Need purchasing advice: MBP 14''

[lother]

I'm planning to buy MBP 14'' for music production mainly. The difficulty is that I live in the places where you don't have any official apple stores and you can buy apple products via resellers only, so basically despite the name of this thread I can't configurate any model by my personal preferences. There are 2 machines currently available in the market which I'm interested in:

1) unbinned custom MBP M2 Pro 14'' 12C 19GPU (1Tb SSD, 32RAM)

or

2) binned based MBP M2 Max 14'' 12C 30GPU (1TB SSD, 32RAM)

my work tasks are gonna be:

music prod primarily.

secondary: programming (mobile & web dev) + a bit of yt 1440p video editing and photoshop. Not any heavy graphics task (3d rendering, 4k video editing, neither of it) I need.


my requirements for the machine are:

1) being quiet for moderate and a bit higher workload. I'm not really being into a synthetic-test-guy who gonna push it to the max and etc. I need the machine for real-world tasks I mentioned above only.
2) not too hot.
3) battery drain being adequate.

Unfortunately unable to buy based binned 10C/16Gpu with 1tb/32ram specs for the reasons mentioned earlier (market issues). And unfortunately not looking for 16'' models bcs of portability. Some YTbers said that unbinned 14'' M2 Pro chip w/ 12C 19G is extremely and kinda abnormally hot & loud under workload. There were some rumors as well that the cooling system on 14'' chassis m2 Max is beefed. But in contrast a lot of thermal / throttle issues were observed from their reviews of full spec 38Gcores 14'' M2 Max (I didn't even consider this for purchasing). But is there a hope that binned 30G-Cores Max chip on this chassis going behave fine and not having same thermal/cooling issues? Or maybe that they're not correct about full-spec M2 Pro? I'm asking you, guys, real users like me. Real owners of those two models. Not those potential, venal biased and lying youtubers. Then why tf apple is selling those upgraded more than 10c/16g 14'' if they might have some issues in this form factor. I'm confused and a bit dissapointed bcs don't wanna buy pig in a pog. In my country you barely have the opportunity to change or refund the product w/o issues. Plz help.

P.S. I apologize for the mess. English is not my first language.

 

[DisraeliGears]

Don't have an M2 model (just an M1 14") but from everything I've heard you're probably better off with the Pro?

From my experience with the M1 Pro, you will not even get the fans to turn on with your proposed workflow (maybe if you're getting a bit wild with your YouTube video edits).

 

[lother]

Don't have an M2 model (just an M1 14") but from everything I've heard you're probably better off with the Pro?

From my experience with the M1 Pro, you will not even get the fans to turn on with your proposed workflow (maybe if you're getting a bit wild with your YouTube video edits).

Yes, I would be fine going even with the binned pro model, but we don't have that configured on the market, only stock w/ 512/16. And still don't know what to expect from unbinned 12C-19G M2 Pro 14'' model, bcs there was no any review from real users, except youtubers, whom I don't 100% believe bcs of their benchmark oriented measurements mostly.

That's why I'm here just to see real owners shed the light on the situation w/ 14'' 12/19 M2 Pro or 12/30 M2 Max chips in real-world tasks.

 

[jlc1978]

Here’s an out of box suggestion ( I am a consultant in real life):

What are air fares like to a country that has an Apple store or resellers that can get a BTO. You could order a BTO for pickup, fly to get it. If you can get a VAT refund you might wind up paying less.

 

[ian87w]

Here’s an out of box suggestion ( I am a consultant in real life):

What are air fares like to a country that has an Apple store or resellers that can get a BTO. You could order a BTO for pickup, fly to get it. If you can get a VAT refund you might wind up paying less.

This is not that easy unless you have a friend in that country locally that can help with a local credit card.
Take Apple Singapore. They don't accept foreign credit cards for online orders, and online orders are not eligible for GST refund.

 

[jlc1978]

This is not that easy unless you have a friend in that country locally that can help with a local credit card.
Take Apple Singapore. They don't accept foreign credit cards for online orders, and online orders are not eligible for GST refund.

I wonder if you could order via the Apple Store and select a foreign pickup location? Or buy an Apple gift card to use?

Haven’t tried it.

 

[lother]

Here’s an out of box suggestion ( I am a consultant in real life):

What are air fares like to a country that has an Apple store or resellers that can get a BTO. You could order a BTO for pickup, fly to get it. If you can get a VAT refund you might wind up paying less.

Unfortunately the only option in this case scenario like you mentioned is UAE. But here is a thing: UAE Apple stores don't have "pickup in a store" option, direct delivery to the customer address only. And terms of delivery could vary from 5-8 business days to 1 month in rare cases. Mostly like in 2 weeks. Too expensive and pointless for me to stay in Dubai/Abu-Dhabi for a courier's call in random 5-15 day just to get a macintosh. UAE resellers more likely don't have a build I am looking for and gonna charge extra if I order to them. It is what it is... Would be reasonable just to get something what we have in a market. But for some reason none of owners of those 2 configurated models here on forum were not respond yet... And air fares are not too cheap btw, a bit cheaper if you planning your trip before, like everywhere else I guess. All other locations are too far and just will be waste of funds for me.


I mean I would be fine to get one of those 2 models if I just would know what to really expect from them and if it fits those criterias w/ thermals, fans, battery drain. For Pete's sake can't be real that Apple just are being so greedy to manufacture product in comparable smaller chasiss with thermal issues even w/ full M2 Pro...

 

[dmccloud]

I have only been able to get the fans kicked in on my 14" MBP (M2 Max 12c/30gpu) a couple of times, and that was actually while playing some games to test out the system. Even then, I really heard the air being exhausted more than any actual fan noise. As far as heating goes, the 6, T, and Y keys got a bit warm, but nothing to be concerned about.

 

[wilberforce]

I have only been able to get the fans kicked in on my 14" MBP (M2 Max 12c/30gpu) a couple of times, and that was actually while playing some games to test out the system. Even then, I really heard the air being exhausted more than any actual fan noise. As far as heating goes, the 6, T, and Y keys got a bit warm, but nothing to be concerned about.

I agree, I struggled to get my fans to even turn on in my 14" MBP M1 Pro, that I thought there was something wrong with it - and when they did turn on I could only hear them by putting my ear next to the vents. Heat and throttling just isn't a big issue on the M1/M2 machines. I'm not saying it isn't an issue at all, but is way down the list of things to consider when picking a configuration. I would just pick the configuration that best suits your work, and not worry about heat/throttling. It's not like an Intel furnace.

If battery life is very important, then Pro might have slightly longer battery life than Max.