I’m a lawschool master student who often has 50+ safari tabs on pretty heavy websites and lots of word/pdf files open at the same time. Basically I like to multitask, especially when I’m writing my thesis. I plan to use this MacBook Pro for at least 5-6 years, well into my first few years as a licensed lawyer, which means it will be used a lot for multitasking. I feel like the base 14 MacBook Pro with 8 cores should be fine for what I use it for, but I wonder if the extra 250 euro’s would be worth it just to future proof it a bit more. I don’t like to spend 2100 euros just to regret not spending a little bit more to have my ideal machine. Any help / discussion would be much appreciated!
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M1 Pro: 8 core vs 10 core CPU
- Thread starter Vazor
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Honestly nobody knows right now. As someone who just bought the 14 in base model for school, X-ray tech to be exact, I was wondering the same. But judging by how good the MacBook Air with the M1 was performing, I’m guessing the 14in base model will be more than enough for our needs.
I have a feeling it's not going to make a huge difference.
Video encoding will often depend on the GPU more than the CPU, and most software that is CPU dependent kinda struggles to use that many cores.
You would probably get more out of upgrading 10% sooner than spending 10% more now and keeping it 10% longer
Video encoding will often depend on the GPU more than the CPU, and most software that is CPU dependent kinda struggles to use that many cores.
You would probably get more out of upgrading 10% sooner than spending 10% more now and keeping it 10% longer
Sounds like you’ll be fine with the base CPU and GPU. With what you need as a user who multitask, RAM is the important factor. 16GB should be enough I think, if you have the extra $400, you’ll be more than secure for 5-6 years with 32GB.
Your usage would be classed as lightweight, the extra 2 cores of a 10-core CPU are high performance cores that would likely be underused. In your circumstances I'd go with the base system. Rather than extra cores or extra RAM I would invest in a large external monitor so you can see more of your workspace.
An M1 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM would be great for your stated usage, unless you need those ports and SD card slot.
i'm not sure what european attorney uses for citation and sources, but with a m1 air can handle alot of tabs from lexis and westlaw on chrome, on average i have 6 briefs open and couple more in the background. the only thing that is being taxed is the ram usage with cpu most of the sitting idle.
I mostly use Dutch websites like Kluwer Navigator, or Rechtsorde. I honestly never monitored my cpu usage, which I should have lol.
honestly you don't even need the 14inch, a base air with 16gb of ram is more than enough for law related work, i'm plan on getting the 14 base solely because i want my magsafe back and i like my hdmi port.
Hell, the base MBA with 8GB of RAM will be perfectly fine for the OP's needs!
5 years down the line you'll be better off reselling it and using the saved money to buy the 2026 iteration.
It's 2 extra P cores, so at the end of the day it depends. I don't like this binning but I can see what Apple meant with this as it's the "entry" model and they offer the 2nd in-store model with 10 CPU and 16 GPU.
However at the end of the day if you don't want bleeding edge performance from CPU I'd say the 6 P cores is more than fine. Heck I never pushed my CPU on the 16" Intel to the maximum unless I was on a MS Teams call lol
However at the end of the day if you don't want bleeding edge performance from CPU I'd say the 6 P cores is more than fine. Heck I never pushed my CPU on the 16" Intel to the maximum unless I was on a MS Teams call lol
I'd get the M1 Air 16GB if I were you. It's more than fast enough for web-browsing with many tabs open. Since you need to devour a lot of text, portability and lightweight would be most important so you can easily move around. With the $ saved, maybe get an ultrafine 4k/5k + keyboard for comfortable text input.
The M1 Pro/Max wasn't made for your goal, it was made primarily for programming, 3D, video and audio production.
The M1 Pro/Max wasn't made for your goal, it was made primarily for programming, 3D, video and audio production.
However if you spec the Air with 16/512GB, it becomes much closer to the 14" price
Interesting. I have a 2019 MBP 16” (i9 2.3GHz, 32GB RAM) and am plagued by heat / noise when running MS Teams calls or using Chrome, which is most of my working day. I have to run it in clamshell mode to avoid that.
I‘m planning to switch it out for a new MBP 14” and I have two particular dilemmas:
1) Like the OP, I’m really not sure whether to go for the base version with 8 CPU / 14 GPU or the other version with 10 CPU / 16 GPU. I’ve no idea what the difference would be in day to day use - MS Teams, MS Office apps, OneDrive, Chrome, Safari, Apple Music primarily. The 2nd version has a 1TB SSD which I’d specify anyway.
2) 16GB or 32GB RAM. I’m pretty sure 16GB would be fine but again, not entirely sure.
I work with cloud engineering and opted for 16GB. I'm already fully working on my MBA M1 with 8GB, the only downside is the 8GB-10GB of swap every day! So you'll be more than fine with 16GB trust me.
Teams, is just crappy written.. With the revamp/overhaul coming in the next 6 months it will definitely be much better but as it is right now running under Rosetta it sucks your battery.
I know what you mean though, I sold my 16" when the leaks regarding the M1X started popping up and got a MBA as a temporary solution.
(btw your issue with the 16" is related due to the VRAM overheating as it's GDDR6 in a small chassis)
Agree re Teams, it is a energy sapping beast but there’s no alternative in my job, which is marketing not engineering hence my relatively simple requirements - no video editing, no gaming, no coding or anything complicated. I do multitask loads across MS Office apps and browser tabs primarily, but I reckon the entry level machine should cope admirably with that.
One thing I’ve not really been able to judge amongst all the talk about the new MBPs is what actual difference there is between the two standard machines, either 8/14 or 10/16 processors? Do you think I’d notice any difference at all?
I thought I was settled on the base MacBook Pro 14in but ended up going with an upgraded model with 32gb of ram, 1 TB SSD, and the 10 CPU/16GPU Pro chip. I can mentally justify all of this except for the CPU/GPU - Apple got me with their marketing but I figure I'm spending a lot and might as well as get the full Pro chip. No need for the Max though.
If we follow the same logic as M1, the difference for GPU is around 12-16% depending on the workload. On the CPU front you won't notice any difference at all since it's a 6 P core + 2 E core cluster config.. You are more than fine for your setup and workflow!
Honestly like I said I only opted for 10+16 was because of the external displays, I got a 3440x1440 100hz + 4k60Hz display and I intend to use the internal laptop display as well
I'm still going for 16GB and we'll see how it goes from there..... Got 15 days to send it back and get the 32GB option.
Good info, thanks. I only have (and will only ever have) one external display connected, it’s a Philips ultrawide 34 inch usb-c monitor. But I would also like the MBP screen open, not in clamshell mode. Overall seems like the base model will work fine for me if I can resist the temptation just to go for the next model up, to be sure
so base 14 pro model is enough for watching 4k youtube videos, browsing web, checking email, light gaming?