u/Cold_Cool

I am upgrading from an M1 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM because I am fed up of system overloads. Whenever I get close to finishing a trackI get issues even with most tracks frozen.

I produce drum and bass and generally have 100-130 tracks running by the end of a project. Lots of audio channels plus multiple instances of serum 2 and Kontakt, with various plugin chains.

Looking at these three models. 1 new, and 2 refurbished.

New: https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch-silver-standard-display-apple-m5-pro-chip-18-core-cpu-20-core-gpu-64gb-memory-4tb-storage

Refurbed: https://www.hoxtonmacs.co.uk/products/macbook-pro-14-inch-m4-max-16-core-space-black-2024-good?variant=55045843779970

Refurbed: https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/g1fgrb/a/Refurbished-14-inch-MacBook-Pro-Apple-M4-Max-Chip-with-16%E2%80%91Core-CPU-and-40%E2%80%91Core-GPU-Nano-texture-display-Space-Black?fnode=3085278bb84a91a36c5bb526bfd06c1a24d8dc766ffdce26fb31b04251608a789f679fc1809f058e6637e19116aa4dbf5946f8b5539217adeaff8211b6653011d9f99a7c14716c5f65b20a04d7bd152a

I was reading somewhere that the M4 chips can be better than the M5 for music production but get a bit lost in the tech specs, I saw that the M5 has 18 cores vs the M4's 16. I want a 4TB SSD because I currently have 1TB SSD and a 2TB external SSD which is a faff because whenever it isn't plugged in, my Kontakt patches don't load etc.

Would be great to get people's advice. Thanks!