Note: The graphs incorrectly state the side tier MacBook has 32gb when it in fact has 16 as mentioned in the intro. Which configuration of MacBook Pro is best?
Hi, Luke. Would you consider testing the *Low Performance Mode* on the M1 Max 24 GPU core model to see if the battery life matches the cheaper models, but also get the benefit of being able to manually switching to "normal" M1 Max for better performance and 400GB/s bandwidth?
The voice of reason tells me 14" 16GB 14GPU 1TB (that's what I'm using right now). But, I'm a hobbyist video/photo-grapher, software developer and only a casual gamer (Rust 80FPS is fine with me)... or I can sell my full desktop and get a 16" 32GB 24GPU 1TB to fulfil all my use cases (and I can run parallel if some software does not run on M1). My eyes will thank me (that's my excuse)...
@NOS ULT Yep, when I bought my 2019 13 inch Intel MacBook Pro they had pretty much all the configurations, but definitely had the most stock available for the base models. If I wanted to opt for the 16 inch in any configuration I would have had to wait a week or 2 for it to ship since those were made to order.
The thing with battery life: If you run the same test for the same amount of time you’ll definitely decrease the battery on the more powerful one first. A proper test would be completing a number of tasks and seeing what the battery life is after completion. The higher performance will work twice as hard but finish in half the time
The Cinebench test was about to measure CPU performance only, so the Max had no benefit from the more gpus, it still consumed more power for the same task.
I see people in the comments talking about a “battery safe mode“ or “low power mode“, and I would be curious to see what the battery life and performance is with the M1 max using this mode. If M1 max could match the lower binned models battery life, then it would be like having two computers in one. You could choose between performance or battery.
I’m exclusively using my M1 pro in low power mode now and it is significantly better. Only had it for a week so far. Even for a 10/16 M1 pro battery life isn’t that great to me in the 14”
@Zi Kun Zeng significantly could be stretching it, it was so bad regularly that it feels somewhat better on low power mode. I feel as if the battery is still learning as it’s only on 5 cycles. I will do more testing. So far I basically have been only doing productivity work nothing to stress the cpu either.
Makes me feel pretty good about my purchase of the base model 14" (with 1TB). It already has more power than I really need, and runs cooler/longer than the other models (not to mention it being much cheaper).
@@kingdrift1136 The only time I’ve had get hot at all or have the fans be audible was when playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At all other times it has been cool and silent
Late to the game, but now that the M2 Air has been announced, I'm now looking towards the base model 14", what type of workflow do you have, and have you noticed any slowdowns or particular pain points?
Ok battery life is worse when the cores are under stress but how about regular use? That's what a lot people are wondering since you can live with plugging in more when doing heavy tasks like rendering or gaming, but if the battery life difference is not that big when using daily like browsing or lighter general work than the m1 max on the 14 will be much more acceptable.
need to know this ^^^ as i ordered the m1 max // if it’s like a 13 hr battery versus an 11 hr or so under regular usage i can definitely live with that but if it’s like half the battery it would be an issue i need to know !
@@lukey333 I don't think it'll be too bad at regular use or else we would have heard from all the reviewers by now, as a lot people have 14 inch m1 max's.
@@BilisNegra Because you if you need the power of the max every once in a while you still need it don't you? Also people go for the more powerful model for future proofing too, I used my last macbook for 8 years. M1 max is very powerful today, it will be considered average after a certain amount of years.
I have a 14" 32/10/24 M1 Max. I get around 12-13 hours with light usage (30-40 browser tabs, watching youtube, 6-7 apps open on background, light coding, brightness about half, no low power mode but "optimize streaming on battery" is on). Would I give up the potential benefits of the Max for 1-2 hours battery difference? I decided not to :) People need more light usage tests guys!
The base model more closely aligns with what most people want from a laptop, decent performance but great battery life. The middle and high spec models seem to be more suited to people who really need a desktop but who are unable to set up a desktop system for some reason, restricted space, or constant travel, etc. The fact is, if only the base model was available, it would work fine for practically anyone. Stuff would just take a minute or two longer to process and that isn’t always a bad thing. Finally, lower temperatures translate into less electrical stress on components and more battery cycles. A pretty compelling case in favour of purchasing the base model, saving $900 and having a computer that will ultimately last longer.
I'm still incredibly happy I chose the 14" M1 Max with the 24-core GPU. Battery life is still insanely good (especially compared to my now-sold 2018 MBP) and a huge step up for general tasks, and equal, if not better, when running high-power workloads. But I use my Mac docked 95% of the time, so I'd rather have the little bit of added performance, especially after being bottlenecked by the base GPU my 2018 had. I've got a machine that will work for me for years to come with all the performance I'll ever need.
@@salttothesea Im using it to type this response so let me give you a quick run down on my personal experience. I use it daily to edit on premiere pro and after effects. Even after filling my time line with tons luts colour grading and after effects comps I have not heard the fan kick in once.
@@salttothesea i've heard them once. with 14 apps open, one being chrome with a dozen tabs, and another being a fairly large logic project. still didn't skip a beat.
The cores draw some power regardless of activity, you also need to remember the Max has a faster bus as well which is drawing more power, plus the additional decoders etc... even if all those things aren't being used they will draw power. I went with the 16" model but the same configuration, wanted larger battery and screen... it also got me better thermals and better sound as well. If I had gotten the 14" I would choose the same one you did!
I'm a concept artist, I use Photoshop, Zbrush and starting on Blender, and sometimes I use Illustrator and Indesign. The 14" base model is perfect for me, specially since I need to upgrade my MBP mid 2012 (hich by the way, it's still going strong, but starts to show it age).
Thanks for these test Luke! But why does no one test the M1Max in Battery Safe Mode when not plugged in and normal daily usage? I missed this results. On my test the M1Max does then prioritize to do not use the Fans when in usage until it really need it when it heats up. I think the M1Max on Battery Safe Mode will perform well AND will have long Bettery Lifetime ;)
@@m.a.r.i.a_off7307 yes i got battery low power mode also on my 2019 MB 16, it’s available since Monterey 12 in Systemsetting>Battery. Only High Power Mode is exclusively for M1Max 16 Inch 2021.
Luke - great comparison! While I agree with the spec choice, I went with the 16” M1 Pro with 16GB of RAM and 1 TB hard drive. The $200 difference was worth it for me for a larger screen, better speakers and even less fan noise.
Very helpful Luke. What is immeasurable is factoring in your needs 4 or 6 years from now. I can't be purchasing a new MBP every second year, so like a lot of folks here, some of us must 'predict' if we will get better and better, use more intensive processing and graphics, and be making projects that will grow in size .... 4 years from now. So buying 'for how I use my computer today' is fine if you are working in an 24-month upgrade cycle. In my case, I have to buy where the puck is going - out 5 years from now, which means I will overshoot the spec runway somewhat today and pony up for better version.
I'd be really interested in seeing a battery endurance test doing normal things (maybe even PCMark) for these 14" models. I mean under load, of course more cores will mean more power consumption but it would be interesting to see if the same happens when they're idling.
I was just about to write the same comment :) Would be very interesting to see the battery life differences during "normal day usage" like browsing, listening to music etc. Maybe Luke can provide us with some information here. Thanks ;)
I see that the “middle” MacBook that you show in the beginning of the video has 10 core CPU, 16 GPU, and 16 GB RAM, but in your charts, you are showing it with 32 go RAM, was that just a mistake or did I miss something?
Also caught this straight away. I guess M1 Pro 10 / 16 has 32 GB, just like the 1M Max version. Or does it?:) Went for w 14” M1 Pro 10 / 16 / 32 GB myself with 4TB SSD. Should be an ultimate config for years years to come.
@@m-stat9 I have both the 10/16 and 8/14 because i won it. Go with the 8/14. Much quieter, same noticeable speed, not meant to *strictly* game on to begin with at 16gb modern day, and i've run both the same exact creative suites, ms suite, hundreds of tabs. The 8/14 is all you need, and i'm in Cinema4D, Photoshop, After Effects, Firefox, Outlook, and Excel all day long simultaneously.
