Question I'm shopping for a cheap refurbished Macbook Pro: what minimum specs do I need for my uses ?

[monge89]

Hey all,

I've never used Macs before, but I'm about to buy my first Macbook and want to start out with something cheap and see how it works out for me (also on a budget). I'm planning on buying a refurbished Macbook Pro from Newegg and want to make sure the one I choose can handle the applications I run, while at the same time not overspending. I'll be using it for web browsing (I tend to have a lot of tabs open, which has been causing my current Linux machine with 8GB RAM to constantly freeze), movies, and other all-purpose daily driver stuff. I tend to run a lot of apps at once, but none of them are very demanding of resources. So I think the RAM and the SSD size are most important considerations. I don't need a very powerful CPU. No gaming or graphics stuff, so GPU doesn't matter. And I prefer a bigger screen, so going with 16". I'm thinking this one should be sufficient:

https://www.newegg.com/p/2SN-0001-035N3

Are there any potential issues with these specs, for my intended uses? They have more powerful options, but don't want to pay for power I probably wouldn't use. As I'm new to the Mac scene, any advice from the knowledgeable folks around here would be much appreciated.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"I tend to run a lot of apps at once...

Check the memory recommendations for the apps that you run.

Most software manufacturers provide some information regarding memory requirements in the form of minimal, recommended, and best.

If you "run a lot of apps at once" you certainly do not want minimal and should get as much memory "best" as you can afford.

That said do look at the other hardware recommendation provided by the software manufacturers.

E.g. what they recommend regard CPU and drive sizes.

And remember even if more "powerful" than what you believe is needed that can easily change with some future app that is added or an upgrade to an existing app.