First time: M4 or M5

Jar-man

Jar-man

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Hi

This could have been asked before but here's my situation.

I've been a Windows fan boy ever since Windows 95. I have an Windows laptop, Windows gaming PC, Rog Ally, Samsung S6 tab (which i hardly ever use), IPad A16 (it's new and I actually prefer it over the tab).

My brother gave me a Macbook Air 11 inch (2012) last week. Which I'm still to use.

I'm a developer, no video editing atm.
I don't need a macbook but I would like one.

Should I go for the M4 512gb (R20k) or M5 512gb (R22k)?

I want something long term, a macbook I can keep for 4/5 years minimum.
 
Spending an extra 10% for a newer CPU is a no-brainer. Why would you when care about the R2000, or do you feel that the M4 is better in some ways than the M5?
 
Cool. I thought someone would vote for the M4 for some reason, if any.

Now comes the soul searching question, need vs want.
 
M5. Pay the extra and get the AI stuff with it.
Look what they did with the iPhone. It's only the iPhone 17 and up that will be able to run all the cool iOS27 AI features.
M5 will give you at a minimum 5 years of solid service.
 
Jar-man said:
Cool. I thought someone would vote for the M4 for some reason, if any.

Now comes the soul searching question, need vs want.
Click to expand...
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Getting away from the crapshow Windows 11 is a necessity at this time and place.
 
I actually want to buy it from Incredible Corruption since it comes with a 3 year warranty and I can use my Discovery miles.
 
You guys might already know.

M5, does not include a charger. So that's an added R1k for a charger.
 
Jar-man said:
You guys might already know.

M5, does not include a charger. So that's an added R1k for a charger.
Click to expand...
It comes with the magsafe cable which you can plug into any USB-C PD adapter.

I haven't even used it yet anyway, been using my phone charger...
 
Jar-man said:
Hi

This could have been asked before but here's my situation.

I've been a Windows fan boy ever since Windows 95. I have an Windows laptop, Windows gaming PC, Rog Ally, Samsung S6 tab (which i hardly ever use), IPad A16 (it's new and I actually prefer it over the tab).

My brother gave me a Macbook Air 11 inch (2012) last week. Which I'm still to use.

I'm a developer, no video editing atm.
I don't need a macbook but I would like one.

Should I go for the M4 512gb (R20k) or M5 512gb (R22k)?

I want something long term, a macbook I can keep for 4/5 years minimum.
Click to expand...
Personally, I wouldn't overthink the M4 vs M5.

For development, RAM is more important than the chip generation. Both the M4 and M5 are incredibly fast, and you'll notice extra RAM long before you notice the difference between those two chips.

Since both options are 16GB/512GB, I'd probably spend the extra R2k on the M5 for the longer lifespan. But if the choice was more RAM on an M4 vs less RAM on an M5, I'd take the extra RAM every time.

Either way, I think you'll be very happy coming from Windows.
 
HumanShield said:
M5. Pay the extra and get the AI stuff with it.
Look what they did with the iPhone. It's only the iPhone 17 and up that will be able to run all the cool iOS27 AI features.
M5 will give you at a minimum 5 years of solid service.
Click to expand...
I'd be a bit careful with the "M5 for AI" thing — the M4 already runs Apple Intelligence and on-device ML totally fine. The M5's faster, but it's not AI vs no-AI.
 
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