Performance Comparison: M3 Max MacBook Pro vs. M1 Max MacBook Pro

[flogician]

I think Dan needs to learn what Blender is used for as his explaining is not that great.
Saving 5 mins on a single image is HUGE saving. If you render animation and each second has 24 frames (film) you are saving 2!!! hours per second of footage.
Its unlikely that you do this on a production thing, but for students or small freelancers, that is a BIG deal.

Talking about 5 mins a day (as Dan put it) is really not the right comparison as its never just a single frame.

Perhaps, but... why would you render anything like that with a laptop (multiple days for a 30 second clip)? A $500 GPU would outperform an M3 Max ($4000+) any day. Are you really going to set your brand new laptop in a corner and let the fans churn for days on end? Are you going to do this regularly? A student/freelancer could buy a reasonably priced laptop AND a desktop for that price, and come out way ahead. An MBP is nice, but it's not the right tool for that job.

Exporting a video is a much more reasonable scenario, and the difference in that is much less significant in that use case. It's not like you can't do anything else while a video is exporting unless you're lazy like me, in which case the slower the better!

 

[ikramerica]

SAD! I'm going to stick with my 486DX2-66 until they offer something compelling.

You joke but that was a great platform. I had a Dell DX2-66 on academic discount. Great gaming machine of the day.

 

[Fomalhaut]

In my case, it all started 4 weeks ago today, when my M1 Max did the “black screen on startup” thing, which turned out to be a Mac OS bug in Monterey 12.7 and Ventura 13.6. It took me quite a bit of time to realize I was not dealing with hardware failure as it originally appeared, but the Mac OS bug that was addressed in Ventura 13.6.2 last week.

If none of that had happened, I’d still be using the M1 Max and wouldn’t be considering upgrading.

In my use, there’s benefit to the M3 Max versus the Pro. That’s now my primary laptop, with the base M1 Pro my backup.

If it was a software bug, why not just reinstall the OS from a clean SSD? Which “black screen” bug are you referring to anyway?

 

[Nick_P]

One of the best parts about Apple Silicon thus far is we've had a new chip each year, and it went to every model each year, save for the iMac skipping M2. That's a huge improvement over the Intel days! I hope the trend continues.

 

[tshrimp]

Well, you are closer to the truth that you intended with your snipe comment - since Apple clearly pitched m3 to the intel crowd, the proper comparison should have been with the last Intel MBPs and not m1 or m2. Apple has a crystal clear knowledge of the size of the installed base still using MBPs running of Intel chips and overheating the world and the goal of m3 is move those hundreds of thousands of users to Apple silicone. It was clear to those with half a brain in 2020 that Apple silicone will need several years to mature both as chip and as an environment. Likely. few of those "rocket scientist" decided to commit to the change at that time but now, three years down the road, the time is right.

Problem is, at least for me, they are driving me away creating another "Intel crowd" user. No matter how fast, no matter how good the display, no matter how good the camera, I can't get past the notch. I finally traded in my iPhone as I just couldn't take it any more. M3 MacBook without a notch and with an OLED display, and I am there.

 

[majkom]

The numbers look impressive but 2 mins real-world gains...factoring the cost does not seem like true value.

Again if you're coming from Intel then by all means. But if you already have an M series chip then really there's less incentive

Unless you have an esoteric workflow thats takes advantage of every minutae of performance gain

...or just have have disposable income.

So, you just described Marco Arment

 

[majkom]

Yes, this is what has to happen in these reviews. The trouble is the bloggers don't know much about how computers are used so all they are really qualified to do is download a benchmark app and click on it. A real journalist would go out and find professionals who do use computers for work and interview them about what they do and then have different kinds of them try the new computer and summarize how each kind of use case could benefit or not from an upgrade. But this kind of original research takes hours and days and weeks while clicking a benchmark app takes only a minute or two.

That said, blame this on the readers (you and I) we don't want to pay for quality content and prefer free crap.

It is mainly hunt for clicks - you gotta be fast, release review ASAP as there is army of other youtubers doing the same and if you miss that initial batch of reviews, you lost… simple as that

 

[loby]

Thanks Dan for the review. I appreciate the straight forward (real world) review compared to the YouTubers who get a cut from Apple or a free Mac for reviewing as long as you say good things.

Final Cut Pro is also my daily driver, and the savings if even just a few minutes does add up. The M3 is a good Mac if you need or want it.

But agree about upgrading from a M1 16" now as it is too expensive to justify. If people have the funds to do so, it (of course) is always a good thing, but the M1 16" is a wonderful Mac (the best in my years using Apple products) and hope to use it for some years (in hopes that Apple does not cripple it eventually....) This is why we pay the price for Apple gear. We can use it for some years..

Thanks for the review.

 

[MayaUser]

M3 pro is the real thing showing what you actual get with the new cores and new node
Gaining performance a little by removing performance

 

[jgrove]

Processor upgrades are now an annual event from Apple in the same way the iPhone is updated. Take it or leave it, Apple knows that’s the best way to fill the piggy bank to keep their software up to date and to keep RnD costs moving forward, and let’s not forget the shareholders.

