M2 Pro or M3?

[jon08]

So, it's time to replace my old late-2011 15" MBP.

I mostly use my MBP for daily stuff like web browsing (with lots of tabs open - often 50-70), MS Office, but would also like to do some video editing of my (4K) iPhone videos in the future, which my old-as-heck 2011 MBP hasn't allowed me to do in many years. I won't be editing videos every day, but would definitely like a machine that can do it without a problem for whenever I feel like doing it.

I'm aware that at this point any silicon Mac will be miles better than what I currently own. However, I'm trying to buy a Macbook that will last me for at least the next 4-6 years. Even though M1 Pro is still a great device, I'm still trying to get something slightly newer. So I'm debating whether to go with refurb M2 Pro or M3 instead. I'm looking into 14" only. I also considered a 15" MBA, but somehow I don't feel at ease about it not having a cooling fan in the long term.

Thus I'm looking to get a 14" MBP with at least 16GB/512GB SSD, or preferrably even 1TB SSD. As I'm located in Europe, you know that MBPs are hella expensive out here, so right now I'm looking at the following options:

14" M3 2023 8C CPU/10C GPU/1 TB/16 GB for cca. 2000 EUR (seems like a special deal only)

or

Refurb 14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro 12C CPU/19C GPU/1TB/16GB for cca. 2200 EUR

Obviously the refurb one has many more cores but will it really affect that everyday use at all? It seems that for everyday use M3 will be about 20% faster in single-core performance, which would matter the most in daily tasks, no? Also, M3 seems to offer about 4h more battery life, but M2 Pro has 1 extra port + supports dual monitors (something I likely won't need anyway). Anything else I should be aware of?

What would you suggest? Please bear in mind I'm located in EU.

Thanks!

 

[MacDevil7334]

If you are only going to be editing videos occasionally, I would go for the M3. You have correctly analyzed the M3’s advantage in single core performance and battery life. It is also slightly lighter than the M2 Pro and has a 20% brighter screen when viewing SDR content (HDR is the same for both). The M3 does only have one fan, but that won’t matter at all for day to day tasks.

I don’t think the extra cores of the M2 Pro will make a huge difference if you are not editing video often. But, I don’t do video editing, so I’m not sure. Both the M2 and M3 have the same hardware accelerated media encode engine on the chip, so they will be similar in encoding tasks. Keep in mind, photo and video professionals used (and liked) the M1 chip for nearly a year before the Pro/Max/Ultra variants came out. I think the M3 will be more than capable of editing 4k video.

 

[jon08]

Thanks for your reply.

Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[jav6454]

If effectiveness in terms of a media engine is critical, get the M2 Pro; also multiple display support. Else, the M3 will suffice.

 

[MacDevil7334]

If effectiveness in terms of a media engine is critical, get the M2 Pro; also multiple display support. Else, the M3 will suffice.

Both the M2 Pro and vanilla M3 have the same media engine (so does the vanilla M2 IIRC). It was only the base M1 that didn’t have hardware acceleration for encoding.

I do agree with your comment about multiple displays. If you plan to use more than one external display, the Pro chip is the only good option.

 

[jav6454]

Both the M2 Pro and vanilla M3 have the same media engine (so does the vanilla M2 IIRC). It was only the base M1 that didn’t have hardware acceleration for encoding.

I do agree with your comment about multiple displays. If you plan to use more than one external display, the Pro chip is the only good option.

Stand corrected, then yes, assessing the display setup will be key to determining which chip.

 

[mdhaus72]

I’d go with the M3:

-It’s a bit cheaper
-It will handle your workflow just fine
-The screen is slightly better
-You’ll theoretically get an extra year or so of software and security support from Apple.

 

[magbarn]

Do you really need 1TB of storage? I’d rather get a M3 Pro with 16/512 and pay the same as the M3 Vanilla 16/1TB. You can also get flush microsd card adapters and put it in the sd card slot. I have a 1TB sandisk microSD in mine for videos on the go.

 

[arthur486]

I would also go with the M3. It's slightly cheaper, and the increased single-core speed is something you will feel in all tasks; the extra cores of the M2 will be felt only when editing video or doing other intensive tasks that can be parallelized.

Only thing is that M3 has 10 GPU cores and M2 Pro has 19, which might make games run better, if that interests you.

 

[Nbd1790]

Agree with what everyone has mentioned above. One other thing that you might want to take note of is export times from your video projects. From what I understand, a higher CPU & GPU combo will shorten the amount of time it takes to export video projects. Depending on the complexity of the projects you wind up working on, it could make a difference down the line.

 

[geta]

For your needs, the M3 14” MBP would be perfect. Other option to consider would be M2 13” MBA with 24GB RAM and 1GB storage.

