Is $500 difference worth it to jump from M1 Pro/32GB/512GB to M1 Max/64GB/2TB?

[developeren]

I am having a buyer's remorse I was planning to use it for at least the next 5 years for heavy multitasking, coding and photoshop. (uncompressed raw, avg 5-6 layers)

 

[OrenLindsey]

personally, I think it is worth it. You're getting quite a bit better of a chip, double the RAM, and 4 times the SSD. Buying all that from Apple when that device was new would have been like $1500 at least.

 

[fathergll]

I would easily go for the upgrade specs for $500.

 

[mmkerc]

As others have said $500 for double the ram and 4x storage is a great deal. However for me the bigger question is it worth spending an extra $500 for that or use the 500 for other items (2nd monitor, better printer, or even a short vacation). The only issue I have with your original configuration is the SSD is small, but if you have external drives that may not be an issue. For your stated use I am not sure you will see a performance improvement to warrant the 500.

 

[developeren]

As others have said $500 for double the ram and 4x storage is a great deal. However for me the bigger question is it worth spending an extra $500 for that or use the 500 for other items (2nd monitor, better printer, or even a short vacation). The only issue I have with your original configuration is the SSD is small, but if you have external drives that may not be an issue. For your stated use I am not sure you will see a performance improvement to warrant the 500.

Funny, I went with the M1 Pro and got a 12.9 M1 along with it for $700. Since I will be starting data science masters 2 years later, I will sell the device when it isn't enough anymore and get M4 Pro equivalent for cheaper or get the base model M6 especially if they get rid of the notch and increase base model stats. My only concern now is whether 512GB will be enough

 

[Beau10]

I think it's worth it in general, but I weigh cost relative to price, ie. the % increase.

So if we're talking 2 used computers where 1 is $1500 vs $2000, that's probably the area where it becomes harder to justify.

 

[developeren]

I think it's worth it in general, but I weigh cost relative to price, ie. the % increase.

So if we're talking 2 used computers where 1 is $1500 vs $2000, that's probably the area where it becomes harder to justify.

M1 Pro is %41 off and Max is %46 off. Also the difference is $600 now. I am sure I don't need a pro or even 64gigs of ram but 2TB storage iss really kicking me off. Do you think 512gb will enough for the next 3-5 years?

 

[Beau10]

M1 Pro is %41 off and Max is $47 off. Also the difference is $600 now. I am sure I don't need a pro or even 64gigs of ram but 2TB storage iss really kicking me off. Do you think 512gb will enough for the next 3-5 years?

That's only something you can decide. I'm only using 150gb right now on my 14" M1 Pro, but for any M2/M3 configs would opt only for 1tb+ due to the performance difference that isn't an issue on the M1 series.

Also something to note is generally you want to leave about 20% empty for wear leveling... so if you feel you may go above 400gb you should go up a step add external/cloud storage to the mix.

 

[ChrisA]

Funny, I went with the M1 Pro and got a 12.9 M1 along with it for $700. Since I will be starting data science masters 2 years later, I will sell the device when it isn't enough anymore and get M4 Pro equivalent for cheaper or get the base model M6 especially if they get rid of the notch and increase base model stats. My only concern now is whether 512GB will be enough

A project associated with a data science master's degree would be using Jupiter Notebook on cloud servers. Even if you buy a REALLY BIG Apple Mac you would not want the machine to be tied up for hours and days at a time. (It sucks having to wait three days to read your emails) Yes, these projects can run for hours or much longer. So you rent time on a server that has one or more Nvidia H100 cards. Use Amazon or Google for the heavy hitting and use a more reasonably priced Mac for writing papers and software development. My M2-Pro (16GB) is more than enough for that.

What I find I need more of, always is screen space. I have multiple text editors up and documentation in a browser and it is pretty easy to need a couple 27" screens.

Also, data sets can be large. I like Synology NAS.

 

[Malus120]

Is $500 difference worth it to jump from M1 Pro/32GB/512GB to M1 Max/64GB/2TB?
I am having a buyer's remorse I was planning to use it for at least the next 5 years for heavy multitasking, coding and photoshop. (uncompressed raw, avg 5-6 layers)

As someone who owns a 32GB/512GB 14" M1 Max and does all of the above to some degree I would say without question it is ABSOLUTELY, unquestionably worth it
(I sure wish I could've spent $500 for that upgrade when I bought mine.)

For starters, 512GB of internal storage sucks. Yes you can work around it with external drives but the convenience of having 2TB internally, especially when on battery (where an external drive noticeably impacts battery life) is massive.

As for 64GB of ram while you probably don't NEED it today, it will provide a better experience for all the things you listed. Furthermore with all of the ram hungry tech dropping lately (such as AI), having 64GB of ram vs 32GB could be the difference between being able to do something and it not working at all.

Unless it's going to absolutely break the bank I would say it's $500 well spent.