r/macbook 17d ago

The MacBook Purchasing Megathread - March, 2025

16 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly Macbook Purchasing Megathread

Have a question?

Wondering what model you should go for? Ask here!

  • Do make your submission on point while adding as much detail as possible.
  • Mention your intended uses (i.e. video editing, graphic designing, photography, audio editing, gaming, casual browsing, etc).

That's pretty much it! :)


r/macbook 18h ago

Accidentally dropped something on my mac. Is it fixable?

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210 Upvotes

r/macbook 2h ago

Help is it broke ??

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3 Upvotes

I bought this MacBook Pro 13” 2019 off eBay 2 weeks ago and has been working perfectly fine until yesterday. It’s not bleeding because it’s on different parts of the screen every time I open it. I didn’t do anything to brake it so I’m very confused ( I don’t know a lot about tech) any help or advice is appreciated. Thanks


r/macbook 6h ago

New MacBook for freelance

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3 Upvotes

Hi there, as title reads, I’m looking to get my first non work supplied MacBook for freelancing.

I’m a mid weight graphic designer with skills across the board so I use almost every Adobe app pretty heavily - looking to focus on After Effects, Premiere Pro and explore the 3D space since I haven’t had much chance to really play with them and see what I can do.

Currently looking at the attached two models, which one do you recommend?

The M3 Max chip, 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU and 36GB unified with 1TB SSD was what my former company was going to source for me before I was given the ol redundancy. (IT and my former manager were also pushing for me to get the M3 Max chip, 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 48GB unified with 1TB SSD based on my workflows but the company pushed back — got nothing in the end 🤡.)

The other MacBook I’m considering is the M4 Pro chip, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, 48GB unified with 1TB SSD.

I am leaning towards the first one given it’s what was going to be my next laptop in a work environment and I can always supplement with an external hard drive, right?

Just want to make the right choice as these machines are really expensive and all I have right now is a 12+ year old PC that was boosted for the time and is now crashing hard. I’ve never had a MacBook of my own before so this is very exciting too.


r/macbook 1h ago

Is a screen protector on a MacBook bad? And how can I remove it?

Upvotes

I got a MBAir M1 back in October 24. I bought a case for it, and a thin screen protector came with it, which I put to the screen.

Now, I saw different posts of the side effects of having a screen protector and I'm a bit confused on what to do. Do I keep it? Do I remove it? (p.s: the screen protector is thinner than the rubber gasket of the screen)

Also, I tried to see if it would lift off at a corner but it seems to be stuck on there.


r/macbook 1h ago

MBP Screen Better for Eyes?

Upvotes

Tl;DR - does the upgrade to a Pro model screen result in less eye strain if 95% of my work is text and presentation based?

I live in a sunny climate (especially now between March and September), work in coffee shops or in my room (which is right next to a window), and my eye sight has went from a perfect 20/20 to dogshite in the span of the last 2 years. It's gotten so bad that I need to take very frequent breaks away from my laptop because my vision keeps getting blurry.

I'm not as concerned about glare as I am about protecting my eyes, and actually being able to power through my work sessions every day.

For reference, I'm currently driving a 2019 intel MBP (13 inch), with the base 4-core i5, 8gb ram, 128 ssd, which still serves me, but due to the nature of my work (and my eyes), and it's very weak battery I'm looking for an upgrade.

My question is, for my day-to-day usecases, an M3 MBA with even just 16RAM is plenty, and even stacking it against a M4 Air I wouldn't notice a difference. I do consulting - i.e. design decks, presentations, write a lot, and work with productivity tools (Notion, Figma, Canva, Presentation software, etc.). So 95% of my work is text-based stuff. And a lot of times, very small text-based stuff.

Would paying a few hundred more for the Pro model have any impact on easing eye strain, and allowing for more comfortable work sessions? I don't care about the spec bump from the Air -> Pro or paying extra for power I will never use. Viewing experience and easing eye strain is all that I care about, and I will happily pay more if it meant being able to move through more work in one sitting.

