Ever since I got the 16inch M1 Pro when it came out I hated the size and weight but loved everything else. I preferred the size and weight of the older intel 15inch body. Anyway, since the only logical upgrade path from a M1 Pro is the M3 Max (16GB of ram was killing my workflow) I decided to upgrade to the 14 inch M3 Max 14/30. I was extremely worried about my work flow being affected by the smaller screen and I didn't want to compromise on that. After using it all day I can say I'm so glad I did it. When using photoshop and bridge I'm not experiencing any usability issues. The extra ram is making a massive difference already. The laptop is so much lighter, easier to carry and use in bed. Additionally it's been dead silent, although I haven't hammered it hard yet.
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16 inch M1 Pro to 14 inch M3 Max
- Thread starter Miltz
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How about the change in battery going from 16 down to 14? It sounds like you'd have long battery life on an M1 Pro 16" and perhaps less than average on an M3 Max 14"?
I just picked up a 14" M3 Max 40c w/64GB RAM and have been putting through its paces extensively over the last few days.
I have absolutely no idea where this idea came from that the 14" throttles in any way, shape, or form. There is ample cooling and I have run the CPU and GPU together maxed for hours with no performance degradation. Yes, this is a warmer device at full load than M3/M3 Pro, but still, it's a real workhorse.
I can particularly notice the vents along the side pull in air on this computer -I knew this was theoretically their purpose (along with speakers), but I feel like I'm seeing the design do work for the first time. Pretty cool!
My advice: don't worry, get the size you want, and run it as hard as you want to.
I have not even heard my fans yet.. either they are silent and deadly or maybe you have to sustain a full load for 10-15 minutes which I have not done yet.
So far I haven’t noticed a hit in battery life. The laptop is 2x fast so I’m waiting less so it’s actually better it seems in terms of battery. Like when I’m doing denoise.
I have to say the more I use it I’m so glad I did it. The weight difference is massive. At this point I would only ever get a 16 inch model again if I never moved it from the table it was sitting on. I think Apple’s 14 inch M3 Max model might be the best laptop ever made in terms of size to performance ratio.
It might be, but it depends on what you're doing with it. And even if it does, unless you're monitoring performance, you'll probably never notice, or in fact care.
If you don't want to be worry about your workflow with M3 MAX MacBook Pro, take 64 GB RAM or 128 GB RAM.
Try to go for full cores.
Of course the 14" compared to 16" has a lot of disadvantages.