As a developer, the $500 jump to the 10 core model seems a bit too much. I'm already paying $2000 for the base version, and spending 25% more for just slightly better performance, extra storage and fast charging doesn't seem reasonable to me. I can get a 500GB external SSD for $50 if I need the extra storage. If you're not a professional media editor, the base version is more than enough, imo
I just ordered my base model 14'', sending my 15'' 2015 finally on retirement. I do web programming and music production (and sometimes light video editing), and i have to say that the base model for me is more than enough. I can't wait to get my hands on it 🤓
I just got my base model 14 last night. I did up the storage to 1TB. I’ve done a lot with it all day and I’ve got 67 percent charge still left. I’m glad I didn’t spring for the bling.
I got the Max, 24gpu, 32 gig, 2TB, I probably could have gone with the full Pro, but the $200 wasn’t too bad at the total price of the rest of the computer. With the battery differences, I might reconsider if I had to buy it again, but really no regrets at this point.
I would've liked to see the battery tests done with mAh remaining and starting at 80%, rather than Apple's estimated percentages and due to non-linear discharge rate. Also, did you let the computers cool down fully before the next tests? That could have caused the M1 Max model to suffer more on the R23 thermal test. Unsurprisingly, the more powerful SoC uses more power!
I’d go for the middle too. Seems to be the best cost/benefit ratio. Regardless of your choice, any of them has hardware power to last for very long time. Another great review ! Congrats !
Hey Luke! Why does someone miss out on fast charging when opting for a base model? You can choose a 96W charger for +20 money... Which should be a no-brainer when buying a laptop in this price class.
I am weirded out about the fact that the cpu test used more battery in the max even tho the cpu part is the same. I was looking forward on getting the 32gb ram 512ssd m1 max 24 core. Can you do a “Low power mode” test between them to see whether or not that matters when you are just casually using them? Because I feel like that might be the deciding factor to me
Part of me doesn't think it will make too much a difference. The default mode is "Auto", so if you are just doing normal tasks it should already be functioning in "low power mode" until you start doing tasks that require more power. I'm curious to see if forcing it to Low Power mode does keep it in low power mode on certain tasks that the system may otherwise think need more power though, certain middle ground tasks.
@@VMYeahVN I aggree with you on that it might not make a difference but so far we do not really have any real usage test data from any real reviewers of this specific 24 core model. The SOC being bigger might use more power in general tasks too and that is the part I am mainly wondering. Would be great if someone publishes some "real world regular usage" data and numbers as it is quite lacking so far.
After cancelling it for the 4th time, I finally ordered 10 CPU / 16 GPU / 16GB / 1TB Going from 8 core to 10 core seems worth considering I'm a developer who relies heavily on CPU performances, but GPU not so much. I agree that 10 core Pro is enough for most people out there! I'm super excited!
This is precisely the comparison I was most interested in. However I would have liked to see a light-use battery comparison between the 3 laptops. Maybe next time. Great video nonetheless.
There a few videos already done with this testing. The results are nearly identical and is not worth spending the extra $200-300. With the money you save you can put it towards a 2tb external SSD drive and portable battery bank for the laptop
Ended up with a base model 14". My work hardly touches the binned CPU/GPU, but has all the benefits of the externals (coming from a 2018 13"). I've thought a lot about getting at 16", and if they offered the 8/14 CPU/GPU in that model I probably would have, but in the end I'd be mostly paying for a CPU/GPU bump that I would never noticeably use. Thanks for confirming that there is a (slight) battery difference between the 8/14 and the 10/16 M1 Pros. I had suspected that there might be, but neat to see that tested as I don't think I've seen that elsewhere.
Probably the double memory bandwidth of the "Max" also uses significant more energy, even when memory bandwidth it is not the bottleneck at a certain operation.
@@SkyArrow1712 simple physics... check the memory configurations. 1 chip = 100GB/s, 2 chips = 200GB/s and 4 chips = 400GB/s aka 16, 32, 64 GB of RAM. the bus width is the same on the modules, the ram speed is the same, then the bandwidth is the same too multiplied with the amount of ram chips which each have a bus width and a ram speed. which is also why Apple writes "up to"
@@LiLBitsDK while this makes sense theoretically, I really don't think Apple uses one RAM chip in the 16GB config. It's also possible they use 4x8GB for the 32GB base Max config. These figures are not available unfortunately. If you ever open up those machines, please do let me know.
I went with your winner -- 10/16/16GB/1TB -- except in Space Grey. I heavily debated whether the 32GB model would be better, but I am not a heavy user so I stuck with the easily procured model in store. Loving it so far and not having any issues with basic Lightroom CC tasks.
@@Domestikos88 Not sure. But, to be honest, battery was not really a concern for me in my decision. I am almost always near a power source. I tried an entire work day unplugged and after about 7-8 hours connected to my remote work via WM Ware Horizon, I only lost about 35-40%. That seems to be inline with the 17 hours projected battery duration. My old 2013 13” would have probably been down 70-80% in the same timeframe.
My thoughts on the 16in Mac Pro. Keyboard feels good. Screen good. Good array of ports including 3 Thunderbolt/USB4. Starting Price here in the UK is £2399. OS is latest Monterey. I recommend buying from Amazon Prime on 5 monthly payments. Look for a Moshi case not yet available for 2021.
I went with the 10-core M1 Pro with 14 core GPU and 32GB RAM and I'm super happy. Even the base model probably has more power than I really need, but I can't be a peasant!
I think you are spot on for choosing your config for the 14! I think I would personally go for the 16" Max, 24 core, 32 GB, 2 TB to replace my MacBook Pro and iMac for my specific use case. Still spendy, but consolidates everything in to a powerhouse that I can take from my desk to the dining room table.
I was so conflicted with the configuration that I cancelled THREE orders before settling. I felt that for an extra few hundred bucks, I’d stump for the 10/24 32GB 1TB setup as I’m certain that’s about as much future-proofing as I’ll need. To give an example, my 8/16GB/512GB MBP from 2017 feels and performs like a boat anchor got dropped compared to the new MBP… and it’s not even that old. 🤷🏻♂️
*If you buy the m1 max version, you could just put the performance mode in low power mode to increase battery life. But that limits both the cpu and gpu, not gpu alone.*
This is an important discovery. Still, I've chosen the 32gb Max with 24 gpu cores (and 4t storage). The reason is that the larger RAM puts much less memory pressure on the SSD, and I don't want to prematurely lose my data. Not getting the full 32 core gpu, should help extend battery life, while offering good performance while plugged in.
I got the same configuration, but with the 16". I don't think that I will be doing video editing or similarly intensive tasks while on the go. I will be plugged in for the most CPU/GPU demanding work.
I wonder if the battery discharges linearly. I mean, I would trust more the Cinebench CPU benchmark results if they were started with fully charged battery on all machines. The energy consumption measured this way could produce a bit different results, who knows? :)
If I'm only using the MacBook for audio, is there any benefit from having the higher memory bandwidth in the M1 Max? If not, I'll just get the 16" M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM.
Great to see you do a comparison like this including the max with a 24 core GPU, this config always gets overlooked. This chip with the 32gb RAM seems like a pretty decent middle ground to me…
@@kbahinsky This is for me the most difficult decision: The 16 Inch is not really usable in a plane or even in the big luxury fast intercity express trains in Europe. But once I am I am the hotel it would be really nice to have a 16 Inch.... so difficult....
@@vanCaldenborgh I am about to retire my old 17", and before the world stopped working, I used it quite regularly on planes.... fit ok on the little tray table; didn't encroach on my neighbour; wasn't great when the person in front put their seat back, but it was workable. Trains seemed to be a bit tighter, but I still got away with it.
I just ordered the base model 14 inch model. It is more than i need as i don"t do video editing , or music editing , at present I am using a 2012 '13, Mac Book Pro with 500 gb ssd and 16 gig ram. it meets my needs . But I like the new upgrades this new Mac Book will provide plus Apple support for years to come.This will be a huge upgrade witch I am sure I will really like. Great review.
I am also most tempted by the non-binned pro with 1TB SSD, same as you... BTW: That disk is significantly faster than the 512GB one - could that have impacted some of the results, or are all these benchmarks independent of disk speed? I was surprised how much difference you had between binned and non-binned in the video editing tests.
Wow!! This was the EXACT test I’ve been waiting for to make my decision. I honestly would prefer the 16” but my backpack doesn’t have a slot big enough. And the screen size difference was the least significant factor. Portability was priority, along with battery, thermals, and fan speed/noise. So, I can sacrifice the two inches. The only thing I think I’m doing different w/ mine is upgrading to 32gb memory. I don’t even know it’s really that necessary but that’s the only thing left for me to figure out now, thanks to this perfect review
As a college student I would definitely prefer battery life with portability and base 14” model has honestly more than enough power. So rather than spending plus 300$ for unbinned processor that I wouldn’t make the use out of, I would just upgrade the storage for 200$ for 1tb.
