M1 Pro: 8 core vs 10 core CPU

[skaertus]

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!

I am in a similar situation, although I am a licensed lawyer and I have already finished my PhD. I use lots of tabs on my web browser and lots of PDF and Word files opened at the same time. My usage pattern should be similar to yours.

What computer do you currently use? A PC or a Mac?

I have a 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, equipped with a 6th gen 3.3 GHz dual-core Core i7, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.

I would say that my laptop is fine, except for running Microsoft Office applications which unfortunately correspond to some 90% of my usage apart from web browsing and PDFs. Microsoft Office for Mac is a bloated beast and Microsoft Word takes a lot of RAM. If you start using Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, then you may run out of memory.

I have done some comparisons in the past to check how Word for Mac performs against Word for Windows and other software (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dows-pcs.2277182/?post=29439109#post-29439109).

I came to the conclusion that Word for Mac is far more inefficient as it uses 2-3 times more memory than Word for Windows to perform similar tasks. While Word for Windows performs perfectly on my PC laptop with 8 GB RAM, Word for Mac will struggle much more frequently on my MacBook Pro with 16 GB. Apple Pages and Mellel are far suitable for using with a Mac, as they perform far better than Word for Mac (although not as well as Word for Windows). However, if you need to use Microsoft Word, and you cannot replace it with something else, you should consider your options. And the same applies to any other Microsoft Office app, which, I suppose, you are likely to use after you become a licensed lawyer.

Another thing to consider is that HiDPI mode on macOS (which allows for retina resolutions) is far more taxing than Windows scaling, especially if you use scaled resolutions. My MacBook Pro has a 2560x1600 resolution and the standard aspect is a resolution that resembles 1280x800 but with double the sharpness. If I want to use it in "1440x900" mode (more real estate on the screen), macOS renders images at 2880x1800, which is more taxing. I suppose the new MacBook Pro will consume even more GPU power, although I acknowledge that the GPU in any of these new Macs should be more than enough for that.

Overall, I think the base MacBook Pro will be just fine. But I would put 32 GB RAM if I were you. If you can buy the higher-end model with 32 GB, even better; 1 TB SSD should be far better.

 

[Vazor]

I am in a similar situation, although I am a licensed lawyer and I have already finished my PhD. I use lots of tabs on my web browser and lots of PDF and Word files opened at the same time. My usage pattern should be similar to yours.

What computer do you currently use? A PC or a Mac?

I have a 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, equipped with a 6th gen 3.3 GHz dual-core Core i7, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.

I would say that my laptop is fine, except for running Microsoft Office applications which unfortunately correspond to some 90% of my usage apart from web browsing and PDFs. Microsoft Office for Mac is a bloated beast and Microsoft Word takes a lot of RAM. If you start using Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, then you may run out of memory.

I have done some comparisons in the past to check how Word for Mac performs against Word for Windows and other software (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dows-pcs.2277182/?post=29439109#post-29439109).

I came to the conclusion that Word for Mac is far more inefficient as it uses 2-3 times more memory than Word for Windows to perform similar tasks. While Word for Windows performs perfectly on my PC laptop with 8 GB RAM, Word for Mac will struggle much more frequently on my MacBook Pro with 16 GB. Apple Pages and Mellel are far suitable for using with a Mac, as they perform far better than Word for Mac (although not as well as Word for Windows). However, if you need to use Microsoft Word, and you cannot replace it with something else, you should consider your options. And the same applies to any other Microsoft Office app, which, I suppose, you are likely to use after you become a licensed lawyer.

Another thing to consider is that HiDPI mode on macOS (which allows for retina resolutions) is far more taxing than Windows scaling, especially if you use scaled resolutions. My MacBook Pro has a 2560x1600 resolution and the standard aspect is a resolution that resembles 1280x800 but with double the sharpness. If I want to use it in "1440x900" mode (more real estate on the screen), macOS renders images at 2880x1800, which is more taxing. I suppose the new MacBook Pro will consume even more GPU power, although I acknowledge that the GPU in any of these new Macs should be more than enough for that.

Overall, I think the base MacBook Pro will be just fine. But I would put 32 GB RAM if I were you. If you can buy the higher-end model with 32 GB, even better; 1 TB SSD should be far better.

Thank you for your detailed response. I was using a M1 MBP with 16 GB ram, which seemed to be fine (although some tabs seemed to get reloaded sometimes). I don’t think I ever ran out of ram. I thought that maybe getting an extra strong cpu might help with the workload, but seems like it won’t really matter that much.

 

[skaertus]

Thank you for your detailed response. I was using a M1 MBP with 16 GB ram, which seemed to be fine (although some tabs seemed to get reloaded sometimes). I don’t think I ever ran out of ram. I thought that maybe getting an extra strong cpu might help with the workload, but seems like it won’t really matter that much.

