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MBP M2 Pro 32GB Ram not available anymore?

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beta2k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 9, 2020
27
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My gf who uses her MacBook Pro (currently Mid-2014 ...) for intensive music production (Ableton Live, Reaper, Cubax, Max/MSP, etc.) badly needs an upgrade.

I was reading that the M3 Pro, due to its relative lack of performacne cores, is (currently) not the best for using Ableton or Logic. Hence, I was focussing on M2 Pro which should be very good for such apps. However, I think that having 32GB RAM is also very important, but it seems I can only find M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Is this right? Am I missing something? Any other clues (e.g. "go for M3 Pro it will be better supported by Ableton/Logic in a few months", ...)?

Oh and fwiw, I don't want to go for a refurb or used one (if possible), and would really like a new one.
 
beta2k said:
My gf who uses her MacBook Pro (currently Mid-2014 ...) for intensive music production (Ableton Live, Reaper, Cubax, Max/MSP, etc.) badly needs an upgrade.

I was reading that the M3 Pro, due to its relative lack of performacne cores, is (currently) not the best for using Ableton or Logic. Hence, I was focussing on M2 Pro which should be very good for such apps. However, I think that having 32GB RAM is also very important, but it seems I can only find M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Is this right? Am I missing something? Any other clues (e.g. "go for M3 Pro it will be better supported by Ableton/Logic in a few months", ...)?

Oh and fwiw, I don't want to go for a refurb or used one (if possible), and would really like a new one.
Click to expand...
The M2 Pro models have been discontinued since October, 2023 so they'll be increasingly hard to find. It looks like B&H Photo in New York still has some in stock. I would also strongly consider an Apple refurbished computer. These come with a full warranty and will generally be in "like new" condition.
 
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A 32GiB RAM Macbook is a BTO configuration that is no longer in production. Retailers ordered fewer of those than of the most popular standard configs with 16GiB. So whatever stock is left is all you can get. Unless you can wait at least until May the M3 MBPs will likely be the only choice now unless you get a used M2 MBP. There could be new M4 Macbooks as early as May but they could arrive as late as Nov 2024. Sometimes there are some rumors ahead of such an announcement but currently that's for a March announcement for new Macbook Airs. You could wait and see if Apple unexpectedly releases M4 Macbook Pros but M3 is still relatively new so that is unlikely.

Even if you were ok with buying used the new Macbook Pros with M1/M2 are very solid devices that customers will be very happy with. So you won't find many for sale to begin with and even if you do it will be hard to find a reall good deal. The Apple refurb store doesn't really have good deals either, you'd be better off getting a M3 model on sale at Best Buy.

I'd just get a 32GiB M3 Pro model as the performance increase will still be substantial over such an old Intel MBP. And the M2 models I found at B&H seem to be more expensive than paying full retail pricing directly with Apple on a M3 model. So that's a really bad deal. Best Buy has a 16" model in stock but that's all I can see.
 
okkibs said:
A 32GiB RAM Macbook is a BTO configuration that is no longer in production. Retailers ordered fewer of those than of the most popular standard configs with 16GiB. So whatever stock is left is all you can get.
Click to expand...

The M2 Max 32GB RAM/1TB SSD model was sold in stores, not a BTO - I know because I bought mine in-store. It has been replaced by the M3 Max with 36GB RAM/1TB SSD as a non-BTO configuration.

It is far more likely that the MacBook Air gets a refresh before we start seeing M4 and M4 variants in the Pro line, especially given that it hasn't been all that long since the Pro lineup was updated to M3.
 
okkibs said:
A 32GiB RAM Macbook is a BTO configuration that is no longer in production. Retailers ordered fewer of those than of the most popular standard configs with 16GiB. So whatever stock is left is all you can get. Unless you can wait at least until May the M3 MBPs will likely be the only choice now unless you get a used M2 MBP. There could be new M4 Macbooks as early as May but they could arrive as late as Nov 2024. Sometimes there are some rumors ahead of such an announcement but currently that's for a March announcement for new Macbook Airs. You could wait and see if Apple unexpectedly releases M4 Macbook Pros but M3 is still relatively new so that is unlikely.

