expiredSavvyStackSaver posted Apr 09, 2023 05:17 AM
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expiredSavvyStackSaver posted Apr 09, 2023 05:17 AM
MacBook Pro 16" Laptop Apple M1 Max chip 32GB Memory 1TB SSD Space Gray MK1A3LL/A - $2699
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I bought this for $2499 a couple weeks ago during the Microcenter flash sale. Got BB to price match it so i got the 2 years of AppleCare with it too.
I love it, but I'm debating whether to return it for a 14" M2 Pro (the newer 2021 model) which I got open box for $1750 a few days prior. I've basically been test piloting them both the past two weeks. I just can NOT make up my mind because there are pros/cons to both, and it's driving me nuts trying to just make up my mind.
On one hand, the screen on the 16" is beautiful, the keyboard and speakers are a little nicer than the 14" (speakers are objectively better and keyboard is subjectively a little more spacious for my hands), and it has 32 GB RAM and 1TB hard drive space which is more than I'll probably ever need. The M1 Max chip is roughly equal to the M2 Pro (from what I understand) so I'm not really losing out on much there... I think the CPU is a little better on the M2 but the GPU is superior on the M1 Max. either way i doubt i'll ever push it hard enough to notice.
But the 14" has some pros going for it, namely that it fits perfectly in my lap on the sofa or in bed, is easier to carry around the house, and will definitely be easier and more form factor friendly if i decide to travel or even go to a coffee shop. i'm not sure i'll enjoy carrying the 16" around much, and initially the whole reason i wanted to get a macbook was so i had the compact form factor and balance between a small and large screen. initially i thought 100% i'd pick the 14", but after using the 16" i've just really grown to love the larger screen and so now i'm trying to weigh the pros/cons of having the larger screen real estate versus the ability to just grab and go with the 14".
and even though the 16" has the larger RAM and hard drive space, i kinda question if it even really matters since i'm not doing super intensive tasks. i think ultimately it will be nice to have more - especially if i start doing more video and photo work - but for my current needs it may not really matter, as i mostly do basic web browsing type stuff.
TL;DR -- I could just use some input and guidance if anyone wants to share what they'd do in my shoes. i think if it came down to JUST the screen size, i might end up picking the 14" because of the balance of portability and screen quality, but the fact that the M1 Max has 32GB RAM/1TB SSD *and* I got such a killer deal on it makes me feel like that's the one i should stick with.
if anyone has any input i'd greatly appreciate it!!
That said, I have seen that the M1 chip series is faster because of the read/write on the SSD and the use a dual ram vs 1 stick.
IS that correct or should I look at M2 ?
I bought this for $2499 a couple weeks ago during the Microcenter flash sale. Got BB to price match it so i got the 2 years of AppleCare with it too.
I love it, but I'm debating whether to return it for a 14" M2 Pro (the newer 2021 model) which I got open box for $1750 a few days prior. I've basically been test piloting them both the past two weeks. I just can NOT make up my mind because there are pros/cons to both, and it's driving me nuts trying to just make up my mind.
On one hand, the screen on the 16" is beautiful, the keyboard and speakers are a little nicer than the 14" (speakers are objectively better and keyboard is subjectively a little more spacious for my hands), and it has 32 GB RAM and 1TB hard drive space which is more than I'll probably ever need. The M1 Max chip is roughly equal to the M2 Pro (from what I understand) so I'm not really losing out on much there... I think the CPU is a little better on the M2 but the GPU is superior on the M1 Max. either way i doubt i'll ever push it hard enough to notice.
But the 14" has some pros going for it, namely that it fits perfectly in my lap on the sofa or in bed, is easier to carry around the house, and will definitely be easier and more form factor friendly if i decide to travel or even go to a coffee shop. i'm not sure i'll enjoy carrying the 16" around much, and initially the whole reason i wanted to get a macbook was so i had the compact form factor and balance between a small and large screen. initially i thought 100% i'd pick the 14", but after using the 16" i've just really grown to love the larger screen and so now i'm trying to weigh the pros/cons of having the larger screen real estate versus the ability to just grab and go with the 14".
and even though the 16" has the larger RAM and hard drive space, i kinda question if it even really matters since i'm not doing super intensive tasks. i think ultimately it will be nice to have more - especially if i start doing more video and photo work - but for my current needs it may not really matter, as i mostly do basic web browsing type stuff.
