Upgrade to M2 Max or M4 Max?

[giovannicris]

To keep it short..

I'm currently using a MacBook Pro M1 Pro from 2020, and would like to upgrade to a Studio.

Architect here so use a lot of graphics work and also use Parallels a lot to run windows applications like Revit.

My current machine is starting to lag a little bit during that workflow, so I'm considering switching to a Studio.

I'm looking at some used M2 Max (12-Core CPU / 30-Core GPU), 32GB RAM.. Would that be a considerable upgrade or should I invest some more and get a new M4 Max?

 

[throAU]

Go M4, but you don't need to go max to get a huge boost.

An M4 Pro will be about same speed as M1 max on heavy multi-threaded work and GPU.

But where the M4 generation (including M4 base, Pro, Max and the phone chips it is based on) will kill the M2 generation is responsiveness for general desktop stuff.

M5 will be even snappier for that.


Just pick how much ram you want and then go for the latest generation chip you can with the amount of RAM required. Assuming the RAM and SSD is sufficient - Pro vs. Max is less important unless you're gaming, running high end 3D workload or need the dual encoders for video work the max chips have.

Each successive generation of M chip has been a reasonable jump in responsiveness and jumping 3 generations instead of one will be very noticeable.

I currently own M1, M4 and M5 generation products.


M4 Max is much faster than M2 Max

ref: https://medium.com/@kellyshephard/m1-max-vs-m2-max-vs-m3-max-battle-of-the-maxes-dfc9b9928456

 

[benholt]

Revit through Parallels is memory-heavy in a way that hits hard once you open a big federated model — Parallels' RAM allocation to the VM is coming out of your total 32GB and macOS still needs its share. On a used M2 Max 32GB you'd be handing Parallels 16-20GB and hoping the rest is enough, which starts swapping the moment models get real. Between a used M2 Max at 32GB and a new M4 Max with more RAM I'd take the RAM every time. If budget matters, an M4 Pro at 48GB probably serves that workload better than an M4 Max stuck at 32. Also worth asking whether you actually want to give up the laptop for site visits, or pair a Studio at the office with a cheaper MBP for travel.

 

[giovannicris]

@benholt that's great to know about the RAM for parallels. I'll consider that too.
A Mac mini m4 Pro with 48GB of RAM is almost the same price of a new Mac Studio M4 Max with 36GB.. That's where it gets pretty tricky to make a choice.
Another option is to go for a used Studio Ultra (probably M1) with lots of RAM (seen some with 64GB), which would end up costing roughly the same.
And workflow-wise, that's the idea. Keep the MacBook Pro for site visits or remote work. But most days I'm in the studio plugged in to an external screen anyway.

 

[throAU]

I'd hesitate against buying into the M1 platform in 2026 and spending significant outlay on it.

While M1 was a revolution in its day, that day is now 5 years ago, and unless you can get it very cheap you're dumping a lot of money into a platform that may only see a few years of continued macOS support and is out of warranty already.

Performance is fine but having a machine die and be totally out of pocket sucks.

 

[4sallypat]

M5 is coming out!

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/25/apple-announces-new-mac-studio-with-m5-ultra-chip/

 

[keksikuningas]

Used M2 Studios should drop in prices after the announcement so maybe a good time for OP to pick one up since they weren't planning to go with the latest and greatest

 

[throAU]

Used M2 Studios should drop in prices after the announcement so maybe a good time for OP to pick one up since they weren't planning to go with the latest and greatest

I'd really try to go for m3 or later.

M1 to M2 upgrade in terms of speed is.... meh.

M1 to M3 is a lot bigger.

 

[m1maverick]

I'd really try to go for m3 or later.

M1 to M2 upgrade in terms of speed is.... meh.

M1 to M3 is a lot bigger.

Didn't the M2 Ultra resolve some bandwidth issue that held back the M1 from its full potential?

 

[4sallypat]

Used M2 Studios should drop in prices after the announcement so maybe a good time for OP to pick one up since they weren't planning to go with the latest and greatest

I can't believe my 4 year old M1 Studio base has actually not depreciated which is very unusual!

Reselling now on eBay, I can get back almost everything I paid for 4 years ago.

 

[throAU]

Didn't the M2 Ultra resolve some bandwidth issue that held back the M1 from its full potential?

Don't think so? M1 pro/max/ultra had great bandwidth.

M1 base was bandwidth starved but that's not really part of this discussion - m1 pro was still 200GB/sec, m1 max was 400, ultra was 800 (M1 was like 67GB/sec).

M3 was less bandwidth on the Pro... forget the rest; but reality is the cores were still faster, especially when talking max/ultra. If anything the M1/M2 generation (M1 base excepted) had more bandwidth than they could realistically use most of the time.