M4 Pro with 48GB RAM or M4 Max with 36 GB RAM for 3D modeling / (realtime) rendering, which is the best choice?

[flobin]

I’m sorry if this is not the right place or this question has been asked already, but most of the advice that I’ve seen regarding the M4 Max vs. M4 Pro I see pertains to running LLMs and/or video editing.

I currently have a late 2019 Intel Macbook Pro and it’s time for an upgrade.

My use case is running VectorWorks, Sketchup, and Enscape. So 2D drawings, 3D drawings and realtime 3D rendering. I suppose Enscape is kind of similar to video games.

(I also do some Photoshop-type work, sometimes a bit of video editing, but that’s not as important. I do tend to run several programs at the same time, though.)

Since I use an external monitor at work and at home, I am trying to decide between getting the 14" M4 Pro with 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU and 48GB RAM, or the M4 Max with 14‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU and 36GB RAM.

Would it be worth the higher price getting the M4 Max over the M4 Pro, or would the lower amount of RAM constrain me? I intend to keep this laptop for five years, so I suppose the question is what would be best in the long run, RAM or GPUs?

Thank you!

 

[wojtek.traczyk]

My advice: wait for real life tests of given Macs. I got some general observations on the matter, listed below, but wait a bit.

• Max has doubled media engines (hardware video de/encoders) plus doubled memory bandwidth VS Pro;
• SketchUp is, sadly, still not optimized for multi core operations, so machine faster in single core performance will be winner (so, Max again);
• users perspectives are hardly comparable, so spent some time observing RAM/GPU usage on your current Mac in listed apps — in Activity Monitor or similar tool — to search of hint what you’re actual needs are: RAM or GPU power.

 

[aibloop]

Currently considering same problem…

1st:

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s

In my tests on M3 Pro 48gb, the bandwidth of 150Gb/s was not good for blender realtime rendering, M4 pro 273Gb/s is markedly better! But it is not M4 max 546Gb/s…


I think perhaps the 546Gb/s 36gb is better for that reason. But also more gpu cores. 12 more cores…


It’s in a laptop format, so make sure it is not slower due to thermal throttling. Shouldn’t be, perhaps louder fans…



I am currently leaning towards the 14/20/48gb/512gb mac mini, but that is due to me not being able to consider the macbook pro bcs of price. I could go 64gb ram, but jumping to max wont be an option.



the metal scores of 180000+ on m4max vs 111000 on m4pro is also an indication that going Max might be worth it. Significant jump.



In conclusion, M4 Pro is a definite contender on the 14/20/48gb/64gb spec, but Max wins due to gfx cores and memory bandwidth.

 

[hajime]

• SketchUp is, sadly, still not optimized for multi core operations, so machine faster in single core performance will be winner (so, Max again);

I am a bit confused. Doesn’t M4 Max have the same clock speed as M4 Pro? How come in the benchmark, the Max got higher scores in single-core performance?

 

[emeka09]

Currently considering same problem…

1st:

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s

In my tests on M3 Pro 48gb, the bandwidth of 150Gb/s was not good for blender realtime rendering, M4 pro 273Gb/s is markedly better! But it is not M4 max 546Gb/s…


I think perhaps the 546Gb/s 36gb is better for that reason. But also more gpu cores. 12 more cores…


It’s in a laptop format, so make sure it is not slower due to thermal throttling. Shouldn’t be, perhaps louder fans…



I am currently leaning towards the 14/20/48gb/512gb mac mini, but that is due to me not being able to consider the macbook pro bcs of price. I could go 64gb ram, but jumping to max wont be an option.



the metal scores of 180000+ on m4max vs 111000 on m4pro is also an indication that going Max might be worth it. Significant jump.



In conclusion, M4 Pro is a definite contender on the 14/20/48gb/64gb spec, but Max wins due to gfx cores and memory bandwidth.