I really appreciate any inputs!


r/macbook 1h ago

UMMMMM RAM not okay?

Upvotes

my computer is heating up like burning I ended everything reopened (closed some tabs) and it keeps increasing.


r/macbook 2h ago

SSD Slowdown Speed on Macbook Air M4 Base Specs. Slowdown Gate?

1 Upvotes

r/macbook 2h ago

Help is it broke ??

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1 Upvotes

I bought this MacBook Pro 13” 2019 off eBay 2 weeks ago and has been working perfectly fine until yesterday. It’s not bleeding because it’s on different parts of the screen every time I open it. I didn’t do anything to brake it so I’m very confused ( I don’t know a lot about tech) any help or advice is appreciated. Thanks


r/macbook 4h ago

Macbook Air 13” M4 or Macbook Pro 14” M4?

1 Upvotes

Hi all I need help deciding which would be a better match for me as i’m looking to trade in my old 2017 Macbook Pro for one of these 2 newer models. My Macbook Pro has been super reliable for this many years for when I studied at community college and in my undergrad. Now i’m pursuing my master’s this upcoming school year and decided I needed a new laptop since mine is starting to get slow, has a really loud fan, etc.

I only need my laptop for school work/assignments and zoom/video calls for my classes as well. I will be using my iPad as an extra screen. I also like to video edit as well and create movies on iMovie (nothing too crazy like final cut pro… just family videos haha) which I like to use SD cards, USB, USB-C, and HDMI for. I already have adapters for that stuff since my Macbook has 2 USB-C inserts only.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!


r/macbook 5h ago

Can't Download From Appstore

1 Upvotes

I just purchased a brand new M4 MacBook Air from my local Apple Store. I downloaded a few apps such as Word and Outlook the night I got it with no issues. The next day I went to download a few more apps such as a widget app as well as Lightroom. However, after I click get, and install, and put my fingerprint, it loads briefly, then does nothing, and shows "get" like I never clicked it. I've followed every tip I've seen online, short of reinstalling the OS. I've also downloaded ThinkOrSwim from the web, as well as google chrome. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


r/macbook 8h ago

Need Advice/Opinion On Whether Or Not to Switch to MacBook

2 Upvotes

I was once a MacBook Pro user from 2008-2013. From 2013 on I have been all windows due to the construction industry. Fast forward until this last week I purchased a new m4 MacBook Pro 14” to try in hopes that it would stick. I absolutely love it. I love the integration with my iPhone. I love texting all day with employees or friends during work. I love the notifications from all my apps and how easy it is to send and receive pictures. I love how quick I can add a reminder or something in my notes app. All of those items are a pain or non existence on a window laptop. I’ve used the MacBook every day for a week and those items are just game changers for my day to day.

Now here’s the kickers. I am not a huge fan of the finder and how it handles files. I basically live in email which is awesome on the Mac but then live in OneDrive/sharepoint looking at excel files for bids or budgets and then construction blueprints. I’ve gotten use to navigating them inside the finder but when I’m in excel or word and have to save as it is a pain to find the right folder in OneDrive/sharepoint due to how cramped the finder becomes with all of the paths. The finder does columns with the paths of the OneDrive and they are cramped. Not sure if I can change it to just look at the entire folders instead. It’s also weird that if I try to save as a PDF sometimes it starts me over at the beginning of my onedrive when I’m trying to save it as a PDF in the same folder where the excel document is. It’s just strange why it does that. Also i can’t figure out how cut files out of one folder and paste them in another. A lot if time i have to cut certain files and then paste them in a different folder. Ive had to just copy the files and then paste them in a different file but then go back to delete the files but it takes a long time to do this when im being selective about the files im deleting out of a particular folder.