 

[jon08]

Another option I currently have is a M1 Pro with 10C/16C 16GB/1TB for cca. 1850 EUR…

 

[magbarn]

Agree with what everyone has mentioned above. One other thing that you might want to take note of is export times from your video projects. From what I understand, a higher CPU & GPU combo will shorten the amount of time it takes to export video projects. Depending on the complexity of the projects you wind up working on, it could make a difference down the line.

That really depends if you're going to be using the media engine. The media engine is the great equalizer in which the lower tier consists of the M1/2/3 vanilla chips and Pro chips with only 1 media engine. The Max chips have 2 engines whilst the Ultra class have 4.

 

[zgagato]

So, it's time to replace my old late-2011 15" MBP.

I'm in shock that this Radeon survived that long. They were dying even 10 years ago.
Like you said either of them will be ok.
The M3 is newer, M2Pro is the "real/full" macbook pro with all the ports and 2 fans.
If you dont care about raytracing get the m2 pro. Is the SSD also faster in the m2 pro?

 

[zgagato]

yea, if you want 1 tb SSD the m2 pro drive is gioin to be >5 GB /s like my m2pro mini.

 

[okkibs]

Another option I currently have is a M1 Pro with 10C/16C 16GB/1TB for cca. 1850 EUR…

Take that one. The base M3 models are relatively restriced, only one external monitor, only one fan that can get pretty noisy vs. 2 quiet fans in all M1/M2 models, and that M1 Pro would be brand new whereas the M2 model would be a lot more expensive despite being a refurbished unit. The refurbished M2 model is somewhat faster of course, but unless you know you'll need the extra power I'd save the money. I am typing this on a 14" M1 model as well and two years later now it's still incredibly fast. It's aging much better than any Intel Macbook before.

The 10 core M1 Pro model is also a higher spec model, the base M1 Pro model has 2 fewer cores.

You could put the saved money towards AC+ so that if the device for whatever reason breaks within the first 3 years you'll get free repairs. There's a good chance that money's wasted but if you were going to spend more money anyways and want the peace of mind it can't hurt. Especially if you are clumsy and might accidentally smash the screen or drop the entire thing it can be worth it since it includes an accidental damage insurance. If it was me I'd probably not get AC+ and just put the saved money towards a new M7/... Macbook in a couple years.

Battery life might be a bit worse on the older models. 8-12 hours at the most depending on display brightness. Typically I get 6-9 hours on mine but my battery needs replacing soon.

Another important thing is that if high display brightness is important to you then you can unlock higher brightnesses with third party apps like Vivid. Buy it once in the Apple app store and you can use it for the rest of this Macbook's lifetime and possibly for the next Macbook too. The M3 models get 600 nits, the M1 and M2 models only 500. With these apps you can also use 600 nits, and if you like you can up it further to around 800-1000 nits. This is fully supported by the hardware. These apps run on the M3 models as well to go beyond the default 600 nits.

The M1 models have very slow display panels that despite 120Hz promotion cannot actually refresh the content fast enough for 120Hz, so the experience will be much more like a 60Hz display. The M2 models have slightly faster panels, though they are still on the slow side. Not sure how the M3 models are doing. Not a big issue for me as I am used to 60Hz displays and don't need 120Hz on a laptop. I like how good HDR looks so overall I like the display in all the 14" models.

 

[Al Rukh]

Another option I currently have is a M1 Pro with 10C/16C 16GB/1TB for cca. 1850 EUR…

If you’re introducing M1 Pro into the mix, it will always triumph others in terms of the amount of computing power you’ll get at a much cheaper price.

 

[jon08]

I'm in shock that this Radeon survived that long. They were dying even 10 years ago.
Like you said either of them will be ok.
The M3 is newer, M2Pro is the "real/full" macbook pro with all the ports and 2 fans.
If you dont care about raytracing get the m2 pro. Is the SSD also faster in the m2 pro?

Actually, my Radeon has long been dead, but I've been running my MBP on the integrated Intel GPU for years now...

Battery life might be a bit worse on the older models. 8-12 hours at the most depending on display brightness. Typically I get 6-9 hours on mine but my battery needs replacing soon.

Thanks for your input! Since I use my MBP quite frequently without plugging it in, I value the battery life quite a bit. Seems that the M1 Pro battery life isn't that great and that M3 offers quite a bit more in this respect. By the way, how much does the battery replacement cost?

If you’re introducing M1 Pro into the mix, it will always triumph others in terms of the amount of computing power you’ll get at a much cheaper price.

