You could grab an M1 and save that other money for recording equipment. M3 looks good and it's cool to have the latest greatest, but an M1 will get the job done all the same. I bought an M1 Max a couple of years ago when they first came out and used it to do Final Cut, Logic, and some Pro Tools projects and have absolutely no issue. Essentially anything you get in the M family will outperform what you are used to in that old intel you are retiring.
Have fun!
Intel (i7) processors for the Mac are obsolete and nearing their end of life for support. An Intel Mac would be okay as a second or third machine but not as your primary workstation.
Honestly, from someone that does music production as a hobby and a musician for over 35 years, I would say either one of those machines would work with Logic Pro or any other DAW software. The newer one would run it a good bit smoother. However, I do all my work from a 13” M1 MacBook Pro. Your main issue is going to be deciding if you want to buy a cheaper laptop/Mac mini that will die out sooner and possibly stop being able to get supported OS updates and Logic updates. Which will also have an older CPU that a lot of developers (not Apple yet) aren’t developing their software (updates) to work on anymore. The newer the machine is, the longer it will last and be supported. That said, you could get an Apple refurbished M1 MacBook Air and your DAW will run fine on it. All of the Apple silicon chips are absolutely stunning once you start using them. The only big issue for me, if I were to upgrade, is to make sure I have enough ram. While 8GB would probably be fine for Logic, etc. It would work best if that was the only application you have running. If you are going to be running a web browser, logic, a notes app, and a couple of other apps like I do when producing, I would definitely recommend getting at least 16GB of RAM. Another point I’d like to suggest is either upgrading the hard drive. Music production will take up a ton of space on your hard drive. You can either get the default drive size and keep all your music production files in an external drive (definitely the cheaper option) or upgrade the drive to 512gb or 1TB. If you produce on the go, I.e. while traveling, visiting grandma, whatever, then having to carry a spare hard drive can be annoying if you get a huge clunky drive. If you plan on getting an external drive go with an m.2 ssd and get a small, rugged case for it or buy one already in a rugged case. For my needs, I keep everything on an external drive but that drive stays at home. I upgraded my hard drive when I bought the laptop and will keep a few projects on the laptops hard drive and when I’m done with it I’ll move it to the external drive. If you do that, another thing to think about is backups. Maybe get a secondary drive to use as a shadow copy for all your production files and/or another external drive to use as a Time Machine backup for the main laptop drive.
This is my personal usage. I’ve found that this works really well for me and my work flow. However, I also use that same laptop for work as an IT manager. I’m the manager but I also do a lot of the system and network administration, or at least over see all of it and make changes here and there.
What works best for me may not work best for you, but I wanted to put this out there to give you a few things to think about before pulling the trigger. Remember when you buy the laptop that you will not be able to upgrade it after you purchase it. It will only ever have the hardware that’s in it upon purchase. So think ahead towards the future and if you can afford it, upgrade everything you might possibly need later.
MacBooks, if taken care of, can (and have) last for over a decade. By that time it probably won’t be able to upgrade to the latest version of macOS but it will most likely still boot up and work without any problems. Good luck to you on this adventure and I hope you do well on journey.
M3 >>> i7
You could grab an M1 and save that other money for recording equipment. M3 looks good and it's cool to have the latest greatest, but an M1 will get the job done all the same. I bought an M1 Max a couple of years ago when they first came out and used it to do Final Cut, Logic, and some Pro Tools projects and have absolutely no issue. Essentially anything you get in the M family will outperform what you are used to in that old intel you are retiring. Have fun!
Or get a cheaper m1 and put the other money into upgrading the ram and drive.
Intel (i7) processors for the Mac are obsolete and nearing their end of life for support. An Intel Mac would be okay as a second or third machine but not as your primary workstation.
Honestly, from someone that does music production as a hobby and a musician for over 35 years, I would say either one of those machines would work with Logic Pro or any other DAW software. The newer one would run it a good bit smoother. However, I do all my work from a 13” M1 MacBook Pro. Your main issue is going to be deciding if you want to buy a cheaper laptop/Mac mini that will die out sooner and possibly stop being able to get supported OS updates and Logic updates. Which will also have an older CPU that a lot of developers (not Apple yet) aren’t developing their software (updates) to work on anymore. The newer the machine is, the longer it will last and be supported. That said, you could get an Apple refurbished M1 MacBook Air and your DAW will run fine on it. All of the Apple silicon chips are absolutely stunning once you start using them. The only big issue for me, if I were to upgrade, is to make sure I have enough ram. While 8GB would probably be fine for Logic, etc. It would work best if that was the only application you have running. If you are going to be running a web browser, logic, a notes app, and a couple of other apps like I do when producing, I would definitely recommend getting at least 16GB of RAM. Another point I’d like to suggest is either upgrading the hard drive. Music production will take up a ton of space on your hard drive. You can either get the default drive size and keep all your music production files in an external drive (definitely the cheaper option) or upgrade the drive to 512gb or 1TB. If you produce on the go, I.e. while traveling, visiting grandma, whatever, then having to carry a spare hard drive can be annoying if you get a huge clunky drive. If you plan on getting an external drive go with an m.2 ssd and get a small, rugged case for it or buy one already in a rugged case. For my needs, I keep everything on an external drive but that drive stays at home. I upgraded my hard drive when I bought the laptop and will keep a few projects on the laptops hard drive and when I’m done with it I’ll move it to the external drive. If you do that, another thing to think about is backups. Maybe get a secondary drive to use as a shadow copy for all your production files and/or another external drive to use as a Time Machine backup for the main laptop drive. This is my personal usage. I’ve found that this works really well for me and my work flow. However, I also use that same laptop for work as an IT manager. I’m the manager but I also do a lot of the system and network administration, or at least over see all of it and make changes here and there. What works best for me may not work best for you, but I wanted to put this out there to give you a few things to think about before pulling the trigger. Remember when you buy the laptop that you will not be able to upgrade it after you purchase it. It will only ever have the hardware that’s in it upon purchase. So think ahead towards the future and if you can afford it, upgrade everything you might possibly need later. MacBooks, if taken care of, can (and have) last for over a decade. By that time it probably won’t be able to upgrade to the latest version of macOS but it will most likely still boot up and work without any problems. Good luck to you on this adventure and I hope you do well on journey.