I do not think a more powerful CPU would solve your issues. The M1, the M1 Pro, and the M1 Max have all similar single-core CPU performances. The difference is the multi-core CPU performance and GPU performance. As far as I am concerned, tasks such as web browsing and office work do not require too many cores, so the difference may not be so significant.

 

[AM11]

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)

I have pretty much similar work as the OP being a Law student. I might also install Windows 11 though. I am getting the 14” MacBook Pro.

I have enough money saved for 2 of the 3 upgrades between an upgrade to 10-core CPU, an upgrade to 32GB RAM and an upgrade to 1TB storage.

Which 2 should I get?

 

[UBS28]

For the multitasking of what you are doing, RAM is more important than cores.

16 GB is fine based on your usage so you can stick to the base version.

 

[EugW]

MacBook Air 16 GB RAM with enough storage for your needs.

Everything else is overkill, and you'll appreciate its lighter weight and the fact that it is fanless. Getting an M1 Pro will not future proof your machine more than the MacBook Air for you even after 5 years, unless you start editing in Final Cut or something.

 

[AM11]

For the multitasking of what you are doing, RAM is more important than cores.

16 GB is fine based on your usage so you can stick to the base version.

I understand, but if I had to, which 2 upgrades would make more sense? Is more storage a better option over the 2 extra cores?

I don’t really understand how the cores work.

 

[AM11]

MacBook Air 16 GB RAM with enough storage for your needs.

Everything else is overkill, and you'll appreciate its lighter weight and the fact that it is fanless. Getting an M1 Pro will not future proof your machine more than the MacBook Air for you even after 5 years, unless you start editing in Final Cut or something.

Is the fan in the Pros annoying? Also, I keep reading that Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Google Chrome use up much more RAM than they do on a windows? So I am just worried about that, cause I will have to have 10s of PPTs and Word files open constantly, with like 50 chrome tabs.

 

[Norre8]

I have a M1 MacBook Pro and the laptop gets hot when gaming. Hoping the new M1 Pro/Max would be better

 

[EugW]

I have a M1 MacBook Pro and the laptop gets hot when gaming. Hoping the new M1 Pro/Max would be better

What game and how much power does it need? If it could max out an M1 Pro, you could be dealing with significant fan noise.

 

[tonyz123456]

I have pretty much similar work as the OP being a Law student. I might also install Windows 11 though. I am getting the 14” MacBook Pro.

I have enough money saved for 2 of the 3 upgrades between an upgrade to 10-core CPU, an upgrade to 32GB RAM and an upgrade to 1TB storage.

Which 2 should I get?

32gb and 10-core CPU. 512gb is plenty and you can always buy a SSD.

 

[Serban55]

so base 14 pro model is enough for watching 4k youtube videos, browsing web, checking email, light gaming?

are you kidding? the M1 MBP is already good enough for that already
The base 14" should be 20% better in multi core, and double as fast as the base M1 mac in gpu

 

[Serban55]

I have a M1 MacBook Pro and the laptop gets hot when gaming. Hoping the new M1 Pro/Max would be better

first time i hear that an M1 Mbp gets hot as Intel mac even in gaming

 

[SimonQ]

This is an awesome post, thanks everyone for your input.

I am similar to the OP - lawyer working in Word, PDF and sometimes Excel, heaps of docs and Safari tabs open. I am also planning to make tracks with Ableton or Logic Pro. I am on a 2017 8GB 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 MBP and sometimes it can get occasionally very slow and the fan can also go nuts (though they are sometimes brought on kernel panics) where I have to restart the MBP to calm the farm. Just want to hammer tabs and docs and none of that malarky - just stay fast and cool. I have pulled the trigger on a 14 MBP base with 16 GB and 8 core M1 Pro but would hate to put all that cash down and end up in the same spot as the current MBP thinking "Damn! If only I had upgraded to...".

Would the base model with 2x RAM and way better CPU than I have now likely reduce those episodes and if not, what would you upgrade? I'm thinking that these slow downs are a RAM issue rather than CPU. I don't want to spend unnecessary flow just in case but at the same time, want it to be right.

Thanks

 

[AdamNC]

If this helps you any my neighbors a para-legal and besides the partners who all have the maxed out 13 inch MBP M1 everyone else has brand new MBA M1 fully maxed out. 16 gigs ram, and 2 T drives. They all love them.

 

[badsimian]

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.

I’ve done the same but left it at 8c/14c thinking I’m probably never going to notice the cores. I do a lot of cloud engineering stuff and multitasking with a bit of dev on the side. Currently on a 8GB base MBA M 1 but experiencing horrific swapping and SSD wear so have gone 32GB to alleviate that. I used to have a 16GB MBA M1 that I gave to my wife and would still sometimes run out of RAM on that.
I just wonder if I have an unbalanced machine now?…moving to 10c/16c costs another £2-300 and past the £2500 point which is my preferred max spend.

