For those who upgraded from M1 Max to M3 Max - Do you notice the difference?

[dlpowered89]

I am in the market to purchase a new Macbook Pro 14 and I have narrowed down my choices to these two:

1. Macbook Pro 14 - M1 Max / 64GB / 2TB
2. Macbook Pro 14 - M3 Max (binned) / 36GB / 1TB

I've had a chance to play around with the two and M3 Max happens to open up apps quicker than M1 Max. I know geekbench does not represent much value in day to day work but the result shows quite a significant bump.

I think most of the improvements are coming from ~25% improvement in single core performance on the M3 Max as most of the app starts are a single process. Has anyone that has taken the same upgrade path chime in on the experience? Do you notice a difference?

My main motivation behind the upgrade is to increase the RAM size and this is why I am torn. While I'd love 64GB, I am unsure whether spending $2,000 (for the M1 Max) on a 2 year old tech is a wise choice. I am fully aware of the added capabilities (6E, BT 5.3.. etc) but I am only highlighting the ones that are important to me (CPU, RAM). Approx $ difference between the two is about $600 (M3 Max is more expensive)

Thanks in advance

 

[G5isAlive]

Yep I did this almost exactly… and if I’m honest with myself don’t feel much difference day to day. Where I can convince myself maybe is with games. I don’t regret the upgrade because I think software for the m3 will only get better over the years.

 

[playtech1]

I have a 16 inch M1 Max and a 14 inch M3 Max and in day to day use don't notice much of a difference.

The faster single core performance probably does make things a bit snappier, but M1 Max is already very responsive so it's in marginal gains territory. An analogy is like going from 120Hz to 144Hz on a monitor - both very good.

The M3 Max does have some (small) noticeable improvements beyond the raw speed of the chip itself. I appreciate the HDMI 2.1 (also on M2 Pro/Max, but not M1 Pro/Max) and the 6Ghz WiFi6E is noticeably quicker (I found M1's WiFi to be passable rather than great). The increased default maximum brightness is also useful when you need it (when it's sunny outdoors), although you could achieve a similar effect with software on M1.

All minor upgrades overall though - the main reason I upgraded was to get more RAM/SSD.

 

[kzly]

I think it really comes down to how much you are okay with 36gb vs 64gb ram size, 1TB vs 2TB SSD, and additional M3 features (wifi, bluetooth, ray-tracing), and space black colorway.

If you don't really need these additional features but really need the extra rams and storage, M1 Max is the obvious choice regardless of its age.

If you want those extra features, some performance boost, and space black color, M3 Max...

There is also a "future-proof / resale value" factor, but I personally don't think we should pay too much attention to this, because we have to buy something that we need right now, not for the "future". And resale values are directly correlated with how much you pay today. M1 Maxes are heavily discounted but we should know that the discounted price is the current / depreciated value of the M1 Maxes. I feel like they shouldn't be discounted this much because they are still great but inventories have to be cleared.

 

[richard371]

Coming from a 13" M1 MBP to a 14" M3max 16/40 48 my quality of life is exactly the same .

 

[RyanFlynn]

I notice the difference when when comparing to my m1 ultra. I'm guessing the m3 max will spank the M1 Max

 

[MacDevil7334]

I went from a 14” binned M1 Max with to a 16” full M3 Max. I notice a difference in select circumstances. Importing large batches of high res photos in Lightroom and building standard previews is quite a bit faster on my M3 machine (probably somewhere near the almost 2x benchmarks promised). On most other day to day tasks, I don’t see any difference. But that’s a testament to how good the M1 Max already was more than anything else. If I hadn’t been wanting to switch to the 16”, I would have been perfectly happy with the M1 Max for several more years.

In your case, you haven’t told us much about what you use your computer for. The general rule of thumb is you are better off putting money into more RAM and storage before upgrading the processor. But, your workflow might not see any benefit from 64 GB of RAM vs 36 GB. Or you might really need more than 1 TB of storage. In either case, get the M1 and don’t look back. But if your use cases don’t require the RAM or the storage, the M3 offers faster single core performance (and faster efficiency cores), hardware accelerated AV1 decode, a brighter screen in SDR mode, and slightly more modern connectivity. Those might be more valuable, but only you really know your uses.

At the end of the day, both are great machines.

 

[Kristain]

I just returned an M3 Max and bought a 64gb/4tb M1 Max (I have a 32GB M1 Max already but wanted more RAM). Didn't notice much difference at all although as MacDevil says it's faster at importing etc. Problem for me was that I tend to grab a cup of coffee for the things like this that take a while and usually only do them once so not really much advantage to me at all if they're faster. The M3 was also quite a bit louder although I didn't investigate low power mode.

