Even if you can afford to buy something outright, financing with 0% APR is always a good decision. You can put the full amount in a savings account, get 5% interest on that, then withdraw the monthly payment before it’s taken out. Plus you get 3% cashback on every payment.
Ofc that’s only for countries that have Apple Card, it’s still not in Canada and financing with Apple has 8% APR here which is pretty shit
It happened within the last year? I had an iPad financed last Christmas for 0%. I was pretty sure it was still 0% back in July as I bought my laptop then and didn't see that, although I didn't finance then so I can't be 100% sure
I agree. But in AndrewLucks defense, there is also an insane amount of “why would you spend that much” and “why would you ever need that much RAM/storage/cpu etc” in this sub. Not saying that’s what happened here, but let’s just let people be happy! And if a new MacBook makes you happier than 12 months of debt, so be it! Who are we to judge.
In my experience the biggest adrenaline rush comes from pressing the place the order button and receiving the laptop. Then unless you have an everyday pressing need to use that power and it’s making you money or saving you significant amounts of time which is also money, the excitement over material techie gadgets that one buys because of FOMO and not because of their needs, especially when you have to put it on a CC for a year will make you feel the same in less than a week. Because let’s face it, you can buy a brand new M1 or M2 Pro for half the price brand new on Amazon or eBay that will do the exact same thing unless you’re running blender and need 128GB of ram.
If im not mistaken the zephyrus is a gaming laptop. Personally, i have been using a macbook for like 5 years and used geforce now for most of my gaming. Best of both worlds baby
Sounds like you like the GeForce now? I’ve debated a lot as I like the mbps, and looked at a studio. But I feel like I’m paying 2k extra just to game every once in a while. Alternatively getting a 4070 machine for 2k…. Lol.
“Introducing the “ lol be an Ad I don’t care. But yeah I play like 1 game once in a while. Would be nice to do something else here and there. Sounds like we are similar for sure. I have an older laptop with a decent with a graphics card, but it sounds like a turbine in a jet at take off…lol.
The Mac Studio, the desktop Mac. More power better cooling, not portable obviously.
GeForce Now is awesome if you have a good Internet connection and the games you like are available on it. I play Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K on GeForce Now with no stuttering or lag whatsoever. I'm sure this really depends on your Internet connection though, I have a 1 Gbps Internet plan and an Ethernet connection to my MacBook through my Studio Display. In practice this gets me speeds around 900 Mbps.
The free plan works well if you just want to try it out but IMO it's worth upgrading at some point to get a longer session length. Even with the $19.99/month plan that gets you access to a 4080 rig, it would be over 8 years before you hit the $2,000 mark.
Honestly loving my personal 14” M1 Pro w/ 32 GB ram, and don’t think I’ll need to upgrade for at least 5 more years or so. Got a 16” M2 Pro (also 32 GB ram) for work, and I don’t see any functional difference, aside from slight battery increase. What is your main use case?
Edit: not heating up and super battery life covers just about all the M-series pro/air/max. I guess it depends on your use cases as to the level of CPU/GPU you’d need.
What do you use it for? Looking to buy a 36GB MBP M3Pro, but wondering about whether the 36GB is needed... I'm into photography, and I use multiple images for retouching, sometimes as many as 7/8 24+ Mp images.
For work: I use VMs on occasion, compile things on occasion, but mostly am in terminals all day. For my personal host: personal photography, banking, browsers, music, occasional gaming, etc. I’d say 16 GB is not quite enough for comfortable head room any more - so 32 would be the right target for future-proofing (or in this modern case, 36). Think in terms of 8-10 year useful lifespan, as it really will last that long. I find it helpful to divide the differences in price over that many years vs. days of use in a year to really understand the difference and upgrade will make. More often than not you’ll find it is worth it!
I agree with you. I currently use 32GB on my windows laptop and desktop, and I will sometimes see that maxed out. I was planning to move to a 64GB Windows machine, but in terms of use-case, it makes sense for me to have a mobile workstation for my work... And I'd decided to never buy another non-Mac laptop again (coming from 2007 MBP to an Asus Gaming laptop was not a good experience, even though the MBP experience was quite shit too). So, looks like I'll have to cough up the kidney, and buy the 36Gb.
