14" Apple MacBook Pro: 3024x1964 120Hz, M5 10-Core Chip, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

a_land

Mar 17, 2026 7:45 PM

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a_landMar 17, 2026 7:45 PM

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what's the best way to maximize trade value? I have a M1 Pro I wanna trade up for

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Dr.W

Original Poster

Pro

Mar 17, 2026 7:50 PM

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Dr.W

Original Poster

Pro

Mar 17, 2026 7:50 PM

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Quote from a_land

:

what's the best way to maximize trade value? I have a M1 Pro I wanna trade up for

Depends on how much you're willing to spend. An M3 pro would be the best choice and overall better bang for buck. It's much cheaper than the M4 Pro and M5 Pro, without being noticeably behind. If you don't mind refurbs, you can easily find some in excellent condition for $950-$1100.

Last edited by Dr.W March 17, 2026 at 12:55 PM.

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euuser26577908

Mar 17, 2026 8:06 PM

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euuser26577908Mar 17, 2026 8:06 PM

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Quote from Dr.W

:

Depends on how much you're willing to spend. An M3 pro would be the best choice and overall better bang for buck. It's much cheaper than the M4 Pro and M5 Pro, without being noticeably behind. If you don't mind refurbs, you can easily find some in excellent condition for $950-$1100.

They're asking the best way to get the most money for their current Mac

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sqa4life

Mar 17, 2026 8:45 PM

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sqa4lifeMar 17, 2026 8:45 PM

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Macbook Air 15 is 1199 student discount from apple. Is it worth 200 bucks to move up to this pro?

1

Dr.W

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Mar 17, 2026 8:47 PM

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Dr.W

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Mar 17, 2026 8:47 PM

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Quote from sqa4life

:

Macbook Air 15 is 1199 student discount from apple. Is it worth 200 bucks to move up to this pro?

Yes, for just $200 more (which is low for an Apple spec upgrade), it sure is. You get a better display, better speakers, slightly better keyboard, and better battery life.

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specialistgraner

Mar 17, 2026 9:10 PM

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specialistgranerMar 17, 2026 9:10 PM

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Quote from a_land

:

what's the best way to maximize trade value? I have a M1 Pro I wanna trade up for

Uh, what do you even use the machine for? Odds are you're not likely gaining anything but a marginal upgrade if you're just using it for typical computer stuff like Web browsing and media consumption, school and office work, light creative work, communication and coding. Sure you get Bluetooth 6 Wifi 7 and Thunderbolt 5 which almost nobody is going to notice a perceptible difference. It's the same chassis and display; only difference is the chip. The brightness is software controlled and Apple increased the nits in the iterations of the various models. You can change the nits on an older model using third party tools: https://www.getvivid.app The only thing they changed on the display panel itself is they upgraded from a red KSF phosphor film to a cadmium-free quantum dot film and I literally can't tell any difference; seems negligible to me.
If anything I would wait until M6 releases at the end of the year when they do a chassis-refresh, OLED panel and rumored touchscreen if you want to blow a bunch of money on a new Macbook.
Despite being 4 years and 4 months old, if you extrapolate from Apple's history with Intel macOS support it's getting at least 3 more major releases of macOS updates with the last one likely landing late 2028 and 2-3 years of security updates following that so it lasts 4-5 years easily.
If you want to "maximize trade-in value" then just sell it privately on Facebook Marketplace/Offerup/Craigslist but I think you're only gonna gain $100 more by doing that.

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jwong

Mar 17, 2026 9:26 PM

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jwongMar 17, 2026 9:26 PM

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Quote from sqa4life

:

Macbook Air 15 is 1199 student discount from apple. Is it worth 200 bucks to move up to this pro?

Depends on your priorities of course. Do you want a bigger screen that's very good, or a smaller 120hz screen that's even better? The 15" Air speakers are pretty good, much better than the 13" Air, but the pros are better. The Pro is chunkier and ever-so-slightly heavier.

The 15" aluminum chassis is better than the 13" at handling heat, but sustained high usage will make it throttle more than the Pro. Still, the performance is pretty close.

I'm currently with the Air 15, but may still switch back to a Pro. Pick your poison.

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ZeeOhhSix

Mar 17, 2026 10:18 PM

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ZeeOhhSixMar 17, 2026 10:18 PM

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Quote from specialistgraner

:

Uh, what do you even use the machine for? Odds are you're not likely gaining anything but a marginal upgrade if you're just using it for typical computer stuff like Web browsing and media consumption, school and office work, light creative work, communication and coding. Sure you get Bluetooth 6 Wifi 7 and Thunderbolt 5 which almost nobody is going to notice a perceptible difference. It's the same chassis and display; only difference is the chip. The brightness is software controlled and Apple increased the nits in the iterations of the various models. You can change the nits on an older model using third party tools: https://www.getvivid.app The only thing they changed on the display panel itself is they upgraded from a red KSF phosphor film to a cadmium-free quantum dot film and I literally can't tell any difference; seems negligible to me.
If anything I would wait until M6 releases at the end of the year when they do a chassis-refresh, OLED panel and rumored touchscreen if you want to blow a bunch of money on a new Macbook.
Despite being 4 years and 4 months old, if you extrapolate from Apple's history with Intel macOS support it's getting at least 3 more major releases of macOS updates with the last one likely landing late 2028 and 2-3 years of security updates following that so it lasts 4-5 years easily.
If you want to "maximize trade-in value" then just sell it privately on Facebook Marketplace/Offerup/Craigslist but I think you're only gonna gain $100 more by doing that.

