First Macbook

[martyna6277]

Hi,
I'm gonna buy my first Macbook ever and as the standard Windows user I have some issues with my choice.

I need the power to using Photoshop on my daily basis. I also working in Illustrator, Lightroom, Adobe Rush and not highly advanced Premiere Pro (but my laptop now is not doing well with it, even 4k raw videos don't open). I usually have multiple open tabs in Chrome (from 15 to even 30). It would be nice if the battery would last more than 2 hours without charging.

I have an external monitor at work but I'm using my laptop only at home - so I think to buy 16 even if I travel a little bit and taking a laptop to work 5 days a week (and then 14 will me more useful and lighter).

I'm thinking about Macbook Pro 16 with M1 Pro 10CPU, 16GPU, 32GB RAM and 512GB memory or Macbook Pro 16 with M1 Max 10CPU, 24GPU, 32GB RAM and 512GM memory.

Will M1 Pro be enough for me or should I upgrade to M1 MAX? I'm planning of keeping macbook around 5 years, maybe more.

 

[AmazingTechGeek]

My recommendation: M1 Pro 10 CPU, 16 core GPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB.

You don't need the additional GPU power, but the extra RAM and storage will be more useful for your needs. If you intend to use heavy motion, rendering, or physics simulations, then sure a Max with more GPU power and bandwidth will help, but really for your stated use cases.

Hope that helps!

 

[martyna6277]

My recommendation: M1 Pro 10 CPU, 16 core GPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB.

You don't need the additional GPU power, but the extra RAM and storage will be more useful for your needs. If you intend to use heavy motion, rendering, or physics simulations, then sure a Max with more GPU power and bandwidth will help, but really for your stated use cases.

Hope that helps!

So even if in future I would like to working with e.g. 8k videos or more m1 pro will still handle it? Or it will be stutter, get bugs or sth? I'm just afraid to pay a lot for a laptop and then be mad because it won't hadle my job.

 

[Buck987]

My recommendation: M1 Pro 10 CPU, 16 core GPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB.

You don't need the additional GPU power, but the extra RAM and storage will be more useful for your needs. If you intend to use heavy motion, rendering, or physics simulations, then sure a Max with more GPU power and bandwidth will help, but really for your stated use cases.

Hope that helps!

This is what I recommend also....go for the extra storage, the pro suffice.

 

[Technerd108]

I was in a similar position. I was deciding between a base model 16" and a BTO 16" with M1 max 24 core gpu and 32GB memory and 512gb storage. The difference is pretty big in my case. In your case it is a $200 upgrade all else being equal and at that price considering the total cost of the machine it is a no brainer. I would certainly go for the Max in your case.

As far as what you need or want that is really the question and you shouldn't feel bad if you want something you don't need. Get what you can afford now. There is no future proofing as everything released is old as soon as it is released and the next advance is always already in development. At the same time if you want to bump up for a small price to feel secure in your choice I think you should do it because otherwise the whole time you have your Mac you will be wondering what it would have been like to have the Max. If you waste the $200 then you waste it? It is better to have something and not need it then need it and not have it.

Either way you go I am pretty sure you will be happy!!

 

[dallegre]

I agree with what others have said above. For photo/video editing, you'll want some extra onboard storage to take advantage of Apple's blazing fast solid state memory. I would recommend change up your workflow to have 'in-process' material on the internal storage and move archive/completed projects to external disks. 512GB is just really limiting for a video project, esp if you're considering 8k. Granted, you wouldn't lose much working from a decent SSD via thunderbolt.

I went with the 14" 10/16 16GB 1TB config, and have been very happy with it so far. If I were to upgrade anything on this config it would definitely be RAM first, but I haven't run into any issues with it yet. If you're seriously looking at editing 8k, and that is a priority, then it might be worth considering the Max. Check out the second half of this video for some really practical comments on pro/max and video editing experience:

I would also take a serious look at Final Cut Pro X. I'm a dual win/mac person and long time Adobe user, but for me FCP X is the killer app that brought me to and keeps me in the MacOS system. Apple just works some optimization magic that allows FCP X to run relatively smoothly on modest systems. The timeline behavior definitely does take getting used to, but it becomes very efficient for quick projects. Honestly, in order of preference, for me it's FCP X (quick turn projects), Resolve (bigger projects/raw video handling), then Premiere.