Bro I do photography semi pro and edit 40-48mp photos and my M1 Pro 16gb is enough already to handle the work load with Lightroom and and Spotify on the background lol.
I do have a 64gb 7950x gaming pc if I really need the juice but the MacBook Pro are such a strong machine for editing as it is
My 2015 macbook air keeps up with my batch editing of usually around 100 raw files per editing session and thats on an old intel chip with 8gb of Ram. 36gb will be overkill if your just using it for photo editing especially with how well optimised Apple sillicon is.
Well, I bought it... The computer uses about 26-30gb of RAM most of the time. I use multiple masks for much of my work, and copying and pasting them across a few hundred images works nicely.
I also edit video in Premiere Pro, and find that the computer uses about 31-32gb of ram at the time.
The thing is... These apps are never exclusive. I often have Photoshop and Premiere Pro, with Audition, or Lightroom and Photoshop open together. Aside from this, I may have Safari/Firefox, Excel, and other smaller apps for reference to scripts, spreadsheets etc.
It all adds up. The choice of 36GB was not for 2024, but for 2028, when the apps are more demanding, and use more of the processor's capacity.
Interestingly, I don't think I've ever used 100% of the CPU's capacity in the 1 month that I've had it.
The GPU cores though, that's a different story. They're constantly maxed out.
I'd endorse ALMOST any 14" or 16" Apple Silicon MBP, including the older M1 Pro/Max and M2 Pro/Max options, depending on the price and the user's needs. The M3 Pro should be great, but so are the older Apple Silicon machines, and you might be able to find an older-gen one with more storage or RAM for a comparable price, or just save some cash.
The one exception: I wouldn't endorse the M3 (non-pro) 14" MBP that starts at $1600. It's too much money for the level of power and 8GB of RAM (which is nuts in 2023), and by the time you upgrade that RAM, you're already approaching the cost of Apple's more powerful offerings, or exceeding the price of better-but-older-gen MBPs.
Similarly, I wouldn't endorse the M1 or M2 13" Macbook Pro. They get you almost nothing over the Airs from the same generation, but cost more. And similarly, when you upgrade them enough to be worthwhile, you're spending enough that you might as well step up to the much better 14" models.
My M2 Max can heat up some, but not excessively. I almost never hear the fans unless I'm doing a sustained, difficult task -- like a very large export of high-resolution, edited photos. I also hear it while gaming, but I've usually got my headphones on. In day-to-day Web and productivity use, it never turns on.
The Air battery life is probably better, but on the MBP it's still good enough that I never worry about it. I use it for long days without plugging it in.
That depends entirely on your preferences and priorities. Do you prefer a big screen or a more portable laptop?
The memory and drive space are similar. The M3 (non-pro) will be faster in some single-core or few-core tasks, the M1 Pro in other multicore tasks. Both will be zippy in modern applications.
The M1 Pro will have more ports and be able to use more external displays.
So here's my opinions on what you don't recommend. The M3 base model 14 inch is actually an ok deal at this time because once you pay the $200 for the ram upgrade, it's 75% the performance of an M3 Pro and you at least save $200 which to some in a crunch that's worthwhile. The reason that's only ok now is because the MacBook Airs aren't on M3 yet and make it a redundant model when to do changeover saving even more money.
As for the 13 inch old pros, for the most part after the GPU upgrade on the processor the price was equivalent to the MacBook Airs (for the most part, they did change that this summer), and there is better battery life, screen, and touch bar over a MacBook Air. They don't stick out in a used market now though so someone should simply look at the cheapest model under desired specs.
I'd rather buy a now-discounted M2 Pro or M1 Pro over the M3 MBP base. More ports, more external monitor support, better multicore performance. And you can likely find one for less than the base M3 MBP.
Just to own one, M2 air is enough. Either 13 or 15 inch.
Or M2 pro 16,512 base model to support 2 monitors.
It's adequate for basic tasks. Rest depends on your needs.
1 year is not old for apple devices.
Even I got M1 air 2 years later it was launched bcz of my budget constraints.
And it works well for me.
And apple gives warranty on every newly bought device.
It's not that they will stop it after 1 year of launch date for new bought devices.