That's the one i'd go with, for sure. The extra cores just take up more power. It's an undeniable matter of wattage, the'll just use more. The extra battery life will have a better benefit for most people than a slight boost in performance.
Your testing and analysis has been a big help is sorting out the options. Thanks for that. I ordered the 16" M1 Pro with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. Screen real estate and battery life are important for what I do (Action/Thriller Fiction writing) which doesn't involve graphics or video editing but usually involves a lot of active desktops (I have 12 in use right now) full of reference data. I like to write in a lot of locations where there are no wall plugs so I leave home with everything I'll need already loaded into RAM (the iPhone hotspot allows unanticipated, though somewhat slow, searches). The 32GB was future proofing since I frequently run out of RAM on my 16GB 15" 2015 MBP. I plan to keep this one as my daily use machine for at least 5 years, preferably 7 years.
I purchased the 16-inch version of the MacBook Pro you consider to be the best and the laptop you intend to use every day. I've been very pleased with mine. I haven't heard the fan come on once. It is definitely an improvement on my previous laptop - the Intel MacBook Pro 16-inch. The fan used to go on all the time.
Hello Luke: you made a simple and common mistake on the battery percentage losses after Cinebench minute @8:35. Take the Base Model 14", started at 100% bat, ended at 75%, a loss of 25%. However from 75% to 40% the loss is not 35% rather 35 percentage points. The correct loss starting from 75% to 40% is a reduction of 46.6% (or 35%pp) almost half the battery in 90 minutes. Same with the others 55% reduction for the center one, and 73% reduction for the Max (right side). Those losses are much more than what you say, would this mean a different perspective. Thats up to you, but the additional cores do eat up more power. This is a mistake we all do all the time, you see it a lot in media. Cheers
all calculations aside, you should also note that the higher performing m1 max has done much more calculations in the same time frame. in the real world, let's say you export a 1000 raw images, that higher performance will allow the export to finish faster. so in effect, the lower performing, better battery m1 base mac will need more time to complete the same task in effect resulting in similar overall battery percentage left. a battery test on synthetic benchmarks is flawed if you won't even consider the resulting "points" difference.
i'd say for people who plan to keep this laptop for a long time the best config is as follows: the binned chip + 32 ram + fast charging + 1TB. so you not only get the fast SSD, you don't wear it's TBW as quickly. it doesn't get as hot which is good for the components' health in the long run. the fans are slower and quieter which means longer life for the fan. and less dust. which means less heat and less fan speed and less battery used in the long run which means less battery cycles which means longer battery life. win win win win win situation.
I went with the same mid-tier M1Pro configuration as Luke. But since I tend to keep my laptops for 6+ years and run VMs, I over-spec’d the RAM and went with 32GB.
I ordered the 14” with 10/16 M1 Pro, 32GB memory, and 512GB storage. This video helps me feel even better about my purchase. I can’t wait for it to come!
It depends on the use case. Each of the three 14" MBPs address most use cases really well. Cost vs Battery, I think smack dab in the middle is the best choice overall as a good balance for 14" MBPs. My preference would be the bigger screen, not reviewed in this video.
I think it's finally time to upgrade from my 2007 MacBook Pro 15 inch. Maybe a 10 minute video I make will export faster than the current 4 hours it takes, LOL.
I'm really looking furiously at the base M1Pro model with 1TB of storage. It's around $3000 here in EU and it looks like best for battery while still offering tons better performance than an M1 or M2.
Nice Video! I follow your channel since years and just wanted to say: well done with the videography! It is really a joy to watch your videos and to see your style change and improve over time.
This is the comparison many of us have been waiting for! You just confirmed that the base model M1 Pro is everything I need. Thanks, Luke! Great content as always.
Nice video. My workloads are fairly modest. I like the idea of the base 14” upgraded to the 1 TB SSD. Although, I think another way of looking at battery life would be how many videos you render or other workloads you get done on a battery charge. I suspect it would make the max look better. But, I suspect the higher temp is reducing efficiency of the M1 Max.
MacBook battery percentage doesn’t really go down linearly so the reason the M1 Max battery went down significantly faster when using CPU only might be partially because of the fact that it started at a lower charge. But for sure the extra DRAM would also consume more power.
Interesting comparison. I wonder what impact adjusting the fan curve has on battery life overall, especially across a variety of workloads. I ended up with the middle config as well, though I could see a broad swath of users not benefiting from the bump over the base config. The move to Apple Silicon has really lifted the value proposition across base models. The Air-even two years later-still remains an incredible value in the laptop space.
I think you picked by far the best value laptop. I'm only torn because I feel like 32gb could be very useful if keeping the machine for 5 years - who knows what it could need. Such a bummer that Apple charges SO much for extra RAM (+$400) and storage (+$400)
Tim cock Will try his best to take out your money from your pocket, many of my friend think that from16gb to32gb and 32gb to 64gb cost u same price, they upgrade to 64gb without hesitate........
Nobody knows how to make money like apple. They are smart. either pay 400 now for memory upgrade or pay for whole another laptop in a couple of years. So they get you either way. fucking brilliant.
If you must choose MBP14, I would choose MBP14 8c CPU, 14c GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD. Most bang for your buck without having to buy a external SSD. Plenty of RAM for everything you throw at it for years to come. Marginal improvement in CPU and GPU is not worth the $300 premium IMO.
Exactly what I thought, the cores are only marginal and that’s on benchmarks too, real world performance will appear less as it’s only on multi core tasking for apps that are optimised to use that number of cores at once. Whereas more ram can always get used up just by trying to do more at once I did the same order as you, except 512 storage just as I offload everything to a home cloud for permanent storage
@@Llott6 it think 1TB is a sweet spot for just extra $200 (how many external ssd goes at 5GB/s for $200?) But I prefer 2TB as getting external ssd isn’t quite as reliable or as fast as apple’s internal ssd that runs at over 6GB/s when configured with 2TB Getting that sort of performance is equivalent to getting a 2TB nvme firecuda 530 ssd which is about $500 Apple charges $600 for the upgrade so I think it’s a fair “Apple Tax”. Let’s face it, Apple SSD is highly reliable and not prone to external ssd controllers failing. Statistics will tell you external ssd fails way more often than any internal ssd But if all you use storage is for storing music movies etc … than yeah, makes sense to just keep the basic model.
@@RunForPeace-hk1cu I agree they are good drives, but £200 extra for only 500gb more is steep. If I stored things on my laptop as primary storage then I'd definitely still upgrade it though. For my personal use, once I'm done with a job I move it to a cloud server, so it's not something I particularly rely on. But I agree 1tb is nice to have for more people than not, and honestly I feel like that should have been the minimum built in amount anyway.
so glad i found your channel! secretly trying to justify my purchase of the 14" m1 pro 10 core. when you closed the other laptops and left that one standing I had a little grin on my face 😏
Since your original post, I was decided to go your choice ( M1 Pro 10 CPU, 16 GPU, 16 RAM, 1TB SSD), but couldn’t because of the juice. Yet, today, I just ordered it (space grey, though) and that is because 2 main resellers here in Belgium are selling it 76% from the official Apple price, that’s not even 200€ above a new M2 MacBook Air with same RAM and SSD! I thought that was a mistake! It’s 650€ off the official Apple price here! Yes, I know, the M2 Pro is coming and it will be 20% something faster. But to most people, including myself, it will not matter. This one is futur proof. At 60, this is more than likely the last computer I’ll ever buy (the 1st one was a SE30!). I’ll sell my late 2015 iMac pretty decently, I believe, and keep my 2017 non-Retina MacBook Air for safety. Also because it runs Windows 10 in BootCamp, and 11 in Parallels, quite well, I’d say. I need it for the Windows/Office trainings I give. Your advices are much appreciated.
Would love to see a whole video dedicated to these 3 machines for gpu tasks like fusion after effects and whatever final cut equivalent. Lol specifically the 24c model
Hi. What codec are you using for the final cut pro x and davinci resolve benchmark? The cpu is usually idle when exporting and rendering since the encoders do most of the work. It looks like your codec is not supported by the built in encoders. It explains why your m1 max results are also not much faster because you are cpu bound. Every other reviewer has shown that the gpu makes most of the difference. You need to redo the tests using h.264, h.265, or prores and not some weird codec. Very misleading benchmarks.
