For perspective, any M1/M2/M3 is likely to feel significantly faster than the 2012 MacBook Pro. For Adobe video apps on a Mac, try to hit these specs at as close to $1000 as you can…
General model: The MacBook Air can do the job if there is enough memory and storage, but if he expects to edit for an extended period of time, it can heat up and slow down. The MacBook Pro is a lot better because it has cooling fans, which allow it to perform at its maximum specs indefinitely (i.e. all day long) in most cases. My understanding is that the base M3 MacBook Pro has one cooling fan while all other MacBook Pros have two, but on a budget even that one fan should extend top performance longer than the Air.
Unified Memory (what Apple calls the single pool of memory dynamically shared by OS, apps, and graphics hardware): 24GB or more if possible. 16GB is as low as you should go, but at 16GB there may be occasional slowdowns. If he is also using After Effects, for optimal previewing 32GB or more would be good but at that point you are way past $1000.
CPU: The more cores the better. On a budget, he’s probably going to have to settle for the 8-core CPU that is across the base models for the M2/M3 MacBook Air/Pro, and that will actually be OK.
GPU: This is very important for Adobe Premiere Pro, and for any AI features. The Mac GPUs work well and run cool, but to run at their potential they must not be starved for memory. That is a big reason I am recommending 24GB or more of Unified Memory if possible. At 16GB, things may run OK most of the time, but if macOS and apps need most of that 16GB, the remaining amount that can be allocated to the GPU will be limited, and that may limit performance of any GPU-accelerated features. But even 16GB would be much more satisfactory than the disaster that would be having just 8GB memory.
Storage: On a budget it doesn’t make sense to order more than 512GB of the expensive internal storage, but to provide room for fast caches it becomes critical to keep enough internal storage free (at least 100GB free at all times, preferably more). To keep that much internal storage free, then it becomes very important to use those external SSDs as assigned storage for project files, Adobe Media Cache files, rendered previews…
To get down closer to $1000, keep in mind that although the current models use the latest M3 processor, the M2 is almost as good, so if an M2 comes in at a low price and the right specs, take it. For someone’s first computer, even an M1 Pro/Max/Ultra works well right now, and if available, are probably highly discounted. (I am still using an M1 Pro, and for my modest uses it still edits video well enough that I am not thinking of upgrading yet.) A laptop with an M1 Max would be a great budget laptop for video editing, because the Max brings many more CPU and GPU cores.
Some of the best places to watch for the biggest discounts are, and you already know about some of these…
Apple Refurbished
Costco
B&H and Adorama, but only when on sale
Educational discount if he qualifies
Also, check lowest available prices here:
https://prices.appleinsider.com/current-gen
They aggregate the best currently available discounts across several stores. This will also help you set realistic expectations for the lowest price you can expect for a certain configuration. (One way to use that…if someone is selling a certain configuration for way below anything seen on that website, the offer might be a scam.)
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