Top M3 Pro vs Top M3 Max is $1500 worth it?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- 16 MacBook Pro Top M3 Pro vs Top M3 Max is $1500 worth it? - Results may surprise you and it will really depends on what you do and your workflow. This is a Pro Photo Workflow Test & comparisons. This is a comprehensive test & comparison of Apple newest M3 SoC inside the 16" MacBook Pro. This review will also include results from previous generation M1, M2, M3, M1 Pro, M2 Pro, M1 Max, M2 Max, M3 Max, M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra. These tests includes Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Capture One, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and After Effects. These are tests done from a perspective of a pro photographers so you can choose the best machines that fits your workflow.
Base M3 Pro 11/14 vs Top M3 Pro 12/18 - $400 Upgrade - Results will surprise you.
• Base M3 Pro 11/14 vs T...
M3 vs M2 vs M1 | Pro Photo Workflow Test - Good improvement & "Pro" SoC wannabe
• M3 vs M2 vs M1 | Pro P...
M3 Pro vs M2 Pro vs M1 Pro | Pro Photo Workflow Test - Disappointing performance?
• M3 Pro vs M2 Pro vs M1...
M3 Max vs M2 Max vs M1 Max | Pro Photo Workflow Test - This Rival the Ultra!
• M3 Max vs M2 Max vs M1...
Does memory bandwidth matters? 32GB on M1 PRO vs M1 MAX
• 32GB on M1 PRO vs M1 M...
Should you buy the fastest SSD for Pro Photo + Video Workflow? Does internal vs external matters?
• Should you buy the fas...
Ultimate Calibration Guide for Apple 14" & 16" MacBook Pro XDR Display - This is the way!
• Ultimate Calibration G...
iStat Menu bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
Diglloyd Photoshop Test macperformanceguide.com/Optim...
Looking back - Pre M3 release videos
My thoughts about the new M3 Macs, Overall configuration advise
• My thoughts about the ...
M3 Macs - A few additional thoughts before the official ship date!
• M3 Macs - A few additi...
Battery Test on M1 Pro vs Max
• 14” & 16” MacBook Pro ...
00:00 Intro
00:30 Preface
01:15 Test System
03:20 Memory Bandwidth
04:22 Retest Everything
04:38 Color Calibration
04:58 Single App Test
05:19 Test Configs
05:28 Effect of SSD & RAM Is known
05:47 Battery
06:23 Reading the Spec
06:32 SSD
07:25 Internal vs External SSD
07:39 Memory - RAM
09:38 Intel Mac advise
09:51 32GB+ for Pro
10:15 Lightroom Classic Preview 1:1
11:19 LRC Export
12:28 LRC HDR
13:03 LRC Panorama Merge
14:10 LRC AI Noise Reduction
15:06 Lightroom CC - LR Export
16:12 Capture 1 - C1 Preview
17:15 C1 Export
18:24 Photoshop
21:47 Video Export FCP
22:41 AfterEffects
24:17 Analysis
26:35 SoC Recommendations
28:35 Upgrade Path
29:15 Conclusion
Art's Tip Jar
www.paypal.com/donate/?busine...
Full Disclosure:
ArtIsRight is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
#M3Pro #m3Max #M3 
Наука
You are doing so much testing, thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
always waiting for your reviews!
Thank You!
Thanks for the content, great work over comparations)
Thank You!
You do good work. Thank you.
I appreciate that!
Most helpful comparison so far!
Thank You!
Thanks Art!😊
You're welcome 😊
The best review and analysis
Thank You!
Thank you for these great test! Happily subscribed many years ago and love the content! I work primarily in C1 and when I was in the market for my m1 studio I was very undecided between ultra & max. Your graphs were perfect in explaining that I didn't need the ultra. Last week I even bought another M1 Max fully loaded 14" from B&H for 1500 off + 8%. First gen still the best for C1.
For the price, heck yeah!
