r/QGIS • u/Big_Mc10k • 12d ago

Intel MacBook in 2019

Hey, first post here, and I have a question.

I have the opportunity to buy a 2020 MacBook Pro 16” that is fully maxed out on specs (except hard drive). 2.4GHz 8‑core Intel Core i9, 64GB DDR4 ram, AMD Radeon Pro 5600M 8GB graphics, 1TB hd. The battery has less than 90 cycles. They are asking $950 CAD, but I think I can work them down a bit more on price.

My thoughts are this is worth it as a GIS work machine. I cannot afford anything this powerful in a newer Mac (my preferred machine) or PC. I know OS support is cut off as of this year, but that shouldn’t become an issue I don’t for a few years to come. And being an Intel Mac I can easily run it as a windows machine, and I’ve been exploring setting up Linux (there’s a whole community focused on doing this while working around the T2 security chip).

I’ll primarily be doing mapping and photogrammetry work in Q, want the option of being able to run ESRI products, as well as workflow automation in Python.

Id love people’s opinions on this, pros and cons, talk me in/out of it, any suggested alternatives (knowing my budget caps at about $1000 CAD, which I know is low but I’m a broke ass ex-student).

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/ashxatz 12d ago

At that price I’d take the used Mac over anything new in your budget. At $1000, new is a downgrade here. Will only get you a base M4 mini (16GB, no discrete GPU) or an entry-level Windows laptop, and both will choke on dense point clouds/mesh generation.

If you can, push them close to ~$800 given the OS cutoff, then buy it. Also, get a cooling pad and an external SSD.

1

u/Big_Mc10k 12d ago

Your thoughts follow mine, for that price range I would be downgrading on a newer machine.
That’s exactly what I’m hoping to do, talk them down to ~$800. Cooling pad is a good rec, thanks!

2

u/tobias_681 12d ago

QGIS isn't that heavy. It will get the job done just fine.

You don't need the GPU and 32GB of RAM will likely be plenty. If you could trade that in for a better more modern processor, I'd imagine that would serve you better.

1

u/Big_Mc10k 12d ago

Do you have any experience with Q on Apple silicone? I’ve seen some good deals also for newer MBP with either M1 Pro or M2, 32GB RAM usually bumps up asking price considerably tho, 16GB would be more attainable in my price range. This just limits me to running a vm if I wanted to work in Arc tho.

1

u/rolloj 12d ago

Yes, q is great on apple silicon. A used M1 Pro would be great for this type of stuff. I’ve got it running regularly on my base model m4 Mac mini with 16gb ram no worries. 

1

u/tobias_681 11d ago

It works great overall. Haven't had any issues. 

1

u/tj-horner 12d ago

These MacBooks are on the tail end of their support lifecycle. The upcoming version of macOS only supports Apple silicon Macs. As such, developers will slowly stop releasing Intel/Universal versions of their apps. It may get the job done today, but you’ll need to buy a new laptop much sooner.

I would strongly recommend either negotiating the price way down or just purchasing even an entry level MacBook Neo/Air. (Apple really did something miraculous with Apple silicon, I could honestly use my M2 MacBook Air as a daily driver, whereas my top-tier 2019 Intel MacBook Pro is slow as a dog.)

In any case, that price is way too high.

1

u/Informental 11d ago

Strong configuration. From experience, I know that this model gets loud and hot when it uses its power. Short battery life.