking about buying a Macbook and I'm not totally sure which one should I buy:
- Macbook Pro 2019 16" with at least 32GB of RAM and if possible, a Radeon. You can find them for about $350-$400 in ebay.
- Macbook Air M1 with 16GB of RAM and at least 512GB. I was checking today on ebay and it looks like you can get one for $450-$500.
- Macbook Pro M1 with 16GB and 512GB. Just looked for one of these ones and it sells for about $500-$550. Looks like a better deal over the Air
After this post it's clear which one is just better. I was thinking about the possibility of use Windows in the Macbook to play some games but I just thought that I have already a Series S and some portable consoles and also, battery life is a priority in a higher level than Windows... And also the performance should be much better (no fan is a plus)
Do you think that a M1 for $450-$500 worth?
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Ask yourself, would you want 16" display or not? Would you need 32GB of RAM? Would you think you gonna run anything other than macOS natively?
If you have a PC set aside, then you probably should buy M1 MacBook Air. If the price difference is minimal. M1 MacBook Air is 13", you would run ARM version of Windows under virtual machine. But you get faster devices, unless you opt for Core i9 version, potential better battery life (depends on battery health).
But if you do want 16" screen, you do need 32GB RAM, you do need Windows for gaming, then I think the answer is clear. 16" M1 MacBook Pro would be way over $500, unless you are willing to shell out lot more.
Yes, these are good deals. If base level is okay for you. Otherwise, you are looking to pay a lot more.
Problem with $599 MacBook Air M1 is the base storage and RAM configuration. 8+256 probably isn't suitable for long term usages. And you probably can't get higher spec'd MacBook Air M1 brand-new.
If you looking at the M4 MacBook Air, double the storage, means you are adding $200 more. So in theory, if you are getting 13" MacBook Air with 512GB storage, you are into $1200USD, not including taxes. If you going for 15" base MacBook Air with 512GB upgrade, you are looking into $1400USD.
But you could in theory, get 2019 MacBook Pro 15" with 16GB + 512GB for far less.
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Intel Mac is useful if your software set demands x86 and can ONLY be found on a Mac, as well as you can’t depart from using such software for a variety of reasons. As for the price, however you see fit. If a machine that you pay $500 can get your job done much less pain, then it’s worth it.
I personally don’t have software that I must have but can only be found on a Mac and it is not possible to run said software under Rosetta 2. That set of software very likely will be very niche, but maybe it exists.
If it is for nostalgia then whatever. I just use a dedicated windows machine for all windows needs, and designate windows tasks and Mac tasks on each machine while trying to find barely enough overlap that I’m comfortable with. I can’t replace one machine with another ever, but thankfully I’m not in dire need of an Intel Mac.
I personally don’t have software that I must have but can only be found on a Mac and it is not possible to run said software under Rosetta 2. That set of software very likely will be very niche, but maybe it exists.
If it is for nostalgia then whatever. I just use a dedicated windows machine for all windows needs, and designate windows tasks and Mac tasks on each machine while trying to find barely enough overlap that I’m comfortable with. I can’t replace one machine with another ever, but thankfully I’m not in dire need of an Intel Mac.
I upgraded last year to a M3pro MBP, from a 2020 MBP, and I um'd and ah'd for ages, thinking my Intel MBP, which was spec'd to the max, wouldn't be too slow compared to M3. I was so wrong, the difference was light and day (to me). I use FCP, and do a little bit of coding study.
A friend was away with work for a few weeks, so he lent me his MBP M2, and within a few days, I was online, buying an M3pro.
1 year later, still loving it, and playing with the Tahoe beta on an external SSD, seems even faster.
That's a little harsh. We all start our computing journey somewhere, and Intel is still 95% of the current market.
A friend was away with work for a few weeks, so he lent me his MBP M2, and within a few days, I was online, buying an M3pro.
1 year later, still loving it, and playing with the Tahoe beta on an external SSD, seems even faster.
That's a little harsh. We all start our computing journey somewhere, and Intel is still 95% of the current market.