Luke, an extremely common productivity killer for me is watching performance degrade whilst sharing your screen in a video meeting. Perhaps you could do some benchmark testing whilst sharing the running of those tests on Zoom or Google Meet. My workmates on lower end PC's will regularly be brought to their knees as soon as they start screen sharing.
My 14 inch macbook pro (M1 Max 32Core GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB) only lasts 8 hours 30 minutes. I'm not even editing any videos and only connects to an external monitor (for youtube video), and main screen for typing on word and excel. Thats all. My expectation is maybe a 10-12 hours of battery life but at the end i only get 8 hours and 30 minutes.....
I'm considering MBA 16GB/1TB 8C8C for $1250 Used versus a MBP M1PRO 16GB/1TB 10C16C for $2390effective New... Is $1140 worth the screen/magsafe/ports/faster SSD? I saw your m1pro vs M1 vid but didn’t find it conclusive. I'm a heavy photo editor in lightroom classic, and for example, I paste edits to 200 photos or export 42mp photo files in batches of upwards of 200 in a set. Is there a performance difference between those configurations that I'll see? I get paid for my photography, small gigs-word of mouth, as a small side hustle for extra income. Hobby slowly building up. Is the performance boost negligible in that use-case? And does it come down to how much the extra upgrades matter versus what the $1140 could go towards or be saved?
Luke, I purchased the M1 Max, 64GB & 2TB as it was in stock a the store on opening day. Love the computer but did notice the shorter battery life. In the end, I did the same as you. Ordered the 14" Pro 16 core, 16 GPU, 32GB ram and 2 TB SSD to future proof a little. The problem - I won't see it until Dec 8th and my 15 days is up this week on the Max. I'll have to live with LY's M1 for a few more weeks.
Can't decide between the base 14 or 16. Could you do a comparison between what you see like video editing views and split screen between the 2? Can you split screen on the 14 and still have a good experience?
I went with the M1 Max version of the 14" laptop. Minimum config I figured I could go for was the 14" M1 Max 24 Code GPU, 32 GB RAM and 1TB SSD - which already took the machine to $3099.... reason for that is that I want to keep my current monitor setup which means 3 x 4K external monitors. I could have probably stayed with 32GB RAM, but I felt more comfortable maxing the RAM to 64GB because I will run Linux VMs as well which will take away memory for the VM.... that takes me to $3,499. I could have stayed with 1TB SSD, but it will be nice to leave my Samsung thunderbolt SSD (1TB) behind... and just have it internal. It also gives you an extra bump in bandwidth... that takes me to $3,899. I figured for the extra $200 I might as well just go with the 32 Core GPU since the savings were not great and I plan to keep this as my main machine for quite a while... I call it the trickle up configuration.
@@sunitjoshi3573 I have had a great experience with it for the first full year, I can't honestly speak to the battery life because I have my 14" MacBook Pro plugged in most of the time. I do use it occasionally using battery and I don't have any issues with the battery life at this point when I have used it on battery.
@@sunitjoshi3573 I have bought my first two previous intel MacBook Pros from eBay and have had very good luck doing that. I did buy my 14" MBP from Apple but only because it was so new I didn't think I would find one on aBay. Just be sure to read all of the description in the listing, make sure they accept returns, and ask questions to the seller before buying one and you could save yourself a few hundred dollars by doing that.
Thanks for this comparison. This is exactly what I was wondering! Once I found out how long it would take to get it, I decided just to place the order for what I thought I would want without all this kind of information. I decided on the M1 Max with 24 GPU cores (to save a little money) because I think added GPU performance could be useful for writing and testing custom Machine Learning code. I know the processor has a dedicated neural engine but I want all the GPU cores I can afford to play with in the future. Even if they aren't used by default, if the hardware is there I can probably find a way to use it with some custom software control.
thanks for the great comparison Luke! could you please compare the battery life between these 3 with light usage (web browsing, youtube, pages/microsoft word, etc.)? would be curious to see how much battery they use when they're not being pushed so hard
I have a 14" 32/10/24 M1 Max. I get around 12-13 hours with light usage (30-40 browser tabs, watching youtube, 6-7 apps open on background, light coding, brightness about half, no low power mode but "optimize streaming on battery" is on). People need more light usage tests guys!
It’s quite a range, I’d probably go for the base model… I’d love to see how the 13” M1 MacBook Pro (16 GB RAM 512GB storage) compares to the base model 14”!
![[안방1열 풀캠4K] 베이비몬스터 'DRIP' (BABYMONSTER FullCam)│@SBS Inkigayo 241110](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AQ4RIghEvUs/mqdefault.jpg)
Note: The graphs incorrectly state the side tier MacBook has 32gb when it in fact has 16 as mentioned in the intro. Which configuration of MacBook Pro is best?
Hi, Luke. Would you consider testing the *Low Performance Mode* on the M1 Max 24 GPU core model to see if the battery life matches the cheaper models, but also get the benefit of being able to manually switching to "normal" M1 Max for better performance and 400GB/s bandwidth?
RAM > CPU/GPU all day every day. Almost nothing is CPU-bound. Almost everything is memory-bound.
I got the 16” (Pro 16/32 and 2 TB) is the best mix when considering performance, thermals, fans, future proofing and resale).
The voice of reason tells me 14" 16GB 14GPU 1TB (that's what I'm using right now). But, I'm a hobbyist video/photo-grapher, software developer and only a casual gamer (Rust 80FPS is fine with me)... or I can sell my full desktop and get a 16" 32GB 24GPU 1TB to fulfil all my use cases (and I can run parallel if some software does not run on M1). My eyes will thank me (that's my excuse)...
2499 model would be the best
I now understand why these machines are so hard to get. Luke has them all. 😀
Yeah he’s gotta get every MacBook to put out the best comparison videos
@NOS ULT Yep, when I bought my 2019 13 inch Intel MacBook Pro they had pretty much all the configurations, but definitely had the most stock available for the base models. If I wanted to opt for the 16 inch in any configuration I would have had to wait a week or 2 for it to ship since those were made to order.
he's working at appel :)
I am glad I ordered m1 max without giving 2nd thought the moment the event was finished 😌😝
Your comment just made my day 🤣
The thing with battery life: If you run the same test for the same amount of time you’ll definitely decrease the battery on the more powerful one first.
A proper test would be completing a number of tasks and seeing what the battery life is after completion.
The higher performance will work twice as hard but finish in half the time
The Cinebench test was about to measure CPU performance only, so the Max had no benefit from the more gpus, it still consumed more power for the same task.
I see people in the comments talking about a “battery safe mode“ or “low power mode“, and I would be curious to see what the battery life and performance is with the M1 max using this mode. If M1 max could match the lower binned models battery life, then it would be like having two computers in one. You could choose between performance or battery.
Agreed.. I'm wondering the same. I wish Luke would address/test/discuss this in some detail.
I’m exclusively using my M1 pro in low power mode now and it is significantly better. Only had it for a week so far. Even for a 10/16 M1 pro battery life isn’t that great to me in the 14”
I haven't been super impressed with the battery on my M1 Pro 10/16, good but not great. I'm keen to see how low power mode fairs
@Zi Kun Zeng significantly could be stretching it, it was so bad regularly that it feels somewhat better on low power mode. I feel as if the battery is still learning as it’s only on 5 cycles. I will do more testing. So far I basically have been only doing productivity work nothing to stress the cpu either.
@@MasTiempoPorFa when do you get yours? I’m still testing. But I definitely will keep the laptop
Makes me feel pretty good about my purchase of the base model 14" (with 1TB). It already has more power than I really need, and runs cooler/longer than the other models (not to mention it being much cheaper).
How is the temperature and are the fans loud?
@@kingdrift1136 The only time I’ve had get hot at all or have the fans be audible was when playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At all other times it has been cool and silent
That's what I got too!
@@MightyJabbasCollection cool that you can game on it. I have a i5 MacBook Pro and it seriously can’t run the most basic games on Apple Arcade
Late to the game, but now that the M2 Air has been announced, I'm now looking towards the base model 14", what type of workflow do you have, and have you noticed any slowdowns or particular pain points?
