M1 Pro/Max owners: Are you upgrading to M3 or staying put?

[ilikewhey]

consider i spent 4k+ for my 14inch m1 max, i'm keeping this mbp for at least 6 years + 😂

plus there is zero application that has truly pushed the envelop of this machine's performance.

 

[SnoFlo]

Upgrading from M1 Max MBP to M3 Max MBP in black.

 

[magbarn]

Is M1 Pro 16inch 16gig ram to a 14inch m3 24gig rim a downgrade ?

wait for benchmarks. Also, depends on what your're doing. Are you editing tons of videos on Final cut? If you are then you shouldn't even be looking at the base model. Also why do you need the 24 gig ram? I'd rather go for the 14 inch M3Pro base model for the same price with 18gb of ram. In other words, I'd take the better cpu/gpu with 18gb than worse CPU/gpu with 24gb of ram. You're not getting more future proof with extra 6gb of ram.

 

[TracerAnalog]

Two years is way too soon to upgrade for me. I usually use my Mac for a solid 5-7 years before I pass it on to happy family members. These machines easily last 10+ years (provided you replace your batteries once).

 

[MRxROBOT]

My 16" M1 Pro does everything I need it to outside of my office, so no need to upgrade that. The M2 Pro Mac Mini in the office handles everything else I throw at it. I likely wont need to upgrade anything until several years down the line. I also do have a Mac mini 12 / 19 Core in route because I got a killer deal on it before the Scary Fast event.

 

[Beau10]

wait for benchmarks. Also, depends on what your're doing. Are you editing tons of videos on Final cut? If you are then you shouldn't even be looking at the base model. Also why do you need the 24 gig ram? I'd rather go for the 14 inch M3Pro base model for the same price with 18gb of ram. In other words, I'd take the better cpu/gpu with 18gb than worse CPU/gpu with 24gb of ram. You're not getting more future proof with extra 6gb of ram.

There's already several entries on Geekbench, the M3 is roughly 8-10% slower than the M1 Pro.

I agree the M3 Pro is the better option, but it still is largely a side-grade compared to the M2 Pro due to the core swapping issue, so it won't be a huge leap over the M1 Pro either.

I cancelled my 14" M3 Pro pre-order and am waiting for the M4 where yields shouldn't cause Apple to unnecessarily neuter the Pro chip.

 

[kmingis]

Upgrading from M1 Max MBP to M3 Max MBP in black.

This.

 

[magbarn]

There's already several entries on Geekbench, the M3 is roughly 8-10% slower than the M1 Pro.

I agree the M3 Pro is the better option, but it still is largely a side-grade compared to the M2 Pro due to the core swapping issue, so it won't be a huge leap over the M1 Pro either.

I cancelled my 14" M3 Pro pre-order and am waiting for the M4 where yields shouldn't cause Apple to unnecessarily neuter the Pro chip.

disappointing that this is looking more like a sidegrade unless you want to spend >$3000 for the m3max chips. I guess if you must have that sexy black color, or your're making money by the hour with your macbook then it might be worth it.

 

[Rnd-chars]

Sticking with my M1 Max 64GB 4TB MacBook Pro config for now. It’s still quite fast and this year’s hardware updates (outside of the SoC) aren’t substantial enough for me to consider upgrading yet (though Space Black is quite fetching.

I suspect I’ll eventually upgrade around 2025/2026, when more software will be out there to take advantage of ray tracing and compute.

 

[Beau10]

disappointing that this is looking more like a sidegrade unless you want to spend >$3000 for the m3max chips. I guess if you must have that sexy black color, or your're making money by the hour with your macbook then it might be worth it.

My main concern with the Max chips is battery life. If a gimped Pro has the same wireless web spec as the M2 Pro then how bad might it be with the Max which is substantially more powerful this time around?

If it's not a severe hit I may end up getting the 14/30 model.

 

[yoak]

I'm thinking of upgrading from 14" M1Pro, 16gb ram 1tb, to a 16" M1 Max 32bg ram.
Great deal on an ex demo at my local store right now
With the current exchange rate the new ones are just prized too high over here.
The only thing I'm ever regret was the RAM, but I got a good deal when I Got mine.
After using FCX over extended periods, I tend to run out of memory and could really use some more.
I'm not editing that often as I mainly do camera work and hand the footage off to the editors, so I think I´ll be fine with the M1 Max for now.

 

[spiritbox]

I’m waiting for benchmarks before making any final decisions. I want to see how the M3 Pro with 12‑core CPU and 18‑core GPU compares to my M1 Max with 10-Core CPU and 24-Core GPU.

