Is Apple Silicon Really Worth it Compared to Intel?

If you've been looking to upgrade your Mac or are looking for your first Mac, you may have ended up a little confused with all the options available, and you're not the only one.

Back in 2020 Apple shook the market by announcing their own new chip specifically designed for Macs, Apple M1. It marked the beginning of a new era with fresh new designs across all the Mac range, a welcome change if you ask me. It also defined the end of their 15-year partnership with Intel as their designated chip provider in favour of their own Apple Silicon.

M1 introduced an extraordinary jump in performance and efficiency, especially when compared to the final Intel chip that was used in Macs (Intel Core i9-9980HK - MacBook Pro 16" 2019).

By no means is the MacBook Pro 16" 2019 a bad Mac, it is just outshined by the massive jump in performance from that shift in processor.

Looking at some of the major improvements, the M1 chip completely redefined what users can expect from their Mac:

• Performance per watt: The M1 chip delivered much greater speed speed and processing whilst consuming much less power. It could complete the same task much faster than it's Intel counterpart whilst still consuming less power.
  
• Battery Life: Depending on what exactly you were doing, you could sometimes get up to twice the battery life when compared to the Intel models. This meant a full day without a charger was less of a worry.
• Unified Memory Architecture: With the M1 chip unifying the CPU, GPU and RAM on the same chip this brought increased performance and efficiency for general daily use, making everything feel more instant, including waking from sleep.
• Thermal Performance: Due to their improved efficiency, they always run a lot cooler and you will rarely hear the fans spin up during daily tasks, even sometimes during heavy workflows.

So Why Would You Even Consider Buying an Intel Mac if the M-Series Chips Are So Much Better?

Well, there are still quite a few reasons to still buy Intel. At the time of writing, the MacBook Pro 16" 2019 still supports the latest macOS (Tahoe) so you wouldn't miss out on the latest feature release of macOS. This is a major factor for many users who always want to have the latest macOS support on their Mac.

However, just because your Mac doesn't support the latest OS doesn't mean it's a security risk. Apple generally provides additional security for the last 3 releases of macOS. As an example, macOS Venture still receives security updates even though it was released in 2022.

One of the main reasons that some people would choose an Intel Mac over the M-series is that you can get a much higher specification Mac in terms of storage and RAM when compared to the M-series for quite a bit cheaper, and if it's an iMac pre-2020 then you can still upgrade the storage and RAM in those. Since the M-series chips have unified memory architecture, they cannot be upgraded at all. What you see is what you get with no option to expand at a later date.

Another major reason is program compatibility. Some of you might be running a really old piece of software that you bought a while ago or you might have some software that you really like but the developer doesn't update it anymore or there isn't a new version compatible with Apple Silicon. Not all applications will support the new Apple Silicon processors but you still want an upgrade, in which case Intel Macs are still a great shout.

Value for money is generally greater on refurbished Intel Macs. This is true especially for everyday use, if you just want a Mac for some emails, browsing the internet or basic productivity like Word then these are still more than capable.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, whether you take the plunge and go for an M-series Mac or you go for an Intel Mac depends on what you value most. If you are looking for more longevity, efficiency and raw performance then an M-series would be better for you. However, if you are looking for more value and compatibility then Intel will still have plenty of life left.

We're now moving onto M5 and Apple is showing no signs of slowing down so whatever choice you make, you can always jump on the Apple Silicon bandwagon later down the line when the older M-series chips are cheaper.

Remember, we're always here to give you advice but if you're looking at buying a refurbished Mac and can help you decide what might be better for your use case.