Option paralysis on new MBP m2 for creative uses

[Release]

I’m currently running a 2019 i9, 32 gigs RAM, 1 TB 16” Pro. For the most part, it can handle most of the things I throw at it (with a few big exceptions) but the constant fan noise is driving me nuts and it’s finally time to jump into Apple silicon.

Use cases:

Graphic Design - I’m a freelance graphic designer (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator). Most of the work is fairly typical but there are some massive files, like billboard graphics that slow it to a crawl.

3D - I also do a lot of work with Cinema 4D (primarily large static product renderings). I try to avoid things like using global illumination due to the machine sounding like it’s melting down under the pressure and the fans going bananas.

Audio - Logic Pro with a lot of guitar plugins and some large orchestral Kontakt libraries. Currently I have too many CPU spikes and memory issues to even enjoy recording.

Video - Final Cut with After Effects. Mostly feature-length vacation videos with an insane amount of video and photography, color grading etc. Definitely not “typical” vacation videos (think more like actually travel documentaries).

I keep going between a stock m2 Max and an upgraded Pro (30 core, 32 or 64 RAM and 2 or 4 TB drive). Right now, my 1TB drive is only half full with 3 external SSDs for video and Kontakt libraries so I’m probably fine with a 1TB. The stock Max option looks good for the RAM and for the 3D and video work… and also because I can just walk into a store and grab it. Patience has never been my strength. LOL.

Will 32 be enough for RAM for what I need it to do? I know with my current Logic spikes on the Intel, the answer is obviously yes, but don’t know about with AS. Some say it’s plenty. I’ve watched tons of YouTube vids but benchmarks and real-world usage are not the same. I don’t really want to go nuts trying to future-proof the machine because I know you’ll never have a “forever” machine, but I also don’t want to get something where I run into issues either.

So, would a stock, off the shelf Max be sufficient? The price is right around my limit. Suggestions?

 

[MacDevil7334]

Not an expert in the areas you mentioned, but if you work with 3D rendering and video often, I think you would likely benefit from the extra GPU cores and extra video encode engine you get with the Max. That would be my suggestion unless it causes you to have to compromise other factors like storage and RAM more than you’re willing to.

I’ll let others who know more what they are talking about advise on amount of RAM etc. Do keep in mind though that ANY of the configurations you are looking at will be a MASSIVE upgrade from your current Intel machine.

 

[GrandCiel]

I’m in the process of setting up an M2 Max MacBook Pro 4TB 64GB. While shooting professional sports for many years I have always built my own Windows workstations but it has been since December 2016 since I built the last one. Though it is still a capable machine, it has been difficult to source high end components to build a new one and if they can be found, the prices are very high.

I will be giving the M2 Max a try as a desktop replacement in addition to the remote duty I used my 2017 MacBook Pro for when editing and submitting images on site. For photography the file sizes keep getting bigger and the AI advances in editing software require a lot more out of the CPU, GPU, memory and storage requirements. My windows workstation is dated but still has competent components but I would like faster processing than the old workstation provides. Processing for Topaz Photo AI for example should be a lot faster on the M2 Max. My 1TB SSD C drive also gets full fast and I am always needing to move files to other drives and backup locations and have space for the files I am working on and want quick access to.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6850K CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
ASUS ROG Rampage V Edition 10 LGA2011 Motherboard for Intel i7 X-Series w/5-way optimization DDR4 M.2 U.2 USB 3.1
64GB of G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 Memory
2 ea. Samsung SSD 850 Pro 1TB and 4 ea. 6TB WD hard drives
EVGA GeForce GTX Ti 1080 Founders Edition Graphics Card

I’m now shooting Nikon Z 9’s and in addition to stills, am using the improved video capabilities and want to produce 4K videos. Still working out what video editing software to settle on. Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier Pro or DaVinci Resolve 18.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I’m currently running a 2019 i9, 32 gigs RAM, 1 TB 16” Pro. For the most part, it can handle most of the things I throw at it (with a few big exceptions) but the constant fan noise is driving me nuts and it’s finally time to jump into Apple silicon.

Use cases:

Graphic Design - I’m a freelance graphic designer (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator). Most of the work is fairly typical but there are some massive files, like billboard graphics that slow it to a crawl.

3D - I also do a lot of work with Cinema 4D (primarily large static product renderings). I try to avoid things like using global illumination due to the machine sounding like it’s melting down under the pressure and the fans going bananas.

Audio - Logic Pro with a lot of guitar plugins and some large orchestral Kontakt libraries. Currently I have too many CPU spikes and memory issues to even enjoy recording.

