What specs to I focus on when buying to have 1 Billion tabs open while doing research?

[Turnpike]

(not actually a Billion, but a really really lot....)

I do research on my current 2017 iMac Pro and am going to get a new daily driver machine... a Macbook Pro.

If I constantly have dozens and dozens and dozens of dozens of tabs open in several different browsers all the time as I chase down facts and figures into rabbit hole after rabbit hole, what specs would I focus on when choosing a new Macbook Pro? Extra RAM, a CPU upgrade, or would having an M3 pretty much take care of anything that I'm concerned about?

My main concern is having a zillion tabs open- I don't use any heavy software, no video editing, just mainly running multiple browsers with a lot of tabs open on each for 10+ hours a day.

My intention is to plug it into an external monitor both at work and at home (this way I can always have my tabs open and ready to go wherever I'm working), and just use it as a machine I can use in both places.

Thanks in advance!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

RAM

 

[za9ra22]

(not actually a Billion, but a really really lot....)

I do research on my current 2017 iMac Pro and am going to get a new daily driver machine... a Macbook Pro.

If I constantly have dozens and dozens and dozens of dozens of tabs open in several different browsers all the time as I chase down facts and figures into rabbit hole after rabbit hole, what specs would I focus on when choosing a new Macbook Pro? Extra RAM, a CPU upgrade, or would having an M3 pretty much take care of anything that I'm concerned about?

My main concern is having a zillion tabs open- I don't use any heavy software, no video editing, just mainly running multiple browsers with a lot of tabs open on each for 10+ hours a day.

My intention is to plug it into an external monitor both at work and at home (this way I can always have my tabs open and ready to go wherever I'm working), and just use it as a machine I can use in both places.

Thanks in advance!

Web browsers are your main enemy, and some are better than others at memory management, but as @FreakinEurekan put it, your primary need is going to be as much RAM as you can afford. Even CPU speed will take a back seat to that.

 

[coffeemilktea]

...open in several different browsers all the time as I chase down facts and figures into rabbit hole after rabbit hole...

Sounds like what you need is access to a few good chatbots; that'll be the fastest way to get access to a lot of different information on various topics all at once... they could probably format it neatly for you too. (but seriously, I use to spend hours trying to chase down information on different topics; now I can get it all in minutes with a few good questions.)

But to answer your actual question: RAM is the biggest bottleneck if you have multiple browsers and multiple tabs open in each browser. The CPU isn't really an issue then, unless you suddenly decide to have sound/video playing in multiple tabs... though even then, I'm not sure it would really push the Apple Silicon processor all that much.

 

[picpicmac]

If I constantly have dozens and dozens and dozens of dozens of tabs open in several different browsers all the time as I chase down facts and figures into rabbit hole after rabbit hole...

Sounds like me as I'm doing some historical research.

am going to get a new daily driver machine... a Macbook Pro.

Are you getting the M3 version, or the M3 Pro version? I've never come across anyone who has the M_ Pro version in base configs who have suggested that they are inadequate for very heavy web browsing. I find it hard to believe that the M3 Pro base model with 18GB of RAM will not be able to handle any web browsing die hard. One reason I'm waiting for Apple to release the M3 version of the Mac Mini is because I think a Mini with M3 Pro base model (18GB of RAM) will be able to handle any research task I throw at it.

 

[HDFan]

The issue isn't the number of tabs open but the memory they take. If your tabs take 3 GB each (I have a couple of those right now) memory could be a problem but less so if they take 100 MB (have quite a few of those).

 

[MarkC426]

Sounds like the ideal candidate for a 7.1 Mac Pro with #&@¥ loads of ram....😎