M1 Pro or MAX?

Hi,

I'm still not decided what is the best MacBook pro for me I need 2TB but I don't know if need 16 or 32 RAM and PRO or MAX M1?

Most of my projects are on 48Khz and reach 100-230 tracks most of them omnisphere, serum and apple library & loops

I also use Photoshop and after effect but is not my main use.

What is the best for me?

I can't say what's better for you, but my reason to go with the M1 Max was the doubled memory bandwidth over the M1 Pro. No idea what difference this is going to make, but since the machines are not upgradable, I wanted to be on the safe side. Maybe it makes no difference at all and is just a waste of money.

Some Youtube reviewer tried out the high-power mode that's only available on the M1 Max to export a 4K video and observed that high-power mode yielded a negligible performance boost for that particular task, so it might be that high-power mode is also not a strong reason to go for the M1 Max.

Regarding the amount of unified memory, if you currently have 16 GB of memory, you could observe the memory pressure chart in the Activity Monitor while you've been working for a while with your usual workflow and see what it looks like. If it's mostly green, 16 GB is likely sufficient for you. If it's mostly yellow or even red, you might benefit from going for 32 GB. Also note that this is unified memory, not regular RAM, i.e. it is shared between your CPU and GPU cores, so it needs to be enough for both. This usually won't matter too much if you don't do GPU-heavy stuff.

I would concur almost completely with what alexe says - I am also someone who bought the Max, but not because I need the power right now - I wanted to future proof myself for awhile. These things have only been out for two days now, but everything I'm reading is that the Max really shines if you do intensive video and/or 3D graphics work.

I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction but would definitely love to help anyone here save a few bucks - based on your explanation of your sessions, and what I've read so far and the video reviews I've seen, I would be more than willing to bet that the M1 Pro with 32GB of RAM is going to take care of you really nicely. And again, if you're only doing audio, I don't think you'd need anything more than the smallest GPU count of 16 cores.

Take that with as many grains of salt as you will. Aside from that, I can tell you that these new Macs are simply outstanding in every way. Also remember, you have 14 days for returns with Apple products. Maybe grab an M1 Pro, install Logic and your VI's, fire up your most intensive session, and run some benchmarks? Then if you're thinking it's pushing just a little too close to the ceiling for your expansion comfort, return it go with the Max. I know that's not ideal given the hassle of a possible exchange, but could end up saving you over $1k in the end.

I would concur almost completely with what alexe says - I am also someone who bought the Max, but not because I need the power right now - I wanted to future proof myself for awhile. These things have only been out for two days now, but everything I'm reading is that the Max really shines if you do intensive video and/or 3D graphics work.

 

I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction but would definitely love to help anyone here save a few bucks - based on your explanation of your sessions, and what I've read so far and the video reviews I've seen, I would be more than willing to bet that the M1 Pro with 32GB of RAM is going to take care of you really nicely. And again, if you're only doing audio, I don't think you'd need anything more than the smallest GPU count of 16 cores.

 

Take that with as many grains of salt as you will. Aside from that, I can tell you that these new Macs are simply outstanding in every way. Also remember, you have 14 days for returns with Apple products. Maybe grab an M1 Pro, install Logic and your VI's, fire up your most intensive session, and run some benchmarks? Then if you're thinking it's pushing just a little too close to the ceiling for your expansion comfort, return it go with the Max. I know that's not ideal given the hassle of a possible exchange, but could end up saving you over $1k in the end.

I think we still need to waiting for YouTube compression between pro and max to see if the max is game changer or just a apple way to make more money, in my opinion is a way to make money and everyone can use pro and get the same performance +- but will know the truth soon

I think we still need to waiting for YouTube compression between pro and max to see if the max is game changer or just a apple way to make more money, in my opinion is a way to make money and everyone can use pro and get the same performance +- but will know the truth soon

huh? you mean, the specs for the M1max are..fake? just a'marketing scheme'?? not sure what your point is.

people are running logic on the original M1 chip, and raving about it on the forum. the pro will be better, & the max even better. specifications matter.

your opinion is your right, but it doesn't alter actual facts...

