Mac Studio M1 Max: 24 or 32-Core GPU, 32 or 64GB Unified Memory

[F-Train]

I know that these subjects have been discussed in relation to the 16" MacBook Pro quite a lot, but the discussions tend to be general and I'm going to try to be specific.

I plan to purchase a Mac Studio M1 Max to replace a 2018 Mac mini (i7, 32GB RAM) paired with an AMD RX Vega 56 external graphics card. The heaviest loads for my computer come from an aviation simulator (X-Plane), 4K video editing (Final Cut Pro, Da Vinci Resolve, Apple Motion) and music making using digital orchestral libraries (Logic Pro X).

My Mac mini handles these tasks adequately with two caveats. First, there's no such thing as too much processing power for X-Plane; it's just a matter of how much you're prepared to spend. Secondly, while I'm not there yet, I'm headed in a direction on music making where people using orchestral libraries regard 64GB of RAM as a significant improvement over 32GB; I'm interested in some headroom.

I'm trying to identify what Mac Studio M1 Max specs will equal the setup that I have now in terms of CPU and GPU performance. I'd also like to get a sense, if I can, about how close those specs are to the point where I have no headroom.

As background, I've read two helpful AnandTech articles about M1 Max performance, including yesterday's article on M1 Max/M1 Ultra. I've also checked out a good number of YouTube videos. I don't find these very helpful, exceptions being a couple of videos by Dave2D and Marques Brownlee.

Thanks for advice.

 

[spiderpumpkin]

I went with the 32 core M1 Max since that's how the Max chip was designed and the $200 upgrade price wasn't too bad. Since it's in the the plugged in enclosure with fans it shouldn't be throttled like it is in the Macbook Pros.

32GB of RAM is probably enough for most users. If you think you'll need 64GB in the future and don't mind spending $400 then go for it. I decided to go with 2TB of storage instead of 64GB of RAM due to cost and foreseeing more need for storage than memory. I also considered getting both but then I may as well start thinking Ultra.

 

[sparkie7]

I went with the 32 core M1 Max since that's how the Max chip was designed and the $200 upgrade price wasn't too bad. Since it's in the the plugged in enclosure with fans it shouldn't be throttled like it is in the Macbook Pros.

Are the MacBook Pro is 16" laptops throttled?

 

[Chancha]

Are the MacBook Pro is 16" laptops throttled?

They do, but only under a certain workload that is a combination of CPU + GPU cores at the same time. it is difficult to replicate in normal use for most scenarios.