TL;DR -- I could just use some input and guidance if anyone wants to share what they'd do in my shoes. i think if it came down to JUST the screen size, i might end up picking the 14" because of the balance of portability and screen quality, but the fact that the M1 Max has 32GB RAM/1TB SSD *and* I got such a killer deal on it makes me feel like that's the one i should stick with.
if anyone has any input i'd greatly appreciate it!!
I bought this for $2499 a couple weeks ago during the Microcenter flash sale. Got BB to price match it so i got the 2 years of AppleCare with it too.
I love it, but I'm debating whether to return it for a 14" M2 Pro (the newer 2021 model) which I got open box for $1750 a few days prior. I've basically been test piloting them both the past two weeks. I just can NOT make up my mind because there are pros/cons to both, and it's driving me nuts trying to just make up my mind.
On one hand, the screen on the 16" is beautiful, the keyboard and speakers are a little nicer than the 14" (speakers are objectively better and keyboard is subjectively a little more spacious for my hands), and it has 32 GB RAM and 1TB hard drive space which is more than I'll probably ever need. The M1 Max chip is roughly equal to the M2 Pro (from what I understand) so I'm not really losing out on much there... I think the CPU is a little better on the M2 but the GPU is superior on the M1 Max. either way i doubt i'll ever push it hard enough to notice.
But the 14" has some pros going for it, namely that it fits perfectly in my lap on the sofa or in bed, is easier to carry around the house, and will definitely be easier and more form factor friendly if i decide to travel or even go to a coffee shop. i'm not sure i'll enjoy carrying the 16" around much, and initially the whole reason i wanted to get a macbook was so i had the compact form factor and balance between a small and large screen. initially i thought 100% i'd pick the 14", but after using the 16" i've just really grown to love the larger screen and so now i'm trying to weigh the pros/cons of having the larger screen real estate versus the ability to just grab and go with the 14".
and even though the 16" has the larger RAM and hard drive space, i kinda question if it even really matters since i'm not doing super intensive tasks. i think ultimately it will be nice to have more - especially if i start doing more video and photo work - but for my current needs it may not really matter, as i mostly do basic web browsing type stuff.
TL;DR -- I could just use some input and guidance if anyone wants to share what they'd do in my shoes. i think if it came down to JUST the screen size, i might end up picking the 14" because of the balance of portability and screen quality, but the fact that the M1 Max has 32GB RAM/1TB SSD *and* I got such a killer deal on it makes me feel like that's the one i should stick with.
if anyone has any input i'd greatly appreciate it!!
As far as M2 vs M1, I'd go with the M2 if you care about 4K 120 Hz via HDMI 2.1. But I'd go with the M1 for drive performance (unless your M2 has 1 TB+ of storage, which it sounds like it doesn't). Apple reduced the # of chips they use so that the 512 GB base model M1 Pro has the same read/write performance as the 1 TB M2 Pro. However, that would only affect you if you're a heavy multitasker (or keep a lot of open tabs, especially in Safari, which crumbles with many tabs open), or perhaps towards the end of the ~6 years of OS updates, as Apple increases the minimum requirements.
That said, I have seen that the M1 chip series is faster because of the read/write on the SSD and the use a dual ram vs 1 stick.
IS that correct or should I look at M2 ?
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As far as M2 vs M1, I'd go with the M2 if you care about 4K 120 Hz via HDMI 2.1. But I'd go with the M1 for drive performance (unless your M2 has 1 TB+ of storage, which it sounds like it doesn't). Apple reduced the # of chips they use so that the 512 GB base model M1 Pro has the same read/write performance as the 1 TB M2 Pro. However, that would only affect you if you're a heavy multitasker (or keep a lot of open tabs, especially in Safari, which crumbles with many tabs open), or perhaps towards the end of the ~6 years of OS updates, as Apple increases the minimum requirements.
Do you think that would really be an issue for me? I do often have a lot of tabs open, youtube playing, etc., but as of now i'm probably in between casual and intermediate as far as the tasks i'm doing. i want to start doing some video editing but it would probably start off with shorter form youtube content -- not editing 2 hour long movies or anything. but i don't know if even editing 10-minute videos will push that 16gb to its max and will leave me regretting my decision to return the 32gb.