Excellent video as always! My question is, what is the benchmark used in After Effects? This way I can do it on my own machine and determine which is the best purchase. Thanks
community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-beta-discussions/multi-frame-rendering-is-here-aka-the-multithreading-you-ve-been-asking-for/m-p/11885358#M533
Hello, thanks for your very informative videos. I am very interested in comparison of how M3 Pro and M3 Max chips are doing in Topaz Video AI workflow, especially with new v4 release. Would be great to see that from you!
developing...
First! 😊Thanks Art. Looking forward to seeing the prices of each config alongside the test results 😊
Thank You!
Thank you so very much for another awesome, and geeky, video!! I've seen many of your previous videos and have noticed that you never touched on heat dissipation or noise. While those might not be a fact for something like the Mini or the Studio machines, they definitely come into play in a laptop scenerio. For instance, there are other "reviewers" out there saying how the M3 Max 14" can get pretty noisy once the fans kick in. Or that they could run hot when running demanding tasks. Would this heat and noise criteria be something you would consider including in your future videos? As I'm on the fence about choosing between a M3 Pro and a M3 Max, those issues will certainly play into my decision making. Regardless, look forward to nerding out on all your future content!!!
We are in the same boat between the M3 pro and the M3 max and it looks like others on here are as well so
ART please help the rest of us lol
I hear you but I would just get what you need. Sure it runs hotter but it never throttle in these heavy workflow. The fan does run more with M3 gen, in genera but it is not that much different from M1 and M2 gen really.
Hi Art, off topic on MBPs, including but not limited to BenQ and/or Apple, do you have suggestions for an economical monitor option to go with a refurb Mac Studio primarily for work going out to non high end clients who aren’t discerning or require top end colour workflow? Preferably something a bit bigger too (>24”) for space to do admin tasks. Thank you!
BenQ PD refurb
Hi Art, thanks for the videos. I have an M1U, and use LR and PS exclusively every day in my workflow. I'm glad to see it is still near the top of almost all your tests. My question is, do you think adobe will continue to improve the utilization of all the cpu cores? In particular, I find it disappointing that LR only uses one or two cores in HDR merge (I merge about 50 sets of brackets everyday), and it looks like PS only takes advantage of the single core speed also. Is there something that prevents adobe from using more cores?
probably just the sheer nature of the task itself, it does not makes sense to scale at 1 image, but for many it does but then adobe does not do this. What it really comes down to is good enough and costly developer time and pay
So wonderful
Thank You!
Hi, what about general smoothness while editing in Lightroom. Is there some noticeable difference between the systems, M1 Pro/m3 pro/max etc.
about the same, LRC slows over time
Been following your M3 MacBook Pro videos. Are you going to compare the binned M3 Max ( 14 CPU) and unbinned M3 Max (16 CPU)?
ruclips.net/video/PUst8pLnROs/видео.html
Very helpful. Thank you. I’m curious to see how much battery life can be eked out of the M3 Pro 16” especially in Low Power mode. I’m guessing 20-25 hours.
You can push it that far, yes
Danke!
You're welcome!
Hey Art. You have in plan to do videos with base max chip 14cpu 30gpu?
ruclips.net/video/PUst8pLnROs/видео.html
Thanks for the review. I just upgraded from an Intel MacBook Air to the base 14" M3 Pro. I had a budget and that was the most I could afford, and as I was waiting for it to arrive, I was second guessing my decision. But when it finally arrived, I was blown away by how fast it is! It was validating to see the base 14" M3 Pro hold its own in your testing.
Great choice, many will pay more and not take advantage of the pro chip. You can always sell it later if you happen to outgrow it which probably won’t happen.
That was a worthy upgrade. Those with a perfectly capable M1 or M2 do not "need" a M3 but just "want" the new color. Once that color gets scratched in a few weeks, they're gonna regret their purchase.
Any color would have that same problem with scratching, so you just gotta be careful with your laptop ha ha
Awesome, it is fast
Hello Sir
Could you provide a power to price ratio regarding different tasks? Here in Germany a Mac Studio M2M 64/1 costs the same as a M1U 64/1
The m2m is quite fast but 8 video cores on the ultra sounds like a complete different story.
Better to go for the old m1u in 2023?
Ultra is still a beast
@artisright anxiously waiting on Base M3 Max vs Top M3 Max....plz drop this so I can order...
