Stuck at between 14 vs 16! I need your help

[wpsnappy]

Hello,

I own a 2015 MacBook Pro 15 and intend to purchase a new Mac (or two). I'm an entrepreneur with a focus on technology and investing. I do a lot of web, mobile, and desktop programming, as well as a lot of investing. When I'm not programming or at a meeting, I'm mostly looking at graphs. I'm also trying to travel and trek as much as possible. I photograph animals and edit movies taken with my Sony a7R IV and Sony a1.

While I know exactly what I need, deciding between screen real estate and portability is finding to be difficult. I'm trying to get the M1 Max, 64GB, 2TB model. For me, this is essentially an investment. However, I am unable to travel with the 16 inch while the 14 inch M1 Max's battery is terrible when unplugged.

I'd like you to consider what you would do if you were in my shoes. Is it a good idea to get a lower-spec M1, 13 pro for traveling, editing images, and movies, and then buy a 16 for work-related things if money isn't an issue? For meetings, I travel short distances and spend some time at coffee shops. Your opinion is really valuable to me, and I appreciate for taking your time.

 

[mystery hill]

I'd like you to consider what you would do if you were in my shoes. Is it a good idea to get a lower-spec M1, 13 pro for traveling, editing images, and movies, and then buy a 16 for work-related things if money isn't an issue?

If money isn’t an issue then get a 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro for travelling, and a 16-inch M1 Max for work.

 

[wpsnappy]

If money isn’t an issue then get a 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro for travelling, and a 16-inch M1 Max for work.

Do you think the 14 inch M1 pro can hold up like the M1 13? Like at least 8-10 hours of light usage?

 

[chengengaun]

Do you think the 14 inch M1 pro can hold up like the M1 13? Like at least 8-10 hours of light usage?

I think 8-10 hours for the M1 Pro doing light work is quite realistic; see this thread for more accounts of battery life.

 

[Rashy]

14" with the Pro, 16" with the Pro or Max.
Though from your description, I strongly doubt you ever gonna need those 32GPU cores, let alone 64GB of RAM.

 

[ratspg]

Hello,

I own a 2015 MacBook Pro 15 and intend to purchase a new Mac (or two). I'm an entrepreneur with a focus on technology and investing. I do a lot of web, mobile, and desktop programming, as well as a lot of investing. When I'm not programming or at a meeting, I'm mostly looking at graphs. I'm also trying to travel and trek as much as possible. I photograph animals and edit movies taken with my Sony a7R IV and Sony a1.

While I know exactly what I need, deciding between screen real estate and portability is finding to be difficult. I'm trying to get the M1 Max, 64GB, 2TB model. For me, this is essentially an investment. However, I am unable to travel with the 16 inch while the 14 inch M1 Max's battery is terrible when unplugged.

I'd like you to consider what you would do if you were in my shoes. Is it a good idea to get a lower-spec M1, 13 pro for traveling, editing images, and movies, and then buy a 16 for work-related things if money isn't an issue? For meetings, I travel short distances and spend some time at coffee shops. Your opinion is really valuable to me, and I appreciate for taking your time.

I owned a 2017 MacBook Pro 15" similar to your 2015 in size. It was great, I replaced it with a 13" MacBook Air M1 last year. That computer has tremendous battery life and is super portable and light weight. Here we are a year later, and I have replaced that computer with a 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I did try the 14" for a few days, but I was unimpressed with the battery life, great size though. I believe you will enjoy the 16" for your investments and technology. The extra battery life is great, its powerful, and you are already used to the size coming from a 2015 MacBook Pro 15. There is so much overlap, that it made no sense for me to keep a 13" MacBook Air M1 around (I do have an 11" iPad Pro though...) Feel free to ask any questions, would love to know more about your investing as well, I also do that! Good luck with your decision!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

If 18 months ago someone said that a manufacturer's estimated laptop battery life of 17 hours was "terrible," I'd be gobstruck. Oh, how quickly people's expectations change when someone moves the goalpost.

Sure, the 16-inch has 3 more hours of estimated life than the 14-inch, but how many hours of untethered operation are you expecting to have on a daily basis? And by "untethered" I don't mean operating on battery simply because you can, but honest-to-goodness, "there's no place to plug into power where I am."

For me, battery life would take a back seat to display size. When I'm seated at a desk for work I want a big display. I also hate the ergonomics of looking down at a laptop; it's literally a pain in my neck. While my eyes will appreciate 16-inch vs. 14-inch, both have the same ergonomics - a 16-inch laptop is no substitute for a 27-inch to 30-inch display when I'm working at it for hours on end.

So, rather than "investing" in both 14" and 16" MBPs, I'd be more likely to get the 14" for portability and spend the rest of the money on as many large, external displays (and chargers) as makes sense - a display and charger at my regular work desk, another display and charger at the desk in my bedroom, etc.

