Apple 16.2" MacBook Pro with M1 Max Chip (Late 2021, Space Gray) - $$2,499.00 at B&H Photo

Fidoz

Dec 19, 2023 3:56 AM

45 Comments

Joined Jul 2016

FidozDec 19, 2023 3:56 AM

45 Comments

How's this a deal ?

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11

maxsocial

Dec 19, 2023 1:45 PM

221 Comments

Joined Nov 2015

maxsocialDec 19, 2023 1:45 PM

221 Comments

There's no other Mac with similar configuration even close to this price. It is a deal.

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2

Caleo

Dec 19, 2023 11:08 PM

6.8K Comments

Joined Dec 2004

CaleoDec 19, 2023 11:08 PM

6.8K Comments

Quote from Fidoz

:

How's this a deal ?

Quote from nic_kobe_08

:

Old arse tech

Quote from CoralPocket1267

:

More than 2 years old device. I would purchase M3 Macbook pro 16inch base model as it is faster and cheaper. If you are running many apps at the same time, ram may help but if you are doing that much heavy work and really need 64GB, you would probably already have either M1 or M2 max/ultra or maybe have M3 pro max already. So I am not sure I would purchase 2 year old macbook at this price. It can be great device but if you need this much spec, buy M3 macbook pro 16 inch base model and plus one external ssd. Faster, newer, and cheaper.

It's about the RAM/SSD config. A similarly spec'd M3 Pro or M3 Max would run approx. $3700-4000. This config with a lot of ram (and SSD) is attractive for those who work with video editing, heavily containerized development environments, and LLM AI technology.

Despite this being "old tech", it hasn't really fallen behind in any sense. Can you do better now in terms of pure processing power? Sure - to a degree... but are you ready to spend $3600+ to get there?

Lastly, the efficiency of these hasn't diminished either. They're awesome for battery life. Unlike Windows laptops with comparable performance, these will actually manage 10h+.

Last edited by Caleo December 19, 2023 at 03:11 PM.

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King2k4

Dec 20, 2023 3:31 AM

367 Comments

Joined Mar 2010

King2k4Dec 20, 2023 3:31 AM

367 Comments

I bought this last time but never opened it. Debating if this or 16 pro max 32/1tb with 3 year apple care for $2500 is better deal

WiseSofa527

Dec 20, 2023 3:34 AM

20 Comments

Joined Dec 2019

WiseSofa527Dec 20, 2023 3:34 AM

20 Comments

Quote from Caleo

:

It's about the RAM/SSD config. A similarly spec'd M3 Pro or M3 Max would run approx. $3700-4000. This config with a lot of ram (and SSD) is attractive for those who work with video editing, heavily containerized development environments, and LLM AI technology.

Despite this being "old tech", it hasn't really fallen behind in any sense. Can you do better now in terms of pure processing power? Sure - to a degree... but are you ready to spend $3600+ to get there?

Lastly, the efficiency of these hasn't diminished either. They're awesome for battery life. Unlike Windows laptops with comparable performance, these will actually manage 10h+.

Even if you're not doing anything too fancy just a decent sized Xcode workspace will page out with 32GB.

3

2

mintblue3411

Dec 20, 2023 4:00 AM

1.6K Comments

Joined May 2018

mintblue3411Dec 20, 2023 4:00 AM

1.6K Comments

Seems regular price now, will it get cheaper

3

DDriver

Dec 20, 2023 4:41 AM

134 Comments

Joined May 2011

DDriverDec 20, 2023 4:41 AM

134 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

There is no better laptop for LLM AI research right now for this price.

Lots of unified memory allows running all the popular quantized medium and large models (including mixtral). The memory bandwidth (bottleneck for running LLMs) is at 400Gb/s which is the same as for similarly specced M2. There are reports that M3 chip family has more than 20% cut in memory bandwith.

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1

Todd.Z

Dec 20, 2023 5:01 AM

227 Comments

Joined Jul 2018

Todd.ZDec 20, 2023 5:01 AM

227 Comments

Quote from DDriver

:

There is no better laptop for LLM AI research right now for this price.

Lots of unified memory allows running all the popular quantized medium and large models (including mixtral). The memory bandwidth (bottleneck for running LLMs) is at 400Gb/s which is the same as for similarly specced M2. There are reports that M3 chip family has more than 20% cut in memory bandwith.

M3 pro has cut. But M3 max is extremely good. I debating to get this one or pay one more grand for a M3 max 48Gb MacBook Pro

6

pistolpetefan23

Dec 20, 2023 5:26 AM

89 Comments

Joined Aug 2016

pistolpetefan23Dec 20, 2023 5:26 AM

89 Comments

Quote from King2k4

:

I bought this last time but never opened it. Debating if this or 16 pro max 32/1tb with 3 year apple care for $2500 is better deal

Which deal is that? That's similar specs I'm looking for.

King2k4

Dec 20, 2023 6:11 AM

367 Comments

Joined Mar 2010

King2k4Dec 20, 2023 6:11 AM

367 Comments

Quote from pistolpetefan23

:

Which deal is that? That's similar specs I'm looking for.

It's not on major sites but I was able to find one through eBay

2

tomz17

Dec 20, 2023 4:16 PM

2.4K Comments

Joined Apr 2006

tomz17Dec 20, 2023 4:16 PM

2.4K Comments

Quote from DDriver

:

There is no better laptop for LLM AI research right now for this price.

Lots of unified memory allows running all the popular quantized medium and large models (including mixtral). The memory bandwidth (bottleneck for running LLMs) is at 400Gb/s which is the same as for similarly specced M2. There are reports that M3 chip family has more than 20% cut in memory bandwith.

ish.... these are good for inference but simply lack the raw compute power necessary for any real training. So I'm not sure I would call it LLM "research," more like limited local LLM usage. Most people interested in researching LLM's would be far better served by purchasing a much cheaper laptop (preferably any thinkpad you can easily jam linux onto) and then using the savings to rent time on actual Tesla GPU's.

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Apple 16.2" MacBook Pro with M1 Max Chip (Late 2021, Space Gray) - $$2,499.00 at B&H Photo

$2,499

$4,299

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