 

[meDANOcine]

I am upgrading from 14” M1 Pro to 16” M3 Max in black. Two reasons - someone needed a hand-me-down and I was getting tired of the 14” for photo editing. Black because I’ve wanted a black Mac since the BlackBook days.
That being said, the M1 Pro is insanely fast. I ran it in low power mode most of the time and it was still faster than I needed. The M1s are a 5-8 year computer IMO. Especially for corporate work, as more computation moves back to the cloud.

 

[nquinn]

I bought a 16" M1 Max (24 core) / 32gb variant in 2021. Plan to keep it around 6-7 years.

Will wait until I see single threaded performance double at least (currently around +50%), or if there is some other major breakthrough tech in other aspects like a crazy AI subprocessor, battery life, etc. Also really would like to hold out at least another year to get wi-fi 7 which should be a pretty good standard for a long time.

Realistically I could keep my machine a lot longer, but there's also a point where you want to sell your macbook for better resale value before Apple stops supporting it in the OS/etc as well. My machine right now is 2 years old and worth around $1800 on ebay sold. I used some gift cards and bought it for around $2600ish with the discounts. Not too shabby.

 

[lvleleven]

Id say once it gets to like 4-5x performance over M1 Max it'll probably be time enough. I do primarily video and photo, and honestly the machine is transparent in terms of speed, it does everything i throw at it.

 

[MisterSavage]

I love my shiny new gadgets but I'm not even remotely tempted to get rid of my 14" M1 Pro. It handles everything like a champ.

 

[auwkeung]

M1 Pro/Max is good for another 5 years, just change your battery when it's due and it's as good as new

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Thinking of upgrading from 2021 14" M1 Max Macbook Pro 10 core with 64gb ram and 2tb ssd. My main goal is to be able to edit 8k quickly for 1080p & 4k output. Do you think the M3 will stutter with 8k footage in FCP X without creating massive render files? Is the following configuration excessive for editing 8k h265 video without proxies/render files in Final Cut X.

• Apple M3 Max chip with 16‑core CPU, 40‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
• 128GB unified memory
• 4TB SSD storage

I feel that with all the open programs (FCP X, Capture One, Photo mechanic etc.) that 64gb is barely enough. For those who have similar requirements for laptop and want to shave off $1-2k on configuration what did you choose?

My M1 is fast with processing 50 megapixel raw images in Capture One but anything that shaves of 2-3 min on deadline can make a big difference in my bottom line on a daily basis.

What do you think?

IMO RAM cost at +$400 per each 32 GB more RAM above 64 is a bargain. I bought the max 96 available with M2 and would buy 128 if I was buying M3. Today I really only need 64 GB but RAM demands always increase.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I might be, but it's not because I want extra processing power.

The M1 Max 16" MBP I have now is overkill. I've been thinking about going for a Pro chip next time, but I was very disappointed that the M3 Pro is nerfed compared to the M1/M2. So now I'm not sure.

That Space Black color sure is tempting, though...

Going from an M1 Max chip to a M2 or M3 Pro is moving down in performance. Not usually a good move.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

My M1 Macbook Pro can do everything I need it to, if I'm going to upgrade it would have to be for a Mac Studio, as I don't really need a laptop, I just got it before everything else was released

Yeah I got an M2 Max laptop for the same reason. Apple took too long to release the M2 Studio and I needed a new box. So now I have two MBPs, one used as a desktop box.

 

[christlinah]

I'm upgrading from my 16" M1 Pro to a 14" M3 Pro for two reasons: the smaller form factor is way more practical for my use case and also space black.

 

[Sterkenburg]

Space black is cool and all but my M1 Max will be perfectly adequate for a few more years. But happy to see that Apple has finally caught up with a yearly release schedule for Apple Silicon chips and is delivering consistently (even though as a customer I am slightly pissed off by all the needlessly complicated SKU configs and sidegrades introduced with M3)

 

[Milsy68]

Currently have the M1 Pro 16GB/1TB which is still a brilliant machine. However my use case for it has changed since I got it (Ideally I would have got more RAM when I got it, but the 16GB version was available next day - damn my lack of delayed gratification!). Now I do a lot of multitasking which is pushing the CPU and RAM usage and having a Win VM running at the same time is getting to be a slog. If I had 32Gb and/or a MAX I'm sure I would still be keeping it.

So I have bit the bullet and ordered M3 Max with 64GB in Space Black. That should do me for a few years as I can't see what else I could throw at it that would make it sweat.

 

[headlessmike]

I'm impressed by the new M3 Macs, and wouldn't hesitate in getting one if I needed a new machine. But both of my M1 Macs, an M1 mini and M1 Pro MBP, are still blazing fast and handle everything I throw at them without breaking a sweat. I expect to remain satisfied with them for years to come with them.

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I'm impressed by the CPU speed of the M3 Macs, but I'm not convinced of the GPU speed at this moment (it would have been a lot better with more GPU cores, especially with the Pro and the Max). The benchmarks will prove whether I am right or wrong.