After Effects users - M3 Ultra or M4 Max?

[Upgrader]

Hi

Any AE users (and occasional C4D users) in here buying a new Mac Studio? If so which spec are you going for?

I'm torn between the fast single core speed of the M4 Max for UI operation and the big core count of the Ultra for MFR and RAM previews.

I spend most of the day animating - tweaking - previewing - animating - tweaking - previewing so the priority is fast RAM previews which I believe will be had via the Ultra but no benchmarkers are doing the Puget benchmark so 🤷‍♂️.

The tests so far (in every other app than AE, lol) seem to suggest that the ultra isn't hugely quicker than the Max on multicore anyway - with the exception of encoding/rendering which I only do at the end of each job.

Disappointing not to see an M4 Ultra. Difficult to choose.

 

[dougnash]

Looking at your equipment list, is it correct that you don't yet have an M-Series Mac?
If so, you're going to enjoy any derivation. My (loaded) M1 Ultra Studio still feels fast and responsive, in AE.
Night-and-day difference, compared with any Intel Mac I own.
I also have a (loaded) M4 Max MBP, and it makes the M1 Ultra feel slow, in general, and especially in apps like C4D.
That said, I actually haven't done any meaningful AE work on the laptop; mostly because not having the number pad makes it too awkward.

 

[Upgrader]

Looking at your equipment list, is it correct that you don't yet have an M-Series Mac?
If so, you're going to enjoy any derivation. My (loaded) M1 Ultra Studio still feels fast and responsive, in AE.
Night-and-day difference, compared with any Intel Mac I own.
I also have a (loaded) M4 Max MBP, and it makes the M1 Ultra feel slow, in general, and especially in apps like C4D.
That said, I actually haven't done any meaningful AE work on the laptop; mostly because not having the number pad makes it too awkward.

Hey Doug,

Thanks for the reply and the info - cool that the M1 still feels fast and responsive. Have you ever noticed the single core speed in AE as an issue on the M1 in AE when navigating the interface - does it lag when scrolling comps with 100+ layers for instance? And can you tell the difference between the M1 and your M4 Max when navigating the AE UI generally? (if the answer to the last question is no then I think I'm gonna go for the Ultra).

And yes, I'm currently on my 5,1 running Monterey so any iteration will be night and day as you say. But I'd still like to get the machine that's fastest at building RAM previews, has the most longevity and the capacity to cope if a C4D job comes in or an especially big AE project.

I used to run a MacBook Pro but had to carry an extended keyboard to jobs for the same reason you don't use AE on your laptop - need that number pad!

 

[dougnash]

Yeah, like I said, I really haven't done anything (certainly, no client work) in AE on the M4M.
As for the M1 Ultra, I really haven't encountered anything which I would consider slow or clunky, in AE. Obviously, once you stack in a ton of FX, anything will slow down. But even in that regard, it's multiple times faster, doing similar comp work, as compared with my "newest" Intel; the 6,1 trashcan.
I'm somewhat in the same boat, as I will likely get one of the new Studios, to supplant my M1. I'm so impressed with the M4 Max, that I might very well forgo the 80-core GPU of the M3.
Again, you're in the (enviable) position where you almost can't make a poor decision; whether you get the M3U or the M4U, you're going to be blown away with the speed.