Video - Final Cut with After Effects. Mostly feature-length vacation videos with an insane amount of video and photography, color grading etc. Definitely not “typical” vacation videos (think more like actually travel documentaries).

I keep going between a stock m2 Max and an upgraded Pro (30 core, 32 or 64 RAM and 2 or 4 TB drive). Right now, my 1TB drive is only half full with 3 external SSDs for video and Kontakt libraries so I’m probably fine with a 1TB. The stock Max option looks good for the RAM and for the 3D and video work… and also because I can just walk into a store and grab it. Patience has never been my strength. LOL.

Will 32 be enough for RAM for what I need it to do? I know with my current Logic spikes on the Intel, the answer is obviously yes, but don’t know about with AS. Some say it’s plenty. I’ve watched tons of YouTube vids but benchmarks and real-world usage are not the same. I don’t really want to go nuts trying to future-proof the machine because I know you’ll never have a “forever” machine, but I also don’t want to get something where I run into issues either.

So, would a stock, off the shelf Max be sufficient? The price is right around my limit. Suggestions?

The M2 Pro ought to be fine. The only reason to go with the M2 Max over the M2 Pro is for GPU Cores and memory bandwidth. Not to say that it would hurt you to buy a beefier computer than you think you'll need, but I don't think an M2 Max is necessary for your use cases. My workplace was deploying 14-inch MacBook Pros with 10 CPU Cores (2E/8P) and 14 GPU cores and it sufficed for every workflow the post-production team had. The M1 Pro gave the 2020 27-inch iMac a run for its money. Figure M2 Pro takes that further (albeit marginally).

M1 Max and M2 Max are both for when you absolutely need 64GB of RAM (or more, in the case of M2 Max) or you really can't afford to wait for GPU-specific rendering to happen. In certain high-end professional settings, I can see this being important. It's otherwise overkill. The top-end M2 Pro and the M2 Max have the exact same CPU cores, so it's really just graphics, doubling the memory bandwidth and ProRes encoder/decoder engines, and 64GB or 96GB of RAM. All things that you ought to not need for your particular use cases.

Your fans won't go bananas, though, if fan noise is a concern, go with a 16-inch model. Unlike how it was in the Intel era, It's the same chips on both machines, but you have less cooling by volume on the 14-inch model. Not saying your fans will go as nuts as they would on an Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro, but they won't be as quiet under peak loads as an Apple Silicon 16-inch MacBook Pro.

 

[Release]

The M2 Pro ought to be fine. The only reason to go with the M2 Max over the M2 Pro is for GPU Cores and memory bandwidth. Not to say that it would hurt you to buy a beefier computer than you think you'll need, but I don't think an M2 Max is necessary for your use cases. My workplace was deploying 14-inch MacBook Pros with 10 CPU Cores (2E/8P) and 14 GPU cores and it sufficed for every workflow the post-production team had. The M1 Pro gave the 2020 27-inch iMac a run for its money. Figure M2 Pro takes that further (albeit marginally).

M1 Max and M2 Max are both for when you absolutely need 64GB of RAM (or more, in the case of M2 Max) or you really can't afford to wait for GPU-specific rendering to happen. In certain high-end professional settings, I can see this being important. It's otherwise overkill. The top-end M2 Pro and the M2 Max have the exact same CPU cores, so it's really just graphics, doubling the memory bandwidth and ProRes encoder/decoder engines, and 64GB or 96GB of RAM. All things that you ought to not need for your particular use cases.

Your fans won't go bananas, though, if fan noise is a concern, go with a 16-inch model. Unlike how it was in the Intel era, It's the same chips on both machines, but you have less cooling by volume on the 14-inch model. Not saying your fans will go as nuts as they would on an Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro, but they won't be as quiet under peak loads as an Apple Silicon 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Thanks! I’m definitely looking at the 16.

What about the 32gb for ram? That’s my main concern when it comes to audio. I think I’d be ok for the other uses.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Thanks! I’m definitely looking at the 16.

What about the 32gb for ram? That’s my main concern when it comes to audio. I think I’d be ok for the other uses.

I think you'll probably be fine.

I'm not super familiar with Kontakt nor your specific plugins. That's probably the variable that will truly determine it. 32GB of RAM is a lot of RAM. I'm not saying that there aren't use cases for more than 32GB of RAM; just that they are usually very specific. You might want to post in a forum on a site that specializes in those things to get a more detailed answer from folks more likely to know than the folks here (on average) would.

