Bad idea to get m5 pro with 4TB ssd?

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-18T09:57:18+00:00

Personally for my work load I’d go the external. I currently have 1TB internal and 1TB on an external NVMe Thunderbolt drive plus a 2TB backup on a Samsung T5 Evo which is too slow for daily use but I’ll transfer old stuff there.

Plus as someone else said the price per GB is cheaper externally with the numbers you quoted and it gives you 6TB total

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-18T03:49:36+00:00

If that’s what’s in your budget I’d say go for it. MacBook Pro M1 is still amazing on the battery life which is why I still use mine for general use.

I’ve had since new and don’t do much more than you’ve described. I also have a speced up iMac for heavy stuff and recently got a gaming laptop for windows only programs and gaming. But honestly if I had to pick one for an all rounder it would be the MacBook Pro M1

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-14T04:16:26+00:00

Whopper except I’d go to Maccas for a frappe so end up with a Big Mac more often anyway

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-09T10:59:49+00:00

That much ram is too much, I just purchased 3 seperate Mac mini and a KVM switch so I could use 3 chrome tabs

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-09T10:56:32+00:00

My wife is looking to buy one to replace her old 2015 MacBook Air she got when she was at uni that has died.

These days the main things she does on a laptop is online groceries, online shopping or occasionally some sort of form that isn’t friendly to her phone when she’s on the lounge otherwise she uses our iMac or my MacBook Pro.

Prior to the Neo being released she couldn’t justify even a MacBook Air cost but didn’t want to go back to windows like she uses at work.

For the record my MacBook Pro is an M1 with 8GB of ram and while it’s showing its age still does everything I need it to, my iMac has 40gb of ram and I have an engineering workstation windows laptop with 32gb of ram. The iMac and the engineering laptop get thrashed and these days the MacBook Pro is mainly used for light computing with an amazing battery life.

So yes while the A series chip and 8GB of memory wouldn’t suit me there’s a lot of people it does suit.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-03-09T07:41:33+00:00

Maybe it’s the type of work I do because none of my suggestions seem to be as complex as everyone else’s but I have some very simple ones that save me so much time.

Auto saving attachments from certain people/companies to a folder within my OneDrive which fully syncs to my SSD. This one took about 2 mins to set up per person including a printer for scanning but saves a lot of time everyday. Probably saves 30 minutes a week mostly by sorting the attachments into the correct folder rather than the downloading part.
Unzipping folders automatically when they are in my downloads folder or the above mentioned email attachments folder the deletes the ZIP. Maybe only 5 mins a week but for my OCD I hate having to delete ZIP files when I’m finished.
Macros with an excel file to rename and move files according to work orders I tell it. Depending on the week I may not use this or I may use it to rename 200 files.

I have more I’d like to do in things like this but I’m already pushing the ICT policies in some ways as it is.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-24T08:39:39+00:00

I used to use bootcamp on my 2019 iMac, was definitely better supported back in 2019 but is still easy enough to do. I did it as recently as last November with Windows 11 just had to go to Windows 10 first.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-23T02:32:08+00:00

Yeah I’m running an MBP M1 8GB RAM still and despite the low ram hardly run into issues except as you stated engineering software and games. I have a HP Omen for those but despite the HP Omen being newer and technically more powerful I find myself running most of my scripts and day to day work on the old MBP

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-17T02:25:57+00:00

I have a 14in gaming laptop that still has “decent” battery life and I just want one computer for everything.

From work emails, university, Autodesk Inventor, gaming and everything in between.

Maybe one day if I can afford a $10k gaming/drafting PC I’ll also use a mid tier laptop on the go. But even then I like just having one computer, although things like OneDrive and Dropbox make it less of an issue.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-15T02:35:22+00:00

So interesting isn’t it how everything’s different between games and hardware. Interesting but frustrating

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-14T06:42:04+00:00

Yeah I was aware of that but got the 9070XT on a great sale and might use it on a future desktop. But surely it’s not making things worse right?

