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Comment by spaceman_2020 | Hacker News Reader

spaceman_2020

I’m in the market for a new Macbook. Should I get the M2 instead of the M3? The base M2 had 16GB RAM

I replaced an M1 Pro with an M2 Air and have had nothing but improvements in my daily computing. Juggling Xcode, terminal tools, web browsers, Slack, Discord, music/podcasts, video streaming, video CALLS, all the background sync, email, VS Code, occasionally photoshop for flavor. It just doesn't slow down, at all, at any point.

The M series SOCs are just fucking absurd. In every space besides gaming and graphics, they utterly lap PC's. I don't even remember the last time my Macbook wasn't charged enough to use, and I use it away from my desk quite a lot. Moving from my office PC to a Macbook has felt like being flung 6 years into the future.

Same here. Turned in my 14" MBP M1 for a M2 15" MB-Air (1TB NVMe, 24G RAM). Lightweight, fast, excellent 15" screen. Hands down the best laptop I have ever had (and I have a stack of MBP boxes in my closet from the past 10yrs).

The base M3 MBP isn't a true MBP. It's to replace the 13" MBP w/ touchbar, which was always a lower-end black sheep of the MBP family. Now that they've removed the touchbar, they've consolidated it into the regular MBP lineup, but it remains crippled.

If you were considering a 14" or 16" M2 Pro MBP, the equivalent M3 Pro MBP would not be the base model, and WOULD be an upgrade... just avoid the base M3 (non-Pro) config.

If you were considering the M2 MBP w/ touch bar, then the base M3 MBP is the equivalent chip.

On the other hand, if you don't need the GPU improvements, or the mild CPU speed bump, that M3 gives and you can find an M2 Pro cheaper because they're "old", go for that.

edit: Adding "Pro" to M2 and M3 to indicate which were the proper MBPs.

Yeah the base model MacBook Pro being gimped goes back even further than the recently discontinued Touch Bar pro.

When said Touch Bar pro was the top of the line, the cheapest pro was the one without a Touch Bar, missing half of the USB C ports, basically a MacBook Air in a pro shell.

I’ve never understood why they do this but it must sell well in some markets or something.

What is your current computer? I still have my M1 Pro and it does everything I need it to right now.

Currently have a desktop as my primary device with an AMD Ryzen 5600x. Never felt that I was pushing that system. Had a Macbook Air 2019 that was starting to feel sluggish.

Desktop was fine since I was working from home the last 2 years. But I’ve finally got an office and also need to travel so need something more portable

Will be switching over from Ubuntu to Mac as well

I've seen reviews of the M2 and M3 chips, they're not too much better than the M1 it seems, even MKBHD on YouTube concluded the same and stuck with his M1, so that's what I'd recommend as well. If you're looking for deals, /r/appleswap has some good ones.

Just one more subjective datapoint from someone who previously upgraded every 1-2 generations on Intel or AMD mobile platforms and really likes to have the shiny new stuff ("It's TWENTY % faster!"): I have absolutely no need nor desire to upgrade my M1 Pro (using it for web development). If the difference in performance could be felt at all, it definitely wouldn't be worth the price, and other upgrades are basically non-existent. I wholeheartedly recommend finding a well-kept M1 Pro or at least a discounted M2 Pro.

> I’m in the market for a new Macbook. Should I get the M2 instead of the M3?

Yes, especially if you were considering a low-end M3 model. Also consider a MacBook Air, which are great.

The MBP has a very nice screen including HDR, if you care about that. M2 vs M3 - no idea. I have a M1 and it's great.

Yes. A discounted M2 with 16 (or 32) GB is a much better value than a new M3.

Honestly hold off until next year if you can or when they announce the M4. Otherwise probably get whatever you can afford to upgrade the RAM.

Or just wait until the year after for the M5.

Point being the jump from intel to M1 was much bigger than the jump from M1 to M3.

We don't know what they're upgrading from, they could have an M1 already. If they do have an Intel machine, then yes, they should ideally buy an M1 rather than spending more for M2 or M3 which don't really seem to be that large of a jump but for a proportionally higher cost.

I hear that the M6 is likely to be the most powerful chip they’ve ever produced.

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