The M1 Max will likely draw more power under load, and has significant extra GPU performance for those people doing 3D rendering, simulations, game development, photogrammetry and so on.

If you're not doing those things, GPU's are only important for you to drive the screen/s and more conventional visualisations and graphics processing, which there is ample GPU power for in the M1 Pro.

The real world affects of the increased memory bandwidth are unknown at this stage - it might only be relevant when running the full 64GB for instance. Whether that's worth the price increases is difficult to determine currently. Really, for me, it comes down to how much you want 64GB of RAM, in which case the choice is obvious.

I don't think otherwise the Max is worth the extra price for the extra functionality you get for DAW use for people who aren't doing heavy graphics work.

For me, I *do* do some graphics work, but the smaller M1 Pro chip, which should draw less power and heat, is more attractive to me, and that's what I will be going for.

TL;DR; If you're the kind of person that when buying a computer finds speccing up the graphic cards every bit as vital and important as the CPU/RAM/storage specs, and this will be your main machine, you probably want the M1 Max. Otherwise, the M1 Pro will be pretty awesome, and will allow you to spend the excess budget elsewhere (RAM, storage etc).

(All IMO, of course.)

I think we still need to waiting for YouTube compression between pro and max to see if the max is game changer or just a apple way to make more money, in my opinion is a way to make money and everyone can use pro and get the same performance +- but will know the truth soon

 

huh? you mean, the specs for the M1max are..fake? just a'marketing scheme'?? not sure what your point is.

 

people are running logic on the original M1 chip, and raving about it on the forum. the pro will be better, & the max even better. specifications matter.

 

your opinion is your right, but it doesn't alter actual facts...

No, the specs is real and MAX > Pro but I mean how big is the difference in the real world?

I mean how big is the difference in the real world?

It is unclear at this time. You'll need to be patient and wait for more data as people work with these machines for more than just a day or two.

Edit: AnandTech says the processor alone is not able to use the full memory bandwidth, so for CPU-bound tasks, the increased memory bandwidth won't give much advantage. Therefore, it's not really a factor for DAW use.

If it helps, someone's benchmarked an M1 Pro and M1 Max with same specs (1TB, 32GB) running the GS Logic benchmark session and they both resulted in exactly the same performance (155 tracks) which is what I would expect.

Those GPU cores don't help in processing audio, and even if the memory bandwidth is higher, there are other factors that can mitigate this and as I said above, benefits of this memory bandwidth are fuzzy at this point in real world use for your typical applications.

 

huh? you mean, the specs for the M1max are..fake? just a'marketing scheme'?? not sure what your point is.

 

people are running logic on the original M1 chip, and raving about it on the forum. the pro will be better, & the max even better. specifications matter.

 

your opinion is your right, but it doesn't alter actual facts...

No, the specs is real and MAX > Pro but I mean how big is the difference in the real world?

as always is the case, people who want higher spec'd machines, will go for... the higher spec'd machine. meanwhile, you can google it right now; there are comparisions on youtube, etc...

Hi,

I'm still not decided what is the best MacBook pro for me I need 2TB but I don't know if need 16 or 32 RAM and PRO or MAX M1?

Most of my projects are on 48Khz and reach 100-230 tracks most of them omnisphere, serum and apple library & loops

I also use Photoshop and after effect but is not my main use.

What is the best for me?

Hi Aviorrok,

considering the fact most of your projects are up to 230 tracks and 48khz I wouldn't suggest buying the MacBook Pro, for this kind of work MacBook Air M1 with 8GB will be more than enough.

its not like the MacBook Pro won't be able to deliver better results, but the difference will be very insignificant and above all that I thing the option for you will be HP X360 with dual boot running Windows and Hacked Mac OS.

Best regards,

Asif Monterey

I bought the M1 Pro and decided to spend the $400 on the 10-core processor and 1TB SSD. I went with 16 gigs of memory hoping that will keep me for a while, thanks to the new memory management. We will see. I have been using the Audio Modelling instruments on my 2015 Macbook with an I5 and 16 gigs of memory and it was very problematic. I could use it on as many as 8 instruments at a time if I was very careful about only running Logic, closing everything else, and rebooting often. The error messages always seem to relate to processor problems, never memory.

