I have a dilemma: to work with Sketchup Pro and AutoCAD, should I buy a 16" MacBook m1 pro 16GB or a MacBook i9/i7 32/64GB with Radeon 5500 8GB for half the price? Common sense suggests that the i9/i7 32/64GB will be a better choice due to the RAM. Has anyone done such a comparison? What are your experiences? Is it worth paying twice as much for the M1? I expect to use it for about 3-4 years, and then change to a used M3 Pro, when it becomes available at an acceptable price.
I got an M1 Max with more RAM, but I’m not sure SU really makes use of more RAM even when you have it. Maybe someone can say more. I think an M# chip is going to work out better going forwards with Metal and the New Graphics Engine.
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Edit:
Disregard what I’ve written below as I’m a dufus and didn’t read the OP’s post properly, I assumed that it was a choice between a mac and a windows machine and not a choice between 2 MBP’s……sorry.
I’ll leave it in place as a testimonial to my dufusness 
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We have iPhones, iPads and a MacBookPro in our house, I recently got rid of my iMac as it was getting old and I didn’t use it. It’s safe to say I prefer the Apple experience.
Having said that I would always use a Windows machine for SU etc, it’s essentially just personal preference since Apple launched the remarkable M processors but every time I tried to use SU in MacOS I’ve found it frustrating compared to Windows.
I haven’t experienced AutoCAD in MacOS for sometime so I can’t really comment on it.
An M1 is 2020 tech, is the Intel i7/i9 machine any more recent?
One plus for the M processor over the Radeon 5500 would be rendering if you planning on that, but again the M1 wouldn’t be as good as an M2>4
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No, it’s actually older, and the last Mac to have an intel chip. It’s been replaced by several models over the last 5 years, and is close to being unsupported.
I say get the M1 but try to get a Pro model.
Opps, I completely missed that it was a choice between 2 MBP’s and NOT a choice between a MBP and a windows machine …… my bad.
I’ll edit my previous reply as it’s completely irrelevant.
Absolutely go for the M1.