16GB vs 32GB RAM M1 Pro MacBook: REAL-LIFE Comparison!

[@CreatedTech]

Best M1 MacBook Pro Deals: ⮕ 14" M1 Pro MacBook: geni.us/m1pro14 ⮕ 16" M1 Pro MacBook: geni.us/m1pro16

[@iamkailong]

for 16gb to 32 gb, the difference is small for most people. but 8gb to 16gb is a totally different story.

[@rochitgurung9090]

For both it’s small difference unless you are opening 60 stuffs at the same tome

[@iamkailong]

@@rochitgurung9090 nope, and I don’t think you have ever compared a 8gb and 16gb m1 mac before.

[@ninay7685]

@@iamkailong tout a fait d'accord. j'avais un macbook air m1 8 gigas et ça ramait avec final cut, alors quand je suis passé à 16 c'était le jour et la nuit! par contre entre 8 et 16....suis pas certain que cela change grand chose.

[@linhta4630]

O7

[@paramjeetkour6143]

Yes dud you are right I am facing this problem and can't upgrade 16gb of ram because lack of money

[@VersatBeats]

I always buy the base models MBP they're adequate for what ever you need them to do. People keep mention future proofing their machines spending an extra 1,5k/2k and don't seem to understand that you can upgrade to the new one for that money in the years to come, if your feel it's laking the power by then.

[@AbirTarafdar]

Really good point. Might be better to keep the extra cash in the bank allocated for an upgrade. 👍🏽

[@danielbroomhall8882]

that actually makes sense, especially cuz future basic models will be much better than upgraded ones today. For example, an M1 pro 16gb today is way better than an i9 64gb ram from a year or so ago or even better than a 2020 macbook.

[@AV84USA]

That’s a good strategy for most people, however, if your time is worth more than money it’s money in the bank with a faster machine. For me, I usually end up choosing the #2 configuration as I don’t need the bleeding edge, but I’ve found the best value in the middle Macs.

[@CowbellkingdomTV]

Agreed

[@S3XYEV]

Exactly what I was thinking 🤔! ....98% of us just don't need the MAX chip, nor even 32GBs of RAM. Those that do need it, KNOW they do, and will get the specs they need. For everyone else, if you're wondering what to purchase, just get the base models...... By the time you DO need more RAM or higher specs, the M3 or M4 chips will be out - LOL 😆, and - like Lime said - you can upgrade then! (In 5 - 7 years).... I'm saving the $1000 upgrade now, and I bet these laptops 💻 will have great resale value when I'm ready to upgrade and get a new one.... If you do spend any money on a higher specs, I'd get the 1TB SSD, as it has faster speeds than the already super-fast 512 drive .....so "swap" will be fast and efficient, and you won't even notice any memory slowdowns

[@Omega6APP]

This is the comparison I was looking for, running real-world projects. I'd rather see it without the browser tabs and 4K video running in the background but since it is just to push a bit harder, it still gives a clear idea of how powerful this machine is and in my opinion 16GB of RAM is the best option their performance is most of the time pretty equivalent.

[@womp6338]

Only for video editors…

[@WorksOnMyComputer]

@@womp6338 How so? The tests ran a number of things and it was basically equivalent.

[@adredy]

wideo in background is almost not use cpu implemented in 2015 😅 must be visible plus decoding is by hardware mean this doing nothing

[@storiesbymartin]

Very helpful! I have the M1 Pro with 16GB RAM and mostly use Da Vinci Resolve v18 for video editing. My masters are in 6K or 4K. I have found that the key variants for performance on the M1 Pro are less memory than 1) if you use proxy files to edit, what option you use. The default on Resolve is ProRes HQ, which produces files almost as large as the originals! If you select ProRes Proxy as the format, Resolve speeds up noticeably. The viewing difference between the two flavours is only minor. 2) I have 2 TB SDDs which I keep my files on. I use this to store the cache files, which seems to help performance too - it avoids filling up your Mac's drive. 3) Max out the memory Resolve is using in the setup - you can get up to 12GB. The default is only 8GB I think. Hope this helps folks!

[@2392youngmoney]

This comment really helped. I am only just starting out, I want to learn to edit videos etc. just for personal/hobby. The 16gb is more than enough for me to learn. I want to use fusion and stuff, when I figure out how and I reckon the base 14 mbp will be fine for me to learn and will take long to ‘outgrow’. I.e not being able to use certain functions/programmes due to low ram. Really I think all that will happen is it will move slow/ but from the laptop I’m coming from I don’t think that’ll be an issue. I was worried about the swap usage, but I think that’ll only be an issue with lots/extreme multitasking, which I won’t do

[@2392youngmoney]

How is your swap usage, if you don’t mind me asking?

[@sariucar]

It's a great comparison video, good job. It helped me a lot in my choice, thank you. I ordered 14" Macbook Pro M1 Pro 10CPU 16GPU 32GB 1TB, I will have it in a month.

[@chilldbox]

Strange they have them in stock at best buy. I just walked in and picked it up. No wait. Mac store has them 2. If I went for the max or 32gig I would have to order

[@saulgood2366]

Was thinking about returning and upgrading my 16gb machine but the delivery times for BTO have been blown out and I waited for a month for the base model. Hard decision.

[@mndgmesvisuals6564]

I'm in the same boat... currently rocking a 16" 16GB 1TB... every other video I've seen makes me think that this machine is fine. That after effects render has me really reconsidering it though.

[@anujsoni2089]

@@mndgmesvisuals6564 what about the battery life?