It's not all that cheaper - M1 Pro that's availabile is only cca 170 EUR cheaper than M3 16/1TB. If M1 Pro were, say, 300-400 EUR cheaper, then the choice would be quite obvious and I wouldn't be second guessing.

Anyway, when it comes to single core performance, M3 is clearly the winner. For the rest, M1 Pro seems to be better (but not by all that much) in some categories, and in some other categories almost similar, as far as I can see? Altogether, the performance gains in M1 Pro probably wouldn't affect a regular user, or? Also, if I understand correctly, SSD speed is almost twice as fast in M1 Pro vs M3?

But M3 offers at least cca. 4h more battery life on the other hand, right?

My concern about buying M1 Pro is the following:

- Is it really a good idea to buy a 2-yr-old product that's been lying on the shelves? I'm speaking of battery life concerns, for example.

- In the long run, it will stop receiving OS updates sooner than the newer Mac. Theoretically, it may receive updates for another 4 more years or so?

 

[mdhaus72]

Actually, my Radeon has long been dead, but I've been running my MBP on the integrated Intel GPU for years now...




Thanks for your input! Since I use my MBP quite frequently without plugging it in, I value the battery life quite a bit. Seems that the M1 Pro battery life isn't that great and that M3 offers quite a bit more in this respect. By the way, how much does the battery replacement cost?


It's not all that cheaper - M1 Pro that's availabile is only cca 170 EUR cheaper than M3 16/1TB. If M1 Pro were, say, 300-400 EUR cheaper, then the choice would be quite obvious and I wouldn't be second guessing.

Anyway, when it comes to single core performance, M3 is clearly the winner. For the rest, M1 Pro seems to be better (but not by all that much) in some categories, and in some other categories almost similar, as far as I can see? Altogether, the performance gains in M1 Pro probably wouldn't affect a regular user, or? Also, if I understand correctly, SSD speed is almost twice as fast in M1 Pro vs M3?

But M3 offers at least cca. 4h more battery life on the other hand, right?

My concern about buying M1 Pro is the following:

- Is it really a good idea to buy a 2-yr-old product that's been lying on the shelves? I'm speaking of battery life concerns, for example.

- In the long run, it will stop receiving OS updates sooner than the newer Mac. Theoretically, it may receive updates for another 4 more years or so?

If you get AppleCare with your purchase, then a battery replacement is free once it hits 80% of its capacity or less. I believe the regular price without AppleCare is $200 for the MacBook Pros. I’m not sure what they charge in Europe.

As I mentioned above, I still think the M3 option is best for you overall. It’s cheaper than the other option you were initially looking at, has a better screen and you will get an additional year of software and security support from Apple.

 

[okkibs]

Thanks for your input! Since I use my MBP quite frequently without plugging it in, I value the battery life quite a bit. Seems that the M1 Pro battery life isn't that great and that M3 offers quite a bit more in this respect. By the way, how much does the battery replacement cost?

M3 offers more battery life, for the base M3 models only. But you are comparing a Mx Pro chip to a Mx base chip and again, the M3 base models are optimized for lower cost meaning they cut out one of the fans making the device noisier under load, can only drive one external screen, and you actually get only 2 Thunderbolt ports just like on the Macbook Air. I am not sure about SSD speeds, the 500GB models definitely have the slower speeds, not sure about 1TB models. The M3 base models are really about cost savings first. The fact that the much cheaper internals draw less power and provide better battery life is a happy coincidence.

If battery life is more important to you that you'd rather pay a bit more and have a lower spec base M3 chip in it then that's fine. And there is no way to get better battery life with the more expensive M3 Pro and M3 Max models either, if you want that battery life you have to stick to the base M3 models.

From my point of view with a M1 Pro from a good sale in 2021 seeing these high prices for cheaper newer models that had their SSDs gimped, ports reduced and don't even perform much better than my 2 year old Macbook I just can't get excited for these. And I don't see any good sales on the Pro and Max models either, prices really went up in the last 2 years. But from your point of view coming from a very old Macbook it will be a great device and will last those 4 years easily. I still wish they'd sell a model that was better in every single way than my 2 year old one, at the same price point. But now we're in this cycle where Apple reuse the 2021 design for a while and just cut costs where they can. I found it absurd when they released the M2 Pro models and just didn't give the logic board a second chip for the SSD so they were roughly half as fast. That's clearly a step in the wrong direction with advancing tech.

But M3 offers at least cca. 4h more battery life on the other hand, right?

That's in Apple's testing at probably 50% brightness or so, with a brand new battery... in actual daily use you can expect more like 1.5-2.5 hours, or maybe even 3. All these got the same screen and if you make full use of its HDR and brightness capabillities battery life will suck no matter what as a 1600 nits peak brightness screen needs a lot of power.