Hi everyone. One of the things I've been watching Reddit and YouTube for was a M1 Max 14" vs 16" comparison. I've yet to see one so I went out and bought a 14" to compare with.
Both models are available in-store; the 14" is equipped with 64GB/2TB and the 16" is the 32GB/1TB version.
One of the most interesting things I've noticed as I have compared the two computers is that the 16" will draw 120-140W at the wall and the 14" will only pull 60-70s from the same 140W charger. If I use the 96W charger from the 14" for the 16", it pulls a constant 90-100W when under load. To be clear, the 14" only goes over low-70s at the wall when it is charging at the same time -- I suppose this is why the default charger is 67W. You only need the bigger adapter on the 14" for the fast charging capabilities, it would seem.
Cinebench tests for both models are essentially the same -- as well as the Geekbench CPU scores. The storage has nearly 2GB/s faster writes on the 14" (2TB) than the 16" (1TB). The reads are roughly the same in my testing with Blackmagic's benchmark.
Now, the GPUs clearly have some pretty different results despite nearly identical Geekbench Compute scores (~69K) but the tests are very short. I spent more time testing using Shadow of the Tomb Raider's benchmark tool (same settings as Tally Ho Tech on YouTube), Unreal's Heaven and Valley benchmark, and general WoW Retail and TBC gameplay (I play both semi-competitively).
Across the board, I see roughly a 15-20% boost in FPS when compared to each other with the same settings (e.g. - SotTR 92 FPS on the 16" vs 79 FPS on the 14"). This is very consistent across the games and benchmarks I tested.
One more thing... I ran the fans at maximum to see if it made a difference over multiple tests -- it wasn't really noticable. The computers do a good job deciding how much fan to use to keep themselves cool.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the 14" because I love the form factor and you really only compromise a bit of GPU power. Additionally, the 14" is drawing roughly half the power the 16" does -- this possibly explains the lower GPU performance, by supplying less power it is basically pre-throttling the GPU. Lastly, the 14" fans have a pleasant sound to me. If the 16" fans are running over 3500 RPM it sounds like a jet engine prepping for take off. ?
Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments. I'll probably update this later next week once I decide if I want to keep the 14" over the 16".
Both models are available in-store; the 14" is equipped with 64GB/2TB and the 16" is the 32GB/1TB version.
One of the most interesting things I've noticed as I have compared the two computers is that the 16" will draw 120-140W at the wall and the 14" will only pull 60-70s from the same 140W charger. If I use the 96W charger from the 14" for the 16", it pulls a constant 90-100W when under load. To be clear, the 14" only goes over low-70s at the wall when it is charging at the same time -- I suppose this is why the default charger is 67W. You only need the bigger adapter on the 14" for the fast charging capabilities, it would seem.
Cinebench tests for both models are essentially the same -- as well as the Geekbench CPU scores. The storage has nearly 2GB/s faster writes on the 14" (2TB) than the 16" (1TB). The reads are roughly the same in my testing with Blackmagic's benchmark.
Now, the GPUs clearly have some pretty different results despite nearly identical Geekbench Compute scores (~69K) but the tests are very short. I spent more time testing using Shadow of the Tomb Raider's benchmark tool (same settings as Tally Ho Tech on YouTube), Unreal's Heaven and Valley benchmark, and general WoW Retail and TBC gameplay (I play both semi-competitively).
Across the board, I see roughly a 15-20% boost in FPS when compared to each other with the same settings (e.g. - SotTR 92 FPS on the 16" vs 79 FPS on the 14"). This is very consistent across the games and benchmarks I tested.
One more thing... I ran the fans at maximum to see if it made a difference over multiple tests -- it wasn't really noticable. The computers do a good job deciding how much fan to use to keep themselves cool.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the 14" because I love the form factor and you really only compromise a bit of GPU power. Additionally, the 14" is drawing roughly half the power the 16" does -- this possibly explains the lower GPU performance, by supplying less power it is basically pre-throttling the GPU. Lastly, the 14" fans have a pleasant sound to me. If the 16" fans are running over 3500 RPM it sounds like a jet engine prepping for take off. ?
Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments. I'll probably update this later next week once I decide if I want to keep the 14" over the 16".