I do know that, generally speaking, even a standard M1 is able to juggle a crapton more in Logic Pro than most Intel Macs can. Not saying that 9th Gen H-series Core i9 is a slouch, necessarily. But it's also the case that Logic Pro is Apple Silicon native and not running through emulation (though, I guess a good thing to know is whether or not your plug-ins are also native; if they're not, you'll have to run Logic Pro through Rosetta 2; though it still ought to be faster than on that 9th Gen Core i9).

 

[dmccloud]

Thanks! I’m definitely looking at the 16.

What about the 32gb for ram? That’s my main concern when it comes to audio. I think I’d be ok for the other uses.

I just got my new MBP, and I went with the 14" with the M1 Max and 32GB RAM. I'm using my Mac for photo & video editing/creation, coding, web design, There are very few use cases where 64GB or more would benefit users, and those are usually outliers where the workloads being run are not something even most theatrical editors would use on a daily basis. From what I've seen, even at 32GB RAM the Max can handle multiple streams of 8K video at once. The difference between the M2 Pro and Max might be the number of simultaneous 8K streams it can handle, but it wouldn't be a situation where one SoC handles 2 streams and the other 8. The main reason I went with the Max was wanting to future-proof the machine a bit, as I don't plan on replacing this machine until absolutely necessary.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I think you'll probably be fine.

I'm not super familiar with Kontakt nor your specific plugins. That's probably the variable that will truly determine it. 32GB of RAM is a lot of RAM. I'm not saying that there aren't use cases for more than 32GB of RAM; just that they are usually very specific. You might want to post in a forum on a site that specializes in those things to get a more detailed answer from folks more likely to know than the folks here (on average) would.

I do know that, generally speaking, even a standard M1 is able to juggle a crapton more in Logic Pro than most Intel Macs can. Not saying that 9th Gen H-series Core i9 is a slouch, necessarily. But it's also the case that Logic Pro is Apple Silicon native and not running through emulation (though, I guess a good thing to know is whether or not your plug-ins are also native; if they're not, you'll have to run Logic Pro through Rosetta 2; though it still ought to be faster than on that 9th Gen Core i9).

So, I read up further and even the M2 MacBook Air will smoke a high-end Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro. So, I'm pretty sure a full 12-CPU-Core/19-GPU-Core M2 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM will be just fine for your needs.

 

[maflynn]

Thanks! I’m definitely looking at the 16.

What about the 32gb for ram? That’s my main concern when it comes to audio. I think I’d be ok for the other uses.

I'd go with 32GB, I'm finding 16GB to be a bit tight for normal usage (including parallels), so 32 is the way to go imo

 

[Skoua]

I have a similar question.

I'm currently using a 2019 Macbook Pro with a 2.6 GHz i7 and 32G or RAM.
It works quite nicely. I'm a professional developer (web and Xcode) so I wouldn't mind having Xcode working faster.
I also do some 3D rendering in Blender which is very slow on my current laptop (GPU is a AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4 GB).

When M1s came out, I thought I would wait for M2 since my Mac was working very fine.
I'm wondering if I should go for a M1 Max or M2 Pro and if "downgrading" from 32G to 16G will be noticeable if I don't go with Max.

Will I really feel a big improvement if upgrading to M1/M2 or should I wait for M3, what's your guess?

 

[Release]

So, I read up further and even the M2 MacBook Air will smoke a high-end Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro. So, I'm pretty sure a full 12-CPU-Core/19-GPU-Core M2 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM will be just fine for your needs.

Yup, that's the exact same spec I decided on, thanks. I ran a big stress test with Logic last night and the 32gb in my current machine is fine, it's the CPU is maxing out way before the RAM even hits halfway.

 

[dmccloud]

I'd go with 32GB, I'm finding 16GB to be a bit tight for normal usage (including parallels), so 32 is the way to go imo

That was another factor in my going with 32GB. I will be using Parallels on occasion, as well as VMWare Fusion to run some VMs for testing, so having additional RAM helps a lot when running those apps.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Yup, that's the exact same spec I decided on, thanks. I ran a big stress test with Logic last night and the 32gb in my current machine is fine, it's the CPU is maxing out way before the RAM even hits halfway.

Nice! Yeah, I had a feeling that you were okay in the RAM department on the Intel side of things. 32GB of RAM is a decent amount of RAM. 64GB should only be necessary in extreme cases and/or where either Adobe After Effects or heavy virtualization workflows come into play.

I have a similar question.