Do you think that would really be an issue for me? I do often have a lot of tabs open, youtube playing, etc., but as of now i'm probably in between casual and intermediate as far as the tasks i'm doing. i want to start doing some video editing but it would probably start off with shorter form youtube content -- not editing 2 hour long movies or anything. but i don't know if even editing 10-minute videos will push that 16gb to its max and will leave me regretting my decision to return the 32gb.
Future proof buying is a poor use of money.
By the time you need the 32 for a purpose how many generations of M's will have passed and how much more powerful will they be?
Future proof buying is a poor use of money.
By the time you need the 32 for a purpose how many generations of M's will have passed and how much more powerful will they be?
The speakers and screen on the 16" are definitely superior but at the end of the day it's a matter of how much of a compromise I'm willing to make for form factor/portability, and I do feel like the 14" is the sweet spot balance of being fairly comfortable to work on and easy to carry around with one hand.
Do you think 16gb is enough for video editing, right now?
The speakers and screen on the 16" are definitely superior but at the end of the day it's a matter of how much of a compromise I'm willing to make for form factor/portability, and I do feel like the 14" is the sweet spot balance of being fairly comfortable to work on and easy to carry around with one hand.
Do you think 16gb is enough for video editing, right now?
If you are asking if you need 32gb then you don't need it. If you know you need it then you aren't asking.
You can't really go wrong either. My guess is that once you make a decision you will forget all about the one you didn't keep.
Do you think that would really be an issue for me? I do often have a lot of tabs open, youtube playing, etc., but as of now i'm probably in between casual and intermediate as far as the tasks i'm doing. i want to start doing some video editing but it would probably start off with shorter form youtube content -- not editing 2 hour long movies or anything. but i don't know if even editing 10-minute videos will push that 16gb to its max and will leave me regretting my decision to return the 32gb.
For the longer-term check, add the Bytes Written and Bytes Read columns to Activity Monitor. However, the # will disappear when you reboot. For persistent data, install Homebrew and smartmontools and use the command, smartctl -a disk0 to see the data units written (i.e. writing to drive) and percentage used (i.e. when this hits 100%, your drive is probably toast). If that's outside of your tech skills, you can buy DriveDX (1 week free trial). My 8GB/256GB Mac saw ~50 TB written (~6-7% used) iirc after < 2 months, whereas the 16GB/512 GB is at ~6.7 TB written and hasn't yet reached 1% after 2 months.
Depending on the size of your iCloud photo library and other things, the first 1 week-1 month can see a lot heavier writing as background processes can use them. But it should taper after that. If it continues to go up, or the Memory Pressure is often yellow/red, that's where I'd want more RAM or storage.
You shouldn't see the percentage used climb a lot if you stay out of memory pressure yellow/red, but if you do for whatever reason, I'd look at getting rid of it earlier than you might otherwise. Especially if you're not carrying AppleCare+.
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For the longer-term check, add the Bytes Written and Bytes Read columns to Activity Monitor. However, the # will disappear when you reboot. For persistent data, install Homebrew and smartmontools and use the command, smartctl -a disk0 to see the data units written (i.e. writing to drive) and percentage used (i.e. when this hits 100%, your drive is probably toast). If that's outside of your tech skills, you can buy DriveDX (1 week free trial). My 8GB/256GB Mac saw ~50 TB written (~6-7% used) iirc after < 2 months, whereas the 16GB/512 GB is at ~6.7 TB written and hasn't yet reached 1% after 2 months.
Depending on the size of your iCloud photo library and other things, the first 1 week-1 month can see a lot heavier writing as background processes can use them. But it should taper after that. If it continues to go up, or the Memory Pressure is often yellow/red, that's where I'd want more RAM or storage.
You shouldn't see the percentage used climb a lot if you stay out of memory pressure yellow/red, but if you do for whatever reason, I'd look at getting rid of it earlier than you might otherwise. Especially if you're not carrying AppleCare+.
I checked the activity monitor once the other day on the 14" and with a few Chrome tabs open I think it said I was already using ~8gb RAM which surprised me.
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