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Who has upgraded from M1 to M1 Pro/Max? Where have you seen the biggest improvements?
- Thread starter VitoBotta
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16gb vs 8gb is like night and day - especially if you're using an external monitor that locks down some of the memory for the display.
I have had my 8GB M1 Air freeze up and reboot twice in the two months I have owned it.
On what do you base this claim on ? The Lenovo have a 720p webcam, and don't have the on silicon hardware improvements to video processing that the new Mac Pro's have?
It would also be wrong. The 1080p is nice but the DSP paired with it makes it superior. That is unique to Macs. It is a step up from what is on the M1 MBA but even that one looks better than it should because of the compute element.
I thought I was the only one who noticed the keyboard felt even better. Probably my favorite keyboard that I have ever used.
Before the M1 MBA, I had the Intel 16 inch that had a great screen and gave a very immersive experience. It was beautiful. The trouble came when I was traveling. It was a bit too much of a good thing and added more heft to my backpack when on the move. A bit cumbersome to use on the plane or at the airport.
I had reservations about the M1 MBA 13 inch screen size but the performance gain was too good to pass up.
The 14 inch is a happy medium between portability and a less cramped screen. It's much better than the M1 MBA in terms of screen real estate but not as great as the 16 inch. But, overall a fair compromise.
I think it’s overkill for web development only, but look on the bright side! If you don’t update today, it will always be available for you either way right? You always have the option of updating 6 months or a year from now, it’s not like they’re going to disappear forever.
If I were in your shoes, I would continue to do web dev on my current setup and only upgrade if I ran into rainbow beach balls or lag.
My current setup is constantly lagging with Photoshop and I’m put in a position where I must upgrade. The struggle to keep my current setup will cause me undue delays with work.
Just remember, the M1 Pro and M1 Max will always be there until the next iteration. There’s no loss in waiting.
If I were in your shoes, I would continue to do web dev on my current setup and only upgrade if I ran into rainbow beach balls or lag.
My current setup is constantly lagging with Photoshop and I’m put in a position where I must upgrade. The struggle to keep my current setup will cause me undue delays with work.
Just remember, the M1 Pro and M1 Max will always be there until the next iteration. There’s no loss in waiting.
I admit to not having heavily engaged in taxing work on my 14 Pro yet. But even with the work I am doing I love the new keyboard (I know it is being said it is not different but my fingers tell me it has a bit more travel and the black enclosure makes the lighted keys really stand out.
Also the display is gorgeous and the size increase noticeable.
Also the display is gorgeous and the size increase noticeable.
I went from a M1 13" MBP first to a 16" MBP Max with 32GB RAM and 32 GPU. The 16" was really fast. Just for daily tasks - web surfing, email, chat, slack, zoom, etc. there was almost no delay in any of the actions. I never maxed out the 32GB of RAM. I actually found myself working more because things were just moving so quickly.I am tempted to upgrade but I only do web development mainly, no video editing etc. Would I see a significant difference? Please talk me out of it
However, the size of the machine didn't work for me. I like to move around the house with my laptop, and I got into work. It was pretty unwieldy as a portable device.
So I downgraded to a 14" MBP Pro 16GB RAM, 16 GPU. It's definitely not as fast but faster than my M1 13" MBP.
I have maxed out the ram, but the machine is still pretty snappy. There are some delays that I see compared with the 16" but pretty small and still better than my 13".
Whether you go with the 14" or 16" you'll get a better keyboard - this new one is more responsive and easier to type on. A better screen - brighter, things seem clearer with more contract (prob the mini-LED), and more screen space. Depending on whether you go with the Pro or Max, you'll get a faster machine.
If you have the money, I would recommend the upgrade.
I can echo a lot of this. I also went with a 16" device initially, and now I'm settling with a 14" w/ 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. I initially went with 32GB RAM and 2TB storage, but found that I didn't need to spend that extra $1500.
It is not any slower with my use case, and even though I hit swap a few times, it's a very small amount. My memory pressure doesn't seem to exceed 65-70% on average.
The 16" Pro is unexpectedly... much more unwieldy than I thought. It's not a significant weight bump compared to the original 16", but the combination of extra heft + the new form factor being slightly bulkier and thicker makes the machine feel... much more substantial than it actually is. It's kind of insane.
In contrast, the 14" is indeed the sweet spot between 13" and 15", and the new screen is much better than either. Even reducing the 14" to the same retina resolution as the old 13" or 15", I didn't seem to lose any of the extra sharpness, which is a very welcome thing as I have to squint to see texts at default.
All in all, I think the 14" is the much better device for portability. The M1 Max 16" actually ran a bit hotter than the M1 Pro 14" from what iStat is telling me. Also I feel like I'm getting slightly more battery out of the 14". It's not comparable to the M1 Pro 13" that I had, but I don't feel like I'm losing much. Maybe at most 1 hour, but I'm already getting well over 10.
Oh, this is an interesting question. So I went back to the 2015 15" briefly and compared the 2. To me, I've found that the 2015 keyboard:
1. Has slightly more key travel
2. Is slightly more clicky
3. The feel of each key is a bit smoother, but that may be due to long usage
In comparison, the new keyboard:
1. Has slightly bigger keys. It seems like each key was made slightly larger?
2. Still clicky but the click is very soft, and is almost inaudible. It's... more stealthy?
3. Backlight doesn't highlight the keys as much (leak around each key) but the characters on the keys are clearly visible and they seem much bigger compared to the old keyboard, so to my eyes, it almost feels like the new keyboard... pops more?
So I think 2015 keyboard has better tactile feedback but is louder overall. The new keyboard still has good tactile, but it is much more muted both in looks and in how each key types. And yet there's more key travel, and my wife also is not bothered by my typing late at night anymore, so I think this may be better for my use case overall.
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Look at reviews. You’re going to have swap with ANY amount of RAM. It’s just how the OS works.