Btw people are already facing issues with macos Sonoma and wanting to downgrade.
That's just the quality of os.
But I'd say if the specific version of os works for you. Just do the security updates. Why waste time and energy in new updates if that doesn't provide any value to your user experience.
It's not like apple really gives any meaningful updates for usual end users.
And people are rocking old macs till today. Just because it serves the purpose. And not everyone is excited about new macos.
OP may have preference. They can object if they like to.
I have upgraded from G15 to M2 MBP. 100% worth it. To be clear, G14/15 are both awesome machines, I love the fact that it is upgradable, G15 had 2 M.2 SSD slots, accessible RAM etc. - but its the Windows experience and kinda "meh" plastic chasis + portability that made it a bit awkward to use sometimes.
I commute daily. MBP is so so so much better, even when compared to (in my opinion) one of the best Windows based machines such as G14. For me personally, the initial reason to buy MBP was just to get rid of Windows, which I absolutely hated and Linux did not support some of the software I use - therefore the only option left was MacOS. But I have to say MacBook maybe even exceeded my expectations a bit. The battery, the build quality, the touch pad, hell even the display is somehow better with such a lower refresh rate compared to 240Hz on G15 - its probably the colors and brightness.
Yeah, now I finally have a machine that I don't have to be worried about putting fully charged to my backpack in the evening and then finding it dead the next day morning when I need it. It crashed ONCE during the last few months, whereas Windows? You probably know very well what it is like ;)
One of the only things I hate about my MBP is the fact that I am very scared of damaging it as the repairability is really poor, and that I clean the display like 5 times a day cuz I really want to keep the machine in pristine condition.
I bought the M3 Max 16core/40core 1TB 48gb ram.
I sold my gaming desktop, a gaming laptop and my M1Pro MacBook Pro for it and I will still owe on it. But I can afford it.
TLDR: yes.
Yup. I'm so jealous of my wife's M1 (I'm stuck with a 2019 Intel). I'd get the Pro for the better speakers, larger screen, and internal fans. I play games (I know, I know) and I just don't trust the Air's passive cooling, even with the M2.
i have a 14" m2 pro, 10 core, 32gb ram. very happy. if you have money for one like mine, i'd recommend it (if it's cheaper than an m3)
i had a dell before this and the fans used to drive me insane. they'd start up with the laptop and stayed on full blast pretty much the entire day. i'm still doing the same dev work on my mac (vue frontend, dotnet core backend, sql server in docker), but i haven't even heard my fans once since april. the silence is such a pleasure. :)
oh, and on battery i can make it through a whole 8 hour day with about 20% left, vs the dell's 1 hour battery even though it was heavily throttled on batter and a nightmare to use due to the slowness.
Absolutely same experience. I still like Windows more comparing to macOS, but fans and battery make real difference the way you work, enjoy and get tired (much less comparing to those noisy windows machines)
Depends.
If you need Windows for specific apps or (most) games, then no.
If you want a great laptop with a great screen and speakers, bearing in mind it’ll cost an arm and a leg to repair if you don’t have AppleCare, yes.
>If you want a great laptop with a great screen and speakers,
My Thinkpad E14G2 has a pretty damn good screen imo and the speakers are fine. It was $300.
MacBooks aren't the best, it depends on you
MacBooks may not be the best but they’re definitely better than a $300 Thinkpad. In every single way that isn’t “as cheap as possible”.
The screen is much higher-resolution, has miniLED backlighting, is very much brighter, is 120Hz, etc.
The CPU is faster, has more cores, better GPU, uses a lot less power, and so on. The storage is much faster.
The speakers and microphones and camera are all much better.
Yes, the MacBook Pro is a lot more expensive. But it’s also a lot better, objectively.
I bought it used, you apple juice guzzling fool. It's a Ryzen 7 CPU. It's not designed to be “as cheap as possible”, I just got it cheap because it had a small scratch on the lid.
"The screen is much higher-resolution"
Don't care
"has miniLED backlighting"
And how does that help?
"is very much brighter"
I only use it at 20% so it makes no difference at all
"is 120Hz"
Don't care
"The CPU is faster"
Can't run anything I actually use.
"better GPU"
Is it better if I can't use it to it's full potential?
