Worth the upgrade for after effects

Help

I currently own a 2019 MacBook Pro 16inch + 2 Tb storage + 64 Gb Ram

I work remotely currently as head of design for a juice bar franchise

I used to do a lot of heavy after effects animations, but since then

My workflow has changed, currently is mainly photoshop-Figma-illustrator and using ai like chat gpt or firefly to generate images

Just got a MacBook neo for my wife and she’s been loving it

Recently have been feeling the urge to update to a new computer specifically a MacBook Pro 16 inch M5 Pro (2 tb storage +64gb ram? Or should I get less? Or more?), but I’m wondering if it will be worth it, it’s been like 7 years… is it worth the upgrade or is my computer just as good (and also don’t know if I would be ok lowering my specs to have a more affordable computer but what if I get to do something new in after effects and the ram is not enough(?)

My laptop at the time (2019) cost $5k

Apple rebuy is like $300

The m5 pro with the specs is like $3800

So I’m wondering and I know most after effects users are windows users so maybe that’s why there’s so little info on apple and after effects

Here are my current exact specs:

MacBook Pro (16 inch 2019)

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Processor: 2.3 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9

Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M (likely 4GB or 8GB VRAM)

Memory: 64 GB RAM

Storage: 2 TB SSD

Display: 16-inch Retina (3072 × 1920)

Ports: 4× Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C)

Architecture: Intel

Posted Apr 7, 2026, 11:15 AM UTC

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