I'm currently using a 2019 Macbook Pro with a 2.6 GHz i7 and 32G or RAM.
It works quite nicely. I'm a professional developer (web and Xcode) so I wouldn't mind having Xcode working faster.
I also do some 3D rendering in Blender which is very slow on my current laptop (GPU is a AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4 GB).

The 5300M isn't a bad GPU, but if you're doing A LOT of rendering in something like Blender, you'll probably wish you had a beefier GPU. It's fine for people that wouldn't have been okay with Intel integrated graphics, but probably not those who actually need their GPU to haul ass, let alone in 2023.

When M1s came out, I thought I would wait for M2 since my Mac was working very fine.
I'm wondering if I should go for a M1 Max or M2 Pro and if "downgrading" from 32G to 16G will be noticeable if I don't go with Max.

M1 Max isn't an option on MacBook Pros anymore, unless you're looking to buy refurbished or clearance. I'd say that in the case of both M1 and M2 versions of "Max", you probably are going to be fine with a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the "Pro" variant of either. Blender would probably run faster on an M2 Max than an M2 Pro, but that's not at all to say that speeds would be unacceptable on the M2 Pro. The key thing that I've seen people on here say about "Max" (and I think it's actually a reasonable metric to base one's particular answer to the "should I go Pro or Max?" question) is that "Max" is for cases where time is money and every second counts. If someone stands over your shoulder while your MacBook Pro (or Mac mini/Studio setup) and counts the seconds until your render is done, then get Max. If it's more about wanting to maximize performance as much as possible, then get Max. If you are not in a rush and are okay with renders taking longer, you probably still won't have the same feeling about the M2 Pro that you do with your i7/5300M combo.

A lot of people like to think that they need Max. And/or maybe they just want to make sure they're covered should they later adopt heavier workloads. But, it's honestly overkill unless time is money and every single second counts.

Will I really feel a big improvement if upgrading to M1/M2 or should I wait for M3, what's your guess?

Honestly, that depends on how much you can or can't tolerate Blender performance on your current setup. Personally, I'd advise pretty much anyone using any Intel MacBook Pro that isn't an Intel 16-inch to upgrade. Past that point, it's a matter of whether your Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro is meeting your needs or not. I own pretty much the exact same Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro that you do. Though, I bought it specifically for Intel-exclusive things that will never be applicable to Apple Silicon (i.e. Boot Camp, virtualizing x86-64 versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux, etc.). The kind of gaming that I'd do on it would be fine on the 5300M.

For your use cases, it sounds like Xcode performance is fine, but you'd always be happier with it being faster. It sounds like you're not the most stoked on Blender performance. If that is bothering you enough, maybe it IS time to upgrade.

As for the eternal question of "is now the right time, or should I wait around the corner?"; there will always be newer and faster down the road. Everyone buys technology in cycles and it is inevitable that you will buy something AFTER the M3 REGARDLESS of whether or not you buy an M1, M2, or M3 based Mac. That all being said, there are always generational idiosyncrasies. I'd say that M2 Pro and M2 Max are nice for upping the number of efficiency cores, though I'm not the hugest fan of the smaller heatsinks and the nonsense with the base storage on all M2/M2 Pro/M2 Max Macs is a bad look for Apple. Otherwise, M2 isn't that much crazier than M1 (and that goes for Pro, Max, and presumably Ultra, as well). M3 will probably entail a bit of a speed boost, but while running cooler than M1 and certainly cooler than M2 (and really, all of that won't be enough to matter one way or the other).

Buy now if you need it now. Wait if you can wait. Were it me, I'd either look into an Apple Certified Refurbished M1 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro (with the amount of RAM and SSD that you want) or just wait for M3. But that's not to say that M2 is at all bad. That's just what I'd do if it were me.

 

[Skoua]

Buy now if you need it now. Wait if you can wait. Were it me, I'd either look into an Apple Certified Refurbished M1 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro (with the amount of RAM and SSD that you want) or just wait for M3. But that's not to say that M2 is at all bad. That's just what I'd do if it were me.

Thank you for this detailed answer!

Yeah now I'm definitly thinking about either switching to a M1 Max (still some new ones on sale here and there for about the same price as a M2 Pro) or wait for M3. We'll see where my patience leads me!

You are very right about time, since my computer isn't laggy, just slow at doing heavy work, I could just wait and enjoy the one I have for now.
Thanks again.

 

[cbum]

You are very right about time, since my computer isn't laggy

I believe one issue that has driven people to upgrade is the noise/heat experienced with Intel laptops under load. If that is not an issue for you, another reason to wait for the next round.