Me too
And Art
Please then compare that to the step below with the M3 pro. If it’s worth the jump up if you do the video they were suggesting.
I think that’s up next. That’s the video I’m waiting for before I click purchase.
ruclips.net/video/PUst8pLnROs/видео.html
Great video! What are your thoughts between top M3 pro vs base M3 max, both in 16"?
ruclips.net/video/SI8qCkGmI-w/видео.html
I was waiting for this video to buy my MacBook m3 max, thanks , a Peruvian/Canadian living in Mont-Tremblant Canada
😀
Loved your deep dive on the M3 Pro and M3 Max, Art, this is really the most thorough and useful review out there.
I'm at a bit of a crossroads with picking between two MacBook Pros and would love to get your take. I’ve gone for the space black 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 36GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, which set me back AU$5,199. But now, I'm eyeing a refurbished 16-inch model with the M2 Max, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD for AU$4,759.
Your review made it clear that memory bandwidth isn't a big deal for someone like me, and I don't really see myself pushing the GPU to its limits. The M3 Pro has a 12-core CPU and 18-core GPU, while the M2 Max steps up with a 38-core GPU and 400GB/s memory bandwidth. As a software engineer, I’m chasing the sweet spot between performance and price. Do you reckon the M3 Pro was the right call for me?
Currently on an Intel MacBook Pro, so either way, it’s going to be a pretty big leap forward.
Thanks again for your time and insights.
For what you do, Pro is probably the more sensible choice
Art your channel is great. Imo any comparison shall be done on the same amount of ram which is critical
can't test every spec, effect of RAM is known, otherwise I have to order about 20 machines, that is not going to happen. It is what it is sometimes.
If you're upgrading the RAM on the M3P, then you'd really want to consider getting the base Max and keeping the machine for couple of years more. The apple tax is in the RAM, but the SOC upgrades are really fair compared to Intel, AMD, Nvidia. In fact if you're getting the unbinned M3P with 36gb, then it's totally no brainer to get the Max chip.
That’s what I was looking at upgrading to 36 GB on the M3 pro versus the M3 Max Base unit
How much better performance do you think the M3 max would be with LRC and some adobe Photoshop?
@@JeffAlanWolf-ij3ls I can't tell you anything about a specific software, but generally speaking within the same generation, doubling the GPU core count means 50% overall performance increase and doubling the CPU cores usually means close to 100% performance boost.
So you’re saying it makes sense if you’re upgrading on the M3 pro to 36 GB to just go to the end three Max at 36 GB for a little more buddy
Siri typos lol
@@JeffAlanWolf-ij3ls Financially, it makes a lot of sense, if you're already paying the apple tax in form of RAM and SSD upgrades.
You can keep the Max machine for longer, because it was 50% faster than M3P, and you'll get a big chunk of the difference back if you resell it used.
In the PC world, that kind of performance upgrade to the Max chip would cost you same or more than what Apple is asking, so it's very reasonable to get the faster machine, enjoy the performance from now on, and then keep it for longer, because it would postpone your next upgrade to couple of generations later.
Just make sure you're getting the RAM and SSD that can keep you happy for however long you want to keep this machine.
Any chance you can include Davinci Resolve into your testings?
I'll give that some thought
Thank you so much. I'm a professional photographer that is coming over from working with windows machines my entire life. This information was incredibly helpful in breaking down what the best machine for me will be.
You're very welcome!
what did u end up picking?
@@capyslay_guoba M3 max w/ 64GB ram. Love it
The only task in Lightroom that I feel my M1 Pro really slows me down is AI noise reduction for 100 images or more. Glad you're testing this.
Thank You!
Planning to get M3 pro 14" I do light editing in lightroom, does this meet my needs. Pls advice
I think so
Would love to see the 14c/30g M3 MAX tested vs a ton of machines
ruclips.net/video/okGahg98kL8/видео.html
Nice! Thanks for the tests. I may be tempted to get a Studio machine and display of a deal drops my way. Argos in the UK came close on an M1 Ultra deal but I’d like an M2 Ultra so hurry up Apple and release the M3 Ultra and while your at it, the M3 Extreme and make the Mac Pro sing
Totally!
