Advice on New Laptop

[hardusb]

Hope this is the right place to post this as this involves Apple Macbooks.

Im in need of some advice on a new laptop.

Im currently using an old 5th gen i5 Dell inspiron laptop with he following specs:

256gb ssd
8gb ram
i5 cpu

I mostly do web design, photoshop and Corel draw, chrome with 20+ tabs. I dont play games, I dont do video editing. I dont use lightroom or any of the heavy apps.

Currently the Dell laptop is doing ok-ish, some lags and hangs here and there. My other laptop was a Asus Zenbook 14 which was very slow at times, so I upgraded to a dell Xps 13 with 16GB ram and a i7 cpu. The dell also has the fans constantly on while I work.

I dropped the dell and its in for an assessment together with my Asus, the asus the damage report came to R22k, which is not economically feasible to fix, I assume the dell will come to the same.


Im now faced with a choice between the following laptops (Max Budget R25k), I can only buy at Incredible, Makro, Hifi Corp where they take the RCS cards:

I need the USB C charging and light weight. I have all the USBc accessories, adaptors, docks, cables already.

ASUS ZenBook 14 UM425 Ryzen 7 5700U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Storage Laptop - R17999

What I like about this one is the thin and light, usb c charging, able to charge with a normal PD power bank also.
I actually decided on this one, went in to buy it and they were out of stock everywhere, so I take that as a sign that this might not be the best choice.

After watching a bunch of youtube reviews the M1 is still a very good laptop and you dont gain a lot on the M2, especially for what Im doing I dont think the M2 will offer me anything new.

Im looking at the M1 8Gb ram, 512Gb SSD. The 16Gb ram models is just raising the price way too much.

Incredible Connection: R23 999
Apple-designed M1 chip
8-core CPU up to 3.5x faster
Up to eight GPU cores
16-core Neural Engine
8GB of unified memory
Fanless design for silent operation
Next-generation Wi-Fi 6
3 Year Warranty (Upon Registration)

Hifi corp: R23 999

 

[bwana]

After watching a bunch of youtube reviews the M1 is still a very good laptop and you dont gain a lot on the M2, especially for what Im doing I dont think the M2 will offer me anything new.

Im looking at the M1 8Gb ram, 512Gb SSD. The 16Gb ram models is just raising the price way too much.

Incredible Connection: R23 999
Apple-designed M1 chip
8-core CPU up to 3.5x faster
Up to eight GPU cores
16-core Neural Engine
8GB of unified memory
Fanless design for silent operation
Next-generation Wi-Fi 6
3 Year Warranty (Upon Registration)

Hifi corp: R23 999

I'm guessing, because it's not stated, that you're looking at the M1 Macbook Air?

 

[hardusb]

Yes, looking of the base model with just a 512gb ssd upgrade would give me the same performance as the Asus with 16GB ram with all the stuff im doing and if I rather must get the Asus.

 

[bluepoole]

The M1 MBA will meet your needs and it’s a good decision to upgrade to 512Gb.

 

[bwana]

Yes, looking of the base model with just a 512gb ssd upgrade would give me the same performance as the Asus with 16GB ram with all the stuff im doing and if I rather must get the Asus.

If it was me I'd go for the M2 Air, it's got magsafe which in turn frees up a USB-C port. If that's not a concern then the M1 is still a great machine. I have one.

FWIW you can also charge the air from a PD powerbank. I do it all the time.

 

[hardusb]

The macbook air charges @ 30w and up, I Got 2 x 20 000 mAh 100w powerbanks I used with my XPS, so Im sorted with that.

Price is a factor now and the 2 usbc ports are not a problem (1 charging and 1 my external lcd), I got a USBc dock / dongle with PD power passthrough, HDMI, 2 x USB3. I almost never need more than 2 ports anyway, if I do need more ports I got a USB3 7 port hub also.

