13-inch MacBook Pro 2020. At a minimum, you may want to put your MacBook purchase on hold.
This week Apple killed the MacBook until further notice.
Apple expressed it as a “transition” away from Intel, but the net effect is the same: any Intel-based MacBook Pro or MacBook Air you buy from here on out is finally dead in the water.
Here are some simple tips: Don’t buy a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.
People who know a lot about Mac hardware are also offering that advice.
PC World Executive Editor Gordon Mah Ung offered a similar guide this week: “Why Apple’s move from Intel to ARM means we should stop buying Macs”
Like others, including: You shouldn’t buy a new Mac right now (MacWorld).
This is what Ung said.
“There is a practical and real reason why you shouldn’t be spending $ 1,500 or $ 4,500 on a new Mac: You will be abandoned.” —PC World, June 22, 2020
I would offer this as a rough analogy: would you buy a Windows phone? Yes, it will work and run some apps, but it is a dead platform, and good luck getting support. That kind of scenario may be in the not-too-distant future for Intel-based Macs.
I asked PC World Ung about Apple’s transition to its A-series processors.
“I would be concerned that in the long run, even if Apple doesn’t download Intel-based Macs overboard as fast as it did with PowerPC Macs, optimizations won’t flow as fast as it will be a legacy platform,” he told me in an email.
That also bothers me. Apple has little incentive to optimize in the future, meaning less need to ensure that Intel processors run smoothly and efficiently on macOS.
If you were to buy * a 13-inch MacBook Pro 2020 for example there would always be that annoying feeling that a technical issue or overheating or slow performance or faulty software was due to Apple’s lack of support and / or focus.
I could be wrong. But then again, I could be right. That doubt alone kills the deal.
Except for unexpected downsides to the transition from Mac to Apple processors, buying an Intel-based MacBook makes no sense.
“Intel Macs will soon be those curiosities sitting in the corner of the Mac repair shop that turn yellow in the sun with PowerPC macs,” Ung told me.
——
* Until Apple’s announcement, I was planning to purchase the high-end MacBook Pro 13 Core i7 2020 13. I’ll wait for the Mac ARMs.
.
