I’m trying to buy a used MacBook. I know this question has been asked a bunch of times, but generally the people using it are doing something intensive like FinalCut, GarageBand, LogicPro, Photoshop, Xcode, etc.

For me, this computer would be exclusively for work, which involves:

• running 6-7 Google Chrome tabs simultaneously
• running a 3rd party image capture app (similar function to the native screen-cap)
• Spotify
• Filevault needs to be enabled at all times

Currently I have a 2013 MacBook Pro with:

• i7-4960HQ CPU
• 16GB 1600GHz RAM
• NVIDIA 750M
• 512GB SSD

I’ve noticed that while I’m working I get a lot of stuttering, spinning beach ball, etc. On an average day I need to shut the computer down completely 2-3 times because everything just freezes up. This computer has served me very well for ten years, and when I bought it, it was the best of the best, but I get the idea that ten years is a long time to have a computer and it’s time to move on.

The issue I’m seeing is that on the used market, the 16GB M1 MacBook Air is very similar in price to high level MacBook Pros (for example, I could get last year’s silicon MBP with 32GB Ram for $1400, whereas the 2020 16GB MBA goes for around $1350), so it’s not even really worth going with the Air at that price point. I’m not worried about longevity, I know if I stick with this job, by this time next year I’ll be able to afford a MacBook Pro with all the bells and whistles, but I do need a computer that enables me to actually do the job.

From the reviews I’ve been reading, Apple Silicon is basically magic, but I’ve been a computer tech for many years and 8GB of RAM wasn’t enough for even basic web browsing in 2010, so I’m confused about why it’s enough now. I think my nightmare would be buying a $600 computer that’s somehow worse than the one I have now.

What’s the general consensus here?

Edit: Split everything into paragraphs and bullet points.