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M1 Pro 32GB vs M2 Pro 16 GB - both 1TB SSD - which to keep?

O

Ommid

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 27, 2008
338
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Hi all

I have both of these machines in front of me.

General multi-task usage, photo editing, and probably some video editing.

I am struggling to decide which to keep!

Can anyone help?

I have read endless threads and watched endless videos and just can't decide if the ram is the direction to follow.
 
Most will say more Ram the better and in theory it's true. The 1 tb SSD reads and writes at almost 6GB/sec so you wont notice swap much. Here is a good read. I do about the same and picked up the mid tier 14" 16GB 1TB M2 pro and it's fine.

www.macrumors.com

16GB vs. 32GB MacBook Pro: How Much RAM is Enough?

Apple's high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models from 2021 offer the M1 Pro chip with 16GB of RAM as standard, but you can upgrade to 32GB...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
 
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Keep the M2. I don't know exactly what your needs are, but they don't sound like they're very extensive so 16GB ought to be plenty of RAM for you.

I'm a dev and a photographer. I run virtual machines, compile software, and do a lot of photo editing on a 16GB M1.
 
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I’m assuming you had the m1 a while so you can’t return but the m2 you’d get all your money back? I’d stick with m1
 
more ram for sure, m2 isn't that big of a upgrade for most folks out there, but one thing is for certain, as the years goes by programs and apps will only get bigger and eat more ram, 16gb is sufficient for today but most likely not enough in couple of years, unless you want to use your mac like a glorified chromebook after couple of years.
 
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ilikewhey said:
more ram for sure, m2 isn't that big of a upgrade for most folks out there, but one thing is for certain, as the years goes by programs and apps will only get bigger and eat more ram, 16gb is sufficient for today but most likely not enough in couple of years, unless you want to use your mac like a glorified chromebook after couple of years.
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Makes sense.

Thanks for everyone whose commented.

What are your views on the HDMI/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi spec differences?

Are the 2 additional efficiency cores worth considering too?
 
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Ommid said:
Makes sense.

Thanks for everyone whose commented.

What are your views on the HDMI/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi spec differences?

Are the 2 additional efficiency cores worth considering too?
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depends, are you talking 14 or 16, for 16 the battery is pretty good on the m1 already so you really not gaining much, on the 14 the 2 additional E cores does provide a good couple of hours extra battery, but i'm getting around 10-12 hours on my 14inch m1 max and i'm more than happy with that, especially since i came off a intel mac where i would be lucky to get more than 6 hours.

as for hdmi, unless you have a 8k monitor you won't need it, the world is just coming to grip with 4-5k, and that took us a decade, we are still very very far off from mass 8k adoption. same for bluetooth, only real benefit i think most would get out of it is spatial audio provided you have the latest airpod.

as for wifi, my wifi 6 is faster than my fios internet so i don't see the point of 6e, especially consider theres wifi 7 out. and if you know anything about wifi, the faster the speed the higher the signal density, meaning it penetrates less. so faster wifi doesn't mean better coverage, hell i still have to switch to wifi 5 whenever i'm a bit far from the router.
 
if they both will end up costing you the same money wise just keep the M1 Max. For me I watched the detailed comparison of the 16gb vs 32gb and decided to save $400. On paper 32Gb is better but in reality based on all the tests I've seen there is not much difference.
 
Keep the M1 Pro with 32GB memory. The extras in the M2 are not, in my opinion worth it. It is incremental at best and for video work, memory is essential, even small scale video editing. Wifi, BT and HDMI upgrades are academic at best. I always recommend going for the most memory you can afford. Main storage can be added externally if needed unless you want to carry around a 4TB photo library of course......
 