 

[MrGunny94]

I have pretty much similar work as the OP being a Law student. I might also install Windows 11 though. I am getting the 14” MacBook Pro.

I have enough money saved for 2 of the 3 upgrades between an upgrade to 10-core CPU, an upgrade to 32GB RAM and an upgrade to 1TB storage.

Which 2 should I get?

If you going to run local VMs get 32GB and the 10 Core CPU. You can always get more space via the SDXC or external thunderbolt drives!

 

[gpat]

I have pretty much similar work as the OP being a Law student. I might also install Windows 11 though. I am getting the 14” MacBook Pro.

I have enough money saved for 2 of the 3 upgrades between an upgrade to 10-core CPU, an upgrade to 32GB RAM and an upgrade to 1TB storage.

Which 2 should I get?

32GB + 1TB.
You're not going to stress even the base model CPU.

 

[SimonQ]

If this helps you any my neighbors a para-legal and besides the partners who all have the maxed out 13 inch MBP M1 everyone else has brand new MBA M1 fully maxed out. 16 gigs ram, and 2 T drives. They all love them.

Thanks. Even the base CPU is totally nuts so I think 32 GB upgrade it is. I would prefer not to spend the AUD600 (yep, 600) but want this to be a 5+ year deal.

 

[SimonQ]

I’ve done the same but left it at 8c/14c thinking I’m probably never going to notice the cores. I do a lot of cloud engineering stuff and multitasking with a bit of dev on the side. Currently on a 8GB base MBA M 1 but experiencing horrific swapping and SSD wear so have gone 32GB to alleviate that. I used to have a 16GB MBA M1 that I gave to my wife and would still sometimes run out of RAM on that.
I just wonder if I have an unbalanced machine now?…moving to 10c/16c costs another £2-300 and past the £2500 point which is my preferred max spend.

Far, far from an expert here but it seems to me that the M1 Pro and Max are such a step up on what came before that 32GB and the base chip is a good match. Experts please correct me!

 

[Appledoesnotlisten]

32GB + 1TB.
You're not going to stress even the base model CPU.

32GB+1TB=$600,which is only $300 less than the Max. So why not order Max then since you will also get a better processor and it will probably arrive 1 month earlier?

 

[darthbane2k]

I have pretty much similar work as the OP being a Law student. I might also install Windows 11 though. I am getting the 14” MacBook Pro.

I have enough money saved for 2 of the 3 upgrades between an upgrade to 10-core CPU, an upgrade to 32GB RAM and an upgrade to 1TB storage.

Which 2 should I get?

Not sure you're going to be able to install Windows 11, unless you mean accessing a VM.

 

[badsimian]

32GB+1TB=$600,which is only $300 less than the Max. So why not order Max then since you will also get a better processor and it will probably arrive 1 month earlier?

But you still pay the additional cost of the 32GB even if you choose the Max - it isn't like that 32GB is "free" because you went Max. It will cost you $600 extra to go 1TB/32GB but $1300 extra to go Max/1TB/32GB

 

[MarkAtl]

This is an awesome post, thanks everyone for your input.

I am similar to the OP - lawyer working in Word, PDF and sometimes Excel, heaps of docs and Safari tabs open. I am also planning to make tracks with Ableton or Logic Pro. I am on a 2017 8GB 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 MBP and sometimes it can get occasionally very slow and the fan can also go nuts (though they are sometimes brought on kernel panics) where I have to restart the MBP to calm the farm. Just want to hammer tabs and docs and none of that malarky - just stay fast and cool. I have pulled the trigger on a 14 MBP base with 16 GB and 8 core M1 Pro but would hate to put all that cash down and end up in the same spot as the current MBP thinking "Damn! If only I had upgraded to...".

Would the base model with 2x RAM and way better CPU than I have now likely reduce those episodes and if not, what would you upgrade? I'm thinking that these slow downs are a RAM issue rather than CPU. I don't want to spend unnecessary flow just in case but at the same time, want it to be right.

Thanks

I’m not a lawyer but similar use case with Office and tons of tabs. The M1 MBP hooked up to a 4K monitor is plenty fast until I run low on memory…then beach balling like crazy at times.

I ordered the base 14” and think you’ll be fine as well.

 

[SimonQ]

I’m not a lawyer but similar use case with Office and tons of tabs. The M1 MBP hooked up to a 4K monitor is plenty fast until I run low on memory…then beach balling like crazy at times.

I ordered the base 14” and think you’ll be fine as well.

Thanks very much. So you've gone the 8 core and 16 gb then? How much RAM did you have on your M1?