The M1 Max is a fast powerful machine and if you can get a $4900 machine (64 GB, 4TB SSD) for $2500 it makes a lot of sense. The M3 variants are faster but are they worth paying the extra $2400 for the performance? Only you can answer. I find my M1 Max machine to more than adequate and I am not wanting for performance. The M3 Max would reduce times for some operations by maybe 25%, but is it worth cost? For the majority of the time there would be very little difference. I would go for the M1 Max machine.
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Are the M1 Max MBPs still worth buying (especially 14")?
- Thread starter Mity
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As I said in my post earlier, and if you read my original post, I was referring to the original M1. Not the M1 Max. I said this as an illustration of how people exaggerate the age of all the M series of chips.
Probably a couple more years. To 2026 at least, but more realistically I expect full macOS support will probably end 2027-2028. So in that case you have 3-4 more years.
Unless apple pulls what they did with the early intel macs and drops all the first apple silicon macs early it would probably be in 2026 in that case.
As I mentioned earlier, it's when they stop selling the machines, which is when the M2 Pro/Max hit the market. It hasn't even hit the 1.5 year mark. So probably another 5 years.
Not necessarily. 2014 mac mini and 2012 13 in unibody MacBook pros are 2 examples where this did not happen.
The 2014 Mac mini was sold until 2018 and was only supported until the end of 2022 (only 4 years), and the 2012 13 in unbody MacBook Pro was sold until 2016 and supported until the end of 2020 (again only 4 years).
So about 4 years. I think it depends but it seems like apple uses the release date and then the last sale date to determine support.
But you have weird cases like the iMac Pro though.
It really depends but general rule of thumb is that it’s the date the model is discontinued then the date it’s last sold. Unless it’s something specific like the iMac Pro.
Thus M1 was sold for 4 years so we can expect probably 2028.
Fair enough, but this is what Apple actually advertises. I'd be surprised if it comes to be for their own silicon.
I got m1 max 14, 32gb, 24 core gpu, 1tb ssd few weeks ago for £1500 used with 1 year apple care plus left. For similar price there were few 14 inch m3 pros with 18gb ram available and I keep questioning myself now if it was good choice to go with m1 max 
But then I use windows on VM, docker and heavy java test packs on it and my prev Windows laptop had also 32gb ram.
Power is good, I am just worried about system support. Hope will get 3-4 years out of it with double CPU power of my previous laptop.
But then I use windows on VM, docker and heavy java test packs on it and my prev Windows laptop had also 32gb ram.
Power is good, I am just worried about system support. Hope will get 3-4 years out of it with double CPU power of my previous laptop.
You'll have until 2027-2028 most likely of software support. M1 will probably have until at least 2026, but more realistically 2027-2028.I got m1 max 14, 32gb, 24 core gpu, 1tb ssd few weeks ago for £1500 used with 1 year apple care plus left. For similar price there were few 14 inch m3 pros with 18gb ram available and I keep questioning myself now if it was good choice to go with m1 max
But then I use windows on VM, docker and heavy java test packs on it and my prev Windows laptop had also 32gb ram.
Power is good, I am just worried about system support. Hope will get 3-4 years out of it with double CPU power of my previous laptop.
I expect Intel support to be cut next year.
That is where I got my Macbook Pro with that exact configuration in October of last year and I still feel like I somehow one the lottery. It has worked flawlessly with the Adobe Suite (Except Illustrator. I think Illustrator would STILL hang on the latest NVIDIA supercomputer.) And unfortunately I think that deal may be gone for good.
I was looking "again" because guess who let a water bottle spill into his compute bag on his 15 minute commute to work. Yeah. It was me. It's not quite "dead" but real fu@*ed up, and it's on it's way to Louis Rossman's Repair Group to see if it can be saved.
(I just can't trust Apple Repair at this point, especially with anything connected to water damage, unless I had AppleCare, which I did not)
So, I HOPE I'm not joining you in your MacBook Pro Quest.
As far as the buying experience from B&H, I have nothing but High Marks.
Although they did nothing "special", they delivered what was advertised, at the price they advertised, new in box, and in a timely fashion.
Also, while I'm here, the main reason FOR my purchase was that our Company has set up every Artist with an M2 Pro 14 inch Macbook Pro. The downside is it only had 16GB of RAM and 1TB drive. Luckily I had that to fall back on when my disaster happened, but I can tell you, and anybody else that is listening, that the RAM does make a pretty big difference. (For me at least) My workflow entails that I keep a large number of programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Acrobat, open at all times, with multiple windows per program. Add in 2 essential Browsers, MS word and Outlook, plus Fetch for FTP and you are looking at a pretty significant RAM overhead. 16GB was just not getting the job done, so I "stealth" upgraded. 32 may have been enough, but you saw the deal they had on the 64.
Regardless. The M1 MAX, fully supported with RAM and Space, still rocks pretty hard.
Happy Hunting. If I come across a deal I'll try to post.
Be well.