MacBook Pro M3 Pro vs M3 Max - will 150GB/s memory bandwidth effect anything?

[chongsen]

Doesn't M3 pro has the same geek bench 6 as M2 pro. For the M3 pro price, I personally will go M2 Max. They will be the same price around black Friday.

 

[AppleUser29912]

Doesn't M3 pro has the same geek bench 6 as M2 pro. For the M3 pro price, I personally will go M2 Max. They will be the same price around black Friday.

I really want the the new space black, I think maybe I should wait for another year for M4?

 

[ipaqrat]

I will say this again:
Do NOT get the M3 Pro chip. It is barely any faster than the M2 Pro (only between 10-15%, probably less, from Apple's graphs). It has lower memory bandwidth, like you said. It has less performance cores, and less cores overall. It is the smallest year-over-year upgrade for any chip they have made this year.
Instead, buy a refurbished M2 Max (if you can use the refurbished store). It is faster than M3 Pro, and will certainly last you 10 years. It will also have higher memory bandwidth, and if you are going to get any upgrades, they will be a lot cheaper on the refurbished store. Or, buy an M2 Pro if you think it will be enough. And of course, you can get the M3 Max which will be amazing. Whatever you do though, do not get M3 Pro.

Oh, hey, Oren. Sorry, I was feeding the horses. Could you say that again?

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

Just ONE data point,,, but I don’t think that there is much chance you’ll be keeping this laptop for 10 years.. so take that into context if that is your calculation. LOTS of HW and device changes coming in the industry and technology in that period of time, where you will most likely be upgrade a primary device in the next 5-7 years latest.

Yup. Apple usually designates its products vintage after 7 years, obsolete not long after. You’ll want to upgrade long before either of those times—even if it is only for a cool new redesign or some non-performance related feature like face-ID or slimmer bezels or oled or something

 

[smbu2000]

The base tier M3 Max (14core/30gpu) model has 300GB/s of bandwidth. You need to get the higher tier 16core/40gpu M3 Max to get the 400GB/s of bandwidth. On the previous M2 Max, both the base tier and higher tier models have 400GB/s og bandwidth.

Both models of M3 Pro have 150GB/s.
https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

 

[chongsen]

I really want the the new space black, I think maybe I should wait for another year for M4?

If you like the space black, go for it. CPU upgrade is meaningless for majorities. New color is significant lol.

 

[AppleUser29912]

If you like the space black, go for it. CPU upgrade is meaningless for majorities. New color is significant lol.

I am not sure what does that 150 vs 400 mean, is that the performance speed? Will I see significant improvements?

 

[tivoboy]

The base tier M3 Max (14core/30gpu) model has 300GB/s of bandwidth. You need to get the higher tier 16core/40gpu M3 Max to get the 400GB/s of bandwidth. On the previous M2 Max, both the base tier and higher tier models have 400GB/s og bandwidth.

Both models of M3 Pro have 150GB/s.
https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

Prior PRO only have 200GB, so it’s not really as much as it would appear.

 

[chongsen]

I am not sure what does that 150 vs 400 mean, is that the performance speed? Will I see significant improvements?

It depends on your workload.

I think for most people, if you don't know what is bandwidth, that means you never experience bandwidth issue and it is most irrelevant to you.

 

[chongsen]

I am not sure what does that 150 vs 400 mean, is that the performance speed? Will I see significant improvements?

The top tier i9 13900k has 98Gb bandwidth. 100GB should be enough for any CPU intense work.

GPU is a totally different story. RTX4090 has 1000GB bandwidth by itself. 4070 has 550GB, Even PS5 has 450GB bandwidth.

Mac is never for gaming though.

 

[likegadgets]

Just to note, Apple support is only guaranteed for 7 years IIRC. Yes it will still work beyond, but you may be vulnerable due to lack of security updates.

On the other hand, I have an 11 year old 2012 i7 MacBook Pro Retina 16MB / 768GB where I just installed Sonoma 14.1 using OpenCore legacy patcher and I am impressed how well and fast still runs (an Battery Health still 90%). Have not noticed any issues yet. Not a daily use machine, but so far works with every app I have tested. That said, I ordered a 16" MBP M3 MAX with 128 GB RAM and 4TB for daily use.

OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Experience macOS just like before

dortania.github.io

 

[brgjoe]

yeah, definitely looking for real world results between the M2 Pro/M3 Pro. On paper, doesn't look like much of a difference. But will see how other improvements like Ray tracing make a difference. Otherwise, yeah, I will probably go with an M2 refurbed model.

 

[darthbane2k]

I will say this again:
Do NOT get the M3 Pro chip. It is barely any faster than the M2 Pro (only between 10-15%, probably less, from Apple's graphs). It has lower memory bandwidth, like you said. It has less performance cores, and less cores overall. It is the smallest year-over-year upgrade for any chip they have made this year.
Instead, buy a refurbished M2 Max (if you can use the refurbished store). It is faster than M3 Pro, and will certainly last you 10 years. It will also have higher memory bandwidth, and if you are going to get any upgrades, they will be a lot cheaper on the refurbished store. Or, buy an M2 Pro if you think it will be enough. And of course, you can get the M3 Max which will be amazing. Whatever you do though, do not get M3 Pro.

Oh stop.

Suddenly the ‘13” MacBook Pro isn’t really pro’ people have moved onto ‘the m3 pros are not really pro’.

There’s a Mac for everyone. All are outstanding based on your use case. Even the base M3.

 

[OrenLindsey]

Oh stop.

Suddenly the ‘13” MacBook Pro isn’t really pro’ people have moved onto ‘the m3 pros are not really pro’.

There’s a Mac for everyone. All are outstanding based on your use case. Even the base M3.

I was saying that compared to the M2 Pro, it's not an upgrade. If you had the choice between an M3 Pro and an M2 Pro at a lower price, the M2 Pro is always better. Both still beat 95% of windows laptops though.

 

[darkelipse04]

Vadim from Max Tech shared a new score and his “insight” which I don’t agree with.

X Link

 

[roundski]

M3 Pro on Geekbench 6 12 core
Single-Core Score3035
Multi-Core Score15173
search Mac15.6 in scores on Geekbench 6 website

 

[Peter Hunter]

Go with binned m3 Max at least. Or choose m2 Max with discounts on BF.

 

[aeronatis]

I get that this result was almost certainly arrived at by trying to reduce transistor count to improve yields, but I'm still shocked something like battery life isn't significantly improved given the process shrink.

Battery life under load could be improved. The advertised battery life is WiFi browsing and video streaming times, both of which are CPU single-core and/or video decoder activities.

 

[Basic75]

No one here has asked, so I will: What exactly are you doing with it?

It's weird how many people have an opinion without knowing anything about the use case.

@AppleUser29912 Please enlighten us regarding the workload of your computer.

Otherwise we can only fall back to the simple truth, if you don't know that you need it you probably don't, buy the smaller M3 Pro (or the base M3 with 16GB) and be happy for many years.