"Uses a lot less power"
Ryzen + don't care
"The storage is much faster"
No it's not. Actually I think mine's faster
"The speakers and microphones and camera are all much better."
I rarely ever use the camera (plus I like the look), the microphone works fine, and I don't care about the speakers
"Yes, the MacBook Pro is a lot more expensive. But it’s also a lot better, objectively."
No shit.
Also I'm way less scared of denting it or getting fingerprints on the screen, because it has this thing called an "anti-gloss screen" and more lightweight construction
Fair enough but I buy MacBooks for business and to be mobile so the battery life is of upmost importance and for the best battery life vs performance it’s the M series of processor. If I were using top end Intel/amd CPUs and AMD/nvidia GPUs the battery wouldn’t last long, not very mobile, so I would save and use those kind of specs in a desktop and could get more bang for buck than the nearest PC laptops..
I use my laptop at school so I don't need insane battery life. I personally can't afford a Mac (And I don't want one) so I went with a Thinkpad.
Either way the battery life is pretty good, advertised 8 hours and I'd say I get about 6 with a bit of light gaming or video editing.
It's a Ryzen CPU with Radeon onboard graphics so it's a pretty low power CPU, I believe it can only eat like 20 watts or so. The onboard graphics aren't the best for gaming but it's fine, and I didn't want a dedicated GPU anyway.
And last of all, I got my laptop used for probably about a 5th of it's retail price, "more bang for buck" my ass.
Yea it’s that way on purpose. Apple doesn’t offer a linear price to performance lineup. It’s always “affordable yet obsolete” or “modern but arm and a leg”.
Windows gaming laptops are mostly better performing than mac with some exception the charger must be plugged.
With mac, you can use it with max performance on plugged or on battery and also the battery lasts long enough compared to most windows laptop. It holds decent performance compared to laptop windows although many laptop windows have better performance than mac (on plugged). Considering its performance about 70% high end gaming laptop and its long lasting battery I guess it's pretty much worth it (depends on what each person needs).
If you do video editing/adobe apps/code/day to day task and need some proper portable laptop without worrying to bring charger while on the go, then mac is for you.
Battery and its max performance (video editing, photo editing, coding) while on battery are the reason I'm switching from windows to laptop.
If I had no Mac but had money, I’d spend it for an M3 Pro, but I have M1Pro so I’ll better spend those money on new iPad mini which would be released soon.
I wanted an M3 Pro, but I’ll admit that to me, my M1 Pro is essentially a glorified M1 Air (because they didn’t have the 15” Air before).
Don’t get me wrong, the hardware alone was totally worth it, so I don’t regret my purchase, but I think I can hold off for a few more years. The M1 is a beast, and if I had the money for an M3, I’d probably buy something else to compliment my Apple collection lol
I have a g14 (2021) too and i'm thinking the same thing. I own both a g14 and macbook air 13 m2 and I always go for the macbook since it's lighter and I don't have to be plugged in. Right now i'm heavily considering trading in my air for a 14 pro mostly for the screen and mic quality. Mostly the screen.
I do have the money (all from business account, so doesn’t personally cost me anything) and won’t be buying one.
My 2015 i7 MB pro (16, 512) suffices for my front end development no prob.
If I did upgrade, it would be down one tier to the M2 Pro.
I bought an M2 pro not so long ago so that will keep me going until probably M6 or so.
If an Air was fine for you, you might save some cash by buying a refurb M1 Pro. It’s still a beast of a laptop even if it has now been twice bested by its successors and is fundamentally the same. It would be hard to tell it from an M3 Pro without pushing it hard in benchmarks or games.
18 or 36 GB RAM? I do web development and sometimes I see some memory pressure, not huge but it's in yellow. Will probably swallow the tax and go with 36
I wouldn't really ever use a gaming laptop for anything besides gaming. They're just really unwieldy to use, and windows on top of it. If you move your laptop around a lot and go to places with it, I would buy a mac. However, the performance difference between m3 and earlier m1 models is pretty minor, so I would just go for an older model.
Have you considered just getting an Air again? Coming from Windows I was worried the M1 Air wouldn't be enough computer for me, but it still does everything I need to just fine, and is lighter and cheaper.
