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M1 Pro vs. M1 Max Buyer's Guide
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The average person does not need the M1 Max, the Pro has more than enough power to handle everyday tasks
I'm in almost exactly the same boat. I develop (Xcode mostly, some Visual Studio), but also more than occasional Lightroom and Pixelmator Pro editing, just not daily. And every now and then some video editing, which are mostly personal.
But do note that going for the M1 Max is not just the SoC upgrade, but also forces the memory upgrade from 16 to 32 GB. And that's another $400 extra for a total of $600 just to get the "base" M1 Max with 24-core GPU.
If I look at the SoC technical aspects, the difference between M1 Pro and M1 Max is basically: double everything except for CPU cores and depending on your option either 50% or 100% more GPU cores (16 for Pro, 24 or 32 for Max). Since memory is universal, it makes sense doubling the SoC also doubles the 16 GB RAM to 32 GB and as such also doubling the memory bandwidth from 200 to 400 GB/s.
So for that alone (more performance, headroom and future-proofing) I'm leaning towards the cheapest M1 Max option: M1 Max, 24-core GPU, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD.
However, looking at Apple's GPU performance graphs between M1 Pro and M1 Max, it seems the M1 Max is potentially also much more power hungry:
M1 Pro is given a "Relative Performance Index" of about 200 which sits at ~30 Watts.
M1 Max (probably the 32-core GPU version) is given a RPI of about 375 at ~55 Watts. If the graph is correctly scaled and can be interpreted as such, the M1 Max's GPU would at ~30 Watts roughly provide a RPI of 250, which is better than the M1 Pro, not sure though how this translated to real world scenarios.
So my final take-away in all this is that if you're keen on having the longest battery life and don't necessarily need the added performance, the M1 Pro might even be the better choice looking at those Watt figures. The M1 Pro doesn't seem to go further than 30 Watts and the 55 Watts of the M1 Max sounds about right if you simply double the M1 Pro in every aspect but keep the same amount of CPU cores (10).
I would probably cancel the second one, the first one should serve your purpose. My MacBook Air M1 with 8GB is fine except when I try to open 20 tabs in Safari, it starts to struggle 😢
Average person doesn't even need the Pro. The name actually means what it says for once.
I expect to use this for 5 years+, so at a difference of a few hundred dollars per year, there is no point in risking regret. Get the max!
Also the resale value after 5 years will make up some of the difference.
Also the resale value after 5 years will make up some of the difference.
Seems that way, but we don't know if it will be every year (iPhone refreshes), or every 18 months (average iPad refreshes?), or every two years (rumored Apple silicon Mac refreshes)...?
It's kinda funny how people have been complaining for years that Apple has abandoned professionals by not making fast enough laptops. Now they've finally made super powerful laptops and people are complaining they're too fast. 😂
The actual price of the RAM chips probably has very little impact on price. The marketing team is unfortunately the ones setting the price here.
I did this too (16 inch, 32Gb, 1Tb), but then I realised for an extra 10% in price you got 2 x increase in graphics. So I cancelled my order and order the same spect with M1 Max (32 core). My work flow is mostly CPU intensive, but i plan to use the computer for ~5 to 10 years (I’m upgrading from 2012 retina - specked out but struggling these days). The extra GPU May come in handy eventually, maybe I’ll get back into games, or video design, or VR might become a thing. Felt relieved once I made the decision (added a week to delivery time), an extra £300 over 5/10 years ain’t that much.
I thought the same thing, so rang apple sales - they said the Max didn’t effect battery life or run hotter/louder. If true, then presumably M1 Max has the same power draw until it needs more ‘umph’
I can't wait for a full set of benchmarks...
Once you're up to a well spec'd 32GB/2TB machine, the $200 to go to Max doesn't seem like much, and the $200 to go from 24 to 32 GPU cores doesn't seem like much. Not sure what the incremental benefits are going to be though.
It looks like the M1 Max w/ 32GB is 4 8GB RAMs, versus the M1 Pro 32GB being 2 16GB RAMs? Would this provide a CPU performance advantage for the Max over the Pro or is that extra bandwidth only really valuable when exploiting the full GPU array?
Once you're up to a well spec'd 32GB/2TB machine, the $200 to go to Max doesn't seem like much, and the $200 to go from 24 to 32 GPU cores doesn't seem like much. Not sure what the incremental benefits are going to be though.
It looks like the M1 Max w/ 32GB is 4 8GB RAMs, versus the M1 Pro 32GB being 2 16GB RAMs? Would this provide a CPU performance advantage for the Max over the Pro or is that extra bandwidth only really valuable when exploiting the full GPU array?
I feel like the limiting factor is no longer the MacBook… it is how fast I can click.
I cancelled for the 3rd time.
I had initially planned for the 14” being more portable but figured in my configuration I will use it as a 2ndary screen. So 16” it is.
No, the Apple presentation showed images of the different dies. It would be hugely wasteful to disable half the GPU cores (good & bad) to create an M1 Pro out of an M1 Max.
There are some narrow unique specializations.
First, the two de/encode engines allow the M1 Max to transcode video from one format to another almost solely with fixed function logic. The first part of the transcode process is to decode data and the second part is the encode it into the new format. With one fixed function unit running decode and one unit running encode just about the whole computation workload overhead here can be offload off the P/E cores. ( this is restricted to the codec coverage the de/encoders have but it is a decently broad set. For example, a user could do ProRes RAW to ProRes 442 )
There is a decent chance Compressor has been optimized to do this. ( Pretty sure "amazing transcode" was mentioned briefly during the keynote. )
The M1 Pro can't do that ( P cores would get looped into either en/decode ) . It isn't a huge variety of workloads, but it also isn't none either.
Second, RAM capacity does enable some tasks. Model a 40GB 3D model.
If you’re just doing everyday tasks, why would you need a PRO (Professional) MBP at all?
There is no way that is true. The sales rep is probably reading the tech specs page. For watching video there is no difference in large part because none of the CPU or GPU cores have anything substantial to do with that. The "wireless web" metric is another one of those "one P core and two E cores " tasks that won't drive a difference.
Neither one of those will are likely to activate the fans either. These are just relatively super lightweight loads.
Stating they are equal on super lightweight loads is deceptive. If decoctive more of the larger SoC then they will be about equal. But if light up both dies there is no way they are consuming the same power.
The core issue is Apple has no standard battery life metrics that actually loop in the sustain active cores in large numbers. There has to be a gap if the fans kick in. Apple's own graphs so that when fully active the Max consumes more power than the Pro. At fully activity, the fans will kick in ( further consuming battery ). Fans dispensing 50W versus 30W is going to drive a difference.
Same thing with Screen size. There are just more transistors and LEDs in a 16 screen than a 14. Same impact on the bigger SoC.
P.S. If constantly running limited workloads so never "light up" the Max portion of the SoC that is different from the Pro SoC then there is really no good reason to buy billions of transistors have little to no intention of using.
I am concerned about the possible downside of going m1 max, for example more heat and less battery life.
I alway buy the top of the line MacBook Pro with almost every in it. I do not need the storage so I going for 2TB.