MacBook Pro 16 4gb vs 8gb VRAM?

[radicalgel]

I live in India and am in a bit of a conundrum. I'm looking to buy the MBP 16 i9 but would like to upgrade the GPU from 4 to 8gb but the issue here is that BTO takes forever. The store said it could take a minimum for 45 days and given the COVID situation I'm not sure how long I'd be waiting. The standard i9 with the 5500m 4gb will be available in a couple of days, so my question is, is it worth upgrading to 8gb if it means such a long wait and does the upgrade make that much of a difference.

As for what I'll be using it for it would be the following:
1) UI/UX and graphic design: Sketch, Adobe Suite etc
2) Industrial Product Design: Autodesk Fusion 360 and Keyshot Rendered
3) Photo editing: Lightroom & photoshop
4) Music production: Logic Pro X
5) Content creation: FCP X & Apple Motion

None of these would be super taxing in terms of projects. I.e. I don't have logic sessions the have hundreds of tracks, I'm not editing 6k or 8k raw, 3d work is for small household projects and not massive scenes with millions or polygons.

So keeping this in mind, should I wait or just get the 4gb one and get on with my work? It's already half a year since this model was launched so it would be a bit silly to have to wait another 2 months just to have apple release the next-gen. Anyway I'm really confused so I hopw someone here can help.

 

[Alex W.]

When it comes to synthetic benchmarks is minor, I used the 8gb 5500m and now use the 5300m 4gb, using AutoCAD and revit with complex full building specs, rendering etc, I find almost no need for the 5500m the difference is less than 7% for my use case, but give you a lot of benefits in less noise, and heat.

overall, I think the base gpu is ideal, as I had kernel panics with my 5500m, and none on the 5300m aswell, Id Recommend if you can afford it to buy both and try both like I did.

i think the base model is what the mbp16 was optimally designed for In terms of form and function.

i don’t see how you’ll need 4gb or more vram for what you’re doing, the cram isn’t the limiting factor in these devices, it’s the gpu itself And thermals. The systems vram isn’t a bottleneck, it’s the graphics horsepower itself imo, the 5500m won’t change that, it’s a mobile gpu, 4gb ram is ideal balance for what the gpu is capable of.

theres A lot of videos on youtube on this with benchmarks that will validate my statement.

however, if you do go 5500m def 4gb, don’t worry about 8gb.

 

[Patcell]

Ok, I voted for 8GP because it is a relatively inexpensive upgrade... I totally missed the part about the very long wait. I am surprised there is that long of a wait on the 16" BTO. In reality, there are probably only very specific use cases that would explicitly benefit from larger amounts of VRAM. Admittedly, I don't really know what those may be... high resolution gaming maybe, but the GPU probably isn't powerful enough to take advantage of that much frame-buffer.

As far as professional workflows (video production/ design work), there may be advantages there - I don't know enough about it to comment.

 

[sau93]

i think the base model is what the mbp16 was optimally designed for In terms of form and function.

It seemed to me that you were disappointed with MBP 16. Now are you enjoying it? (just considering buying, so looking for independent reviews)

 

[Alex W.]

It seemed to me that you were disappointed with MBP 16. Now are you enjoying it? (just considering buying, so looking for independent reviews)

the i9 5500m had a couple minor issues, but the screen is my biggest complaint.
the i7 fixed all the minor issues, besides the screen so I’m happy now

 

[LinkRS]

I live in India and am in a bit of a conundrum. I'm looking to buy the MBP 16 i9 but would like to upgrade the GPU from 4 to 8gb but the issue here is that BTO takes forever. The store said it could take a minimum for 45 days and given the COVID situation I'm not sure how long I'd be waiting. The standard i9 with the 5500m 4gb will be available in a couple of days, so my question is, is it worth upgrading to 8gb if it means such a long wait and does the upgrade make that much of a difference.

As for what I'll be using it for it would be the following:
1) UI/UX and graphic design: Sketch, Adobe Suite etc
2) Industrial Product Design: Autodesk Fusion 360 and Keyshot Rendered
3) Photo editing: Lightroom & photoshop
4) Music production: Logic Pro X
5) Content creation: FCP X & Apple Motion

None of these would be super taxing in terms of projects. I.e. I don't have logic sessions the have hundreds of tracks, I'm not editing 6k or 8k raw, 3d work is for small household projects and not massive scenes with millions or polygons.

So keeping this in mind, should I wait or just get the 4gb one and get on with my work? It's already half a year since this model was launched so it would be a bit silly to have to wait another 2 months just to have apple release the next-gen. Anyway I'm really confused so I hopw someone here can help.

Howdy readicalgel,

The amount of VRAM you need is highly dependent upon your workflow and the programs you use. Some programs rely on just the System RAM and the CPU. Other programs can leverage your GPU and will use your VRAM. You should take a look at each of the programs that you use to see how much VRAM they "require" to help you with the decision. I would guess that your Music Production apps won't use the GPU, and so it won't matter, but several of the programs you list, might. For example, here is a page talking about VRAM and Adobe Premiere https://www.studio1productions.com/blog/?p=302. It seems this program can do up to 2K video editing with 4 GBs of VRAM just fine, but doing higher will likely need more VRAM.

I just did a CTO 16" MBP and did opt for the 8GB upgrade, but did not have to wait more than about 10 days, and I did it to extend the longevity of my purchase. My previous MBP only had 2GBs of VRAM, so even the base card would have improved. Plus it was only $90 more for the 8 GB, so it seemed like a no-brainier at the time. I might have not went that way if I had to wait as long as they are projecting for you :-(.

Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[radicalgel]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, this would have been a no-brainer upgrade for me if the wait time was not such an issue. Anyway, I was thinking I'll order the BTO and bump up the RAM to 32gb. Since the wait time is the same I may as well future proof a little more