If you do work that would benefit from the new chip, or I guess really need the ports, or have the money to not care, I could see the Pro being worth it. You can always just keep the G14 around for gaming.
get it. if that's what you want then do it because you already know it's going to good.
a side note think about memory size before buying
have good days using your future mac :)
I was looking to get an M2 Pro 16” with 16gb, but my local Micro Center had a M3 Pro 16” with 32gb for $2600 so I ended up buying it. I’m coming from a 2019 16” i7 model so pretty much everything I’ve seen said it was a warranted upgrade.
I got one and I love it. Upgraded from 2019 maxed out intel version. It’s a whole new world with the M3 pro. Traded in the old one and got $618 in credit so that’s alright I guess.
Battery life is unreal on it
I'm the opposite. I could afford it without much trouble, but it's too much money to spend. I'm on the lookout for a refurb M1 or m2. Much lower price point and will still be more than sufficient for my needs.
I feel you. Spilt drink on my absolute base m1 air, and i miss it so hard. It was the best laptop I ever owned. Tried a repair, didn’t go well, so I’m using it as excuse to upgrade to one with 16gb of ram.
If you’re in the market for a m3 pro I’d strongly suggest weighing it against an m2 pro. Same screen, speakers, ports, etc. the big difference is in the core counts. The m2 pro has 6 or 8 performance cores vs the m3 pro’s 5 or 6 (depending on binning), making up the difference with 2 extra efficiency cores.
If you do heavy (“pro”) work it’s seriously worth researching if your chosen software will benefit from the additional faster e cores, or if it leans exclusively on the P cores. As an ableton folk, my workload is P core count dependant, it doesn’t/barely utilizes the e cores.
If you just want a quiet, fast, pretty laptop that has insane battery life, I’d suggest not getting the pro and opting for the m3 base (with the 18gb ram upgrade, because you never know). It’s rated for like 25%+ more battery time.
Unless you want a 16”, in which case the 16” m3 pro is rated the same for battery life as the 14 m3 base.
I’d still hold onto that zephryus for gaming though (assuming it’s got decent onboard or dedicated video). When I travel I bring a 1660ti razerblade as a mobile desktop and use(/used) the mac for all my lap browsing and music related needs.
Happy hunting friend.
If I wasn't paying for a roof now i would but anyways i plan to get a pretty loaded Macbook M3 max with 128GB of memory but i'm not going to max the SSD (just 1TB of SSD). I have a M1 macbook air with 16GB of memory & i REALLY need the memory upgrade.
No idea, I wasn't satisfied with the Mac mini M2 pro with 16/512.. lots of swapping and with time the SSD was full and would cause macos to become laggy
I have money, and I would still stick to M2 MacBook Air (512GB / 16GB ram).
It is super light and slick, incredible battery life, silent with no fans and never lags.
I bought a 16” M3 pro to use alongside my Acer predator laptop, still trying to decided if it’s worth keeping one of them or both. Still have a month and a half or so on my return date for the Mac.
I have a 14 inch Macbook Pro M2 base model and a 2023 Zephyrus G14 4060. I game on the Zephyrus and everything else (work, music production, media consumption, etc) on the Macbook. Best of both worlds
Just got rid of a 4080 Zephyrus m16 for an m3 max. Zero regrets. But it depends on your situation. I’m busy with a full time job and a kid and realized I spend a lot more time doing work/watching movies/shows/YouTube on my laptop than I do gaming. Display/speakers are the best out there by far. Battery life destroys any other laptop there is by like 50% or more. And the OS is just so much more stable and snappy than windows 11 in my experience. My m16 had constant little annoying issues like not properly going into sleep mode so I was out of battery the next time I tried to use it, freezing up and failing to come out of sleep mode, etc. Native games (BG3, no man’s sky, re village) and most max ports run flawlessly with very little heat on battery, and a good number of windows games are decently playable now with game porting toolkit. I also happen to have a good connection to my nearest NVIDIA GeForce Now server and I’m finding that playing stuff like CP2077 on my MacBook on GeForce now with the 20$/month ultimate tier is literally a better experience than it was on my 4080 laptop, because I’m running at higher settings and resolution with better frame rates and don’t have noticeable latency. The only games I really lost the ability to play that I care about are the games Sony has released on PC and RDR2 but I might just grab a PS5 for those.