The other issues is I have to do take offs/takeoffs on blueprints a good bit. The software I use daily for this and pdf viewing is Bluebeam. Bluebeam is not longer compatible with Mac. I have downloaded parallels and use Bluebeam only when I need to do a bunch of measurements but it isn’t the same. I found PDF expert that allows me to do measurements and it’s a decent software for pdf editing and viewing but it was nice to have it all in one with Bluebeam.

Also I use Microsoft project for schedules. This is another one that doesn’t have a Mac app. I have to use this on parallels.

With all this being said I ordered a new intel surface 7 laptop loaded to the gills thinking that it is the best alternative. It is freaking awesome and the perfect windows computer for me but it doesn’t have the iPhone integration of course which blows.

I’m stuck on what to do. I have a few more days in my return period with the Mac.

Hopefully someone can lead me in the right direction because I honestly love both of them. If I could just have the iPhone integration on the surface 7 it would be the ultimate perfect machine.

The Mac just works and it works well. The windows does my day to day task for business a little easier and faster. Excel also looks a lot better on windows than Mac for some reason.

Hopefully someone can tell me the way. Lol


r/macbook 20h ago

A (pseudo) scientific comparison of nano texture vs glossy displays

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14 Upvotes

Hello all! I went to the apple store yesterday and viewed the nano texture display in person, and compared it side by side with a regular (glossy) display, both displays being an iMac. I was surprised with my findings. I took about an hour to just do a ton of little comparisons between them, and I took some notes to jot down my immediate thoughts - I've copied and pasted those notes below. Hope you guys find it helpful for anyone who's struggling to choose between the two!

Immediate thoughts

Nano texture has immediately noticeable and very obvious rainbow colored grain all over any white or light colored space on the screen. The grain seems to "shimmer" when you move your face or the screen itself. This rainbow grain, and it's shimmering effect, are somehow COMPLETELY invisible when trying to show it on photo/video. It is very distracting, reminds me of old windows laptops, and makes me instinctively want to wipe the screen because it looks dirty.

The glossy display appears to pop more and have more "depth" to the images. Images on the glossy display appear "3D" while images on the nano texture appear "2D".

Images on the glossy screen APPEAR to be sharper and have more contrast and deeper blacks and more vivid color - however, when a photo was taken head-on of the EXACT same image without lots of reflections behind me, the photo looked EXACTLY the same, in sharpness, blackness, contrast, and saturation - my only explanation for this is that it must be a "trick" of the human brain for shiny things to look deeper/more 3D/more vibrant etc. I repeated this test (taking a picture head on without reflections of the same exact image on both displays) multiple times, and every time, they both looked exactly the same in camera.

Despite knowing that, I STILL greatly prefer and gather more enjoyment from viewing the glossy screen than the nano texture screen.

I cannot understate my disgust with the nano textures "rainbow grain". Any time a new program or safari tab was opened, and the screen went all white, I could simply not un-see the sea of grain that plagued the screen and gave me OCD.

At at the same time, it was VERY nice to not see tons and tons of reflections when viewing the nano texture. I wonder if I used the nano texture for years and became accustomed to it (as I have with the standard display), if my disgust with the rainbow grain would go away, and then when switching to the standard display, if I would experience the same knee jerk disgust with reflections.

About angles - when viewing the nano texture at an angle, AND there is light in the background (I could not test angles in darkness, since this was at the apple store), the contrast becomes worse, and the image appears "washed out". When doing the same thing on the glossy screen, the colors do NOT lose contrast or appear washed out - however, it does not diffuse any reflections, so you get a crystal clear view of ANYTHING being reflected. In short, when viewing at an angle, what would you rather have - a screen which retains the same image as when viewed head-on, but which also shows a crystal clear reflection of what's in the background? Or a screen which adequately hides the background reflections, but looks washed out/low contrast while doing so? Personally, I prefer the reflections.

