Purchasing M3 Pro Today! Which one should I settle on.

[smallindiana]

Any Apple experts willing to help me choose on the following configurations? I'm staying under $200/12mo Apple Card w/ EDU discount. So I've narrowed it down to these options.

This will be my primary "me" computer with work in using Canva, Final Cut Pro, and creator videos/content. Mostly YouTube 15-25min vlogs and editing and producing a few podcasts a week running Adobe Audition. My workflow is usually video capture through iPhone and importing clips. Once I'm done and the final product is on YouTube, I'll ship projects to an external 4 GB Thunderbolt drive (although I'd like to be able to keep most of the projects portable. Occasionally I'll get asked to do some base-level web design (both nothing advanced).

Portability is key. Longevity is key, as I'll hang on to this for 3-4 years if all works out.

The two configs I can pickup TODAY with about a $360 difference between the two.
M3 Pro Base - 11-core CPU 14-core GPU
18gb - 512gb

M3Pro Upgraded - 12-core CPU 18-core GPU
18gb - 1tb

My thoughts are - will those extra 4 cores give me a performance boost? Is it even worth upgrading to 1tb internal storage for my needs? I'm torn between getting something that is future proof. I'm coming from NOTHING right now. So no I won't be upgrading from an M1 or M2.

 

[noteple]

What the project portability. Get the larger SSD model.

 

[ProQuiz]

Sorry for going off-topic but what color are you considering or selecting?

 

[smallindiana]

Sorry for going off-topic but what color are you considering or selecting?

I'm a sucker for the space black - although in certain lighting conditions, it's just a darker space gray (at least that is how I saw it at the Apple Store recently). I wanted it to be so much like the old matte black Macbook - but from the sounds/looks of it, best they could do.

 

[smallindiana]

What the project portability. Get the larger SSD model.

This made sense to me too - however, I don't need the GPU bump and you are kinda buying "both" at some point. The only time I've ever "needed" more space is if I don't move final projects and old edits to the SSD which happens maybe once or twice a mont.

If the vlog took off and I ended up upgrading equipment at some point I'd probably upgrade to a newer macbook anyway? IDK I'm so indecisive with this many options. Apple has made it so hard to get back into a personal purchase. lol

 

[Sprakster]

I'm roughly in the same category as you and I went to the upgraded 12c/18g 1TB M3 Pro. I'm coming from a 13" M1 Macbook Pro 512gb/16gb. Originally 512gb was fine for me when I was shooting 4k30p on iPhone but once I switched to a Sony Mirrorless my file sizes ballooned and I couldn't keep more than 1 project on it without dipping below 100gb of free space. It's nice to keep some old projects on hand to use as templates and such.

I also decided against the 11c/14g spec as well simply for future proofing, if I ever start shooting in even higher quality or adding more effects then I know it'll last that bit longer for not a whole lot more cash.

 

[smallindiana]

I'm roughly in the same category as you and I went to the upgraded 12c/18g 1TB M3 Pro. I'm coming from a 13" M1 Macbook Pro 512gb/16gb. Originally 512gb was fine for me when I was shooting 4k30p on iPhone but once I switched to a Sony Mirrorless my file sizes ballooned and I couldn't keep more than 1 project on it without dipping below 100gb of free space. It's nice to keep some old projects on hand to use as templates and such.

I also decided against the 11c/14g spec as well simply for future proofing, if I ever start shooting in even higher quality or adding more effects then I know it'll last that bit longer for not a whole lot more cash.

The plan is to shoot on iPhone for the foreseeable future. If I go into an A7c or something more I will definitely be updating. May just save the $360 and opt for a super fast external ssd.

 

[smallindiana]

So I purchased BOTH configs for pickup - as it will be a game-time decision when we get there which one we may cancel.

I have a 5TB HDD Seagate - but its read and write speeds are abysmal. I keep telling myself I'll burn through 512 and then get mad because I'm plugging in & having to offload after every project.

 

[TheRealAlex]

Any Apple experts willing to help me choose on the following configurations? I'm staying under $200/12mo Apple Card w/ EDU discount. So I've narrowed it down to these options.

This will be my primary "me" computer with work in using Canva, Final Cut Pro, and creator videos/content. Mostly YouTube 15-25min vlogs and editing and producing a few podcasts a week running Adobe Audition. My workflow is usually video capture through iPhone and importing clips. Once I'm done and the final product is on YouTube, I'll ship projects to an external 4 GB Thunderbolt drive (although I'd like to be able to keep most of the projects portable. Occasionally I'll get asked to do some base-level web design (both nothing advanced).