Even if you were ok with buying used the new Macbook Pros with M1/M2 are very solid devices that customers will be very happy with. So you won't find many for sale to begin with and even if you do it will be hard to find a reall good deal. The Apple refurb store doesn't really have good deals either, you'd be better off getting a M3 model on sale at Best Buy.

I'd just get a 32GiB M3 Pro model as the performance increase will still be substantial over such an old Intel MBP. And the M2 models I found at B&H seem to be more expensive than paying full retail pricing directly with Apple on a M3 model. So that's a really bad deal. Best Buy has a 16" model in stock but that's all I can see.
Click to expand...
They're going to release the M4, M4 Pro, M4 Max all at the same time every November now, in a cycle similar to the iphones. That's what they intended to do with the M2 but that was delayed because of China's lockdowns, hence the staggered August 2022 and Jan 2023 release, then Halloween 2023 for all the M3 chips.
 
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For what it's worth, I recently got an 11 core M3 Pro with 18GB of RAM (on sale) and I've had zero issues with my big Logic and Ableton projects so far. Plenty of headroom with the CPU and RAM, and it barely even gets hot without much fan noise, if at all. Regardless, literally anything is going to be a BIG upgrade compared to an Intel Mac - just go with whatever has a better deal at the moment and it'll last for years.
 
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dmccloud said:
The M2 Max 32GB RAM/1TB SSD model was sold in stores, not a BTO
Click to expand...
This thread isn't about a M2 Max chip though and with more than 1TB a M2 Max might end up being a BTO config regardless. Retailers definitely aren't stocking a dozen configs, between the two sizes and three colors there are more than 100 possible combinations that can be ordered through Apple. Even more configs with the M3 MBPs that have the base M3 SoC option now as well.
 
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beta2k said:
My gf who uses her MacBook Pro (currently Mid-2014 ...) for intensive music production (Ableton Live, Reaper, Cubax, Max/MSP, etc.) badly needs an upgrade.

I was reading that the M3 Pro, due to its relative lack of performacne cores, is (currently) not the best for using Ableton or Logic. Hence, I was focussing on M2 Pro which should be very good for such apps. However, I think that having 32GB RAM is also very important, but it seems I can only find M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Is this right? Am I missing something? Any other clues (e.g. "go for M3 Pro it will be better supported by Ableton/Logic in a few months", ...)?

Oh and fwiw, I don't want to go for a refurb or used one (if possible), and would really like a new one.
Click to expand...
You're probably not going to find a new one. Incidentally, Apple Certified Refurbished Macs are basically new. The entire exterior and battery are new. You get the exact same warranty as a new one.

Otherwise, I don't believe that M3 Pro is a performance downgrade from an M2 Pro. It's just not much of an upgrade; more of a cross-grade. The standard M3 and the M3 Max both made more substantial jumps over their M2-based predecessors. More to say that it's not that M2 Pro sucks. Just that it's not much of an upgrade and therefore ought to not make anyone with an M2 Pro want to upgrade.
 
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Yebubbleman said:
Incidentally, Apple Certified Refurbished Macs are basically new. The entire exterior and battery are new.
Click to expand...
That is incorrect. Housing and battery are only guaranteed to be new on Apple refurbished iPhones and iPads, not on Macbooks.
 
beta2k said:
My gf who uses her MacBook Pro (currently Mid-2014 ...) for intensive music production (Ableton Live, Reaper, Cubax, Max/MSP, etc.) badly needs an upgrade.

I was reading that the M3 Pro, due to its relative lack of performacne cores, is (currently) not the best for using Ableton or Logic. Hence, I was focussing on M2 Pro which should be very good for such apps. However, I think that having 32GB RAM is also very important, but it seems I can only find M2 Pro with 16GB RAM. Is this right? Am I missing something? Any other clues (e.g. "go for M3 Pro it will be better supported by Ableton/Logic in a few months", ...)?

Oh and fwiw, I don't want to go for a refurb or used one (if possible), and would really like a new one.
Click to expand...

If you’re not interested in refurb or used Mac, then your only option would be new M3 Pro with 36GB RAM.

As for Ableton/Logic and M3 Pro chip, compared to her old 2014 MBP, the new Mac will run circles without a sweat around it.
 
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