I’m a non-power user…web meetings, web browsing, excel… My company is offering me 14inch M1 Max w 32gpu & 64ram or 16inch 24gpu w 32ram. I can get the 14 sooner and prefer this size, but less heat, quiet (less fan), and battery are important to me. Can I run the 14 in a low power mode? Would that help? Can folks please provide input on this decision between these two MacBooks.
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Purchase help- 16 w 24GPU vs 14 w 32 GPU
- Thread starter alubenow
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What are you using right now? I went from a 2018 15" MBP to a 2021 16" 32GPU 32GB ram... I've never heard the fans, and the battery life is incredible compared to the 2-3 hours of work I could get out of the old one. So while I can't speak to the 14"-- my understanding is that the smaller size limits the cooling a tad (and maybe battery life a tad)-- for what you're doing I would be surprised if you heard the fans or had a particular issue with battery life.
Hi Rumz...I think my last macbook was an intel 13 inch pro, which mostly stayed quiet. But at my last company they initially gave me a 15inch pro with intel chip (i think) and the fan was always going nuts, they swapped it for the 13 and it ran more quiet.
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Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. Unfortunately, the options that I shared are what I need to choose from.
In that case I would just pick the size I like better.
Edit: to expand a bit, I doubt that the difference in battery life will be significant enough. The 16” will have better battery life, simply because the battery is bigger, but the practical difference in GPU power consumption between the two models is minuscule. Unless of course you run GPU intensive tasks (which by your own admission you don’t)
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Whatever feels better. Performance shouldn't be an issue for either system.
I have the 16 inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro 1 TB/32 GB. It does far more than I need. I would be better off with a 15 inch M2 MacBook Air which might come in 2023. So look at screen, battery life, speakers as you're only going to use a fraction of the computing power.
You are clearly not going to squeeze any of those configs, so simply choose the size you prefer. You already seem to lean towards the 14", so I'd go for that. You might see a slight battery life improvement with the 16", but you aren't pushing any heavy workloads so it shouldn't be a dramatic difference. Both machines will run very cool and silent.
Because of the technological breakthrough that is the M1, performance, battery life, heat and noise are no longer an issue. You can freely chose your MacBook based on screen size and weight alone. Have fun!
These MacBooks will automatically run on the efficacy cores whenever they can, it keeps them cool as the other side of the pillow most of the time.
Tho it's really up to the App you are running, an app can request to run on the performance cores, but it really won't run much hotter unless the app really stresses the CPU or GPU.
There is an option to run in low power mode that should keep most apps from trying to request time on the performance cores.
I'd go for the 14" as RAM can't be added later and you never know what your needs will be in the future.
I would honestly just go with the size that you prefer.
I had a 14" MacBook Pro and loved it. I preferred it to the 16" because I work from out of the home a lot, plus I have a 27" 4K display already. The only condition I think I'd prefer the 16" was if I didn't have an external display already and I'd probably still regret it every time I lugged it around.
I had a 14" MacBook Pro and loved it. I preferred it to the 16" because I work from out of the home a lot, plus I have a 27" 4K display already. The only condition I think I'd prefer the 16" was if I didn't have an external display already and I'd probably still regret it every time I lugged it around.
Thanks, I appreciate your input!
Thanks, I appreciate your input!
If battery life is a concern get the 16".
Battery life is generally worse on the M1 Max. The 14" has lower batter life.
On almost every metric except weight the 16" is better. Larger screen, better battery life, larger and louder speakers.
32gb ram paired with M1 max and 24 core gpu are more than enough for you. Probably just right and should perform well for a long time.
If you just want max specs, lower weight then the 14" is the way to go.
Battery life is generally worse on the M1 Max. The 14" has lower batter life.
On almost every metric except weight the 16" is better. Larger screen, better battery life, larger and louder speakers.
32gb ram paired with M1 max and 24 core gpu are more than enough for you. Probably just right and should perform well for a long time.
If you just want max specs, lower weight then the 14" is the way to go.