[@armandolo17]

Can you test now a M1 Pro 32GB ram and a M1 Max 32GB ram? would like to see if the 200gb/s vs the 400gb/s makes any difference.

[@greyspaniard]

Anandtech found that the Max doesn’t meaningfully exceed 200GB/s of bandwidth. I think under load the most they saw was around ~240GB/s

[@carloisidoresalcedo6325]

That shud be interesting to find out.

[@Mr.BobsDog]

@@greyspaniard thanks dude

[@TheNordicHunter]

I don’t think there would be much difference. The major difference is the GPU being able to handle double the monitors.

[@ScottDeSalvo]

Mac Mini with 8GB bogs down with too many apps open. 16 might be the sweet spot for my use case, but I ordered a Studio with 32 GB so we shall see.

[@HowieIsaacks]

I run a lot of virtual machines, and I often run them while also running a lot of high memory and high CPU apps along side the VMs. Having more RAM helps. The last MacBook Pro that I had that had just 16GB of RAM was my mid-2015 MacBook Pro. It worked great with Parallels and other high memory and high CPU apps but it did start to struggle a bit when I ran more than 1 VM. When I later bought a 2019 MacBook Pro and configured it with 32GB of RAM, I saw an immediate improvement in my ability to run VMs, Photoshop, and other hight memory and CPU apps. I just bought a new M2 Max 14-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM. I could have configured it with more than 32GB of RAM but I didn't see a need for it. While I appreciate someone wanting to be helpful and educate others about how to figure out what they need, I know what I need and I buy what I need. The M2 Max 14-inch MacBook Pro costed almost $1000 less than the 2019 model. I was happy about that!

[@Vincentecreativeservices]

This is frustrating. I have the base m1 MacBook Air and it can edit and playback all my A7iv footage perfectly. It’s when I start to put luts and transitions and Motion VFX effects that Final Cut Pro basically crashes and can’t load any assets. I’m looking to upgrade to the m1 pro just to use motion graphics and effects on my footage. Every ram test video simply I’ve seen only tests the ability to play the video, none actually do the real world work of editing video. I have no idea if I need 16gb or 32gb. Since the MacBooks are all back ordered everywhere, I only have two options actually in stock here in NYC. A $2600 16gb and a $3500 32gb version. If I can get the cheaper one I would love to know that. I’d hate to have to just spend the money and find out myself, and risk having to pay that 15% restocking fee just to find out if the damn thing works.

[@tokelahti]

You could have also compared the disk write amounts at the end of the testing. If you booted both macs, before you started.

[@UXDiogenes]

What I’d like to know is if this changes when using a 4k, 5k (studio display), or 6k display (Pro display xdr), since memory is shared with the GPU.

[@the_stem]

This is exactly what I'm thinking about.. How does it performs when using multiple monitors..? Unified memory should theoretically be eaten by the monitors (or even one large monitor). What model did you end up buying? 16GB or 32GB? How does it perform and what model would you recommend for multiple-monitor multitaskers? Thanks you!

[@StacyODell]

I would be more concerned with the reduced lifespan of the primary SSD due to all of the extra I/O from swapping

[@gongosama4492]

Excellent point ! This is not a small issue, most people have no idea that SSD has the lifespan given by how much write and re write data its cells can take. And with all the swapping in video editing the ammount of daily re writes can easily reach over 100 tb a year. Since these machines are not cheap Apple should be honest, adress its clients and tell what is the limit of data writing before the cells begin to fail and give bad errors in the best scenario. I highly doubt they can endure more than 300 tb. And with the swapping abuse its like they have their days already counted but no one knows when ... 😰

[@WorksOnMyComputer]

@@gongosama4492 It is an issue, but I would expect double the life your estimating.

[@kelvinjunior3359]

Or you can get an external ssd??

[@edcgadgets-de]

For me it’s just for extreme multitasking, lots of programs, tabs and Windows and maybe parallels. I just want a machine that’s never laggy. I chose the 24 core Max too, just because of double the RAM bandwidth.

[@marc_overmars]

I don't know if my windows desktop with 32gb ram could do what 16gb Macbook can do here. I'm impressed by 16gb, 99.9% of people wouldn't stress the system as in this video. You should buy 32 or 64gb ram if you work with extremely heavy tasks and times is money for you. Even 1% performance is important for some people.

[@ceementality]

Yeah Mac optimization is pretty nuts easily 16 gb of ram on Mac is equal to 24gb on windows if not more

[@mr.lelito9524]

It would be very nice to choose between 16 and 32 Gb if only they weren’t all of stock in all stores

[@NNS2822]

Yes! Everywhere

[@timogronroos4642]

If you are going to keep your expensive machine for many years, like 5-7 as I have done with my Macs, going 32GB now will probably give longer life for the SSD (much less usage for memory) and better performance on future software down the road. My sweet spot will be Max 10/24GPU / 32GB / 1TB combination either in 14" or 16" , haven't decided that yet. BTW, You have very few benefits going for a Max 32GPU with 14" model due to throttle down effect to safe battery life and avoiding heat. I would go to 32 cores only on 16"

[@mrparts]

Lol the people wasting money on “future proofing” this laptop, will be next year buying the next version with the M2max super pro 64 cores 128 gB ram version and justify it again with the same “future proofing” excuse, lol

[@johnaart]

@@mrparts 😂😂😂True

[@Teluric2]

I dont think this mac will last more than intel macs because there are more soldered components.

