Seeking Advice: M3 Max 14/30/36/2TB vs 16/40/48/1TB for High Multitasking and Future-Proofing Needs

[l2oBiN]

Hey everyone,

I dabble in 3D SketchUp and Photoshop (handling 50mpix files) about 10% of my time, while the majority (90%) is spent on high multitasking activities through external monitors. This includes juggling 20-30 Chrome tabs, working with multiple Excel sheets, Google Drive, Docs, Word, PowerPoint, and managing large PDFs (20-40GB).

I've got my eye on the M3 Max 14/30/36/2TB - 14in. However, I'm contemplating if the M3 Max 14/40/48/1TB option, which costs just a few hundred more, might be a wiser choice for future-proofing, despite the reduction in hard drive space from 2TB to 1TB. To me the 1TB drive feels like a weak link here…
but... I could potentially invest in a TB4 enclosure plus an external drive for additional storage down the line.

I'd love to hear your insights. Between the two, which do you think would better suit my goal of ensuring longevity and future-readiness?

 

[Kristain]

I've got a 32gb M1 with 1TB. I'm upgrading to the 16 Max with 64gb as I've had more than a few occasions where I've struggled with RAM. Like you I tend to have loads of stuff running at once (and I'm lazy with closing tabs etc.) I'm reasonably happy with 1TB to be honest; I prefer documents/projects on an external. Having said that, a lot of my projects (such as video editing) are around the 1TB mark and it would be nice to have a little more but I just won't spend the extra Apple charge for an extra 1TB. Currently use a couple of enclosures but I'm going to get the OWC 4M2 I think for most of my storage (I also have a large NAS).

 

[Malus120]

I've got my eye on the M3 Max 14/30/36/2TB - 14in. However, I'm contemplating if the M3 Max 16/40/48/1TB option, which costs just a few hundred more, might be a wiser choice for future-proofing, despite the reduction in hard drive space from 2TB to 1TB. To me the 1TB drive feels like a weak link here…
I could potentially invest in a TB4 enclosure plus an external drive for additional storage down the line.

Between the two, which do you think would better suit my goal of ensuring longevity and future-readiness?

You already have your answer. IF you can afford it, the 16/40/48/1TB is the superior choice. After all, as you note, storage is the one thing you can "upgrade" (granted externally, unless you like soldering) on a MBP, whereas with the CPU/GPU/RAM/Bandwidth you're stuck with what you bought.

That said, if you can live with a 1TB internal drive, then the question really becomes is the 16/40/48/1TB worth the premium over the 14/30/36/1TB which is really going to depend on just how much the extra $$$ matters to you vs the extra speed and ram.

 

[Kronsteen]

For me, one question jumps out from what you said:

Are you likely to have more than a few dozen of these large PDF files at any given time and, if so, would you want to store them on the laptop? If so, surely 1TB would be insufficient?

For the workload you describe, I’d be slightly surprised if you’d notice much difference between the two M3 Max versions.

(I’m assuming that your second option is the 16/40 core version of the Max.)

 

[l2oBiN]

For me, one question jumps out from what you said:

Are you likely to have more than a few dozen of these large PDF files at any given time and, if so, would you want to store them on the laptop? If so, surely 1TB would be insufficient?

For the workload you describe, I’d be slightly surprised if you’d notice much difference between the two M3 Max versions.

(I’m assuming that your second option is the 16/40 core version of the Max.)

Yes, I need to access and process several at a time on top of everything else. These is no way that the additional 1TB on the 14/30 would ultimately be sufficient for storing these files - there are hundreds of them. I was more coming from allowing future software and macOS installation + leaving some breathing room for housing large files locally.

If I drop to the 1TB and go to 16/48 then I gain 2 CPU + 10 GPU cores, 12 gigs of RAM (36 to 48) and extra memory speed for additional ~$130.

I would then be banking on TB4 enclosures with 4GB or 8GB NVE SSD for accessing files and processing them. At the moment (unless spending extreme on raid system) the enclosure with drive seems to cap out at 20GB/s.
This would obviously be the bottleneck now, but I would be banking that they get closer to the 40GB/s in the next couple of years to effectively load and process files directly on the external drive.
I am also thinking the additional 12GB RAM would be helpful with multitasking. It would be ideal to go to 64 or 96, but I can’t stress the budget that much.