M3 Max vs M4 Pro Same Ram, SSD

[stepaul8]

I am torn between a M4 Pro 48GB Ram, 1 TB SSD and an Apple-Refurbished M3 Max 48GB, 1 TB SSD for a similar price. I am upgrading from a M1 Pro 16GB Ram, 512 SSD because I am running out of SSD and Ram, and I would like to start experimenting with local LLMs. I am a complete novice, so it doesn't have to be anything crazy. I also do some light gaming, such as Civ 6, 7, WoW, OSRS, Cities Skylines.

The faster memory bandwidth and double the GPU cores of the M3 Max is very appealing, but I also value the larger battery and quietness of the M4 Pro. I am almost indifferent on buying new vs Apple refurbished.

Would love some thoughts on this.

 

[GMShadow]

How often do you usually upgrade your machine? Do you expect the LLM experimentation to go much beyond some light dalliances?

 

[stepaul8]

How often do you usually upgrade your machine? Do you expect the LLM experimentation to go much beyond some light dalliances?

I upgraded once in the past 4 years, ironically last year. I had base m1 13 inch, and bought a used M1 Pro 16" and have loved it. I don't think I will be a power user for LLMs, and if I were, I believe I would switch to a PC at that point. That's a great question!

 

[GMShadow]

I'd check to see if your games will actually benefit from the Max, but otherwise I'd go with the M4 Pro - especially as you've pointed out noise and battery life are important to you. The M4 gen also has a brighter LCD and a better webcam (if that's at all important to you).

 

[mysticmanix]

LLMs use GPU cores, and the Max obviously has way more, and the M3 Max has a higher memory bandwidth of 300MB/s versus 270MB/s on the M4 Pro. It'd be better. However the M4 Pro is newer, and each single GPU core is actually more powerful than the M3 Max's.

I'd get the M4 Pro. After experimenting with local LLMs, you find they really pale in comparison to just using the ones from ChatGPT or Claude or Grok or Gemini. I'd just get the newer machine, it'd have one more year of updates and one better year of re-sellability.

 

[Fishrrman]

M4 Pro.
Because... it's newer.