M3 Max (16" MBP) or M2 Ultra Mac Studio

[Bafflefish]

Good afternoon all,

So I'm looking to move up from a M1 Max Mac Studio to a higher-spec'd system, the M1 Max Studio then going to my oldest son for his first system. I'll apologize if this is the wrong forum, but since it kinda goes between Mac types, I wasn't sure where else to put it.

I had been hoping that Apple was going to refresh the Studio at WWDC this year with either the M3 or M4, but since that didn't happen, I'm now contemplating going with either the M3 Max (16" MBP) or M2 Ultra Mac Studio, both as new or Apple refurbished (for the little additional savings).

My use-case is Parallels with Windows 11 on ARM running, and various engineering applications that so-far, have mostly been running ok on the M1 Max Studio, though I've been seeing memory pressure getting into the red, which is part of why I want to spec up. I had Parallels set to use 4 cores while 6 were left for macOS.

During non-work hours, I'll sometimes do some side-consulting work in Parallels while also playing a game here or there (WoW, Stellaris, etc.) as stuff executes/renders on Windows, but I think for this purpose, I'd imagine both the M3 Max and the M2 Ultra should be more than sufficient.

I just wanted to get a general opinion here, since I've been bouncing back-and-forth and having analysis paralysis. The MBP would likely be in clamshell the majority of the time, though it would enable me to more easily move between standing desk and other areas if I wanted to, but I wouldn't call this a critical need. The only other concern is that while I think the 16" MBP will generally be quiet, I've heard its fans going and they're not bothersome, but obviously noticeable. The Studios obviously are almost always quiet, at least in my experience.

Thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

You would pay a lot of money for that 16" screen and battery when you will be using the computer in clamshell mode and plugged into AC mains. But if this computer is making money for you and if you make the money back in a few days why bother to care?

The most economical way to fix your problem is to buy another Studio, but this time with twice as much RAM. Yes, "twice as much". You typically need to at least double the RAM to make a difference that you can notice at the keyboard without using benchmarks and other instrumentation.

In any case, to make that "red" go "green", double the RAM at least. If there is one single thing that uses RAM is is virtual machines.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I'd imagine both the M3 Max and the M2 Ultra should be more than sufficient.

Using Geekbench 6 scores — limited in performance scope but okay for comparison — the high tier M3 Max and M2 Ultra have practically the same peak (i.e., multi-core) performance, the M2 Ultra leading slightly. Both are ~70% more capable (CPU-wise) than the M1 Max.

During non-work hours, I'll sometimes do some side-consulting work in Parallels while also playing a game here or there (WoW, Stellaris, etc.) as stuff executes/renders on Windows

Not only does the Ultra have more CPU cores, it has significantly more GPU cores, which equates to ~70% higher GPU performance versus the M3 Max (and up to ~120% versus the M1 Max) *** again, using Geekbench 6 Metal scores.

My use-case is Parallels with Windows 11 on ARM running, and various engineering applications that so-far, have mostly been running ok on the M1 Max Studio, though I've been seeing memory pressure getting into the red, which is part of why I want to spec up.

You would pay a lot of money for that 16" screen and battery when you will be using the computer in clamshell mode and plugged into AC mains. But if this computer is making money for you and if you make the money back in a few days why bother to care?

The most economical way to fix your problem is to buy another Studio, but this time with twice as much RAM. Yes, "twice as much". You typically need to at least double the RAM to make a difference that you can notice at the keyboard without using benchmarks and other instrumentation.

In any case, to make that "red" go "green", double the RAM at least. If there is one single thing that uses RAM is is virtual machines.

Furthermore, the M2 Ultra provides the option to triple your Mac’s RAM capacity (i.e., 192GB).

I'm now contemplating going with either the M3 Max (16" MBP) or M2 Ultra Mac Studio, both as new or Apple refurbished (for the little additional savings).

I think 15% savings is substantial, especially at those tier prices. For example, using U.S. Apple Store pricing:

Refurbished Mac Studio Apple M2 Ultra Chip with 24‑Core CPU and 76‑Core GPU - Apple

Built from two M2 Max chips, M2 Ultra lets you power through workflows on an unprecedented scale. So you can quickly transcode and export videos, run complex particle simulations, or work with massive 3D environments that were previously impossible to render. And with twice the Media Engine...

www.apple.com

Going all-out, the 192GB and 8TB config is $8,799 new and $7,479 refurb (a $1,320 savings).
At the mid-tier, the 128GB and 4TB config is $6,799 new and $5,779 refurb (a $1,020 savings).
The relatively low-end 64GB and 2TB config is $5,399 new and $4,589 refurb (an $810 savings).

 

[ChrisA]

If we assume the OP has a fixed budget. It does not matter what that budget is, it could be $4,000 or $8,000. Just assume it is fixed. Now the question is how best to spend that amount of money. Do you buy more RAM, More GPU cores or spend it on a larger 16” screen? Of cource you want “all of the above”. But what if you have a budget? Should you buy ther more GPUs or more RAM? In this case the OP knows he sees “red” memory pressure because he is running a virual machine. The VM “steals” RAM from MacOS. The VM needs as much RAM as a “real” Windows 11 system so the physical Mac needs eouough RAM and CPU cores to run essentially two computers. Running a VM with an interactive graphics app in Windows is the one case where I’d say you need a “ton of RAM”. For some years I ran 3D CAD on Windows in a VM on my Intel iMac. The performance was “tolerable”. Now that CAD software is running native Mac Apple Silicon and prefeomance is much better even with 1/2 the RAM.​