When I got my new Macbook, I loaded Logic 10.7, all of the SWAM instruments, and the two Izotope Elements plugins that I use, Neutron 3 and Ozone 9. When I opened a project using 5 SWAM instruments and the Izotope stuff using Rosetta 2, everything works just fine. I have picked up my normal workflow on the piece I was working on with the old machine and leaving email, a browser and other apps running simultaneously, without issue.

I have not tried to stress the system to test it or anything, but it is very snappy and smooth using Rosetta. I think that the audio is noticeably better, too. I mostly posted this so anyone else struggling with SWAM instruments on an older machine would know that there is a good chance they will work for them on the new machines. Neither AudioModelling nor Izotope are claiming to have tested under Monterey or on the M1 pro yet, but AM says they will have their stuff native on Apple Silicon by the end of the year and Izotope plans to as well.

So if I had to summarize this thread and answer the question posed in the title (assuming you only want to spend what you need to):

Logic/Audio processing is your main requirement: M1 Pro.

Light to Medium Graphics and Video work too, now or highly possible in the future? Most likely still M1 Pro.

Heavy Graphics and Video work too, now or highly possible in the future? M1 Max.

Which translates to me having spent too much money. Guess I need to make a big decision here within the next 10 days. I would downgrade to an M1 Pro almost assuredly if it didn't mean I needed to wait 1-2 months.

A request to those running 16GB of RAM in their new MacBook Pro -- can you please report how your machine is performing with Logic Pro RAM-wise? So far in this thread Thorny reports he's had no problem with his M1 Pro 16GB.

Like the OP I'm trying to decide which MBP to purhase. I originally pre-ordered the M1 Max but it wouldn't ship until late November, so I cancelled the order. After checking out several reviews I'm thinking the M1 Pro with 16 core GPU will do the job. I can pick up an M1 Pro 16/16/1TB locally but I'm not sure if 16GB of RAM is enough. (I'd go with 32GB but that puts me into a Dec. shipping date)

So the question is -- assuming the M1 Pro is good enough GPU-wise -- will 16GB of RAM do the job? Thanks if you can chime in!

A request to those running 16GB of RAM in their new MacBook Pro -- can you please report how your machine is performing with Logic Pro RAM-wise? So far in this thread Thorny reports he's had no problem with his M1 Pro 16GB.

 

Like the OP I'm trying to decide which MBP to purhase. I originally pre-ordered the M1 Max but it wouldn't ship until late November, so I cancelled the order. After checking out several reviews I'm thinking the M1 Pro with 16 core GPU will do the job. I can pick up an M1 Pro 16/16/1TB locally but I'm not sure if 16GB of RAM is enough. (I'd go with 32GB but that puts me into a Dec. shipping date)

 

So the question is -- assuming the M1 Pro is good enough GPU-wise -- will 16GB of RAM do the job? Thanks if you can chime in!

I hear ya des99. It would be nice to have 2 TB of fast SSD. Early on I was considering a 16” M1 Max 32/32/2TB @$3899+tax!

But if an M1 Pro w/16GB of RAM works out I’m inclined to go low budget with 1TB and avoid that extra $400 altogether.

I hear ya des99. It would be nice to have 2 TB of fast SSD. Early on I was considering a 16” M1 Max 32/32/2TB @$3899+tax!

 

But if an M1 Pro w/16GB of RAM works out I’m inclined to go low budget with 1TB and avoid that extra $400 altogether.

what i'll probably do. and easy enough to 'archive' older or inactive work on an external drive...

 

what i'll probably do. and easy enough to 'archive' older or inactive work on an external drive...

That's what I was thinking.