[@rodrigomalutta]

Could you please do this same test between 18 vs 36gb RAM M3 PRO? This methodology is the best!!

[@devluz]

In the end all those additional windows and chrome/safari tabs don't make a difference. MacOS dumps these into swap when something else needs the RAM and as long as you don't actively use them they simply remain in swap memory and won't influence any other applications. If you run (browser) games that actively access its data each frame then MacOS can't keep them in swap memory and then you really notice the difference. So for the 32 GB version you really need an application that 1. needs more than 16 GB RAM at once 2. and actively uses this constantly. Only then MacOS has to constantly move data between swap and RAM and then it really slows down heavily (like after effects)

[@mrparts]

Yep. I find it hilarious that so many KZbinrs don’t get this with these silly tests with 500 chrome tabs,.

[@armandolo17]

Totally true

[@jackcapella2707]

The difference is small as the SSD’s are so fast. The stutter is not because of the memory but because you were maxing out the load on the cores. The big issue becomes the use of the SSD in memory swap, it is constantly writing to the SSD which then shortens the life of your SSD. the 32GB upgrade will extend the life of your machine in these cases as the load on the SSD will be greatly diminished if not eliminated.

[@daronnelson7021]

So would a 32gb model potentially be better than spending the extra money on a 1tb ssd?

[@jackcapella2707]

32GB is better simply because the RAM will have more room when running apps and will rarely use the SSD to buffer. This will increase the life of your SSD, they have only so many read write cycles. You can supplement your storage with external drives. Apple charges far too much for SSD space but it is very convenient to have the space. It is a personal decision but you are paying for convenience. I recommend buying used with 32 GB and at least a 1TB SSD. Most people buy more power than they need and never use it, so the used market can be better but make sure you check the sellers ratings extensively.

[@tty2020]

I don't understand, if there is no memory pressure in the 32GB model, why it is still as laggy as the 16GB model?? Will this be solved by adding more CPU/GPU?

[@JussimirPasold]

Finally a channel that correctly tested After Effects with the new macbooks! I'm interested to seem how do these after effects benchmarks compare with the new m2 pro and max models, and with different ram sizes

[@Jakereviewsall]

I went with the 16 inch M1 Max with 32gb, I wanted to go with 64 but the ship time was so far out I settled on the 32gb. I went with just the 1tb SSD since I figured I would just use externals to store all my video and photo files and soon I plan to setup a NAS.

[@bombjelly5795]

U saved good money and u now have a beast of a machine

[@Jakereviewsall]

@@bombjelly5795 definitely, editing is so much faster on it, Took a bit to get used to though after using windows for nearly 30 years.

[@bombjelly5795]

@@Jakereviewsall lol I been on windows my whole entire life. I’m 30 years old and I finally got my first Mac book pro. I got 14 inch bass model with 32 gb ram . I’m still not used to it at all. Muscle memory at its finest ha

[@Jakereviewsall]

@@bombjelly5795 indeed, I am 38 myself and this is my very first mac. I received mine on November 23rd and still getting used to a few things but I unhooked my desktop and forced myself to only use the mac and just figure everything out. Some of it has become muscle memory lately finally but sometimes I still catch myself trying to do something that would have been in windows. Control alt delete dangit, oh wait there is no control alt delete. When I also found out you could simply close a window just using command+Q I was in awe for a moment, it's the little things lol

[@danielbroomhall8882]

if u r gonna save everything on external hard drivers then you wasted money on a 1 tb ssd.

[@Windflowerize]

I'm a backend programmer, mainly using IntelliJ with multiple Java or Kotlin projects. Sometimes IntelliJ data are assigned on swap memory then it gets slightly slow, which is quite frustrating. So for me, I need 32G. Swap memory, however, eats up SSD's lifespan and that concerns me a little.

[@kelniai2770]

Swap is definitely a concern. Do you run containers, kubernetes locally?

[@Windflowerize]

@@kelniai2770 Yes, Kubernetes eats up lots of memory.

[@artwie]

the thing is - it's a very different thing when you just play a clip vs when you've added come color grading and fusion work to it; why is no one comparing the machines performance then?? I've got a bit oldish macbook pro (2017) with 16GB and it's still a perfect office machine, but it struggles playing back and rendering any video that has color grading and fusion on it; plus a semi-transparent clip with my logo on it... So my question is: with these new machines, does 32GB vs 16GB still not make any difference even if you add fusion, transformations, color grading etc etc? will they really still perform almost the same?

[@chrisnelson2770]

Exactly my question. This video hasn't helped, because it was not a realistic editing scenario

[@mbvglider]

I think for most people, it's a good idea to spend money on things you'll notice 100% of the time, instead of buying something that you think you might need. That's why I think people should go for more storage or bigger screen, rather than more RAM, because first things first, you'll notice having more storage or screen, and second, it seems like faster storage means faster SSDs, so if you do end up hitting the swap, you'll notice it way less. If you have a specific application that needs more RAM, though, then that's when you need more RAM. But if you can't think of any actual needs right now but you overbuy in the name of "future-proofing," that's how people end up adding $1500 worth of upgrades from a $1999 base M1 Pro and complain that the M1 Air had better battery life and that your new computer is a waste of money.

[@uncoiledfish2561]

The 16” is disgusting. Have you seen that thing 🤮 Too big.