I was just worried about the laptop starting to hang or freeze when pushing it a bit too hard, I need to be able to run about 20 x chrome tabs, photoshop and CorelDraw at the same time. Photoshop I only do background removals and grouping photos together, my largest PSD is 119MB., corel draw my largest file is 105MB, with that my windows machine sometimes kicks the fans into high gear.

Im hoping that Apple has better management of memory and cpu. The fanless thing is a big plus for me along with being able to sleep the laptop.

 

[RedViking]

Spend a bit more and get the M2.

Although I don't know how anyone can work on a glorified tablet.

I would test drive the Huawei Matebook D16

 

[neoprema]

Spend a bit more and get the M2.

Although I don't know how anyone can work on a glorified tablet.

I would test drive the Huawei Matebook D16

I don't know how anyone can work on a glorified brick trying to rip-off a MacBook

Don't even touch it if its not a Mac! The M2 is the way to go, but the M1 will do what you need just as well.

 

[hardusb]

Spend a bit more and get the M2.

R23999 for the M1 512Gb 8Gb model and R29999 for the M2 version, still have to get the extra warranty also, cant spend on a machine like that without the extended warranty, R6k is smore than a bit. Already stretching my budget from R18k to R24k, cant go higher. if the M1 Air with 8Gb ram and 512GB ssd is not going to work for my needs, im better off staying on my original plan getting the Asus.

I have been watching some youtube videos on this and by that it looks like Ill come just right with the M1, but real world vs that is something else.

 

[hardusb]

I don't know how anyone can work on a glorified brick trying to rip-off a MacBook

Don't even touch it if its not a Mac! The M2 is the way to go, but the M1 will do what you need just as well.

The Matebook looks like a Clone of the Macbook, but too large, I need a small thin and light laptop. Can always sell the macbook again in a year or so when my budget is better and get the M3....

 

[longboy]

Call Wootware. Ask to speak to Rory - Tell him you're an old MyBB member and need a laptop to suit your needs. He'll sort you out in no time, at a reasonable price.

 

[neoprema]

The Matebook looks like a Clone of the Macbook, but too large, I need a small thin and light laptop. Can always sell the macbook again in a year or so when my budget is better and get the M3....

Not looks like - is lol. I mean they even stole the naming convention… MacBook..MateBook
Go and build something yourselves Huawei!

 

[prod]

M2 Air is on sale at Incredible for 23999: https://www.incredible.co.za/apple-...re-cpu-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-8-core-gpu-starlight

Although, it's the 256GB version.

Between that and an M1 with 512GB, I would probably take the M2:

• Better screen (slightly brighter and bigger)
• Better keyboard (although the M1 Air KB is fantastic)
• Better webcam (1080p vs. 720p)
• MagSafe
• Better audio, speakers and headphone support

One downside being that the M2 256GB SSD is actually slower than the M1 256GB SSD.

 

[hardusb]

M2 Air is on sale at Incredible for 23999: https://www.incredible.co.za/apple-...re-cpu-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-8-core-gpu-starlight

Although, it's the 256GB version.

Between that and an M1 with 512GB, I would probably take the M2:

• Better screen (slightly brighter and bigger)
• Better keyboard (although the M1 Air KB is fantastic)
• Better webcam (1080p vs. 720p)
• MagSafe
• Better audio, speakers and headphone support

One downside being that the M2 256GB SSD is actually slower than the M1 256GB SSD.

I will use the laptop 99% indoors, so the extra brightness won't affect me.

Magsafe I am not sure I'll ever use as all my accessories is USBc incl chargers and powerbanks. Unless the magsafe uses a usbc connector on the other side? But then again it's a extra cable I need to carry around, my phone also charges via usbc.

Audio is not a big deal for me, and never use a headphone jack as all my audio is bluetooth. Less wires the better.

My max budget is R25k, at the moment I have 100GB free on my windows laptop's 256gb ssd, just scared I might need more space in the future.