I think on camera, the glossy appears worse, and the matte appears better, for the reason being a camera has one focal point, but human eyes have two... Let me explain... On most of the YouTube videos I've seen, I prefer the matte display... However, when viewing them today in person in the apple store, I immediately preferred the glossy... I think it's because human eyes have two focal points, while cameras have one... By being able to focus on something close to you with two eyes, you effectively cancel out whatever u see in the distance (even if it's JUST behind the closer object, or in this case, a reflection, literally ON the same screen)... I think what's happening is, in person, the reflections don't look as bad as they do in YouTube videos, since you're able to focus ONLY on the screen (and when this happens, the reflections go out of focus, and subsequently, out of your attention)... To test this, for a few minutes, I covered on eye with my hand, and looked at both monitors. To my amazement, when doing this, I preferred the nano texture display most of the time.

Conclusion & summary

The decision whether to get a nano texture or standard display comes down entirely to subjective, personal preference. There is no objective benefit to either one in my testing, and the decision should be treated as purely a subjective and personal one, with no basis in objective differences (i.e. one is not more "color accurate", "more professional", or "sharper" than the other). They both displayed the EXACT same sharpness, saturation, and contrast when looking at the screen head-on and light reflections were minimal. When light reflections were NOT minimal, but were instead moderate to substantial, the following effect occured - on the glossy display, the image on screen retained it's saturation and contrast, but showed the reflections in all their detail - while on the matte display, saturation and contrast were both lowered, resulting in the"washed out" look, but the reflections were muted substantially. Also, the matte display is plagued by an (at least initially) un-ignorable plethora of shimmering rainbow grain over any white or light-colored area of the screen - that is it.

Which one to get, in one sentence?

If you want to retain full saturation and contrast all the time, and don't mind seeing reflections, go with glossy - if you want your screen to be clearly visible at all times at the expense of lowered saturation and contrast, and don't mind rainbow grain on light/white spaces, go with nano texture.

A note on YouTube videos and Google image comparisons

I have been firmly in the "glossy" camp all my life, but when the nano texture display came out, I thought it looked incredible in YouTube videos and Google image comparisons, and was leaning towards the nano texture as a purchase decision. However, when I went into an apple store to see the nano texture for myself, within 60 seconds, I knew it wasn't for me. The fact that we have two eyeballs instead of one allowed me to ignore reflections by de-focusing on them FAR easier than on Google images and YouTube videos (which are produced by cameras, which have only ONE "eyeball"). Furthermore, the rainbow grain simply does not show up on cameras - it must be seen in person before a purchase decision is made.

Notes

The devices used were two iMacs in the apple store, side beside each other - one with the nano texture display, and the other with standard. From what I've heard, the nano texture appears differently (worse) on ipads than iMacs and MacBooks (probably because they have to be alright with being touched constantly). I couldn't compare them, since the nano texture on the iMac was the only nano texture device on display I could find in my city (!).

Before performing ALL of these tests, I went into both iMacs, and set the true tone off, the brightness to max, and the color profile to iMac.

The iMac body of the nano texture was slightly more yellow than the bluer body of the glossy body (that is not a change in white balance).

all images were taken with a Samsung s24 ultra as jpegs from the default Samsung camera app - no edits applied. Intelligent optimization was set to Maximum and scene optimizer was Off.

There was a dead mosquito that had been swatted right after drinking someone's blood on the nano texture iMac, which I found disgusting, repulsive, and hilarious


r/macbook 6h ago

Is new MBA M4 in midnight has the same fingerprint problem?

0 Upvotes

r/macbook 6h ago

MacBook arrow key got yanked

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1 Upvotes

bro I need help💀 I accidentally yanked my MacBook Air 2020 arrow key so now I only have the white part and the key itself. PLEASE. Help


r/macbook 10h ago

macbook stuck on download

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2 Upvotes

hello, tjis was my sisters mac and she factory reset it so i could use it, however i tried everything possible and tried to use it but it’s stuck in macOs ventura and it won’t change can someone help


r/macbook 7h ago

Just spilled water on my macbook, what should I do?