You seem to know a great deal. So your ultimate advice would be keep an M1 Pro 16 if it's just going to be used for office work, watching media, remoting in to other computers occasionally?

Caleo

Mar 17, 2026 10:24 PM

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Joined Dec 2004

CaleoMar 17, 2026 10:24 PM

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Quote from a_land

:

what's the best way to maximize trade value? I have a M1 Pro I wanna trade up for

Sell privately after the fact. Or use a place like owc.com - https://eshop.macsales.com/trade-in-your-mac
Apple offered only $550 for my 14" M1 Max with 64GB/2TB. OWC offered about $950. I shouldn't have much trouble selling privately for about $1500-1800.

Last edited by Caleo March 17, 2026 at 03:26 PM.

dman081

Mar 17, 2026 10:38 PM

726 Comments

Joined Dec 2006

dman081Mar 17, 2026 10:38 PM

726 Comments

Quote from ZeeOhhSix

:

You seem to know a great deal. So your ultimate advice would be keep an M1 Pro 16 if it's just going to be used for office work, watching media, remoting in to other computers occasionally?

I would, for sure. M1 Pro is more than enough for office work and more, as long as you have at least 16 GB of RAM (I assume that was the minimum) and enough storage space for your needs.

Caleo

Mar 17, 2026 10:39 PM

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Joined Dec 2004

CaleoMar 17, 2026 10:39 PM

6.7K Comments

Quote from specialistgraner

:

Uh, what do you even use the machine for? Odds are you're not likely gaining anything but a marginal upgrade if you're just using it for typical computer stuff like Web browsing and media consumption, school and office work, light creative work, communication and coding. Sure you get Bluetooth 6 Wifi 7 and Thunderbolt 5 which almost nobody is going to notice a perceptible difference. It's the same chassis and display; only difference is the chip.
If anything I would wait until M6 releases at the end of the year when they do a chassis-refresh, OLED panel and rumored touchscreen if you want to blow a bunch of money on a new Macbook.
Despite being 4 years and 4 months old, if you extrapolate from Apple's history with Intel macOS support it's getting at least 3 more major releases of macOS updates with the last one likely landing late 2028 and 2-3 years of security updates following that so it lasts 4-5 years easily.
If you want to "maximize trade-in value" then just sell it privately on Facebook Marketplace/Offerup/Craigslist but I think you're only gonna gain $100 more by doing that.

M5 has substantial single core uplift over the M1 Pro (we're talking around +70%), which is one of the main things that makes computers feel snappier. Should see pretty significant gains in multicore performance also.
Another thing the M5 offers over the M1 Pro/Max is significant efficiency gains. The 8+2 M1 Pro/Max tend to saturate their 2 efficiency cores fairly easily and get into their P-cores , which is bad news for 'real-world idle' efficiency - driving up power consumption and tanking battery life. My M5 Max sips power compared to my 'old' M1 Max.

All that said... M1 Pro/Max are still incredibly capable machines. Did I need to upgrade from my M1 Max? No. Am I glad I did? Absolutely.

In the end, if you aren't feeling significant pressure to upgrade, it might be a good idea to wait for the M6 lineup. Although they're likely going to be quite a bit pricier with the rumored OLED upgrade.

Last edited by Caleo March 17, 2026 at 03:42 PM.

2

feng.liyifan

Mar 17, 2026 10:52 PM

351 Comments

Joined Feb 2018

feng.liyifanMar 17, 2026 10:52 PM

351 Comments

Quote from Caleo

:

Sell privately after the fact. Or use a place like owc.com - https://eshop.macsales.com/trade-in-your-macApple offered only $550 for my 14" M1 Max with 64GB/2TB. OWC offered about $950. I shouldn't have much trouble selling privately for about $1500-1800.

Lol selling privately for 1500+?? What are you smoking lol

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3

feng.liyifan

Mar 17, 2026 10:53 PM

351 Comments

Joined Feb 2018

feng.liyifanMar 17, 2026 10:53 PM

351 Comments

Quote from sqa4life

:

Macbook Air 15 is 1199 student discount from apple. Is it worth 200 bucks to move up to this pro?

This mbp smokes that air, absolutely worth the upgrade for 200 bucks

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3

Caleo

Mar 17, 2026 11:06 PM

6.7K Comments

Joined Dec 2004

CaleoMar 17, 2026 11:06 PM

6.7K Comments

Quote from feng.liyifan

:

Lol selling privately for 1500+?? What are you smoking lol

Same config goes for $1500-1800 used on Ebay with wear & tear (yes, SOLD listings), and mine's in mint condition with very little battery wear.
Reality. That's what I'm 'smoking'.

Last edited by Caleo March 17, 2026 at 05:48 PM.

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feng.liyifan

Mar 17, 2026 11:08 PM

351 Comments

Joined Feb 2018

feng.liyifanMar 17, 2026 11:08 PM

351 Comments

Quote from Caleo

:

Same config goes for $1500-1800 used on Ebay with wear & tear, and mine's in mint condition with very little battery wear. Reality. That's what I'm 'smoking'.

Best of luck selling it for that price lol. And smoke more. Just because you see that on eBay means you can sell for that price also? Great logic bro!

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14" Apple MacBook Pro: 3024x1964 120Hz, M5 10-Core Chip, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

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