I am buying the 16", with a 2TB drive. But for about the same price, I could get a 64 GB 14" with a 1 TB drive. I need to try them out. Will I be comfortable with just 14" is my big question. It is possible to return a Mac if it's in perfect condition, normally 2 week window, but four weeks or so over Christmas (depending on which country I presume).
In a similar place to you and some others. Considering whether moving down to the 14 and up to binned max. I'm somewhat hoping that the binned max will not meaningfully throttle in the 14. I've ordered teh 16 pro 48, an will see how I feel on the form factor after a week, and maybe swap it for 14 max.
Keep in mind those benchmarks are for the 16 core Max with 40 GPU.
A 14 core "max" has the higher memory bandwidth + the higher GPU count but other than that it's the same as the PRO.
Well, its actually slower memory bandwidth than the 16 core Max, but it is higher than the pro. But, the max also has additional media engine over pro which can make a significant difference for those work flows so that's an additional difference.
I also think 32 vs 20 gpu cores, is probably more significant than 40 vs 32. I also think the extra 2 p cores is unlikely to be meaningful for most users. I mean if you need the absolutely best performance, then the price difference shouldnt be a factor. The single ram configuration is likely a bigger issue.
I tend to think that more cores at a certain point doesn't meaningfully help, as you see diminishing returns for some tasks trying to take advantage.
Lots of people on here talking about AI, but its very likely the mass ai people will end up using in the future will largely not run locally and when it does will need to run / fit on much less capable machines. So unless you are really serious about running your own local llms, I kind of think it could be a trap for some users to buy a bigger machine than they need.