[@Kavones]

@@uncoiledfish2561 Just sad you are poor

[@beachliving3127]

@@uncoiledfish2561 The 16” machine is only slightly larger than my 2018 15’ MacBook Pro. I had the unit for a couple of days and had to send it back. It was a beautiful machine. I like the larger machines even though they can be an issue with weight if you really load up your bag. I bought a 2005 MacBook Pro 17” Core Duo back in 2007 and it was BEAUTIFUL. Larger than others but perfect for me. That system is still running now. I converted it into a Linux machine. I only sent back the 2021 MacBook because you can’t run Windows 10 under Parallels. The M1 Max chip will only run Windows 11.

[@alainkills]

As always, great video. As you already mentioned Parallel. Can you please make a comparison video from 16gb to 32gb running multiple VMs with actual program running on it such as games, apps plus heavy multitasking on the background on the main OS. Please??? TIA

[@ricardotubeman]

I have 16gb M1 MacBook Pro and I'd say - you can get by with 16gb ram but it does struggle sometimes when lots of apps/files open - I wish I had 32gb

[@2392youngmoney]

Do you see lots of swap usage when using lots of apps/files open? I’m looking at 16gb MBP 14. I don’t mind using one app at a time. Would likely be just Lightroom/Resolve and then a few tabs in safari and Apple music

[@Salfriel]

thanks for the video, i was torn between the two, and after watching many reviews, including this one i have decided that i am way too broke to afford any of these.

[@v_stands_for_value124]

16gb one could handle Apple Music + Safari + Lightroom + Photoshop like nothing there and it's exactly what I need

[@BeierFilms]

Somehow I knew After Effects would be the one to break the 16 GB model. In my own workflow, I often have After Effects, Premiere, and Photoshop open at the same time (along with a bunch of browser tabs). I settled for 32 GB on my MacBook Pro but my custom desktop runs 64GB and there are still times when I still wish I had more.

[@blackmamba6938]

I honestly don't see the point. Even if the ram is beneficial to export time, how often are people actually exporting? That's the very last step of the project and people are rarely ever doing it. When it comes to just editing the project they both run the same and that's where the bulk of your time goes.

[@mosijahi3096]

You’re one of those people who think buying a bigger house will solve your space problem, no matter what size house you own you will fill it with things you don’t need. Just close some of the browsers you don’t need.

[@pritambiswas4185]

@@mosijahi3096smartest answer ever existed. out of 16gb after effects will consume 80% and out of 32gb it will do the same.

[@mhoeij]

Any impact on battery life?

[@remoreacts91]

I’d be interested to know when each is connected to a monitor or two at 4K, how do the machines compare then. I think almost everyone wfh has a monitor at home.

[@BernieMittens]

I use three monitors with the 16GB, no problems

[@MarsorryIckuatuna]

Wish you could have tested this with Virtual Machines. This is the key decision on the mind, not so much the Pro Apps… anyone with experience with that?

[@ALotOfNthing]

Did it seem to me or the distance between the keyboard and the trackpad is different for these macbooks?

[@sammycroll]

I like your tests and videos but could you do the same test with music softwares? Because for example audio software use a lot of ram... :)

[@mbvglider]

M1 Pro SSDs are getting like 6 GB/s transfer rate. That's about as fast as PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM, so these SSDs read/write as fast as RAM from a decade ago. Knowing that, I'd rather max out storage (bigger SSDs test faster on these computers) before spending a single cent on more memory, because it is my opinion that external drives will be a bigger bottleneck to performance than running out of RAM. After all, even 64 GB isn't big enough to actually hold entire sample libraries in memory, so speed of storage is very important. I personally kept my RAM at 16 GB but went all the way to 4 TB storage just to I never have to think about storage capacity.

[@skeLPCgamez]

This! I get it’s not his field but both him and Luke Miani never do music tests, the only one who I know has done them is Max Tech.

[@CreatedTech]

@@skeLPCgamez There's a reason why I don't - it's because I have no experience with music production. I don't want to give an opinion on something I know very little about. It would be misleading. I prefer to leave that up to actual experts that use Logic Pro for example on a daily basis. Max Tech's music tests are ok, but it's clear they have never done any music production themselves, which is why they keep their music-related tests very simple. Also to be fair - the music production userbase is very small compared to something like video editing or even coding, so it makes sense for me to focus on the more popular areas.

[@jrcenina85]

@@CreatedTech that’s interesting about the music production user base being significantly smaller than coders or video editors. How much smaller are we talking?

[@diverman1023]

Can confirm the swap is so fast that 16gb is enough in logic

[@ismlynx]

Good comparison but I really expected virtualization 16GB and 32GB memory tests

[@TrendlineProject]

You’ll start noticing difference when editing longer, effects heavy 4k video in Davinci Resolve up to the point when the software is getting shut down. DR can use over 20gb of RAM and this is the point where 8 RAM m1 MacBook pro becomes unusable..

