MacBook Pro m4/5 max 14” or 16”?

[delsoul]

I’m thinking of getting a MacBook Pro max and not sure if there’s any differences or benefits in buying one over the other? Is there any advantages of buying the 16” instead of the 14”?

 

[Basic75]

Are there any advantages to buying the 16” instead of the 14”?

Bigger screen (obviously), better audio quality, and better thermal management (which can improve performance on long-running tasks with really high computational demands).

 

[Alameda]

I’m thinking of getting a MacBook Pro max and not sure if there’s any differences or benefits in buying one over the other? Is there any advantages of buying the 16” instead of the 14”?

It is not an objective decision; it is a matter of your preference. The 16" is better except that it's heavier and it costs more. I have had the 14" for years now and I do not want a heavier/larger laptop. Using a 16" on an airplane or on my lap would not be comfortable.

My MacBook Pro is my main computer and I use a Thunderbolt hub in my office to attach a 4K monitor, keyboard, mouse, Ethernet, etc. The built-in screen is used when traveling. But maybe you're an accountant and you need large spreadsheets open all the time when you do an audit remotely, or you're an architect or for a thousand other reasons you know that you need a lot of portable screen real estate so the 16" makes the most sense for you.

 

[Alvin777]

I’m thinking of getting a MacBook Pro max and not sure if there’s any differences or benefits in buying one over the other? Is there any advantages of buying the 16” instead of the 14”?

As Steve Jobs said, go with the holistic approach in terms of time. How much time will be used. If you have. Will you use your better sounding earpod or headphones more, will you watch on the TV more, is travel frequent, is using it in bed frequent, same with using in in the couch, is it gonna' spend more time plugged in an external monitor? A) Will it take a long time to afford a good, proper larger monitor? Do you frequently use two windows at the minimum but have the A) conundrum, then it's 16"

 

[bnumerick]

I’m thinking of getting a MacBook Pro max and not sure if there’s any differences or benefits in buying one over the other? Is there any advantages of buying the 16” instead of the 14”?

It'll really depend on how heavily you are pushing the systems. They both have benefits over each other. With the 14”, you sacrifice some performance and screen space for more portability though in most situations the performance difference is not huge. If you need maximum sustained performance or heavily use the CPU + GPU at the same time, then the 16" is clearly the better system. People say the 14" thermal throttles, but that's not actually what is happening. While the fans do need to work harder, I've found the 14" has no issues cooling the chip. What is going on is the power envelope between the two sizes is different, and the 14", outside of bursts, runs at a lower wattage, so the performance is lower because of that. The 14" really suffered when you need to use CPU + GPU at the same time due to this lower power envelope, but that is not a typical workflow for most people. With that said I have not tested the M5 Max in the high CPU + GPU situation to know if that is still the case as the app I used to really see that issue in has shifted to put more emphasis on the GPU and as such the gap between the two has closed to about 10-20% even in an 8+ hour run as long as I have high power mode on.