Is it worth upgrading? Only you know the answer to that, for videographers then yes for photographers likely not. (These are my uses)

Are you buying a new one? Then yes but definitely get the Pro or Max versions as this will increase the longevity of the life of the computer, and mean upgrading isn’t required as often.

I use a M1Pro MBP if I can see significant differences in photography RAW preview generation and subsequent thumbnail production then yes I’ll upgrade, but as it stands from what I have seen the performance increases in this specific area are minimal.

If I have one comment on the M3 it’s this: What the hell with the 8GB of RAM? or is this the marketing to push people to higher spec models or to ensure then upgrade next year?

 

[Paapaa]

I just hate it when the reviewer doesn't seem to know what are percents. He just repeats the difference is "5 minutes, 29 points, 2 minutes". I mean come one: how many PERCENTS is the difference? That explains if the difference is significant and can be applied to different workloads. 60% speedup is a lot 1% is not. 5 minutes or 29 points tells nothing.

And it's not just him. Many, many reviewers don't know what percents are and why they matter.

 

[woolypants]

M1 Max 16in owner here. I was never even considering upgrading, to be honest, so am outside the target for this video.

From a performance perspective, those SSD figures are perhaps more useful for day-to-day use. And the SSD is still incredibly fast relative to the new models with the 1TB capacity.

And then if I have to export or transcode video, the M1 Max will turbo-up to do so quickly. If I were doing that on a regular basis, I'd consider a desktop of some kind. But ultimately, this is one of the curiosities of the MacBook Pros – they're designed to be portable, but for many users they just sit on the desk day-in, day-out.

 

[woolypants]

Processor upgrades are now an annual event from Apple in the same way the iPhone is updated

Apple always wanted this to be the case, but were hamstrung by Intel wobbles over the last decade.

 

[Dolmio]

The M1 Max is a beast so no real reason to upgrade yet! The only reason I’m going to upgrade is I want to drop from a 16 inch to a 14 inch for portability puporses. I’m gonna try the binned m3 max 14 which should be ample for years to come

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

This bodes really well for the M3 Ultra

 

[Kylo83]

wow you can export a few min quicker. how does that make people think its worth it

 

[DownUnderDan]

This bodes really well for the M3 Ultra

Unless production yields improve, that might still be a while off for M3 or they may wait for M4.

 

[3xBoom]

Problem is, at least for me, they are driving me away creating another "Intel crowd" user. No matter how fast, no matter how good the display, no matter how good the camera, I can't get past the notch. I finally traded in my iPhone as I just couldn't take it any more. M3 MacBook without a notch and with an OLED display, and I am there.

Seems that the growing gap in capabilities between Intel and Apple Silicone MPBs is not yet the main driver that could justify the upgrade. Which is fine, of course. Whether you like the notch or not is entirely your preference.

 

[GraXXoR]

move hundreds of thousands of users to Apple silicone.

iBreast. Here we come.

 

[turtlemarks]

I usually like the comparison videos, but if you’re gonna compare two MacBook Pros, make sure that the configurations are the same… can’t compare one with 48gb of RAM and the other with 32gb of RAM or 16 core and the other 10 core. That’s when people will accuse you of being Apple sponsored. Obviously the M3 Max should be faster, but compare the Apple to an equally equipped Apple.

 

[GraXXoR]

Not to mention their bloody clickbaits (like Maxtech - which I've stopped watching because of that)

I’ve taken to downvoting and leaving a comment saying so on his videos. Can’t stand his hypercaffeinated performance that constantly seems he’s on the verge of laughing all the time.

The clickbait isn’t just him either. I’ve seen a few videos with vague in screen captions like “Apple are finished” or “It’s over”… or... “why I returned my iPhone!” before going on to praise it anyway.

 

[XboxEvolved]

Considering that Apple wants people to upgrade to an M3 that are coming from Macs from 2019 or older, it would be cooler (and better probably) to see that comparison.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Small gains… Apple just did such a great job with the m1max you don’t need to upgrade.

Even MKBHD cancelled his m3max macbook order. To me that speaks volumes.

Holy **** it really does. He even justified his purchase of a Mac Pro he admitted he didn't need by shoving that giant PCI SSD in there. Guy has $30k cameras just sitting around.

 

[Born Again]

Holy **** it really does. He even justified his purchase of a Mac Pro he admitted he didn't need by shoving that giant PCI SSD in there. Guy has $30k cameras just sitting around.

It probably didn’t help that the MacBook isn’t really black but grey lol

 

[Jack Burton]

It's a shame people aren't using the latest cinebench to also test the M3 Max GPU.

The latest Cinebench takes advantage of the RT cores. I've seen other reviewers say "not many games use RT cores on mac," but 3d rendering engines do! Show that!