[@alexanderbowen2218]

I consistently use 20gb. When my workload gets a little more intense I use around 25-28. Will I ever use the full 32? Probably not. But I definitely use more than 16

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS You got me thinking with that I'm ngl. I prefer windows so my regular laptop is an x17 (it used to be a spectre but I returned it and bought the x17 with that money. But I got a steep discount and free upgrades from dell because of other issues so I paid for a much lower specced x15 but ended with a much higher specced x17). It was when I bottlenecked the spectre with 16gb working in photoshop with a lot of high resolution images that I wanted to upgrade it. So the Mac I bought with 32gb of ram for photo and video editing so it wouldn't bottleneck anymore and so I could work with 4k video instead of being stuck at 1080p. The x17 came with 32 instead of 16 for free so I'm not complaining. I checked my most recent project in premiere pro on the Mac. The memory used is 26gb and cached files is only 7gb. I did an export in H.264 while I did some of my work and it had moderate memory pressure when I checked on it too So for my workflow rn it's working how I want it to and I'm not being bottlenecked like I was with the spectre. Plus soldered memory is a joke in 2021 so I said screw it and wanted 32 anyways cause I intend on keeping this for a while and you can't upgrade Youre probably also wondering about the x17. I wanted a good gaming laptop and the x15 which I purchased was pretty much exactly how much the spectre was when I returned it and got my money back. I'm also going to be changing all my software for like every program. Once I'm no longer a student next year I won't have the student plan so I'm going to change my Adobe to the photography plan and use final cut instead of premiere (I also want to use final cut). Then I also switched to logic from ableton lite live so I don't have to buy full ableton. Plus I get the screen, battery life, optimization and ecosystem with Apple stuff the spectre and alienware didn't have. Was gonna buy a Mac regardless of whether I had the alienware or hp and since they were 1:1 in price I didn't have to worry about which one it was Idk I'm typing this at like 3.30am while drunk so idk if any of this made sense but thanks for making me check my stuff cause otherwise I'd return for a lower specced model if I realized it was no bueno.

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS also yeah ik Mac and windows use ram differently but I wasn't going to spend that much money to have it bottleneck again from sm and not be able to return it if it was passed the return date

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS yeee I see what you're saying In doing a masters in design and technology rn and I also spend the day on my computer for the past couple years even without covid. So my work for school is all editing of some kind, I do it personally outside of school, and both my internship semesters and actual job use it too. I have a history of underspeccing my tech when I buy it so I went all in this time. And I haven't felt it wasn't worth it ever. I don't think 16 vs 32 will see a difference in speed really but it's nice knowing I have more capacity if I ever want to throw a much larger project at it. The way I see it is the extra money I spent on the better ram is just a lot more nights as a dd instead of drinking and eating and racking up a bill with my coworkers

[@pb25193]

The ram usage includes data which is no longer in use - waiting to be wiped out. You could be using 4gb of ram and see 25gb usage, just because the garbage collector is set to kick in after 80% usage. :)

[@LCBear]

if you have 128 g, they will slowly buildup to 100g ram in use

[@ShadowLancer128]

The M1 Max MBP 32gb is the only Apple product I've ever wanted to demo my whole life. Something about the low heat and decent hardware acceleration the laptop produces caught my eye.

[@teemuvesala9575]

for heavy multitaskers 32gb ram is definitely worth it. max chip on the other hand, probably not unless you're heavy video editor.

[@chrisnelson2770]

I'm sorry, but how is just opening and playing a video in Resolve indicative of a real world scenario? You didn't do any actual editing. Where is the scrubbing, cuts, effects, stabilization, colour grading, fusion titles, multi layered video tracks? I don't feel this has helped in narrowing down if I need 16 GB or 32 GB

[@EwanLim]

“Unrealistic benchmark “…. -starts sweating- this is like a daily occurrence.

[@lucz31]

Two things: 1. Swap is harmful to SSD. So that's not an argument that swap implementation is good. I'd say more, because of how seamless it is - users don't actually know that they are running out of RAM and damage SSD (in a long-term), 2. You don't need to use graphic apps to simulate that kind of usage. I can easily use all of my 16GB RAM on M1 Pro just heavy-using Safari.

[@JarradDRS]

I just bought a brand new M1 Pro, MacBook Pro 16/512gb. It’s stunning and I absolutely love it. I use it to check emails, browse the web, and tell people I’m “hacking the mainframe” when I look at the activity monitor. What I don’t understand is why I’m watching videos about specced up Macs when what I currently have isn’t even the slightest bit stressed with the “intense” workloads I place upon it 😂

[@whiskey.tango.foxtrot.1]

If you plan to install parallels, the extra CPU/GPU cores and RAM will be ideal. I’ve only had my 16” M1 Pro a few days (after waiting a month for delivery) and, while I seem to peg the CPU, it’s been a beast with some throttling but not overly hot or noticeable fan noise with an all day battery life. These laptops are expensive but so far worth the purchase…at least that’s what I tell myself.

[@punkish7]

How much RAM do you have? I would like to run VMs, though likely would be using Fusion rather than Parallels

[@ivandubinsky1857]

I just ordered the 14" MBP with the 10-core M1 Pro processor and 16 GB of integrated. RAM. I would never be using the extreme examples of multitasking shown in this video and usually run only one or two programs at a time. So, I think 16 GB of RAM will be more than sufficient for me and I get to save a lot of money.

[@cnber31]

Im torn between 14” MBP with 8 core 32gb or 10 core 16gb. We will appreciate if you could share your experience in your 10 core 16gb

[@caresvlbdjz]

@@cnber31 I also have that laptop, in my case for game development, unity runs smoothly, unreal sometimes has some lag but usable. For blender I’m modelling with no issues. It’s enough for my work

[@vonzarooz2829]

Why would you upgrade the core instead of the ram?

[@sharikmarius]

@@cnber31 That’s an interesting configuration that I never considered. I personally went with the non-binned chip, 1tb ssd and 16gb ram because I don’t use Adobe products and will never multitask in the manner demonstrated in a lot of these videos. What configuration did you finally settle on?

[@2klatte]

Thanks for the helpful video! My question is how would 16gb RAM perform if you set up the multitasking the same way as in the video while running 2 external 4K monitors plus the laptop screens. Would you do a retest of this scenario?