More good work. Note: your video title simple says "16 MacBook...."; at first I was confused, then I realized you meant _inches_ , so perhaps putting in an *"* mark in the title will help.
probably
A good evening from the Netherlands/Holland. I appreciate your series of tests on the new M3 generation. I watched all the videos you made about this. This now delimits my choice up to 2 models. I doubt between the M3 pro/11-core CPU, 14-core GPU/36GB/1TB and the M3 Max/14-core CPU, 30-core GPU/48GB/1TB.
I now have a 16 inch/Intel i9/16GB/1TB. This one is now 4 years old. With edits such as generative fill of photoshop or video editing, it no longer works smoothly. I had hoped to be able to work with it smoothly for more than 4 years. But unfortunately that is no longer the case.
Do you have an insight into what that it will be like in 4 years with the M3? And do you recommend the M3 pro or M3 Max with the desire to be able to smoothly edit video with it for the coming 5 to 7 years?
The price difference is roughly €800,- (€3,239 vs €4,049). Which is not much if it can be used for 5 to 7 years. The alternative could be buying a new one every 3 years. Which I should have done with the intel MacBook I now have.
Some additional background. I am not a professional. What is important to me is to be able to do operations smoothly. I think import speed is important, but it is not a bummer. Export time doesn't really matter.
Finally: It is often recommended that M3 Max is only for professionals who do 3D animations, for example. But they also said this when the M1 Ultra came out. Which is now sometimes almost equaled by the M3 generation.
Thanks in advance for answering. Greetings from the Netherlands.
IF you are not doing this day in day out then Pro will do just fine. Max for 3D as you seen here is a gross over simplification
Thanks. You helped me which one to buy.
@@ArtIsRight
Please do a comparison of the max for all the the chip (m1 max, m2 max, m3 max) specifically for music production.. It would really help alot of musians and producer. And I am grateful for all these videos..
You're Welcome!
I really appreciate your point on Max vs Pro on Lightroom performance. Personally, I don't have to care about longer preview render times, but I wonder a lot about single-photo editing and AI masks. If I understand right, these use the GPU cores, and now I wonder how much a difference the Pro vs Max makes on my Sony a7 iv 33MPX files. Are you able to share whether applying and working with AI Masks have a significant (or how significant) performance difference between Pro and Max in single-photo editing?
Thank you in advance!
AI masking is fairly fast; we are talking about seconds at best. Nothing to really concern yourself about
@@ArtIsRight thank you!
I am a MERN stack developer and I use figma, after effects, photoshop sometimes. I use android studio a lot. I planned to buy M3pro base variant. Is that good or shall I go with M3. Or M2 air... Which will be better for my usage
I would go with Pro SoC, don't get regular
@@ArtIsRight OK.. Thanks
Thanks for the review. Very helpful !!!
As a software engineer and UI/UX designer, could you recommend the best option from this list?
1. M3 Pro (14) - 18GB / 1TB (Configured)
2. M3 Pro (14) - 36GB / 1TB (Configured)
3. M3 Max (14) - 36GB / 1TB (Base Version)
Thank you so much.
Your best to good would be the choices that you gave me in reverse 3, 2, 1
I have Macbook Pro M2 pro 16 inch with 1tb its been a great and fast machine so far
nice
Hello sir im learning 3d and 2d animation and am willing to build shortfilms & i also do programming, my budget far exceeds for the m3max, will the m3pro be good or will i regret buying it, mainly for blender uses ..
it will be fine
@@ArtIsRight thankyou so much
Will you compare base M3 Max and top?
ruclips.net/video/PUst8pLnROs/видео.html
Art
Great video as usual thank you again and again and again, you are the best and you make a huge difference in our choices with your testing.
Now, I’m still more confused although you got me closer to my choice with this last video.
So do you agree with 5G Robo and his breakdown?