Ok I watched this video and I'm going to buy M1 pro with 2TB but don't know if 16 or 32RAM Hahaha

Ok I watched this video and I'm going to buy M1 pro with 2TB but don't know if 16 or 32RAM Hahaha

I haven't watched that video yet but I wanted to mention I ended up buying the 14" M1 Pro 16GB RAM with 16 core GPU, mainly because it was the only one in stock locally.

I intend to use an external monitor so the 14" I thought would be more portable when I'm not in the studio. I had it delivered on Nov. 1, the same day Apple extended their return policy to January, so if it isn't big enough or powerful enough I have time to upgrade. It'll take me a few weeks to know how it performs. Lots of files to transfer over.

I just wanted to mention that if you start out with M1 Pro 2TB 16GB RAM and you decide to upgrade to 32GB of RAM ($400 extra) if It was me I'd add another $200 to get the 24 core GPU and automatically be bumped to the M1 Max, with double the memory bandwidth and all the other video benefits. I think Apple is charging too much for RAM upgrades, but once you hit 32GB with an M1 Pro that extra $200 bump to an M1 Max 24 core GPU is an xlnt value for the money. In my case I'm hoping the 16GB 1TB does the job, however.

Ok I watched this video and I'm going to buy M1 pro with 2TB but don't know if 16 or 32RAM Hahaha

 

I haven't watched that video yet but I wanted to mention I ended up buying the 14" M1 Pro 16GB RAM with 16 core GPU, mainly because it was the only one in stock locally.

 

I intend to use an external monitor so the 14" I thought would be more portable when I'm not in the studio. I had it delivered on Nov. 1, the same day Apple extended their return policy to January, so if it isn't big enough or powerful enough I have time to upgrade. It'll take me a few weeks to know how it performs. Lots of files to transfer over.

 

I just wanted to mention that if you start out with M1 Pro 2TB 16GB RAM and you decide to upgrade to 32GB of RAM ($400 extra) if It was me I'd add another $200 to get the 24 core GPU and automatically be bumped to the M1 Max, with double the memory bandwidth and all the other video benefits. I think Apple is charging too much for RAM upgrades, but once you hit 32GB with an M1 Pro that extra $200 bump to an M1 Max 24 core GPU is an xlnt value for the money. In my case I'm hoping the 16GB 1TB does the job, however.

Yeah you’re right but 32GB is 400$, 2TB is 400$(if I remember correctly) and M1 max 200$ = 1000$ LOL

Yeah you’re right but 32GB is 400$, 2TB is 400$(if I remember correctly) and M1 max 200$ = 1000$ LOL

Right -- Mo Money Mo Money! That's why I thought I'd stay down in the bargain basement with the M1 Pro 16/16/1TB. I don't do serious video so working in Logic, a few other DAWs and some graphics apps I'm hoping it does the job. If money was no object I'd just go for the 32/32/2TB. But as we discussed earlier, according to those test videos the lesser model might be enough -- for $1000 less. Good luck with your decision!

The M1 Max draws more power than the Pro, and so potentially can generate more heat and fan cooling requirements, and eats battery quicker than the smaller chip (there are YT videos on this).

Honestly, the ability to run 3 external monitors over 2 isn't important to me, and I'd rather the cooler/less power hungry chip, because the applications I use don't really take advantage of an extra honking graphics power anyway, so it's a waste of resources.

For DAW/audio use, the main reason to go for the Max is if you absolutely need 64GB of RAM or to power three external monitors, imo. Otherwise, the M1 Pro makes much more sense to me.

The M1 Max draws more power than the Pro, and so potentially can generate more heat and fan cooling requirements, and eats battery quicker than the smaller chip (there are YT videos on this).

 

Honestly, the ability to run 3 external monitors over 2 isn't important to me, and I'd rather the cooler/less power hungry chip, because the applications I use don't really take advantage of an extra honking graphics power anyway, so it's a waste of resources.

 

For DAW/audio use, the main reason to go for the Max is if you absolutely need 64GB of RAM or to power three external monitors, imo. Otherwise, the M1 Pro makes much more sense to me.

Yeah, I don't need 64GB RAM so my main dilemma 32RAM with 1TB or 16Ram with 2TB