[@adventuresofjandk]

Why would you not be using fcpx for an apple comparison

[@haoyuanxu7094]

Since this 32G version has little pressure but leggy, I am thinking if the base model CPU and GPU is not sufficient enough at rendering 3D model, rendering browser windows, and decode the 4k videos at the same time. I have not finished the video yet, so I might be wrong.

[@margauxlowery4324]

You know that the Memory column in Activity Monitor isn’t showing ‘real memory,’ right?

[@michael.petraeus]

16GB may be sufficient now but not in the future, particularly as software companies have a habit of ruining hardware's progress. And since you can't expand it I would always go for a higher spec.

[@demayoexperience]

I was about to buy the 16g until that sabe thought crossed my mind. Is not like I want to spend $2K+ in 2 or 3 years. So now I’m thinking to save up some more and go for the higher spec

[@someonethatisachristian]

mac mini m2 pro with 16 gb looks like the perfect computer for me, and thats what i got. The only reason to get 32 gb i see here is sitting all day editing insanely huge RAW-files from cameras i never plan on owning, or if you work for a corporation that rent adobe software. Because if youre not a corporate employee, renting adobe software just doesnt make sense, i always go for alternatives that are much cheaper to own like affinity or adobes motion over after effects, and with this software 16 gb is plenty. You plan maybe having your mac for what, 10 years? 16 gb should work fine the next 5 years, after 5 years maybe its starting to tax your swap and cause wear on your SSD, but so what if you wear it out those last 5 years, thats just making good use of the machine. Thats the lifespan i see for my mac and how id spend my money.

[@MrRiffbear1]

Would they behave different with the M1MAX?

[@alexgaensler3397]

What's more worth the upgrade: 8-core with 32gb of ram or 10-core with 16gb of ram?

[@samueljohnson9346]

The second option

[@Kavones]

Can you PLEASE check the difference between 16 and 32gb RAM when usimg stabilisatiom and Fusion im DaVinci? This is something that nobody covers.. I can't believe you are all testing that export speed that's pretty irrelevant for MOST of editors tbh

[@Kluttzv]

You can’t force a KZbinr to test anything. Why don’t you test it yourself? All things aside, I have M1 Max 16 inch 10/32/32 1TB SSD and I use fusion and it handles 4k 4.2.0 8 bit perfect fine. However, the nature of fusion no matter you’re using will require proxies. That being said, I use primarily 4k clips and use plantar tracking and it handles it well. These laptops are great but fusion is a part of DR that manhandles every PC of laptop you throw at it. In my opinion, fusion with 32/64GB will be more than enough. I am a freelancer and 32GB is great with these MacBook pros. If you’re not professional I would seriously stick with these laptops.

[@Kavones]

@@Kluttzv I would test them but they are unavailable in Croatia where i'm from.. Yeah, i'm freelancer top, was hoping to get away with 16gb maybe hahah The silenceand the battery are key features of MBP i like, had a gaming laptop for half the price but the battery under load was 2-3 hours which isn't enough for me.. Thanks for the feedback!

[@Kluttzv]

@@Kavones I am in US and i got them the first day

[@simhey991]

meanwhile, I am still fascinated with 8gb ram performance in my M1 after a few weeks of usage. Far better than my 16GB ram gaming laptop, ha!

[@asdbef3667]

Lol..liar

[@simhey991]

@@asdbef3667 its ok, I don't need to convince anyone when Im happy with it 😁

[@asdbef3667]

@@simhey991 i dont care what you are convinced with... 16 gb ram shouldnt be a problem..thats just blinded delusional fanboy comment about macs

[@simhey991]

@@asdbef3667 and I don't care about your opinion brah, good day

[@asdbef3667]

@@simhey991 neither do i But you confirmed lied about 16gb ram That's a fact..not.opinion

[@Darkmage4]

So. 16GB would be the best. I already have the 2021 M1 16 inch, 16GB version coming this monday (Valentines Day! lol). I only edit in 720p-1080p videos. Even my desktop can render out a 15 minute video in 2 minutes with a zen 9 3900x, 32GB DDR4 Ram, and a 1070 Ti 8GB. I only work with Ae for audio music videos. Since I'd work with both my desktop and MBP, I think multi-tasking wouldn't be to much of an issue. I just needed a on-the-go type computer when needed. But, quick 10-15 minute edits, with a few Graphics added in. (The subscribe, or transitions, type thing) Shouldn't be to much of a hassle. Ae Struggles on my PC. When I work in Ae alone, and shut off every single program. playback needs to be at 1/4. Though I'd assume my system is being bottlenecked by the 1070. It's easier to buy a MBP, than it is to find a graphics card at proper MSRB value. lol.

[@yervandpapazyan4473]

I did not get it, if there is a 4 GB free space on a 16GB version why it uses memory swap?

[@pawecuryo5623]

Thank you a lot for this robust piece of testing!

[@debdootmanna]

Hey, I have a question. I'm a music producer and I'm planning to buy a new MacBook (probably m1 pro) and the software used in Ableton Live, a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). These types of software are CPU and RAM-intensive applications. The more I add tracks/layers to my project, the more instruments and audio clips I add, and the more it acquires RAM storage. So which one should I go with? 16 GB or 32 GB?

[@mandable]

in my experience, 16gb is enough due to the new type of RAM management they utilize. if you are producing regular music (not music for blockbuster movies and surround sound with huge libraries open all at once), 16Gb will do the job. get 32gb if you are producing using huge libraries of sample-synths and soft synths with 100s of tracks for each project, typical for a hollywood movie music producer's needs.

