I'm still rocking an M1 Pro and have debated whether to "downgrade" to a 15" Air before the M3s were announced. I'm intrigued to get into a 14" M3 base with 16GB/512GB because of the battery improvements. But the reality is, since I bought the M2 Mac Mini for home (since I WFH), I don't find myself using my MBP nearly as often as I used to. If I'm away from my desk, I revert to using my 11" M2 iPad Pro and this results in my MBP staying in my backpack completely powered down. So as much as I'd like to get that new Space Black, there is nothing about my workflow or my usage that would take advantage of that device. I'd like to see Dynamic Island and FaceID make it to the MB in order for me to consider an upgrade.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
M1 Pro/Max owners: Are you upgrading to M3 or staying put?
- Thread starter Jacoblee23
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
M1Pro 14 here; no reason to upgrade other than the fancy new color. Apple would only give me $1055 for my laptop, so I don't see a reason to upgrade at this time, since this laptop is still way more powerful than I actually use. Plus I have a year and a half of AppleCare+ left, so even more reason not to upgrade. I'm happy where I am.
I don’t “need” M3, but I need 4TB or even 8TB internal storage. That costs a fortune, of which I have to carefully save up for. By the time I save enough, I might be able to get M5 or sth. 1TB internal storage is so uncomfortable for me to use, when I don’t even have a single place to store my actual size photo library.
M1 Max, 64GB here. I plan to get at least 5 years out of it, with a goal of 7. Though I do like the new black color 
True, but the price of the Max is so much now, and I know for a fact that I won't need it for streaming music, web browsing, word processing, and occasional photo editing, which is 95% of what I use my MacBook Pro for.
I bought the Max at the time because it seemed like the natural successor to the Intel Mac I had before. But knowing how good all Apple Silicon is makes me think I won't need a Max ever again, especially given how expensive it is.
Great take, I do the same now. I use to buy the top of the line spec Intel Macs because I did in fact see benefit in my workflow from going up a tier. With Apple silicon, the Pro series chips have been more than enough for my workflow. Going up to Max or Ultra for me would only lighten my wallet with little to no benefit for me otherwise.
Do not even think of going down from the Max chip to base. An M1 Max is stronger than a base M3 in most regards. Your M1 Max will probably remain great until whenever the 32 GB RAM-limits out.
I love these new laptops, mainly because it 100% confirms I will not upgrade and save myself tons of money. I was ready to pull the trigger, but seeing that I have to spend $4,000 to see a meaningful jump in performance it’s a no sale for me. I’m going to wait till M4.
M1 Pro base model and I'm staying put. None of the M3/Pro upgrades seem all that meaningful to me personally and the overall computer is identical so...
So after cancelling a 14" Pro order, I've decided to do the 16" Max 16/40 (standard $3999 config).
Now we have benchmarks, the improvements are just too compelling, esp. as I'm coming from a base M1 14" Pro (the 8 core). Just can't see getting another performance jump this large for at least a few generations, roughly when OLED comes out.
Somewhat prefer the 14" as I move around alot and liked the 16" when I was more often stationary, but I'm almost always carrying a 1.1 lb external battery so the pack weight will be about the same to leave all of that at home.
Now we have benchmarks, the improvements are just too compelling, esp. as I'm coming from a base M1 14" Pro (the 8 core). Just can't see getting another performance jump this large for at least a few generations, roughly when OLED comes out.
Somewhat prefer the 14" as I move around alot and liked the 16" when I was more often stationary, but I'm almost always carrying a 1.1 lb external battery so the pack weight will be about the same to leave all of that at home.
Last edited:
M1 Max 16 inch 32/4tb/64gb bought in April 2022. Keeping it and only have about 30 cycles on the battery right now. Only thing I would want M3 for would be ray tracing and wifi 6e and bragging rights. And I don't really need raytracing other than tinkering.
I have not even come close to maxing out my machine besides me deliberately trying to while tinkering.
It’s not worth the several thousand dollars just to have bragging rights when my current machine is already way overkill for 90 percent of stuff I do. (Although that is kind of what I got my m1 max for, although also because my dad needed an upgrade from his 2015 MacBook Air and I gave him the 13 mbp m1 512/16 I had before.
I have not even come close to maxing out my machine besides me deliberately trying to while tinkering.
It’s not worth the several thousand dollars just to have bragging rights when my current machine is already way overkill for 90 percent of stuff I do. (Although that is kind of what I got my m1 max for, although also because my dad needed an upgrade from his 2015 MacBook Air and I gave him the 13 mbp m1 512/16 I had before.
Last edited:
I'm staying put. My 14" M1 Pro supports my two Studio Displays, handles my Word/PowerPoint/Mail/Safari/Calendar/Preview/Kindle/FaceTime/Zoom multitasking amazingly well, and none of the new capabilities or speed of the new machines will help that much.
My Parallels Windows 11 for ARM virtual machine would benefit, not that it's terrible as-is, but I use it so infrequently anyway that I'd rather spend the money elsewhere than upgrade just for a stupid Win11 VM.
Things could change in 6 months, but for now, I cannot justify an upgrade. Want and need are separate.
My Parallels Windows 11 for ARM virtual machine would benefit, not that it's terrible as-is, but I use it so infrequently anyway that I'd rather spend the money elsewhere than upgrade just for a stupid Win11 VM.
Things could change in 6 months, but for now, I cannot justify an upgrade. Want and need are separate.
M1Max 16" here. I'm seriously considering the upgrade, so I can sell my M1 and help defer the cost. The M1Max, 64GB, 4TB still represents a good value, and I'm hoping it still has good resale value - especially as it has the apple care plan that can be extended for the life of the laptop (for $150/year).
I have to have the Max since I use 3-4 external monitors.. and the Max is required there. I'll get max memory, just cause Memory is king.. and stick with 4TB. 8TB is ridiculous, and 2TB is too small.. I'm currently at 2TB now, so 4TB gives me room.
I have to have the Max since I use 3-4 external monitors.. and the Max is required there. I'll get max memory, just cause Memory is king.. and stick with 4TB. 8TB is ridiculous, and 2TB is too small.. I'm currently at 2TB now, so 4TB gives me room.
I’ve got the m1 14” Pro but I struggle with the screen size to be honest and that was coming from a 13” Air. I would be tempted by the 16” Pro at some point as I don’t do much travelling with the machine. I certainly wouldn’t choose anything smaller than a 15” laptop screen from now on
I ought to try that with my 16 m1 max sometime. I haven't even connected it to 1 external monitor yet. then again I can't afford 3 4k monitors and have no need for that many monitors.
Having an M1 Max 16" I think this is one of those cases where my wallet will feel the difference more then my day-to-day use of the machine.
14" M1 Pro with 32Gb RAM, works great, I see no need to upgrade for now. It is the best laptop I've ever owned, and the M2/M3 upgrades seem incremental to me.