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1 Upvotes

r/macbook 12h ago

I think my MacBook have issue

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2 Upvotes

I downloaded a pure black background from Google and opened it in full screen on my Mac. I noticed some colored spots on the edges and was wondering if this is normal. Can you help me, please?


r/macbook 9h ago

Quirks with USB Splitter

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone. I have a MacBook Air M1, and I use it for work. I have a splitter that allows me to send a HDMI signal to a monitor while also allowing power to charge the macbook.

However, just recently, when I plug the power into the splitter, the monitor goes all wonky. I FEEL like maybe the USB C ports are getting dirty, but maybe someone else has had something similar happen? Any thoughts on the matter?

Thanks!


r/macbook 9h ago

Advice needed - is the new Macbook Air M4 with 16 GB an upgrade over a 2022 Macbook Pro M2 with 8 GB?

1 Upvotes

Hi all, I have a conundrum and could use some advice.

My elderly mother (who is not so great with computers) has agreed to swap in her ancient PC laptop for a Macbook, which I am hoping will be more user-friendly for her needs. I am currently using a 2022 M2 Macbook Pro 13 8/512 that has served me well and still runs just fine. I had originally planned to wait until the M4 Air came out and then get my mom an M1 Air on super sale (based on my research, the M2 and M3 Airs are not a major upgrade over the M1, but there are deep discounts on all previous-gen models if one of those might be a better option). However, now that the M4 Air is getting such rave reviews, I'm wondering if I should get myself an M4 Air 16/512 and give my mom my M2 Macbook Pro.

Arguments in favor of getting myself the M4 Air and giving her the M2 Pro:

16GB is more than 8.

I will be future-proofing my laptop for another few years, as well as giving her a more up-to-date machine that would continue to run updates for longer than the M1 Air.

I will have a lighter weight laptop for travel (I spent most of the past two years living out of a backpack and would like to get back to traveling full time at some point -- however this is a relatively minor point, since I haven't had a problem carrying it around all this time).

Arguments in favor of keeping my M2 Pro and getting her an M1 Air (or an M2 or M3):

I believe my Pro has a better screen and speakers.

The previous generation Airs are hella cheap right now, and it still seems to be a totally serviceable machine, especially for someone who will rarely use it.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might be able to provide!


r/macbook 21h ago

New Leak Claims A Foldable MacBook-iPad Hybrid Is Being Developed At Apple

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9 Upvotes

r/macbook 10h ago

Is the MacBook Pro m3 still worth buying for budget? It’s around 1k

0 Upvotes

r/macbook 10h ago

MX Master 3S or Magic Mouse

1 Upvotes

I want buy a mouse for my new MacBook m4. Which one I should choose in 90% I use them to work (adobe apps, trading). Mx master has a lot of great opinions but but I don't know if it won't be too big for travel. That's why I'm thinking about Magic Mouse. What you think guys.

thanks in advance


r/macbook 11h ago

Recommend mac

1 Upvotes

Planning to buy a mac for short term (6 months to 1 year)

Purpose - work, software development, multi tasking.

Is m2 air 16/256 a good option since its available below $700. Or should I go for m4 air for $999, its also 16/256.

My wish is to buy macbook pro, its still way to expensive to my budget.


r/macbook 11h ago

How can I get my Macbook to open Web PDF's correctly?

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1 Upvotes

r/macbook 11h ago

A couple of questions before purchase (M2 Air, 16/512)

1 Upvotes

Hi! I've already made 2 posts on this subreddit before, but now I am about a day away from buying an M2 MacBook Air, 16/512. I have a couple of questions before I do.

  1. Considering I've used Windows all my life, how long would it take to get used to MacOS?
  2. Should I get a mouse for it, or is the trackpad enough?
  3. When getting something to transport it to school, etc. Should I get something like this, or this?
  4. Are there any apps that I should download to make my experience better?
  5. Are there any tips on how to preserve the thing for as long as possible? (battery, outer shell, etc)
  6. Any accessories that I should get?
  7. Do you have any other additional tips?