 

[bill-p]

Do you think the 14 inch M1 pro can hold up like the M1 13? Like at least 8-10 hours of light usage?

At least? The 14" M1 Pro can easily last 10-12 hours with light usage. Even when you push the device hard, it will still last significantly longer than any Intel MacBook.

Also the 14" can fast charge from all of its ports and will play nice with chargers of lower wattage. You only need about 65W to keep the 14" charged up, even when pushing it all the way. The 16" needs the 140W brick in order to fast charge and can only fast charge via MagSafe.

Unless you need to stitch panorama, there's really no reason to go up in RAM to 32GB or even 64GB. See this:

^ heck, as you can see, it may not even be necessary to upgrade from the base 8-core M1 Pro model.

 

[ratspg]

The 14” and 16” are both great laptops. Try them out and see which one fits your personal needs better. For me that was the 16”.

 

[nbjustforfun]

Hello,

I own a 2015 MacBook Pro 15 and intend to purchase a new Mac (or two). I'm an entrepreneur with a focus on technology and investing. I do a lot of web, mobile, and desktop programming, as well as a lot of investing. When I'm not programming or at a meeting, I'm mostly looking at graphs. I'm also trying to travel and trek as much as possible. I photograph animals and edit movies taken with my Sony a7R IV and Sony a1.

While I know exactly what I need, deciding between screen real estate and portability is finding to be difficult. I'm trying to get the M1 Max, 64GB, 2TB model. For me, this is essentially an investment. However, I am unable to travel with the 16 inch while the 14 inch M1 Max's battery is terrible when unplugged.

I'd like you to consider what you would do if you were in my shoes. Is it a good idea to get a lower-spec M1, 13 pro for traveling, editing images, and movies, and then buy a 16 for work-related things if money isn't an issue? For meetings, I travel short distances and spend some time at coffee shops. Your opinion is really valuable to me, and I appreciate for taking your time.

I have the 14“ max and 16” pro 16gb/1tb. The battery on the 14” is not good. Ran graphics tests and that 14” drained pretty fast. At the end of 6 repeated runs of the test my MacBook Pro 14” max was at 10% and the 16” pro was at 59%. That 16” will easily last u a full day of normal use so no need for bringing power brick. Get the store bought version of 14” w/10 core, 16gb and 1tb. Same spec for the 16”. Apple has holiday returns in effect so any laptop received after Nov 1 can be returned by Jan 8. I get those might not be ur exact specs but u can return both, after u decide which I like, and get the spec u r looking for.

 

[Technerd108]

Is 5lb a huge difference than 3.5lb? It is certainly a significant difference but when you travel usually your bag has wheels and if you have a separate laptop bag you can rest it on the bag with wheels?? Of you just deal with the 5lb?

I don't think you should get the 14" unless you like a smaller screen. The 16" is better in every way but the weight. You are going to be editing photos and videos so a bigger XDR screen should help! The base model 16" also gets the best battery life. It charges faster, has better speakers, etc.

For travel I would suggest you get an M1 Air. There are a lot of sales and I imagine for Black Friday there should be good discounts on the M1 air and M1 MBP 13. I bet you could get a base model air for $7-800?? That should still be able to do everything you want and be super light and portable. That way you can spend more on the M1 pro or Max MBP 14" or 16"!

 

[nashstruck]

I have the 14“ max and 16” pro 16gb/1tb. The battery on the 14” is not good. Ran graphics tests and that 14” drained pretty fast. At the end of 6 repeated runs of the test my MacBook Pro 14” max was at 10% and the 16” pro was at 59%. That 16” will easily last u a full day of normal use so no need for bringing power brick. Get the store bought version of 14” w/10 core, 16gb and 1tb. Same spec for the 16”. Apple has holiday returns in effect so any laptop received after Nov 1 can be returned by Jan 8. I get those might not be ur exact specs but u can return both, after u decide which I like, and get the spec u r looking for.

Upgraded my 16inch M1 pro to 32GB Ram. Honestly don't think I need the additional RAM at this time. But in 2015 I upgraded my MBP to 16GB ram from 8GB at purchase. And it's lasted me a good 1-2 years extra. My RAM usage today on my 2015 MBP is at 7GB with just basic tasks, with a CACHE of 5GB. If I had stuck with 8GB RAM at purchase, I might have needed to swap this laptop out 1-2 years ago. This whole RAM thing has been debated so much here in these forums it's honestly confused me even more. So I just went for it based on 'gut-feel'. lol.

 

[Alameda]

I bought the 14” and it’s a little heavier than I’d like for portable use. The 16” is a non-starter for me. At my home office, I use a large external display anyway; they’re very inexpensive and enormous. As for performance, I think these new M1’s are incredibly fast in all configurations.