CURRENTLY: I have a 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro (touchbar) with 8gb of ram and 256 of memory. I get the spinning rainbow-mouse with some frequency and some major slowdowns at work, especially during demos over zoom/teams/g-meet, which is the worst time for your computer to slow down. I’m just not knowledgeable enough to make a good long term upgrade decision and would love some suggestions.
WORKFLOW: I usually have 30 chrome tabs open, with documents, spreadsheets, salesforce, outreach, some Human Resource CRM’s, and reviewing client websites. I also use around 10 apps, such as Slack, WhatsApp, parallels (one stupid app has to run in windows), word, excel… and I’m on zoom calls all day screen sharing all the aforementioned tabs/apps.
GOAL: I just want to get the job done without any slowdowns. 1 external monitor is fine, I don’t care about a higher screen refresh rate, higher brightness, better speakers is not important. I would keep my current computer if it was getting the job done. Seems like a horsepower issue but I don’t know if that’s related to only having 8gb of ram (as I’ve been told that ram is the root of the issue I’m facing) or something else. So I’ve been thinking about the M2 15 inch air with 16 GB of ram. But not sure if I should spend a couple hundred more for the new 14 inch M3 pro with 16 GB of ram.
I think I would prefer a 15inch screen, I like the thinner air for travel, and the price is cheaper… but most important is getting my job done smoother. Again, not trying to get any new features or anything fancier than what I already have. I just need more power and I just don’t understand if it’s a ram issue or a chip issue or what I need to have my workflow run smooth as butter. Slowdowns are impacting my client facing demos and internal meetings so whatever the best solution is I’m game.
Thanks so much for the suggestions!! I wish I would have posted a similar question before buying my current mbp, probably could have gone with 16 gb ram and out of the gate and still be running strong. Thanks again!!