The two choices I have left are the following:
Macbook 16” upgrade to 36gb
VS
Macbook M3 Max base unit with 36gb
It is $615 more not including tax
You get as you know the base max
SAME 36gb but increase to 1tb
So in essence for 615+ tax you’re getting double the hard drive and the next chip up from the M3 pro. Of 36gb and 1tb ssd
Would you kindly please weigh in NOT just picking one over the other but actually stating in your observations, would that make a difference to go from the M3 pro 36 GB to the base M3 max and WHY please?
It sounded like you didn’t feel the $1500 in this video was worth the upgrade for the M3 pro but with the jump up only one step from the M3 Pro be worth it?
You first told me a couple of videos back to the entry pro was perfect for me then recently you said the M3 backs so I am confused based on your recommendations to me help lol
That should read M3 pro 36 GB versus M3 max 36 GB. I hate Siri typos
@@JeffAlanWolf-ij3ls As M3 Pro is throttled this year, you could imagine M4 Pro >> M3 Pro, M4 Max >~ M3 Max, so if you choose to buy a M3 model this year, Max would definitely depreciate less the next year.
Not a lot of glowing recommendations from a couple of people on these chips here
and M6 will be better than M4 and M six will be better than etc. etc.
I wish Art when he gets the chance with his ridiculously heavy workload weigh it on this about the M3 Max over the M3 pro
I’ve seen other reviews online that are not thrilled and that are underwhelmed with the M3 pro chip
I would go with max better all around, especially if you keep your machine
Art
Thanks
From past buying purchases, I would be keeping this machine for a good 5 to 10 years easily
11:50 really makes the point.
thank you!
M3 pro top vs m3 max base pls
that is coming tomorrow, as it is so many are saying that I am repeating these info already :)
I have downloaded iSTAT because of your recommendation. It's a great application for computer experts. Unfortunately, I can not understand anything that iSTAT is showing me therefore I deleted it. But it's still showing up in the menu bar on my Macbook Pro. I have tried everything to get rid of it. I am a medical doctor, not a computer expert. It is really annoying. Can anyone help?
Your best bet is to reinstall the app, launch it, go to the iStat menu and choose uninstall
@@ArtIsRight Thank you your advice has helped.
Better be the Top 16 M3 PRO with base M3 MAX comparison
That one is coming
@@ArtIsRight thx!!
@@ArtIsRight one more suggestion, it would be much better if you could differentiate M123 with different colors. Easier for you to point and easier for us to find out what we want. Thanks!
how do you fill 128 GB of RAM?
I have too many apps and browsers tabs
Has anyone else found on the Apple store that you could configure the M3 Max Laptop Base Config. with a 512 GB ssd and 32 GB of RAM for $3299
When I went back to the store, it only showed the 1 TB with that configuration for 3499 yet I have it sitting in my cart on the Apple store with half of that hard drive size????
I found the answer on the drop-down menu when you look at the M3 Pro configurations. You can get the 512 hard drive on the max from there but when you go to the Max configurations directly, it does not show that as one of the selections.
It is apple default to block that, so that option does not work more.
Art it’s still sitting in my cart with the 512 GB hard drive. I figured I would purchase an external hard drive and get more storage for less money than Apple charging.
Can't wait for your 14" M3 Max 14 core vs 16 core video :) - that's the decision I am trying to make now.
I don't have that video in the line up
Please make a video about ;
M3 max 16”top spec vs M2 max 16” top spec and if you also add Mac studio ultra ( also top spec ) i think it would be Great🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 no one ever do that
My compilation charts show many of those already. And I don't have a 16" top spec in my studio, unless someone wants to let me borrow one.
Hi Art, i was more in the comparison M3-16 Pro Top @36 GB 1024 GB 12/18 vs M3-16 Max @36 GB 1024 GB 14/30 which is her in Germany 3689€ vs. 4249€ (VAT included) where are talking about just 560€ of difference, as you always propose to take at least 32 GB of RAM , and to be honest 512 GB of Storage build in is just a little bit tight (i don't want to have an appendix all the time at my notebook) and at least in USB-connection the speed matters, i haven't tried it with an external TB-case so far (as they aren't dirt cheap), but an external Samsung would have a dramatic speed-price to pay vs. an internal SSD.
I hear you
Same here - what did you buy?