Portability is key. Longevity is key, as I'll hang on to this for 3-4 years if all works out.

The two configs I can pickup TODAY with about a $360 difference between the two.
M3 Pro Base - 11-core CPU 14-core GPU
18gb - 512gb

M3Pro Upgraded - 12-core CPU 18-core GPU
18gb - 1tb

My thoughts are - will those extra 4 cores give me a performance boost? Is it even worth upgrading to 1tb internal storage for my needs? I'm torn between getting something that is future proof. I'm coming from NOTHING right now. So no I won't be upgrading from an M1 or M2.

Get the M3 Pro 12 Core, with 1TB it’s literally beating the M2 Max in benchmarks.

or if you can the M3 Max that’s easily a 5+ year machine.

 

[smallindiana]

Get the M3 Pro 12 Core, with 1TB it’s literally beating the M2 Max in benchmarks.

or if you can the M3 Max that’s easily a 5+ year machine.

I'm leaning that way for the 1TB alone - I don't know if i'd ever use the additional cores. All the reviews and 'pubs would have you believe that the M3 Pro isn't worth the upgrade AT all.

 

[VeganExplorer]

Get the M3 Pro 12 Core, with 1TB it’s literally beating the M2 Max in benchmarks.

or if you can the M3 Max that’s easily a 5+ year machine.

I’d make the argument both the M3 Pro and Max are 5+ year machines as they just dropped this week.

I’m not OP, but I pulled the trigger on the M3 Pro versus Max as it would’ve been a $400 (14/30) or $700 (16/40) upgrade. I felt my budget was better used to upgrade the RAM and storage versus processing power. I went with the 16” M3 Pro (12/18) with 36GB of RAM and 2TB SSD.

I’m coming from a mid-2015 MacBook Pro that I’m literally pushing to the end of its life. I replaced the battery before it became vintage, replaced the storage with a 2TB nVME, and have macOS Ventura running with OpenCore. I’m driving this machine right into its grave. A M1 Pro would’ve been a night-and-day upgrade from where I’m coming from.

 

[Macalway]

I settled for the base M3 Pro (or binned they are calling it). I decided not to pay $400 for 18gb of ram I also own several external drives also.

I considered that it may be wisest to buy what you use, instead of what you might use,

I must say the 16" screen wins.

 

[garethjs]

I'm leaning that way for the 1TB alone - I don't know if i'd ever use the additional cores. All the reviews and 'pubs would have you believe that the M3 Pro isn't worth the upgrade AT all.

It’s not though if u were coming from a m2 already. In some test it’s actually losing out to the m2 pro

If ur upgrading from a m1 or earlier it’s a wonderful upgrade

 

[VeganExplorer]

It’s not though if u were coming from a m2 already. In some test it’s actually losing out to the m2 pro

If ur upgrading from a m1 or earlier it’s a wonderful upgrade

M3 Pro has better single core performance, but net gain performance over the M2 Pro is minimal due to M3 being 6 performance cores and 6 efficiency versus 8/4 on the M2.

M3 Pro has a very minimal dip in GPU performance (within the range of 1%) which is expected due to M3 Pro having 18 GPU cores versus 19 on the M2 Pro.

 

[darthbane2k]

What the project portability. Get the larger SSD model.

Any Apple experts willing to help me choose on the following configurations? I'm staying under $200/12mo Apple Card w/ EDU discount. So I've narrowed it down to these options.

This will be my primary "me" computer with work in using Canva, Final Cut Pro, and creator videos/content. Mostly YouTube 15-25min vlogs and editing and producing a few podcasts a week running Adobe Audition. My workflow is usually video capture through iPhone and importing clips. Once I'm done and the final product is on YouTube, I'll ship projects to an external 4 GB Thunderbolt drive (although I'd like to be able to keep most of the projects portable. Occasionally I'll get asked to do some base-level web design (both nothing advanced).

Portability is key. Longevity is key, as I'll hang on to this for 3-4 years if all works out.

The two configs I can pickup TODAY with about a $360 difference between the two.
M3 Pro Base - 11-core CPU 14-core GPU
18gb - 512gb

M3Pro Upgraded - 12-core CPU 18-core GPU
18gb - 1tb

My thoughts are - will those extra 4 cores give me a performance boost? Is it even worth upgrading to 1tb internal storage for my needs? I'm torn between getting something that is future proof. I'm coming from NOTHING right now. So no I won't be upgrading from an M1 or M2.