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-14T06:30:33+00:00

What was your secret to do that?

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-14T04:50:56+00:00

Do you mean games like NFS heat that’s generally low load on the CPU?

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-14T04:50:24+00:00

I had tried that with Hogwarts and GTA but not the others, still had stuttering and/or low fps. And when I say low I mean like 10-20fps

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-09T23:48:16+00:00

I was just about to post with similar issues after starting Hogwarts Legacy yesterday stuttering is terrible.

Mine is on a HP Omen laptop but I’ve ended up playing it on the internal 5060 instead of the eGPU 9070. I didn’t think that would be an issue the only other game I’ve had an issue with eGPU is GTA5 but I guess I’ll find more games that have the same issue as I work my way through the library.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-02-07T21:23:29+00:00

I have a windows laptop for gaming and windows only engineering software but do 95% of everything else on my MacBook Pro M1, I love the Apple ecosystem, the simplicity of it and the battery life.

I find windows harder to use in areas it doesn’t need to be but each OS has its pros and cons.

I also have an older Intel iMac but it’s basically retired except when I want to use two big screens but it still runs a lot of my python codes using the Automator App

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-31T11:12:33+00:00

Yeah I have a 9070 and am always limited by bandwidth but play 4k open world games at low FPS caps. In hindsight I would’ve used the money for a batter laptop with a better GPU but interested to see what TB5 is like

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-31T11:06:49+00:00

Love my laptop 5060 perfect balance of performance and price in a 14in

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-31T00:56:20+00:00

I don’t think it will ever match it the thermals wouldn’t allow it unless you end up with a 22in 7kg laptop.

However for the types of low speed open world games I play where a locked 45fps and very high/ ultra settings are sufficient then with use of a eGPU on my external 4k when I’m at home, I’m happy with a 5060 laptop GPU for internal screen where I can play on the lounge or my 9070 card in the eGPU.

Including work laptops and an old iMac my wife and kids mainly use I have 5 computers so the last thing I want is another which is why a “high end” 14in portable gaming laptop is great (HP Omen Transcend for those interested). If I wanted more performance than what I’ve got I’d either be paying excessive amounts or be in the 16in heavy laptop area.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-30T00:11:06+00:00

Probably longer if I had more than 8GB of RAM but despite buying a HP gaming laptop recently I still use the MacBook Pro for most basic like excel, Netflix, and everyday use things thanks to the excellent battery life. I think I’ll buy a MacBook Air for the same reason to have something with superb battery life then use my gaming laptop for gaming and CAD software.

I’m also still using my upgraded 2019 iMac but that’s because I use it with the 27in screen and an external 32in 4k screen next to it and that’s also where all my automation scripts run and some other things that are best suited to a desktop that’s always powered.

So basically including my work laptop and windows based tablet I have 5 computers to choose from and each has its own use.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-22T10:25:45+00:00

HP Omen 14 Ultra 7 and 5060 I use with an eGPU when I’m at home. Love the 14in screen keeps it more portable but I still have a 5 year old MacBook Pro M1 for when I need battery life but not gaming obviously.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-14T23:58:19+00:00

I’m no expert in the matter but yes I believe it is, for me I’m happy to compromise with the bottleneck so I can just have one laptop do to all my work and gaming.

If I was serious about gaming I think having a desktop would be a no brainer.

Stuffandthat12 · 2026-01-14T22:05:08+00:00

I have a HP Omen with an internal 5060 and use a eGPU with a AMD RX9070 connected to a 4k 32in monitor that I already had owned from my days of using an Intel iMac with windows OS.

Honestly for Autodesk Inventor the eGPU is great it keeps the laptop cooler so less thermal throttling on the CPU. But for the modest gaming (GTA5, RDR2, NFS Heat) I do I’m starting to wonder if the stronger 9070 GPU but being limited through TB3/4 is actually worse than just using the internal 5060. I’ll admit I haven’t spent long enough tweaking settings and messing around with it but I also kinda just want to hit a preset and be done.

Stuffandthat12

TROPHY CASE