For my I'm going to wait until the next gen. I feel it'll have Wifi 7 and TB5 as well as speed increases.

 

[AirpodsNow]

I am in the market to purchase a new Macbook Pro 14 and I have narrowed down my choices to these two:

1. Macbook Pro 14 - M1 Max / 64GB / 2TB
2. Macbook Pro 14 - M3 Max (binned) / 36GB / 1TB

I've had a chance to play around with the two and M3 Max happens to open up apps quicker than M1 Max. I know geekbench does not represent much value in day to day work but the result shows quite a significant bump.

I think most of the improvements are coming from ~25% improvement in single core performance on the M3 Max as most of the app starts are a single process. Has anyone that has taken the same upgrade path chime in on the experience? Do you notice a difference?

My main motivation behind the upgrade is to increase the RAM size and this is why I am torn. While I'd love 64GB, I am unsure whether spending $2,000 (for the M1 Max) on a 2 year old tech is a wise choice. I am fully aware of the added capabilities (6E, BT 5.3.. etc) but I am only highlighting the ones that are important to me (CPU, RAM). Approx $ difference between the two is about $600 (M3 Max is more expensive)

Thanks in advance

Would you mind what you went for in the end? I am on a m1pro 16” 16gb, I want to look for a 14” 32gb or more. I have a similar dilemma whether I should look for a m3 pro or an older M2 Max model with more ram and ssd.

I also don’t really know how to make this choice. Also, in the mean time I wonder what the M4 will bring next month. The M3s are very much discounted everywehre, I don’t think the current price difference between an M3 Max 48gb/1tb that currently goes for $2300 at different places will be able to compete with the new M4 that would go for the msrp.

 

[mcpix]

I never considered this when I bought my 14" M3 Macbook Pro, but I upgraded my router this past weekend and the speed difference with WIFI 6E is noticeable. If you're a gamer or spend a lot of time downloading or uploading files, it's almost worth it for that alone.

 

[chfilm]

im on the m1max currently and am wondering if I should save up for the m4max when it comes out in October.. the m1 does everything still pretty well, though when I export large numbers of photos from Lightroom or do noise reduction, it does start to show its age a bit.. though I read that next year they will jump to 2nm which is likely gonna be a more massive jump.. then again probably this year the m1 still has considerable resale
Value or?

 

[AirpodsNow]

im on the m1max currently and am wondering if I should save up for the m4max when it comes out in October.. the m1 does everything still pretty well, though when I export large numbers of photos from Lightroom or do noise reduction, it does start to show its age a bit.. though I read that next year they will jump to 2nm which is likely gonna be a more massive jump.. then again probably this year the m1 still has considerable resale
Value or?

I checked the performance, and I personally can’t beat out an m1 max. my M1 Pro lacks gpu and ram, so anything better than a M1 Max with 32gb would be fine. Looking at new and used pricing, the best option for me to find something that has 32gb or more and the m2/3 max. And the m2max goes maybe for $2000 and the m3max for $2300. I got the latter one and should come tomorrow, lets see if it’s in a good used state.

 

[Lucas Curious]

I went from 16" M1 Pro to 14" M3 Max. The ram, screen size and snappiness with studio display improved my use especially when editing video. There is this noticeable lag with the base M1 Pro when using MacBook screen and studio display at same time. May be ram related. My next upgrade will be 64gb ram and more ssd but maybe in 5 years.

 

[AirpodsNow]

I went from 16" M1 Pro to 14" M3 Max. The ram, screen size and snappiness with studio display improved my use especially when editing video. There is this noticeable lag with the base M1 Pro when using MacBook screen and studio display at same time. May be ram related. My next upgrade will be 64gb ram and more ssd but maybe in 5 years.

when I got the M1 Pro if thougth I would 'never' go beyond 16GB. Now using the apple silicon, it's quite nice to game sometimes and to spin out a parallels or vm fusion for windows. I noticed suddenly 16GB is not that much, and the GPU that never got pushed suddenly is maxed out. I had good fun with the latest Zelda game, so I opted for more ram and gpu. I hope its turns out well.

 

[hajime]

In terms of running Windows under Parallels/VMware, how is the M3 Max compared with M1 Max?

 

[Qedty]

Checking too, I just got a M1 Max 32GB 8TB HD from insurance and its much more of a beast than my original base M1 Pro 16 inch, I just want to know about the longevity of how long M1 Max will be supported

 

[flybass]

Does anyone else use ableton on the MacBook? I’m wondering if you can reduce the input buffer size going from M1 Max to m3 max. My understanding is that input buffer size is mostly a function of single core speed.