[@TheNordicHunter]

Just out of curiosity, how were the fans when you were trying to overload the system? I couldn’t pick up on any sound, but I know that’s easily cut out in post.

[@phanindrasingh]

no fan sound m1 new chips nalid it

[@alegrevers_]

the power consumption in 32gb version is higher?

[@eduvivan2562]

Do you think that Davinci fusion users will have issues with 16gb?

[@AgentStarke]

Thank you for doing such a comprehensive test. Definitely going with 32 as I use After Effects a lot.

[@HeGarJun]

But if you use after effects a lot would windows system be a better choice for you? I'm struggling with that now. :[ what's your standpoint?

[@AgentStarke]

@@HeGarJun I was considering a Windows system initially but now that Adobe has optimized After Effects and most the other CC apps for the M1, I decided to go with the Mac for the battery life and performance. So far it's working flawlessly.

[@blackmamba6938]

You honestly wasted your money. They both edit the exact same. Only the export time is faster, but how often are you actually exporting? Instead you should've put that money on bitcoin and in 7=8 years you can buy a brand new Macbook

[@ceementality]

@@blackmamba6938 telling someone to put the money in one big source is about the worst advice ever 💀

[@blackmamba6938]

@@ceementality you’re only putting the price of the RAM upgrade on bitcoin. So that’s like $400. It’s not even that crazy.

[@elijahmodnar1]

nice, but i wonder whats the difference from 16c gpu 16gb vs 32gb on 24c/32c gpu

[@jackbaggaley8836]

For an architecture student constantly having safari open with 20-30 tabs, rhino 3D modelling software, photoshop and cad open all at once would the 32gb be worthwhile compared to the 16?

[@Fhwgads11]

Probably yes, I imagine that the 3d modeling software, photoshop, and cad all want a decent chunk of memory each. How much ram do you use now?

[@kelniai2770]

RAM is not a problem. Bad software usage habits are the problem

[@Wablestomp2]

@@kelniai2770 lol imagine if product companies had this mindset of “it’s not our product that needs to evolve to meet consumer demand, but it is the use cases consumers desire that need to change.” I hope you don’t design consumer facing products lol

[@kelniai2770]

@@Wablestomp2 not saying that. I mean, if you give someone 64 gigs, they're not gonna smart about usage. I run Docker on a Mac and a VM for Linux, for example. For each I can allocate a certain amount of RAM. If I don't care about storage, I could give both of them 10 gigs which would be stupid. Also, a fellow engineer likes to keep 20 projects open, just that it's easier to find, faster to open. Each project is 0.5GB of RAM or something. In short, people will use up all the resources that they have and no amount will be enough. Talking about consumer-grade hardware of course where RAM is up to 64GB, etc, not workstations.

[@KutCut]

How is the Blender experience in the new Mac? are there any restrictions or should I stick to my Windows? Thanks

[@anaumrabbani7100]

How do you run the tests on the MacBook?

[@Oscop9]

I'd like to know the remaining battery comparison after the test. I heard that using swap memory makes more workflow to CPU, compared to using RAM.

[@bartonlynch]

Correct, it creates a bottleneck among other issues. RAM is king.

[@jasperdany]

How about with Logic Pro , Cubase or any DAW in that perspective ? .

[@jamieg9523]

why is the the top of the trackpad on the left mac have a bigger gap from the keyboard?

[@adp038]

Does WindowServer take up 200-500 MB sometimes to anyone else even though nothing may be running? Happens on the new 14 inch for me

[@GA7studio19]

What is the best option to use Revit 2022 the MacBook pro M1 pro or M1Max ?

[@muhammad1502]

Maybe do an updated comparison for the M3 suite or maybe the upcoming M4s MacBooks?

[@anthonyvidil3698]

For blender, cinema4D users, is it better to take 16 or 32go ram ?

[@bassereric]

I wonder if the After Effects 22.3 update changes the result or not. Also, apart from the encoding time, what about the actual user experience of AE on the 16GB version? Will it lag? Will it force quit on its own? Freezed? Or is there just the encoding time difference?

[@joshfernandez8475]

Hey bro any updates on the questions you have asked 😋?

[@tronwars7130]

WAIT WAIT WAIT :-) There is a more important talking point, SSD cells have a certain mean time before they fail. If you continue your thrash your page file you are going to shorten the life of your SSD. For the small extra cost of memory you should always opt for more memory as it's far cheaper than having a SSD that's been thrashed for 3-4 years and starts to degrade. Also, when you page you are making system calls to the SSD which will mean more power usage mostly, maybe not a problem plugged in but on the go all day could be. At minimum you should go for as much memory as you can, over the life time of your notebook software OS, apps etc will only get more bulky and demand more. Having a lot of memory is going to save your SSD drives from wearing out early. This may even be a sales point when selling your Apple in future as a Apple that has a fairly SSD or has been thrashed a lot will have less value and these things are soldered so can't be swapped out.

[@sameersmerchant]

Can you show a multicam 4K edit?

[@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy]

Why nobody compares Logic Pro, GarageBand, Reaper??? We musicians do exist!!!!!!!!!!

[@thomas0086]

😂

[@csiistandard]

The laptops specs used..was this a 8core CPU, 14c gpu with 16gb ram and 8c cpu, 14c gpu with 32gb ram??