Ok battery life is worse when the cores are under stress but how about regular use? That's what a lot people are wondering since you can live with plugging in more when doing heavy tasks like rendering or gaming, but if the battery life difference is not that big when using daily like browsing or lighter general work than the m1 max on the 14 will be much more acceptable.
need to know this ^^^ as i ordered the m1 max // if it’s like a 13 hr battery versus an 11 hr or so under regular usage i can definitely live with that but if it’s like half the battery it would be an issue i need to know !
@@lukey333 I don't think it'll be too bad at regular use or else we would have heard from all the reviewers by now, as a lot people have 14 inch m1 max's.
Why on earth would you want to buy an M1 Max machine if not for doing heavy tasks quite regularly, though?
@@BilisNegra Because you if you need the power of the max every once in a while you still need it don't you? Also people go for the more powerful model for future proofing too, I used my last macbook for 8 years. M1 max is very powerful today, it will be considered average after a certain amount of years.
I have a 14" 32/10/24 M1 Max. I get around 12-13 hours with light usage (30-40 browser tabs, watching youtube, 6-7 apps open on background, light coding, brightness about half, no low power mode but "optimize streaming on battery" is on). Would I give up the potential benefits of the Max for 1-2 hours battery difference? I decided not to :) People need more light usage tests guys!
The base model more closely aligns with what most people want from a laptop, decent performance but great battery life. The middle and high spec models seem to be more suited to people who really need a desktop but who are unable to set up a desktop system for some reason, restricted space, or constant travel, etc. The fact is, if only the base model was available, it would work fine for practically anyone. Stuff would just take a minute or two longer to process and that isn’t always a bad thing. Finally, lower temperatures translate into less electrical stress on components and more battery cycles. A pretty compelling case in favour of purchasing the base model, saving $900 and having a computer that will ultimately last longer.
I went with the base 14”, it’s light, battery lasts forever and packs enough power to edit my photos quickly.
doesn't the base m1 air also do amazing with photos
@@NonsensicalSpudz The base M1 is more than adequate to edit photos if you have enough RAM.
I'm still incredibly happy I chose the 14" M1 Max with the 24-core GPU. Battery life is still insanely good (especially compared to my now-sold 2018 MBP) and a huge step up for general tasks, and equal, if not better, when running high-power workloads. But I use my Mac docked 95% of the time, so I'd rather have the little bit of added performance, especially after being bottlenecked by the base GPU my 2018 had. I've got a machine that will work for me for years to come with all the performance I'll ever need.
Same set up I got for the same reason
Thanks for your post. I was starting to feel bad about my choice which is due to arrive soon. Are you noticing the fans much?
@@salttothesea Im using it to type this response so let me give you a quick run down on my personal experience. I use it daily to edit on premiere pro and after effects. Even after filling my time line with tons luts colour grading and after effects comps I have not heard the fan kick in once.
@@salttothesea i've heard them once. with 14 apps open, one being chrome with a dozen tabs, and another being a fairly large logic project. still didn't skip a beat.
How much ran and ssd?
The cores draw some power regardless of activity, you also need to remember the Max has a faster bus as well which is drawing more power, plus the additional decoders etc... even if all those things aren't being used they will draw power.
I went with the 16" model but the same configuration, wanted larger battery and screen... it also got me better thermals and better sound as well. If I had gotten the 14" I would choose the same one you did!
would love your opinion on the difference in term of speaker quality between the 14" and 16"!
@@tangyichen6088 It's not a huge difference but noticeable. The bass is a lot more clear and the sound stage seems fuller and it's a tad bit louder.
I'm a concept artist, I use Photoshop, Zbrush and starting on Blender, and sometimes I use Illustrator and Indesign. The 14" base model is perfect for me, specially since I need to upgrade my MBP mid 2012 (hich by the way, it's still going strong, but starts to show it age).
Agreed, I used Zbrush a lot in college and wish my laptop back then could handle half as much as this base model can😂
Thanks, Luke. That's exactly what I needed to decide between the base and "full fat" Pro CPU.
Base model is the sweet spot. Bump up the the drive to 1TB and make sure to spend $20 extra to get the high-capacity charger and you're good to go.
Thanks for these test Luke! But why does no one test the M1Max in Battery Safe Mode when not plugged in and normal daily usage? I missed this results. On my test the M1Max does then prioritize to do not use the Fans when in usage until it really need it when it heats up. I think the M1Max on Battery Safe Mode will perform well AND will have long Bettery Lifetime ;)
do you know if this mode is available on the m1 pros or is it only on the m1 max?
@@m.a.r.i.a_off7307 low power mode is for all models :)
@@m-stat9 thanks!
@@m.a.r.i.a_off7307 yes i got battery low power mode also on my 2019 MB 16, it’s available since Monterey 12 in Systemsetting>Battery. Only High Power Mode is exclusively for M1Max 16 Inch 2021.
@@Zorastegard I didn't know that, thanks :)
Luke - great comparison! While I agree with the spec choice, I went with the 16” M1 Pro with 16GB of RAM and 1 TB hard drive. The $200 difference was worth it for me for a larger screen, better speakers and even less fan noise.
Very helpful Luke. What is immeasurable is factoring in your needs 4 or 6 years from now. I can't be purchasing a new MBP every second year, so like a lot of folks here, some of us must 'predict' if we will get better and better, use more intensive processing and graphics, and be making projects that will grow in size .... 4 years from now. So buying 'for how I use my computer today' is fine if you are working in an 24-month upgrade cycle. In my case, I have to buy where the puck is going - out 5 years from now, which means I will overshoot the spec runway somewhat today and pony up for better version.
I'd be really interested in seeing a battery endurance test doing normal things (maybe even PCMark) for these 14" models. I mean under load, of course more cores will mean more power consumption but it would be interesting to see if the same happens when they're idling.
I was just about to write the same comment :)
Would be very interesting to see the battery life differences during "normal day usage" like browsing, listening to music etc.
Maybe Luke can provide us with some information here. Thanks ;)
I see that the “middle” MacBook that you show in the beginning of the video has 10 core CPU, 16 GPU, and 16 GB RAM, but in your charts, you are showing it with 32 go RAM, was that just a mistake or did I miss something?
Also caught this straight away. I guess M1 Pro 10 / 16 has 32 GB, just like the 1M Max version. Or does it?:)
Went for w 14” M1 Pro 10 / 16 / 32 GB myself with 4TB SSD. Should be an ultimate config for years years to come.
it was a mistake, and I recommend 10/16/16/1TB myself
Take a look at Luke's pinned comment on top.
@@m-stat9 I have both the 10/16 and 8/14 because i won it. Go with the 8/14. Much quieter, same noticeable speed, not meant to *strictly* game on to begin with at 16gb modern day, and i've run both the same exact creative suites, ms suite, hundreds of tabs. The 8/14 is all you need, and i'm in Cinema4D, Photoshop, After Effects, Firefox, Outlook, and Excel all day long simultaneously.
As a developer, the $500 jump to the 10 core model seems a bit too much. I'm already paying $2000 for the base version, and spending 25% more for just slightly better performance, extra storage and fast charging doesn't seem reasonable to me. I can get a 500GB external SSD for $50 if I need the extra storage.
If you're not a professional media editor, the base version is more than enough, imo
I just ordered my base model 14'', sending my 15'' 2015 finally on retirement. I do web programming and music production (and sometimes light video editing), and i have to say that the base model for me is more than enough. I can't wait to get my hands on it 🤓
I just got my base model 14 last night. I did up the storage to 1TB. I’ve done a lot with it all day and I’ve got 67 percent charge still left. I’m glad I didn’t spring for the bling.
I got the Max, 24gpu, 32 gig, 2TB, I probably could have gone with the full Pro, but the $200 wasn’t too bad at the total price of the rest of the computer. With the battery differences, I might reconsider if I had to buy it again, but really no regrets at this point.
I would've liked to see the battery tests done with mAh remaining and starting at 80%, rather than Apple's estimated percentages and due to non-linear discharge rate. Also, did you let the computers cool down fully before the next tests? That could have caused the M1 Max model to suffer more on the R23 thermal test. Unsurprisingly, the more powerful SoC uses more power!
do you own test of youtube the coutnless test from other channels.
I’d go for the middle too. Seems to be the best cost/benefit ratio. Regardless of your choice, any of them has hardware power to last for very long time. Another great review ! Congrats !
I would love to see these same configurations with the 16”. I wonder if the bigger chassy will make a difference concerning the battery and thermals.
Hey Luke! Why does someone miss out on fast charging when opting for a base model? You can choose a 96W charger for +20 money... Which should be a no-brainer when buying a laptop in this price class.