That depends, if you plan on only keeping it for a short amount of time then selling it for the M3 when it comes out, the M2 is going to retain its value better just by value of the fact that it’s 18 months newer.
However, if you’re planning on keeping this machine for another five years plus, I’d say stick with the M1max.
The extra RAM is gonna keep it feeling smoother for longer as the OS and applications take more and more RAM as the years go by.
Meanwhile, the actual performance difference between the processors is minuscule, and given that they are so similar, it wouldn’t shock me to see Apple drop support for them at the same time like they did with the iPhone 6S and 7.
There’s really no benefit to keeping the M2 unless you’re planning on selling it within the next two years, or you just absolutely need 8K output.
Otherwise, keep the extra ram, that’ll actually come in handy.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
That depends, if you plan on only keeping it for a short amount of time then selling it for the M3 when it comes out, the M2 is going to retain its value better just by value of the fact that it’s 18 months newer.
However, if you’re planning on keeping this machine for another five years plus, I’d say stick with the M1max.
The extra RAM is gonna keep it feeling smoother for longer as the OS and applications take more and more RAM as the years go by.
Meanwhile, the actual performance difference between the processors is minuscule, and given that they are so similar, it wouldn’t shock me to see Apple drop support for them at the same time like they did with the iPhone 6S and 7.
There’s really no benefit to keeping the M2 unless you’re planning on selling it within the next two years, or you just absolutely need 8K output.
Otherwise, keep the extra ram, that’ll actually come in handy.
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yeah folks forget apple doesn't drop support purely because of which year it came out, they drop support en mass by system architecture. when the newest OS is putting too much strain thats when apple put them in legacy mode, m1 and m2 are both derived from identical SoC, just faster clock and more E cores.
 
I'd keep the newer one. For your usage the RAM difference is meaningless.
 
I’d say it comes down to what you mean by video editing. Quick edits of videos from your phone or consumer camera in iMovie or Final Cut, or bigger edits with color grading, effects, motion tracking/stabilization, or even some neural engine processing in Final Cut or Resolve? You have to remember that the CPU and GPU share the RAM in Apple Silicon. It is managed really well and is very fast, but there is very noticeable wall where you will wish you had more RAM.

If you are like me and frequently multi-media multi task, where you need to open a photo or two for a quick edit while you have a video project open and a half dozen browser tabs with your email and other info you need to reference pulled up, 16GB definitely feels like it ish pushing it. I wish I had gone for 32.
 
sevoneone said:
I’d say it comes down to what you mean by video editing. Quick edits of videos from your phone or consumer camera in iMovie or Final Cut, or bigger edits with color grading, effects, motion tracking/stabilization, or even some neural engine processing in Final Cut or Resolve? You have to remember that the CPU and GPU share the RAM in Apple Silicon. It is managed really well and is very fast, but there is very noticeable wall where you will wish you had more RAM.

If you are like me and frequently multi-media multi task, where you need to open a photo or two for a quick edit while you have a video project open and a half dozen browser tabs with your email and other info you need to reference pulled up, 16GB definitely feels like it ish pushing it. I wish I had gone for 32.
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I would watch the comparisons I posted earlier. They really pushed the machines with 50 large raw files open, 20 tabs in chrome,50!tracks playing in logic, 4K in Final Cut and found little difference.The proof is in real world tests but most are not watching the comparison and just going off paper specs which apply more to older systems and PCs. Regardless if the price is the same might as well stick with the M1.
 
People edit heavily-graded 4K video with 16GB M1 models without a problem. You may need to use proxies or a smaller 1080p preview sometimes but that is likely on the M2 Pro as well.
 
The unified memory pretty-much throws the “more RAM is king” argument out of the window apart from maybe a few more specialised usage.
 
tarsins said:
The unified memory pretty-much throws the “more RAM is king” argument out of the window apart from maybe a few more specialised usage.
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I think this thought is based on the fact that the internal SSDs are very fast and that so called paging out to disk is now much faster. Tests done by some on-line testers eg. Max Tech (I know we do not all respect their testing) and by myself (comparing 8 to 16GB and 16 to 32 GB) tend to show that although the impact of reduced memory is not as severe in this so called Unified Memory world, it is not negligible ( I do note that the difference noted between 16GB and 24 GB for the MBA M2 were not considered significant enough to spend the extra on the 8 GB of extra memory).

This is probably caused by the different way in which the systems handle memory and disk storage for paging. Fact is, SSD storage access speeds are not as fast as memory access speeds and despite some of the admittedly clever approaches in the Unified Memory architecture (high speed internal buses) more memory does help and is impossible to add after the machine has been purchased. You can add persistent storage (external SSDs) which means a shortfall is not as serious (although inconvenient). Hence even in these days of Unified Memory, I would go for more memory first and then SSD space given a limited or fixed budget.
 
Bump - same question for M3 Pro? To make it simple:

M1 Pro 32 GB RAM (new) - $1600
M3 Pro 18 GB RAM (new) - $1800

Worth $200 to get newer with less RAM? Basically identical use case to OP.
 
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