The M3 benchmark scores are higher but real-world, perceived increase will not be as much as the benchmarks indicate. Look at Apple's "Activity Meter" and keep an eye on CPU utilization. If it is on average is at 50% then the real-world speedup for you will be the benchmark speed boost times 50%.
Next, our perception is not linear, to really notice a difference you need to DOUBLE the speed. You would only notice a (say) 24% increase if you used a stopwatch. To "feel" faster it has to double.
It seems that by trading up to the M3 Max you might see a slight perceived speedup at a cost of a couple thousand dollars. Maybe better to wait for an M3 Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra.
To figure this out, look at "activity meter" for a good long time while you are doing what you normally do, not just when you render the final video. Try to find a long-term average CPU utilization. If you are running at 5%, then you only get 5% of the benchmark difference. But if you are closer to 100% the upgrade might be worth it.
If this is for a business then you might also think about taxes and depreciation schedules.
^This is very good advice!
The M3 Max benchmarks and reviews we've all seen look very tempting and make me start to look at prices on apple.com, you know..."for research"....but I have to curb my enthusiasm and consider my own reality.
Over the years, I arrived at a subjective metric that any new computer I bought had to be at least 50% "faster" than my current one before I could honestly consider it to be a reasonable upgrade. Your comment about non-linear perception of speed was interesting, and you may well be right that speed has to approximately double (100% increase) before we really notice it. The important question is then "in which tasks" this speed increase is most important or noticeable, and how frequently do you do these tasks?
I might justify an upgrade by looking at at video export speeds being cut in half, but I also have to honestly ask myself how often I do this as a hobbyist. The answer is "not very often". If I were a professional spending 2 hours a days exporting videos, then the idea of cutting this in half, or even saving 15-30 minutes a day would be highly attractive, but there is very little of what I do that is so intensive or time-critical. For me it's a hobby, so if it takes 2 hours, once every couple of weeks instead of 1 hour, that's not a huge deal.
Do I like a "snappy" user interface - absolutely! - but I would only consider an upgrade if the responsiveness of the UI and common tasks (such as opening/saving files, and other normal application usage) became a source of frustration, and of course this is very subjective. I can't tolerate regular multi-second delays in user interaction, but other people might be OK with this.
I will push my MBP14 with M1 Max (24 core GPU) until I feel those twinges of frustration, and then see what is available at that time. I'll still lust after new shiny technology....but will make sure my credit card is a safe distance away when I do....
