16.2 inch Base Level M4 Max at Best Buy - is it worth it?

[gadgetfreaky]

Here is teh dilemna- I like buying thru Best Buy because I get the discount and price match and ordinarily I'd just buy the M4 Pro with the $200 hard disk upgrade to 1tb.

However Best Buy does not have any Pro Configs with 1TB. If you want 1TB you have to go up to the Base Max which gets you
* 36GB memory
* 1tb Hard Drive
* 32 GPU cores vs 20

The CPU cores are identical the Pro model so you get no improvement there. Same with memory bandwidth which does not improve unless you get the top line max model.

After discounts, I'm paying only $450 more than if I just straight up bought from Apple but I'd get Apple care at Best Buy.

1. Is there any way for me to just get a pro with Best Buy with 1TB? Is it just a matter of time till they add that config?
2. Or is there some benefit of this base Max that I'm not aware of?

 

[Chancha]

Best Buy just follows Apple's SKU, if you go to Apple website you will see the 16" M4 Pros also doesn't some standard with 1TB.

With the binned Max, you may get marginal improvements in performance even for CPU bound tasks, despite the core counts are the same with the M4 Pro. It may have to do with memory bandwidth, or something underlying in the chip, and they are fundamentally two different chip designs.

Then the Max clearly is much better in GPU performance than the Pro, this has been the main differentiator between them since the beginning.

Also with the Max you get double the encoders in the media engine and ProRes engine, some video editors will just pay for this or avoid the Pro chip in the past, because this literally halves the export time for those workflow. You being unaware of this probably means you will never need that though.

The Max chip also supports much more external displays than the Pro. Even if you don't need that now, you may in your future setups, so something to beware.

IMO this year's binned Max is not a good value, because the M4 Pro got a massive upgrade while the Max variants got less so.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

Best Buy just follows Apple's SKU, if you go to Apple website you will see the 16" M4 Pros also doesn't some standard with 1TB.

With the binned Max, you may get marginal improvements in performance even for CPU bound tasks, despite the core counts are the same with the M4 Pro. It may have to do with memory bandwidth, or something underlying in the chip, and they are fundamentally two different chip designs.

Then the Max clearly is much better in GPU performance than the Pro, this has been the main differentiator between them since the beginning.

Also with the Max you get double the encoders in the media engine and ProRes engine, some video editors will just pay for this or avoid the Pro chip in the past, because this literally halves the export time for those workflow. You being unaware of this probably means you will never need that though.

The Max chip also supports much more external displays than the Pro. Even if you don't need that now, you may in your future setups, so something to beware.

IMO this year's binned Max is not a good value, because the M4 Pro got a massive upgrade while the Max variants got less so.

My M1 Pro w/ 1 terabyte I bought at Best Buy so Apple must have stopped with the 1TB config. Im not sure how people survive on 512

 

[Chancha]

My M1 Pro w/ 1 terabyte I bought at Best Buy so Apple must have stopped with the 1TB config. Im not sure how people survive on 512

Apple started this last year.
With M1 Pro and M2 Pro, the 2nd tier SKU for 16" 16GB 1TB.
With M3 Pro, the same 2nd tier with the same price changed to 36GB 512GB.
This year they just copied last year, but the base RAM rose from 18 to 24 so this config becomes 48GB.

I have no idea why they felt the need to change. Either of the cases have some bottleneck, 16GB and 512GB are both kind of laughable for the price these configs are asking. It is almost as if they want people to avoid this and move upwards to the Max SKU. Like what you are facing now.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

Apple started this last year.
With M1 Pro and M2 Pro, the 2nd tier SKU for 16" 16GB 1TB.
With M3 Pro, the same 2nd tier with the same price changed to 36GB 512GB.
This year they just copied last year, but the base RAM rose from 18 to 24 so this config becomes 48GB.

I have no idea why they felt the need to change. Either of the cases have some bottleneck, 16GB and 512GB are both kind of laughable for the price these configs are asking. It is almost as if they want people to avoid this and move upwards to the Max SKU. Like what you are facing now.

First of all thanks for your knowledgeable response above. I forgot to mention that.

But yeah I think it's a channel strategy since most people who want a 16 pro are gonna need 1TB. So it forces Best Buy customers to either buy the otherwise suboptimal Max model or just buy straight from Apple.
it's in effect pushing people back to Apple or moving the average unit price up. Fairly clever.

In my case, I can get the Max base for $450 more with teh 10% discount + free apple care. Tough spot.

 

[glindon]

First of all thanks for your knowledgeable response above. I forgot to mention that.

