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First full day of MacBook Pro 16" Pro Max Space Black

donawalt

donawalt

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
630
Wow I love this laptop! The color is great, clearly darker than the previous version gray ones. And here is a picture after a full day of work, I did nothing unusual with hand cleanliness, and I don't see a fingerprint on it. I see more prints on the keys than on the chassis. I ordered a BTO, maybe the mfg process is better now - mine shipped from China and took about a week to get here. But if you are wondering about the Space Black, GET IT.

IMG_8742.jpeg
 
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infohou

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2009
46
7
Houston, TX
Thanks for your post. Mine should ship any day now. Have you tried any Pro apps such as Pro Tools or an editing app? I am interested in fan noise as my 2019 I9 16" is noisy even when it's not doing much. Also, how much RAM do you have?

Thanks,
Robert
 
donawalt

donawalt

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
1,284
630
@infohou you won't hear anything when it's doing simple things - even with a lot of apps open. We have M1 and M2 Max MacBook Pro's for work too, and they are all that way - a big difference from the Intel Macs. In fact, the first time I experienced it, I actually got one of the tools that measures fan speed to check on it - verifying they don't run much, and for a number of things when the fans run you can't hear them. I had tasks that I was sure the fans must be running, but I couldn't hear them! I verified the fans were running slowly, and quietly.

When I do more intensive work I can hear the fans, but they stop pretty quickly after the work is done. I did do an AV1 encode generation with Handbrake just to test that, the fans came on about halfway through but not annoyingly loud imho.

This M3 has 128GB of memory - mostly for running VMs.
 
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NeonNights

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2022
673
888
Picked up my base 14" M3 Max yesterday and loving the Space Black and insane performance! Puts my previous 16" M1 Max with 64GB to shame.

Ran a denoise test of 306 RAW images with DxO DeepPrime and the M3 Max took 25% less time than the M1 Max. The task completed in 10min 27sec with the M3 Max and the fans never turned on, or if they did I couldn't hear it at all even with my ear to the keyboard.

The M1 Max was great but the M3 Max feels noticeably snappier and more responsive.
 
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infohou

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2009
46
7
Houston, TX
Thanks Folks, I plan to do more audio and video work and my I9 is way too noisy.

Hopefully Apple will ship my M3 Max soon. Still don't have a shipping notice.
 
4

4743913

Cancelled
Aug 19, 2020
1,564
3,716
people here worry about the weirdest things.. who cares if there are fingerprints on the keyboard or on the exterior.. little princesses should wear their white gloves while computing... :D
 
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Filmx

macrumors member
Jan 20, 2018
62
12
NeonNights said:
Picked up my base 14" M3 Max yesterday and loving the Space Black and insane performance! Puts my previous 16" M1 Max with 64GB to shame.

Ran a denoise test of 306 RAW images with DxO DeepPrime and the M3 Max took 25% less time than the M1 Max. The task completed in 10min 27sec with the M3 Max and the fans never turned on, or if they did I couldn't hear it at all even with my ear to the keyboard.

The M1 Max was great but the M3 Max feels noticeably snappier and more responsive.
Click to expand...
Which Max config did you get? How is the 14" size compared to the 16"? I'm torn about which to get. I thought I was sold on the 14" but the 16" display looked fantastic in the Apple store. I previously owned the 2019 16" Intel MBP and felt like it was cumbersome, but with the discussion of potential thermal limitations on the 14" plus more screen real estate to work with I'm tempted to go back.

I'm currently working on a 2020 13" MBP and love the size/weight and how it fits into all of my bags/backpacks, but I do find the screen hard to work on, edit photos, etc.
 
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NeonNights

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2022
673
888
Filmx said:
Which Max config did you get? How is the 14" size compared to the 16"? I'm torn about which to get. I thought I was sold on the 14" but the 16" display looked fantastic in the Apple store. I previously owned the 2019 16" Intel MBP and felt like it was cumbersome, but with the discussion of potential thermal limitations on the 14" plus more screen real estate to work with I'm tempted to go back.

I'm currently working on a 2020 13" MBP and love the size/weight and how it fits into all of my bags/backpacks, but I do find the screen hard to work on, edit photos, etc.
Click to expand...
I have the base 14" M3 Max config with 14/30 cores, 36GB RAM, and 1 TB. If there's throttling, I haven't noticed it in my usual use and it's still faster than my previous 16" M1 Max and, so far, just as quiet.

Yes, there's less screen real estate compared to the 16", but it isn't noticeable for things like web browsing since the 16" usually just shows more white space on the sides of the web page -- you really notice this in a side-by-side in-store. For editing I usually have my 14" docked and connected to an external 43" 4K LCD.

I still do some editing on the 14" while on the couch or in the sunroom but for longer editing sessions I sit in front of the 43" display. The 16" offers more viewing area for editing but I still felt it was cramped sometimes despite the resolution being about equal to my 4K display and I just prefer to see everything on the larger external display. For me, the 16" wasn't worth the extra heft all the time. If the MacBook Pro is going to be your sole display then I can understand going with 16" full time.
 
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Filmx

macrumors member
Jan 20, 2018
62
12
NeonNights said:
I have the base 14" M3 Max config with 14/30 cores, 36GB RAM, and 1 TB. If there's throttling, I haven't noticed it in my usual use and it's still faster than my previous 16" M1 Max and, so far, just as quiet.

Yes, there's less screen real estate compared to the 16", but it isn't noticeable for things like web browsing since the 16" usually just shows more white space on the sides of the web page -- you really notice this in a side-by-side in-store. For editing I usually have my 14" docked and connected to an external 43" 4K LCD.

I still do some editing on the 14" while on the couch or in the sunroom but for longer editing sessions I sit in front of the 43" display. The 16" offers more viewing area for editing but I still felt it was cramped sometimes despite the resolution being about equal to my 4K display and I just prefer to see everything on the larger external display. For me, the 16" wasn't worth the extra heft all the time. If the MacBook Pro is going to be your sole display then I can understand going with 16" full time.
Click to expand...
I am usually docked to a 48" OLED at night when I do most of my work but I also take my Macbook with me every day and work a bit in my car or at coffee shops. I'll probably stick to my plan to go with the 14" since it it more portable for the times I need to work in tighter spaces and it will fit in all my bags.
 
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