Really happy with my base 14 ", fantastic device!
I am weirded out about the fact that the cpu test used more battery in the max even tho the cpu part is the same. I was looking forward on getting the 32gb ram 512ssd m1 max 24 core. Can you do a “Low power mode” test between them to see whether or not that matters when you are just casually using them? Because I feel like that might be the deciding factor to me
Would like to know exactly the same as I already ordered an 32+1T MAX
@@shepherdpp The entire SOC is being powered. Memory interface, ram, etc
Part of me doesn't think it will make too much a difference. The default mode is "Auto", so if you are just doing normal tasks it should already be functioning in "low power mode" until you start doing tasks that require more power. I'm curious to see if forcing it to Low Power mode does keep it in low power mode on certain tasks that the system may otherwise think need more power though, certain middle ground tasks.
@@VMYeahVN I aggree with you on that it might not make a difference but so far we do not really have any real usage test data from any real reviewers of this specific 24 core model. The SOC being bigger might use more power in general tasks too and that is the part I am mainly wondering. Would be great if someone publishes some "real world regular usage" data and numbers as it is quite lacking so far.
I think that the max still has double memory bandwidth, even with the same amount of memory, which could use more power.
After cancelling it for the 4th time, I finally ordered 10 CPU / 16 GPU / 16GB / 1TB
Going from 8 core to 10 core seems worth considering I'm a developer who relies heavily on CPU performances, but GPU not so much.
I agree that 10 core Pro is enough for most people out there! I'm super excited!
dude exact same, cancelled twice and ended with the same specs as you, still waiting two more weeks for delivery
Worst decision ever..both of you
@@asdbef3667 why
@@asdbef3667 why?
@@asdbef3667 why?
This is precisely the comparison I was most interested in. However I would have liked to see a light-use battery comparison between the 3 laptops. Maybe next time. Great video nonetheless.
would've been a bit nicer to see the difference in battery compared to the m1 pro and air base model as well
You could check his older videos or search it up to compare it yourself. Sure it would have been nice though.
I’d like to see a 10+14 vs 10+16 core comparison and whether it is beneficial to spend an extra $100 for two more cores
There a few videos already done with this testing. The results are nearly identical and is not worth spending the extra $200-300. With the money you save you can put it towards a 2tb external SSD drive and portable battery bank for the laptop
Ended up with a base model 14". My work hardly touches the binned CPU/GPU, but has all the benefits of the externals (coming from a 2018 13"). I've thought a lot about getting at 16", and if they offered the 8/14 CPU/GPU in that model I probably would have, but in the end I'd be mostly paying for a CPU/GPU bump that I would never noticeably use. Thanks for confirming that there is a (slight) battery difference between the 8/14 and the 10/16 M1 Pros. I had suspected that there might be, but neat to see that tested as I don't think I've seen that elsewhere.
Probably the double memory bandwidth of the "Max" also uses significant more energy, even when memory bandwidth it is not the bottleneck at a certain operation.
it's only "double" aka 400GB/s if you have the 64GB model, not the 32 model
@@LiLBitsDK Source on this? a bit surprised about this.
@@SkyArrow1712 simple physics... check the memory configurations. 1 chip = 100GB/s, 2 chips = 200GB/s and 4 chips = 400GB/s aka 16, 32, 64 GB of RAM. the bus width is the same on the modules, the ram speed is the same, then the bandwidth is the same too multiplied with the amount of ram chips which each have a bus width and a ram speed. which is also why Apple writes "up to"
@@LiLBitsDK while this makes sense theoretically, I really don't think Apple uses one RAM chip in the 16GB config. It's also possible they use 4x8GB for the 32GB base Max config. These figures are not available unfortunately. If you ever open up those machines, please do let me know.
@@LiLBitsDK No, all Max have double bandwidth (I trust the guy in the apple store in this case, did not test it)
I went with your winner -- 10/16/16GB/1TB -- except in Space Grey. I heavily debated whether the 32GB model would be better, but I am not a heavy user so I stuck with the easily procured model in store. Loving it so far and not having any issues with basic Lightroom CC tasks.
Im wondering if your computer had 32gb of ram instead of 16, would it consume more battery?
@@Domestikos88 Not sure. But, to be honest, battery was not really a concern for me in my decision. I am almost always near a power source. I tried an entire work day unplugged and after about 7-8 hours connected to my remote work via WM Ware Horizon, I only lost about 35-40%. That seems to be inline with the 17 hours projected battery duration. My old 2013 13” would have probably been down 70-80% in the same timeframe.
The more tests I see the more I'm affirmed in my choice of the base model.
Please see my recommendation.
@@stephenwabaxter , huh?
@@stephenwabaxter ??
My thoughts on the 16in Mac Pro. Keyboard feels good. Screen good. Good array of ports including 3 Thunderbolt/USB4. Starting Price here in the UK is £2399. OS is latest Monterey. I recommend buying from Amazon Prime on 5 monthly payments.
Look for a Moshi case not yet available for 2021.
I went with the 10-core M1 Pro with 14 core GPU and 32GB RAM and I'm super happy. Even the base model probably has more power than I really need, but I can't be a peasant!
Owning a base model MBP 14 is being peasant?
@@KR-dn7xd Base model anything: peasantry
@@accordinglyryan2 yrs later do you still think spending $1600+ on a laptop is peasantry?
@@michealadebz When it has 8GB RAM, yes.
@@accordinglyryan well excluding the latest m3 mbp that one isn’t even a real MacBook Pro with that anemic amount of ram. I mean base model m2 m1 mbp
I think you are spot on for choosing your config for the 14! I think I would personally go for the 16" Max, 24 core, 32 GB, 2 TB to replace my MacBook Pro and iMac for my specific use case. Still spendy, but consolidates everything in to a powerhouse that I can take from my desk to the dining room table.
I was so conflicted with the configuration that I cancelled THREE orders before settling. I felt that for an extra few hundred bucks, I’d stump for the 10/24 32GB 1TB setup as I’m certain that’s about as much future-proofing as I’ll need.
To give an example, my 8/16GB/512GB MBP from 2017 feels and performs like a boat anchor got dropped compared to the new MBP… and it’s not even that old. 🤷🏻♂️
Went with 14" base as I mainly use docker, IntelliJ and learning some ML tools. Still way overpowered from my first impression.
how many gb of ram did you get please? what's the battery life like?
*If you buy the m1 max version, you could just put the performance mode in low power mode to increase battery life. But that limits both the cpu and gpu, not gpu alone.*
hence its useless to go for the expensive M1 max, if you power it down anyway.
@@m-stat9 you could power it down and then power it up when you need to.
does it have any perfomance hit on ram too? because the only reason i want to get the max is for the 64gb ram
@@dareemmanuel6079 no it will not limit RAM.
This is the comparison I was looking for
Everybody: Fantastic display.
Luke: FanTAAAHHStic display.
This is an important discovery. Still, I've chosen the 32gb Max with 24 gpu cores (and 4t storage). The reason is that the larger RAM puts much less memory pressure on the SSD, and I don't want to prematurely lose my data. Not getting the full 32 core gpu, should help extend battery life, while offering good performance while plugged in.
I got the same configuration, but with the 16". I don't think that I will be doing video editing or similarly intensive tasks while on the go. I will be plugged in for the most CPU/GPU demanding work.
I wonder if the battery discharges linearly. I mean, I would trust more the Cinebench CPU benchmark results if they were started with fully charged battery on all machines. The energy consumption measured this way could produce a bit different results, who knows? :)
If I'm only using the MacBook for audio, is there any benefit from having the higher memory bandwidth in the M1 Max? If not, I'll just get the 16" M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM.
Great to see you do a comparison like this including the max with a 24 core GPU, this config always gets overlooked. This chip with the 32gb RAM seems like a pretty decent middle ground to me…
Luke. You bought so many Macbook Pros. There are so many reviews. I think I'm just gonna wait and see which one you keep.
He literally says which one at the end of the video
@@michaelmarcano9200 i bet his daily driver gonna be 16 incher )
@@kbahinsky This is for me the most difficult decision: The 16 Inch is not really usable in a plane or even in the big luxury fast intercity express trains in Europe. But once I am I am the hotel it would be really nice to have a 16 Inch.... so difficult....