I'm anyway going to wait till black friday or cyber Monday to see if the proces drop more and or they give more benefits.

Incredible is the best option now as they include the extra 2 years warranty on all their macbooks. Other places is more expensive and you need to pay extra for the warranty.

 

[hardusb]

Also note, I havent had a macbook since 2014, I got a fully speced out macbook air that time with a i7, max ram etc. I think I had it like 2 or 3 months before it annoyed me so much as it was slow and sluggish for me.

So the question will still be if it will work for me and if ill get rid of it soon after as you cant install windows natively on it. I saw a video about a guy with the base model M1 running parallels and windows 11 no problems at all.

 

[prod]

Also note, I havent had a macbook since 2014, I got a fully speced out macbook air that time with a i7, max ram etc. I think I had it like 2 or 3 months before it annoyed me so much as it was slow and sluggish for me.

So the question will still be if it will work for me and if ill get rid of it soon after as you cant install windows natively on it. I saw a video about a guy with the base model M1 running parallels and windows 11 no problems at all.

M1 Air will be fine, I used it as a development machine for around a year and the only time it wobbled was when I was running services (that usually go on a server) locally. Seems like Coral draw also has native Apple Silicon versions. Photoshop already supported M series long ago, so your apps are going to be fine.

 

[RedViking]

Also note, I havent had a macbook since 2014, I got a fully speced out macbook air that time with a i7, max ram etc. I think I had it like 2 or 3 months before it annoyed me so much as it was slow and sluggish for me.

So the question will still be if it will work for me and if ill get rid of it soon after as you cant install windows natively on it. I saw a video about a guy with the base model M1 running parallels and windows 11 no problems at all.

Sounds like that Huawei Matebook does not look like such a bad deal after all.

Can you test drive a Mac or Other for 7-14 days?

My previously local Incredible Connection said I can test it and if I am not happy return it for something else.

 

[hardusb]

M1 Air will be fine, I used it as a development machine for around a year and the only time it wobbled was when I was running services (that usually go on a server) locally. Seems like Coral draw also has native Apple Silicon versions. Photoshop already supported M series long ago, so your apps are going to be fine.

Only "Server" kind of apps I might run from time to time will be something like Xampp for some local testing and or parallels later for windows.

Sounds like that Huawei Matebook does not look like such a bad deal after all.

Can you test drive a Mac or Other for 7-14 days?

My previously local Incredible Connection said I can test it and if I am not happy return it for something else.

The Matebook is large and heavy, I like the small size laptops, as little ports as possible and the fanless design of the macbook air.

You can test drive it no problem, but once you opened the box they charge a 15% handling fee if you return it. (R3600)

I have been checking around online and most places is R23999 for the M1 with 512GB, even if I get it cheaper somewhere else, how much cheaper really and incredible is the only one offering the extra extended warranty on the macbooks included. Buying somewhere else I anyway have to pay the extra R2500 for the warranty.

In the past Incredible used to be the most expensive pc shop but they are really competitive these days, probably a new guy at the top.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Also note, I havent had a macbook since 2014, I got a fully speced out macbook air that time with a i7, max ram etc. I think I had it like 2 or 3 months before it annoyed me so much as it was slow and sluggish for me.

So the question will still be if it will work for me and if ill get rid of it soon after as you cant install windows natively on it. I saw a video about a guy with the base model M1 running parallels and windows 11 no problems at all.

The new M1/2 Macbooks are a lot better than the prior Intel based Macbooks imo. I've moved to an M1 Macbook Pro for my work (coming from a 16 core Ryzen desktop) and besides having to get used to the keyboard it's been a rather pleasant experience.

 

[bwana]

One downside being that the M2 256GB SSD is actually slower than the M1 256GB SSD.

Considerably slower it seems.

I'm still very happy with my M1 Air, maybe even more so since I did the thermal mod. My work might be a little more intensive than the OP though.