To M4 Pro Or Not To M4 Pro

[Populus]

I got the M4 Pro for two reasons:

1) I have an M1Pro MBP which still 'crushes' anything I throw at it. I figure the M4 and M4Pro will crush it for years and when the extra cost is amortized over the time I expect to keep the thing, then the difference isn't too bad.

2) I was able to get educational discount and put the $100 towards the M4 Pro.

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I accept that I bought more computer than necessary... but since I plan to replace the M1Pro MBP with a 15" M4 Air, I decided that I want to keep a 'Pro' class CPU in my life for heavier tasks (whatever they may be).

Would you choose the 12/16 M4 Pro? Or the 14/20 M4 Pro?
The only thing preventing me from getting the upgrade is how hot my current binned M4 Pro gets. I can’t imagine it with 4 more GPU cores… but I feel like the games on a 4K display need that extra oomph. On my previous 1080p display they ran pretty well honestly.

 

[CalMin]

Would you choose the 10/16 M4 Pro? Or the 12/20 M4 Pro?
The only thing preventing me from getting the upgrade is how hot my current binned M4 Pro gets. I can’t imagine it with 4 more GPU cores… but I feel like the games on a 4K display need that extra oomph. On my previous 1080p display they ran pretty well honestly.

The performance difference is likely to be marginal and mostly imperceptible other than with the synthetic benchmarks, so personally I would not. I recall that one of the YouTubers looked at this (probably MaxTech) and came to a similar conclusion.

That said, if the extra expenditure doesn't cause hardship and if you will sleep better at night, then go for it. I just don't think you will see much benefit in daily use.

 

[Macalway]

It depends on the apps you are using. Some apps require more. It's pretty simple. These apps will show a difference, which can be substantial.

 

[Populus]

The performance difference is likely to be marginal and mostly imperceptible other than with the synthetic benchmarks, so personally I would not. I recall that one of the YouTubers looked at this (probably MaxTech) and came to a similar conclusion.

Yeah, also my guess is that the unbinned version will suffer from more thermal throttling, due to how thermally constrained the new mini is…