@@vanCaldenborgh oh come on :) nobody really gonna be productive at plane or train. Ipad or any other tablet better companion during flight :) imho
@@vanCaldenborgh I am about to retire my old 17", and before the world stopped working, I used it quite regularly on planes.... fit ok on the little tray table; didn't encroach on my neighbour; wasn't great when the person in front put their seat back, but it was workable. Trains seemed to be a bit tighter, but I still got away with it.
I just ordered the base model 14 inch model. It is more than i need as i don"t do video editing , or music editing , at present I am using a 2012 '13, Mac Book Pro with 500 gb ssd and 16 gig ram. it meets my needs . But I like the new upgrades this new Mac Book will provide plus Apple support for years to come.This will be a huge upgrade witch I am sure I will really like. Great review.
I am also most tempted by the non-binned pro with 1TB SSD, same as you... BTW: That disk is significantly faster than the 512GB one - could that have impacted some of the results, or are all these benchmarks independent of disk speed? I was surprised how much difference you had between binned and non-binned in the video editing tests.
Wow!! This was the EXACT test I’ve been waiting for to make my decision. I honestly would prefer the 16” but my backpack doesn’t have a slot big enough. And the screen size difference was the least significant factor. Portability was priority, along with battery, thermals, and fan speed/noise. So, I can sacrifice the two inches. The only thing I think I’m doing different w/ mine is upgrading to 32gb memory. I don’t even know it’s really that necessary but that’s the only thing left for me to figure out now, thanks to this perfect review
You do realize they sell larger backpacks and their are other modes of transport?
It's funny because my backpack slot is factoring into my decision as well, and it was like $50 lol.
As a college student I would definitely prefer battery life with portability and base 14” model has honestly more than enough power. So rather than spending plus 300$ for unbinned processor that I wouldn’t make the use out of, I would just upgrade the storage for 200$ for 1tb.
That's the one i'd go with, for sure. The extra cores just take up more power. It's an undeniable matter of wattage, the'll just use more. The extra battery life will have a better benefit for most people than a slight boost in performance.
Your testing and analysis has been a big help is sorting out the options. Thanks for that.
I ordered the 16" M1 Pro with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. Screen real estate and battery life are important for what I do (Action/Thriller Fiction writing) which doesn't involve graphics or video editing but usually involves a lot of active desktops (I have 12 in use right now) full of reference data. I like to write in a lot of locations where there are no wall plugs so I leave home with everything I'll need already loaded into RAM (the iPhone hotspot allows unanticipated, though somewhat slow, searches). The 32GB was future proofing since I frequently run out of RAM on my 16GB 15" 2015 MBP. I plan to keep this one as my daily use machine for at least 5 years, preferably 7 years.
I purchased the 16-inch version of the MacBook Pro you consider to be the best and the laptop you intend to use every day. I've been very pleased with mine. I haven't heard the fan come on once. It is definitely an improvement on my previous laptop - the Intel MacBook Pro 16-inch. The fan used to go on all the time.
Hello Luke: you made a simple and common mistake on the battery percentage losses after Cinebench minute @8:35. Take the Base Model 14", started at 100% bat, ended at 75%, a loss of 25%. However from 75% to 40% the loss is not 35% rather 35 percentage points. The correct loss starting from 75% to 40% is a reduction of 46.6% (or 35%pp) almost half the battery in 90 minutes. Same with the others 55% reduction for the center one, and 73% reduction for the Max (right side). Those losses are much more than what you say, would this mean a different perspective. Thats up to you, but the additional cores do eat up more power. This is a mistake we all do all the time, you see it a lot in media. Cheers
all calculations aside, you should also note that the higher performing m1 max has done much more calculations in the same time frame. in the real world, let's say you export a 1000 raw images, that higher performance will allow the export to finish faster. so in effect, the lower performing, better battery m1 base mac will need more time to complete the same task in effect resulting in similar overall battery percentage left. a battery test on synthetic benchmarks is flawed if you won't even consider the resulting "points" difference.
@@adrianarmirail That is not being disputed, only the calculations that could affect his assessment. That part is not up to me.
I'll stick to the base model, that is the limit of my budget, and still it's a great option
That’s the exact configuration I got! Just waiting on it to get delivered.
M1 Pro 10 core CPU. 32 GB Ram 512 SSD IS MY CHOICE. Good piece Luke. Thank you.
Just bought the 1TB version and I am glad it was your choice. Great video!
i'd say for people who plan to keep this laptop for a long time the best config is as follows: the binned chip + 32 ram + fast charging + 1TB. so you not only get the fast SSD, you don't wear it's TBW as quickly. it doesn't get as hot which is good for the components' health in the long run. the fans are slower and quieter which means longer life for the fan. and less dust. which means less heat and less fan speed and less battery used in the long run which means less battery cycles which means longer battery life.
win win win win win situation.
That's the one I'm looking at (except I'm not sure I need the fast charging).
@@mistymouse6840 good choice either way
I went with the same mid-tier M1Pro configuration as Luke. But since I tend to keep my laptops for 6+ years and run VMs, I over-spec’d the RAM and went with 32GB.
I'd go for the base model and maximum battery life. My only addition would be a 1tb ssd to the base model and that's it. I love battery life.
Luke, M1 Max has double the memory controllers of M1 Pro - that's partly why efficiency is worse in CPU tests like Cinebench 👍
I ordered the 14” with 10/16 M1 Pro, 32GB memory, and 512GB storage. This video helps me feel even better about my purchase. I can’t wait for it to come!
Same! Was debating whether to go with 16gb/1tb or 32gb/512gb one. Went with 32gb
It depends on the use case. Each of the three 14" MBPs address most use cases really well. Cost vs Battery, I think smack dab in the middle is the best choice overall as a good balance for 14" MBPs. My preference would be the bigger screen, not reviewed in this video.
I agree with you here, and that's the 14-inch model I went with for launch day. No regrets!
I think it's finally time to upgrade from my 2007 MacBook Pro 15 inch. Maybe a 10 minute video I make will export faster than the current 4 hours it takes, LOL.
Sounds like some scorching speeds!
I'm really looking furiously at the base M1Pro model with 1TB of storage. It's around $3000 here in EU and it looks like best for battery while still offering tons better performance than an M1 or M2.
Luke Miani and Max Tech have the best comparison videos for all iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. Hands down.
Nice Video!
I follow your channel since years and just wanted to say:
well done with the videography!
It is really a joy to watch your videos and to see your style change and improve over time.
This is the comparison many of us have been waiting for! You just confirmed that the base model M1 Pro is everything I need. Thanks, Luke! Great content as always.
I think testing the base model 8-14-16 with 32 GB would make a difference there instead of 16 GB of RAM.
Nice video. My workloads are fairly modest. I like the idea of the base 14” upgraded to the 1 TB SSD. Although, I think another way of looking at battery life would be how many videos you render or other workloads you get done on a battery charge. I suspect it would make the max look better. But, I suspect the higher temp is reducing efficiency of the M1 Max.
MacBook battery percentage doesn’t really go down linearly so the reason the M1 Max battery went down significantly faster when using CPU only might be partially because of the fact that it started at a lower charge. But for sure the extra DRAM would also consume more power.
Interesting comparison. I wonder what impact adjusting the fan curve has on battery life overall, especially across a variety of workloads. I ended up with the middle config as well, though I could see a broad swath of users not benefiting from the bump over the base config. The move to Apple Silicon has really lifted the value proposition across base models. The Air-even two years later-still remains an incredible value in the laptop space.
I bought the base model, love the battery life and performance
I think you picked by far the best value laptop. I'm only torn because I feel like 32gb could be very useful if keeping the machine for 5 years - who knows what it could need. Such a bummer that Apple charges SO much for extra RAM (+$400) and storage (+$400)
Tim cock Will try his best to take out your money from your pocket, many of my friend think that from16gb to32gb and 32gb to 64gb cost u same price, they upgrade to 64gb without hesitate........
Nobody knows how to make money like apple. They are smart. either pay 400 now for memory upgrade or pay for whole another laptop in a couple of years. So they get you either way. fucking brilliant.
If you must choose MBP14, I would choose MBP14 8c CPU, 14c GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD.
Most bang for your buck without having to buy a external SSD. Plenty of RAM for everything you throw at it for years to come.
Marginal improvement in CPU and GPU is not worth the $300 premium IMO.
Exactly what I thought, the cores are only marginal and that’s on benchmarks too, real world performance will appear less as it’s only on multi core tasking for apps that are optimised to use that number of cores at once.