556GB/s is the memory bandwidth for the 16 core m4 max. The base 14 core m4 max is about 410GB/s

 

[flobin]

Currently considering same problem…

1st:

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s

In my tests on M3 Pro 48gb, the bandwidth of 150Gb/s was not good for blender realtime rendering, M4 pro 273Gb/s is markedly better! But it is not M4 max 546Gb/s…


I think perhaps the 546Gb/s 36gb is better for that reason. But also more gpu cores. 12 more cores…


It’s in a laptop format, so make sure it is not slower due to thermal throttling. Shouldn’t be, perhaps louder fans…



I am currently leaning towards the 14/20/48gb/512gb mac mini, but that is due to me not being able to consider the macbook pro bcs of price. I could go 64gb ram, but jumping to max wont be an option.



the metal scores of 180000+ on m4max vs 111000 on m4pro is also an indication that going Max might be worth it. Significant jump.



In conclusion, M4 Pro is a definite contender on the 14/20/48gb/64gb spec, but Max wins due to gfx cores and memory bandwidth.

I didn’t even know Blender did realtime rendering.

Anyway, thank you for your informative reply!

 

[flobin]

My advice: wait for real life tests of given Macs. I got some general observations on the matter, listed below, but wait a bit.

• Max has doubled media engines (hardware video de/encoders) plus doubled memory bandwidth VS Pro;
• SketchUp is, sadly, still not optimized for multi core operations, so machine faster in single core performance will be winner (so, Max again);
• users perspectives are hardly comparable, so spent some time observing RAM/GPU usage on your current Mac in listed apps — in Activity Monitor or similar tool — to search of hint what you’re actual needs are: RAM or GPU power.

Thank you for your insights!

 

[aibloop]

556GB/s is the memory bandwidth for the 16 core m4 max. The base 14 core m4 max is about 410GB/s

Ty, I was looking for that data. Yes, the Base M4 Max is closer to M4 Pro this time around. Still there are the additional gpu cores. And 410Gb/s is still quite a bit more than 273Gb/s...

 

[emeka09]

Ty, I was looking for that data. Yes, the Base M4 Max is closer to M4 Pro this time around. Still there are the additional gpu cores. And 410Gb/s is still quite a bit more than 273Gb/s...

I agree; was just correcting that point. I’d most likely go for the max but my main concern is the battery life compared to the pro. Do you think it’ll be a significant difference?

 

[marko232]

I'm in the exact same boat! Slightly more money for less ram, but much faster ram, 2 more decode units, 12 more gpu cores, and DP 2.1 seems to be the summary of the differences.

 

[emeka09]

I'm in the exact same boat! Slightly more money for less ram, but much faster ram, 2 more decode units, 12 more gpu cores, and DP 2.1 seems to be the summary of the differences.

Can you explain how the ram is faster?

 

[marko232]

Can you explain how the ram is faster?

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s


For reference a rtx 4090 has 512 GB/s bandwith and a 4070 has 256 GB/s.

So in conclusion I think the M4 Pro is probably more than OK for most needs.

 

[mi7chy]

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s


For reference a rtx 4090 has 512 GB/s bandwith and a 4070 has 256 GB/s.

So in conclusion I think the M4 Pro is probably more than OK for most needs.

4090 is 1.01 TB/s or 1010 GB/s
4070 is 504.2 GB/s

 

[marko232]

4090 is 1.01 TB/s or 1010 GB/s
4070 is 504.2 GB/s

I was sharing the Laptop Variants of the GPUs !

 

[mi7chy]

I was sharing the Laptop Variants of the GPUs !

The naming convention is 4090m or 4070m so you don't have to spell out 4090 or 4070 mobile.

 

[emeka09]

Memory bandwidth:

M4 Max = 546 GB/s
M4 Pro = 273 GB/s


For reference a rtx 4090 has 512 GB/s bandwith and a 4070 has 256 GB/s.

So in conclusion I think the M4 Pro is probably more than OK for most needs.

I see. Thanks. The 14 core m4 max is 410GB/s; it’s the 16 core that’s 546