I was in the same dilemma. Although I already have plenty of external SSDs , I figured I could benefit with the additional GPU cores for photoshop, other graphics and occasional FCP work. My machine is a desktop replacement so I opted for the unbinned model.

 

[darthbane2k]

I settled for the base M3 Pro (or binned they are calling it). I decided not to pay $400 for 18gb of ram I also own several external drives also.

I considered that it may be wisest to buy what you use, instead of what you might use,

I must say the 16" screen wins.

Doesn’t the binned M3 Pro come with 18GB of Ram anyway?

 

[darthbane2k]

I'm leaning that way for the 1TB alone - I don't know if i'd ever use the additional cores. All the reviews and 'pubs would have you believe that the M3 Pro isn't worth the upgrade AT all.

Most of these reviewers upgrade their macs every year, so in that respect the upgrade isn’t worth it. However most aren’t in that boat.

 

[Macalway]

Doesn’t the binned M3 Pro come with 18GB of Ram anyway?

Yes it has 18gb. But 36gb will cost you $400 more so that's the math. Of course I'd like more ram, but it just doesn't feel right regardless of the money. If I find at some point I need the ram I will trade it in and get it.

 

[TheRealAlex]

You can’t even run Adobe After Effects unless you have 32 or 36GB of RAM.

 

[chrfr]

You can’t even run Adobe After Effects unless you have 32 or 36GB of RAM.

After Effects will run on 16GB RAM. Performance probably won’t be ideal, but it does run.

 

[topmounter]

I finally pulled the trigger today after mulling over the options since the spec-bump was announced. My personal machine is a 2017 i7 Air w/ a dead battery, so I've been considering an upgrade for a while. I have an M1 Mac Mini, which makes the Intel Air feel even more antiquated and we just replaced my wife's 2015 i7 Air with a 15" M2 Air... which is really nice.

After mulling various builds since last Monday and trying to find a nice balance between price, performance and longevity, I ended up justifying the extra $200 for the base Pro M3 Pro over the Pro M3 (not Pro) w/ 16GB RAM for the following reasons:

• More cpu/gpu horsepower (8/10 vs 11/14)
• Slightly more RAM (+2GB, a $50 value alone in AppleWorld)
• +1 TB port
• Support for two external displays
• Space Black

 

[VeganExplorer]

I went for the 16” M3 Pro versus my original idea of purchasing the 15” M2 Air:

• Active cooling (vs passive cooling).
• Latest chipset (3nm).
• 18-core GPU (vs 10-core).
• ProMotion (especially as I have a M1 12.9” iPad Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max).
• mini-LED (vs LCD).
• WiFi 6E.
• More inputs.
• Larger battery.
• EPP discount.

The only thing I didn’t account for with my budget was the AppleCare+ being $170 more (before discount) than the 15” Air.

I’ve been holding this purchase off for years. I told myself I wouldn’t upgrade until they fixed the butterfly keyboard. Once they fixed it, I told myself I’d wait for ARM. Once the M1 Pro/Max came out, I told myself I’d wait until at least the second gen.

If I didn’t have the EPP discount available to me, I would’ve been keeping an eye out for the refurbished store or B&H/MicroCenter for any discounts on the M2 Pro/Max lineup.

I think a majority of the customer base gunning for M3 Macs are those who are coming from Intel-based Macs. Apple still hasn’t provided a good enough reason for those to upgrade from a M1 chipset to the M3.

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I bought a discounted M2 Pro instead. The M3 Pro is only 6% faster than the M2 Pro in Multi Core CPU and even slower in GPU according to Geekbench.

M3 Pro Chip Barely Faster Than M2 Pro in Unverified Benchmark Result

Apple's new M3 Pro chip with a 12-core CPU offers only marginally faster CPU performance compared to the M2 Pro chip with a 12-core CPU,...

www.macrumors.com

 

[garethjs]

200 for the base Pro M3 Pro

Excellent choice. In some test the binned m3 pro is doing better than the unbinned m3 pro

 

[smallindiana]

So an update:

I decided I’d go with the upgraded GPU M3 Pro and 1TB for the internal advantage for FCP.

In the end I feel like i would have been constantly having to manage storage with video files back and forth through externals at some point. Im confident I won’t touch 1TB for a while.

It’s been an absolute incredible machine so far. I couldn’t be happier. Binned, unbinned, who cares. lol (again last MBP I owned for my personal device was a 2013 MBP).