Whereas more ram can always get used up just by trying to do more at once
I did the same order as you, except 512 storage just as I offload everything to a home cloud for permanent storage
@@Llott6 it think 1TB is a sweet spot for just extra $200 (how many external ssd goes at 5GB/s for $200?)
But I prefer 2TB as getting external ssd isn’t quite as reliable or as fast as apple’s internal ssd that runs at over 6GB/s when configured with 2TB
Getting that sort of performance is equivalent to getting a 2TB nvme firecuda 530 ssd which is about $500
Apple charges $600 for the upgrade so I think it’s a fair “Apple Tax”.
Let’s face it, Apple SSD is highly reliable and not prone to external ssd controllers failing. Statistics will tell you external ssd fails way more often than any internal ssd
But if all you use storage is for storing music movies etc … than yeah, makes sense to just keep the basic model.
@@RunForPeace-hk1cu I agree they are good drives, but £200 extra for only 500gb more is steep. If I stored things on my laptop as primary storage then I'd definitely still upgrade it though. For my personal use, once I'm done with a job I move it to a cloud server, so it's not something I particularly rely on. But I agree 1tb is nice to have for more people than not, and honestly I feel like that should have been the minimum built in amount anyway.
so glad i found your channel! secretly trying to justify my purchase of the 14" m1 pro 10 core. when you closed the other laptops and left that one standing I had a little grin on my face 😏
Since your original post, I was decided to go your choice ( M1 Pro 10 CPU, 16 GPU, 16 RAM, 1TB SSD), but couldn’t because of the juice. Yet, today, I just ordered it (space grey, though) and that is because 2 main resellers here in Belgium are selling it 76% from the official Apple price, that’s not even 200€ above a new M2 MacBook Air with same RAM and SSD! I thought that was a mistake! It’s 650€ off the official Apple price here! Yes, I know, the M2 Pro is coming and it will be 20% something faster. But to most people, including myself, it will not matter. This one is futur proof. At 60, this is more than likely the last computer I’ll ever buy (the 1st one was a SE30!). I’ll sell my late 2015 iMac pretty decently, I believe, and keep my 2017 non-Retina MacBook Air for safety. Also because it runs Windows 10 in BootCamp, and 11 in Parallels, quite well, I’d say. I need it for the Windows/Office trainings I give. Your advices are much appreciated.
Would love to see a whole video dedicated to these 3 machines for gpu tasks like fusion after effects and whatever final cut equivalent. Lol specifically the 24c model
Hi. What codec are you using for the final cut pro x and davinci resolve benchmark? The cpu is usually idle when exporting and rendering since the encoders do most of the work. It looks like your codec is not supported by the built in encoders. It explains why your m1 max results are also not much faster because you are cpu bound. Every other reviewer has shown that the gpu makes most of the difference. You need to redo the tests using h.264, h.265, or prores and not some weird codec. Very misleading benchmarks.
Luke, an extremely common productivity killer for me is watching performance degrade whilst sharing your screen in a video meeting. Perhaps you could do some benchmark testing whilst sharing the running of those tests on Zoom or Google Meet. My workmates on lower end PC's will regularly be brought to their knees as soon as they start screen sharing.
My 14 inch macbook pro (M1 Max 32Core GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB) only lasts 8 hours 30 minutes.
I'm not even editing any videos and only connects to an external monitor (for youtube video), and main screen for typing on word and excel. Thats all.
My expectation is maybe a 10-12 hours of battery life but at the end i only get 8 hours and 30 minutes.....
I’ll go with M1 Pro 10C-16C-16GB-1TB as my ideal configuration for either MBP 14 or 16 for the extra screen and battery life. 🤔
Ordered the same as the middle one!! It’s the good value between performance and configuration. 👍🏼
The fact that my soc is at 42 degree while playing video games is crazy
I'm considering MBA 16GB/1TB 8C8C for $1250 Used
versus a
MBP M1PRO 16GB/1TB 10C16C for $2390effective New...
Is $1140 worth the screen/magsafe/ports/faster SSD? I saw your m1pro vs M1 vid but didn’t find it conclusive.
I'm a heavy photo editor in lightroom classic, and for example, I paste edits to 200 photos or export 42mp photo files in batches of upwards of 200 in a set. Is there a performance difference between those configurations that I'll see?
I get paid for my photography, small gigs-word of mouth, as a small side hustle for extra income. Hobby slowly building up. Is the performance boost negligible in that use-case? And does it come down to how much the extra upgrades matter versus what the $1140 could go towards or be saved?
Luke, I purchased the M1 Max, 64GB & 2TB as it was in stock a the store on opening day. Love the computer but did notice the shorter battery life. In the end, I did the same as you. Ordered the 14" Pro 16 core, 16 GPU, 32GB ram and 2 TB SSD to future proof a little. The problem - I won't see it until Dec 8th and my 15 days is up this week on the Max. I'll have to live with LY's M1 for a few more weeks.
Finally, someone posted a video about the 14” MacBook Pro’s and analyzed battery, heat, fans, etc. Thank you!
Macbook 14 base model is the Best at the end.
Can't decide between the base 14 or 16. Could you do a comparison between what you see like video editing views and split screen between the 2? Can you split screen on the 14 and still have a good experience?
Do those results change if you max out the monitors on all the Macs?
I went with the M1 Max version of the 14" laptop. Minimum config I figured I could go for was the 14" M1 Max 24 Code GPU, 32 GB RAM and 1TB SSD - which already took the machine to $3099.... reason for that is that I want to keep my current monitor setup which means 3 x 4K external monitors. I could have probably stayed with 32GB RAM, but I felt more comfortable maxing the RAM to 64GB because I will run Linux VMs as well which will take away memory for the VM.... that takes me to $3,499. I could have stayed with 1TB SSD, but it will be nice to leave my Samsung thunderbolt SSD (1TB) behind... and just have it internal. It also gives you an extra bump in bandwidth... that takes me to $3,899. I figured for the extra $200 I might as well just go with the 32 Core GPU since the savings were not great and I plan to keep this as my main machine for quite a while... I call it the trickle up configuration.
From all the reviews I've seen no one really talks about external display support. I would like to see some benchmarks with external displays.
Hey, can you say please your experince about the battery life over the time? I'm now between 16" m1 pro (32ram) and the 14" (same as yours)
I want to know if there are any differences in battery life under regular loads. When we dont push performance.
I bought the same macbook that you picked, the 14" M1 Pro with 1T of storage and it has been a great experience for me personally.
How’s working for you so far? Any issues with battery life?
@@sunitjoshi3573 I have had a great experience with it for the first full year, I can't honestly speak to the battery life because I have my 14" MacBook Pro plugged in most of the time. I do use it occasionally using battery and I don't have any issues with the battery life at this point when I have used it on battery.
@@MrTimdtoolman1 Ok, good. I’m looking at eBay hoping to spot a deal :)
@@sunitjoshi3573 I have bought my first two previous intel MacBook Pros from eBay and have had very good luck doing that. I did buy my 14" MBP from Apple but only because it was so new I didn't think I would find one on aBay. Just be sure to read all of the description in the listing, make sure they accept returns, and ask questions to the seller before buying one and you could save yourself a few hundred dollars by doing that.
@@MrTimdtoolman1 Great! Thanks for the tips…really appreciated :)
Thanks for this comparison. This is exactly what I was wondering! Once I found out how long it would take to get it, I decided just to place the order for what I thought I would want without all this kind of information. I decided on the M1 Max with 24 GPU cores (to save a little money) because I think added GPU performance could be useful for writing and testing custom Machine Learning code. I know the processor has a dedicated neural engine but I want all the GPU cores I can afford to play with in the future. Even if they aren't used by default, if the hardware is there I can probably find a way to use it with some custom software control.
Why would you choose the Mac if you are doing ML? Nvidia has apparently better support as they have CUDA and being widely used
thanks for the great comparison Luke! could you please compare the battery life between these 3 with light usage (web browsing, youtube, pages/microsoft word, etc.)? would be curious to see how much battery they use when they're not being pushed so hard
I have a 14" 32/10/24 M1 Max. I get around 12-13 hours with light usage (30-40 browser tabs, watching youtube, 6-7 apps open on background, light coding, brightness about half, no low power mode but "optimize streaming on battery" is on). People need more light usage tests guys!
It’s quite a range, I’d probably go for the base model… I’d love to see how the 13” M1 MacBook Pro (16 GB RAM 512GB storage) compares to the base model 14”!