Top M3 max with only 48GB memory???? The M1/2 Ultra machines have 64GB/128GB in these tests which makes this really annoying to understand.
I appreciate your effort and obv the cost to have all configurations isn’t feasible, I’ll continue to follow and monthly sub and hope you’re doing well
Thank You!
Haha My M1 Max MBP refurbished is still super valid and fast in photoshop - haha no need to upgrade!! nice. You are not getting my money today Tim Cook!
there you go
top not Ram128G?
need $$$
Can't thank you more for this series of comparisons. I am actually comparing the two "top" models: 16" MBP M3 16/40 with 64GB Ram (US$4199) vs 16" MBP M3 14/30 with 96GB Ram (US$4299) for video editing, particularly large size and those use a lot of AI effects. Would love to see if any future comparison includes these two configurations. The reason is that the former doesn't have a 96GB Ram model and the later does not have either 64 or 128 GB Ram, understandably but unfortunately for me.
Besides, the above also allows us to compare either of them with Mac Studio M2 Ultra 24/60/32 model with 64GB Ram and see how close the performance the M3 MBP is. I also wonder how to determine whether the 32-core neural engine plays an important role in terms of machine learning or AI effects for video editing.
Thank You!
add davinici resolve in the test 😁
not this cycle, but looking into it
Wow! NO PREMIERE PRO TEST. Crazy. Test every other major Adobe photo program, even AE, but no Pp.
yup, same as FCP on export no point
Better max out the m3 pro than getting the m3 max for me because the max fan noise is horrible
it really depends on the need
You said the noise is terrible. Everything is relative I was once told the washing machine that I was going to buy was loud when we got it in the house it was quiet everyone’s sense of loudness is relative
Topaz video AI test please, thx!
probably next week
I Wanted this test but the specs you are comparing are not max
stock is what stock is
isn't it just a $400 difference if you have the same ram and storage?
it would be if you can configure it the same, but you can't
If you choose to go with ProRes then you do not need a max, you can save money and go with a pro
one way of looking at it
My questions:
1. if i choose 64GB RAM, will the machine bottleneck if I go for 2TB SSD with it ?
2. if i choose 48GB RAM, will the machine bottleneck if I go for 2TB SSD with it ?
3. How much of a speed difference will I see between 2TB read & write and 4TB read & write speeds ? SSD read and write speeds are more important to me than the quantity of storage space.
4. Will 14 inch model become hot and thermal throttle if I go with m3 max 16 core cpu 40 core gpu processor?
In my testing both the 1tb and 2tb have 6k/5k read and write speeds.
Lightroom and photoshop love to eat all available ram. I’ve seen panorama merge and large photoshop layering projects utilise 60GB of ram if available while that same task would hit yellow memory pressure and swap on the 48GB machine. Granted the difference is seconds but the answer is YES 48GB will bottleneck in some scenarios.
The fans are also like jet planes on the 14” M3 models so I don’t think they do throttle during gaming or heavy exports, however if you push any chip for long enough in a choked environment then it will do.
I bought 14" with 64 GB and 512 GB :))
@@ungh8365 how is it going on
@@midasvancerer so should I get 64gb ram with 2tb ssd or 4tb ssd? Ssd size is not important to me but I don’t want the ram and ssd to bottleneck when wrong combo is chosen. I heard from an apple specialist that 64gb ram goes well with 4tb. Dont know if this is true or is he trying to upsell.
@@ElioGame just trying to upsell no difference in speed or bottleneck between 1 and 2tb
"Is that really worth $1500?" Yeah I get it. And get it. And keep getting it, from a guy who owns a 128MB M2 Ultra. Could you have done with 64MBs and saved money? Is that really worth ... ?
I have and not it does not work for me.
With m1/2/3 system you need measure 7 times and cut 1. Otherwise you will stuck with useless machine.
Tbh. I don’t see how 8gb Ram even justifiable in 2023.
yup
Just not the Top M3 Pro so the title is pretty misleading. The top M3 Pro has 36GB of memory as a stock machine. Pretty misleading.
Top in SOC. Not in ram.
Agree it’s also not a fair test of just the SOC seen as the ram and SSD are not like for like either.
stock config, as said