[@ignskeletons]

You can get a refurbished Macbook Air (2019) for about the same price of JUST the $400 RAM upgrade from 16GB to 32GB.

[@Teluric2]

Why dont you show the video where that numbers come from?

[@mustafasfotography6736]

Hello Matt! Should I buy 16inch MacBook Pro base model m1 for mainly video editing of A7S iii 4k 4:2:2 wedding film of 30mins of final edited video with 10hrs of total 4k footages in a project. Or i should buy 32gb, Please help with a solution.

[@morganBH]

I mainly just use FCP and pixlemator at the same time, with chrome (2-4 tabs) and apple mail in the background. 16 be okay? Thanks.

[@caseykronos]

For binned v unbinned, do you foresee the lack of CPU and gpu cores being a future proof bottleneck? Possibly worth the upgrade? My concern is that I completely will not be able to complete a task due to lack of cores. Thank you!

[@mbvglider]

During most day-to-day use, 6+2 cores will do just fine, and until you're maxing out all the cores, like during an export, binned M1 Pro is just as fast as M1 Max in terms of CPU. If anything, binned models have better battery life. Sure, $300 upgrade doesn't sound like that much when you're talking about a $1999 computer, but only do it if you want the benefits now because I don't think it adds to future-proofing. Spending $300 more will give you a computer that is exactly as fast 98-99% of the time, but once in a while, you might shave a minute off a 5 minute task. Is that actually going to change how long you keep your computer? That's why I think people should buy for now, not for later. It's not like the Intel days when an i3 MacBook Air was like 15-20% slower than an i7 in even simple tasks like web browsing.

[@DJ-Coma]

What kind of stuff are you doing?

[@caseykronos]

@@DJ-Coma various video editing softwares along w final cut and Logic Pro. Also most of Adobe creative suite. I don’t do much 3D modeling but would like to have the hardware capable of handling after effects. Possibility of Rhino. I’m not doing 8k anything lol or even much 4K.

[@caseykronos]

@@mbvglider great point. I’m pretty concise when it comes to running applications and idc if it takes slightly longer. Just want to be able to play when projects involve higher levels of after effects/ graphic computation lol

[@vankhanhnguyen1518]

What should i choose between a macpro m3 24 gb ram, 512gb ssd and macpro m3 pro 18gb ram 512gb? Same price but different ram and chip. I do code but not really heavy, however i want to keep this mac for like 5 years lol

[@AKA-KOSINSKI]

What’s that foam behind you? It looks great!

[@studiovivazofficial]

Finally a video which shows actual indepth daily heavy load usage with background tasks eating up the RAM. amazing video for indecisive souls ... like me! 😅

[@dw9679]

So, the swap is on your hard drive. If you have an SSD, there is only a matter of time before the cell on it will become less effective and eventually cause the drive to fail. by increasing swap usage, you are leading the drive to fail faster. So this video shows how swap usage changes based on specs. It also reaffirms for me that if you want your Mac to last longer then you would want more RAM and perhaps a bigger SSD... though this isn't spoken of directly. I do video editing, so this would be true for me, maybe not just for web browsing.

[@leongorani5121]

Is this true? More ram creats a longer life for a MacBook? I’m debating on the 16 vs 32 bf of ram for a new MacBook with 1tb of storage.

[@MelvsAmores]

Thank you for shedding light in this! Now we know. Thanks to you of course.

[@weho_brian]

my heart says no, but my 473 chrome tabs says Yasss

[@laurencegoldman4639]

OK. It would be useful to see what the 16GB version can do with the high pressure tasks with everything unnecessary shut down. Have web browsers open on another device. What I'd like to say is, in this day and age Apple is still nicklel and diming customers who are paying huge bucks already, into receiving things adequate RAM and ports as a privilege. It was always so easy to max out ram on a Windows PC. Ports were never a problem. Easy to build out with multiple storage drives. It is really nonsense to have to worry about this stuff: $400 to go 32GB RAM-this should be standard on "Pro" machines.

[@mrparts]

Apple always does this knowing that a bunch of people will rant and complain but ultimately give in and pay the extra cash for the memory upgrade. If enough people simply stopped buying you’d see the prices of these “upgrades” drop….

[@thebravegallade731]

@@mrparts well that doesn't work, casue in the end of the day, most of the people buying the maxed out models are people who do work. and if you know anything about buesness equipment, you know that most of them charge a heck of a lot more then consumer grade items. the 999 stand is the kind of thing thats common in that sector, for example.

[@TheNordicHunter]

@@thebravegallade731 That, plus they just write the expense off. Nobody will ever outsmart Apple when it comes to making money.

[@pjedidiah]

not ram related question i guess, but I wonder how it will perform if it has 2 or 3 32” 4K monitors with same number of chrome tabs, doing photoshop, then video rendering etc..

[@nishadgmusic5829]

Macbook pro M1 pro 32gb ram 512 ssd VS macbook pro M2 pro 16gb ram 512 ssd Both are for same price right now Which one to buy ? I use Logic pro alot and wanna upgrade Please let me know

[@TuanTrinh-qx5vq]

What green wallpaper is that? :o

[@djoppeneer]

what about audio editing?

[@sumanth3036]

Also please compare 32gb vs 64gb m1 Max...

[@AndrewMcSpadden]

if i use multiple monitors (3 displays total) - zoom (screensharing)&OBS (1 display) photoshop(2nd display) and many chrome tabs (3rd display) - do I need 32 gb? or would I be good with 16?

[@JohnDoe-fu4qd]

what about audio files?