But yeah I think it's a channel strategy since most people who want a 16 pro are gonna need 1TB. So it forces Best Buy customers to either buy the otherwise suboptimal Max model or just buy straight from Apple.
it's in effect pushing people back to Apple or moving the average unit price up. Fairly clever.

In my case, I can get the Max base for $450 more with teh 10% discount + free apple care. Tough spot.

It always seems to me that Best Buy is a place where you buy a MacBook only if you need it now, are extremely price sensitive (BB has sales), or no Apple store is nearby. I don't know why anyone wouldn't buy from them otherwise. A lot of times, Best Buy doesn't have the model you want anyway, and Apple stores typically have BTO options that BB will never have.

 

[LogicalApex]

Current Best Buy and third party stock matches what Apple Stores have. Apple clearly targeted their base model configurations across the board to have those well stocked heading into the holiday season. Any deviation from that currently needs a Build To Order configuration which can only be done via Apple.

In coming weeks or months I'd expect Best Buy and other third party resellers to have stock of common Build to Order configs as they always have...

It always seems to me that Best Buy is a place where you buy a MacBook only if you need it now, are extremely price sensitive (BB has sales), or no Apple store is nearby. I don't know why anyone wouldn't buy from them otherwise. A lot of times, Best Buy doesn't have the model you want anyway, and Apple stores typically have BTO options that BB will never have.

Buying from Best Buy can make sense for some. They offer an addon you can buy from them that will automatically add Apple Care+ to all of your Apple Care purchases from them @ 179/y. Since it covers all your purchases it can actually end up being a lot cheaper than buying Apple Care+ for each individual device or the extended warranty on your fridge and etc.

If you're already a Best Buy shopper anyway.

So far, it hasn't pulled me over to buying from Best Buy, but I can understand why some do!

 

[gadgetfreaky]

It always seems to me that Best Buy is a place where you buy a MacBook only if you need it now, are extremely price sensitive (BB has sales), or no Apple store is nearby. I don't know why anyone wouldn't buy from them otherwise. A lot of times, Best Buy doesn't have the model you want anyway, and Apple stores typically have BTO options that BB will never have.

Extremely price sensitive? You get 10% so on a $3499 Mac that's $350 off with their price match plus you get apple care for free which is $399. plus you get 5% cash back or about $175.

So almost $1k in savings from buying from Best Buy and I guess you could call that "extremely price sensitive". LOL

 

[glindon]

Extremely price sensitive? You get 10% so on a $3499 Mac that's $350 off with their price match plus you get apple care for free which is $399. plus you get 5% cash back or about $175.

So almost $1k in savings from buying from Best Buy and I guess you could call that "extremely price sensitive". LOL

Interesting... on the BB website, for the 16" 48 GB Max, I'm getting a total out-the-door price of $4,374.22, including AC, since I have to sign up for BB total membership. On Apple (I get the veteran's discount), I get a total price of $4,298.39 (plus my 3% cash back), which is less and doesn't need an annual membership. I guess if I sign up for another credit card, I can get 10% off, so it ends up being the better deal. Of course, the minute you want nano or 64 GB RAM, etc., then BB isn't an option anymore.

I also hardly spend anything on entertainment (alas, I am an older man), so every 2 - 3 years, I splurge and buy the ridiculous Macbook and don't bother with the price. This year, I got a 16" M4 Max, 128 GB, 2TB, nano, with a tilt-height nano studio display. It's nice, I don't need it, complete overkill, I know. Call me jaded.

Also, besides a Macbook I bought back in 2011, I've never gotten AC and had any issues, but I tend not to keep my machines that long (and my homeowners has a $250 deductible for computer replacement, which I've also never used).

 

[gadgetfreaky]

Interesting... on the BB website, for the 16" 48 GB Max, I'm getting a total out-the-door price of $4,374.22, including AC, since I have to sign up for BB total membership. On Apple (I get the veteran's discount), I get a total price of $4,298.39 (plus my 3% cash back), which is less and doesn't need an annual membership. I guess if I sign up for another credit card, I can get 10% off, so it ends up being the better deal. Of course, the minute you want nano or 64 GB RAM, etc., then BB isn't an option anymore.

I also hardly spend anything on entertainment (alas, I am an older man), so every 2 - 3 years, I splurge and buy the ridiculous Macbook and don't bother with the price. This year, I got a 16" M4 Max, 128 GB, 2TB, nano, with a tilt-height nano studio display. It's nice, I don't need it, complete overkill, I know. Call me jaded.

Also, besides a Macbook I bought back in 2011, I've never gotten AC and had any issues, but I tend not to keep my machines that long (and my homeowners has a $250 deductible for computer replacement, which I've also never used).

Microcenter has 10 percent off which you can price match at Best Buy

Not any bto configs tho