MacBook Pro 2019 - 16"

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did all 5500M Radio Pro have 8GB ram with this model / year?

No. The default config was 4GB. Can confirm here, https://support.apple.com/kb/SP809?locale=en_US

Thanks for response. Was this also the default card or was that integrated. Not sure about the lingo

Hi Greg, these high end laptops typically come with two graphics cards (GPUs). The integrated card usually refers to the simpler of the two GPUs that is actually integrated on the same chip as the central processing unit (CPU). This integrated GPU is very energy efficient and handles most every day tasks (e.g., web browsing, editing documents, etc.) without adversely affecting battery life.

The Radeon Pro 5500M is the second GPU. It's a separate chip (the CPU is Intel, and the Radeon Pro is made by AMD). It's much more powerful than the integrated GPU, but also consumes more power. It's typically used for things like playing games, or editing videos or pictures. Data scientists will also use these GPUs for some of their computations. These GPUs are also useful when the laptop is driving a large external monitor (or multiple external monitors). Hope that helps.

One last thing to mention is that the 8GB of GPU RAM on this machine is specifically for the graphics card. That's one of the reasons why it's good for things like editing pictures or videos. There's an additional 64GB of RAM that the CPU accesses. The 64GB of RAM makes this machine really pleasant to work with. Almost nothing slows it down.

You know your computers and MacBooks. I need the most powerful MacBook before the M1 since I run a program on Parallels that cannot use that Architecture.

OK, this is the computer you want. Macs work pretty efficiently without much RAM, but windows does not. This machine has 64GB of RAM which leaves you lots of room to allocate a good chunk to Windows in Parallels. You can easily allocate 32GB of the RAM to a Windows virtual machine, and the rest of the stuff you do in Mac will still fly. The 8-core CPU is also perfect for handling virtual machines. I’ve used this as my daily driver with Parallels running Windows along side MacOS and it flies. It also has tons of storage with a 2TB SSD disk, so you have lots of room for the virtual machine.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure about your use case, so I was very close to telling you that if you aren’t sure whether you need all these things, then you’re probably better off with one of their newer M series laptops. Apple typically charges an arm and a leg for RAM and SSD storage, but their new chips fly and their base configurations are fine for the typical user (my spouse and kids use them).

For what it’s worth, this computer is maxed on CPU, RAM, and GPU RAM. I think the SSD storage could have been higher at 4TB or maybe even 8TB, but anybody who actually needs that much would likely be much better off with external storage. 2TB on this machine is probably a little bit of overkill given its original cost, but it’s perfect for someone who’s also running virtual machines. Apple’s charge for SSD storage is absolutely ridiculous compared to market values, and that’s the only area that you can economically add externally. RAM and CPU are fixed. Technically, I think there are options to add an external GPU, but those are not cheap, and are typically only used by people who do video editing for a living.

This thing is maxed on every dimension you need. I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure it was in the neighborhood of $4,500 when purchased new (work bought it for me).

lastly, I see you are selling a couple in this category. what's the difference between them?

lastly, I see you are selling a couple in this category. what's the difference between them?

Both machines have identical specs. The higher priced one has a newer battery (it's been charged and discharged fewer than 20 times), and is covered under AppleCare+ until mid January 2024. After that, AppleCare+ can be renewed for $150/yr.

AppleCare+ is basically accident insurance, and also covers repairs if anything fails. If the laptop is mostly going to sit on a desk and be connected to a monitor, then I'd take the cheaper one. If the computer is going to be running mission critical stuff, then the more expensive one with AppleCare+ options might be worth it (these things can be very expensive to repair). I wouldn't take the more expensive one for battery alone, as it's roughly 10% difference in battery capacity, and the battery can eventually be replaced for $250.

For what it's worth, I'm planning to keep whatever one doesn't sell.

I think the other listing expires today, so just message here if that’s the one you’d prefer and I’ll reopen it if it has expired by the time you come back to it.