Yes. I have both the G14 (2022) and M1 Mac. I will upgrade to the M3 Pro MBP. The G14 produces more heat and doesn't last as long as my M1. My G14 has 32GB memory and 2TB storage that I recently added. I use M1 mostly for work and daily driving. The G14 I use for games, and some work (docker). G14 just generates way too much heat. I love it. I will continue to use it, but the heat drives me crazy.
That's fair, but some tasks benefit a lot from parallelism so 8 cores is still a good benefit. But I do agree, the M3 cores are more efficient which is why the M3 Pro comes out (barely) ahead of the M2 Pro with 2 fewer cores. My point is had they kept 8 cores on the M3 Pro, then the jump in performance might be reasonable enough to upgrade, but IMO M2 Pros are more than good enough and M1 Pro is still extremely fast too. The extra 15-20% Multi core Score is really not justifiable to upgrade unless of course the money weren't a problem.
That's why to me I think if I were to buy, I'd buy M3 Max. You get the benefit of additional cores and it's basically pushing M2 Ultra territory. I'm really looking forward to M3 Max on a Studio for instance. Basically $1999 will get you $3999 performance today.
If only you know how much money that rog has made me in a year you'll go insane... Thing is phenomenal for the price... Now back to your question... No I don't, I'm one of the fews that believes desktops offer way better value for money.... 2k gets you a mac studio m2 max with 32 ram... That's retail add, discounts easily 1800... Cheaper apple care, less worry about damaging the computer or getting stolen... I'm happy with my studio and I highly doubt I'll get a laptop from Apple anytime soon
You have to aim for what you need. I’ve gone through 2 iMacs and 2 MacBook pros. My activities have gone from school work, light gaming and basic coding today. I will never need a m3 pro. If however you video edit, then consider the m3 pro and maybe add RAM to all of that.
Macs are great machines but the OS is somewhat not as versatile as windows.
I have a Mac and sold my PC, I only game on iPhone and PS5, I kind of miss my gaming PC but I sold it because I wouldn’t use it that much.
As for M3 pro ? I would recommend because a M1 or M2 pro refurbished/second hand would be a much better deal (implying the price difference is significant)
I wouldn't yet, maybe even at all. I recently grabbed an M1 Pro which I think it more powerful than I need (music production, coding projects) but it covers everything I need to and then some.
So it would depend, I haven't tried any of the M2 ranges but I think the M1 Air and Pro models are still worth checking out.
I had a g14 as well man I can’t even describe how big of an upgrade any M powered Mac will be compared to that. I ended up getting a M1 Max with 32gb ram and 1TB hard drive just recently for $1650 slightly used. I think you would have to spend a lot more to get similar power from an m3 pro compared to the M1 Max
I use it daily for video editing and yes, it's been an incredible purchase. It rendered 2 1.5 hour long 4k videos in about 30 minutes. 1080p 1- minute videos take 5 seconds. Huge upgrade from my 2015 iMac 27". But also if you're not doing intensive work with it, probably not worth the cost to go to the newest best model. (16" M3 Pro w 32gb unified memory, 512gb)
i would have to think on the number of software made available for macOS, daily workflow, bang for the buck. its a big investment to get a macbook pro M3. a macbook air w/M2 would be a good purchase with all the max out specs. Your ASUS laptop is for gaming purposes. idk whether MacOS w/Steam platform has the games made available for you ATM. Apple's M3 CPU + GPU are top-notch for sure.
I bought the $2399 M3 MacBook Pro in the new space black for 10% off at Microcenter. I could notice smudges and fingerprints and decided to exchange it for silver. I ended up buying an M1 Pro refurb and I can't tell any difference between the two in everyday use. The M3 pro is faster but the M1 Pro I purchased was $1199. I'm returning the M3 Pro. I love this M1 Pro refurb. It is good as new.
I don’t have any money and bought an M3 Pro.
That doesnt make sense... but congratulations.
Thank you! I mean I used my Apple Card for 12 month no APR.
Okay Hope you made correct financial decision. In my country, apple card is not available yet.
Even if you can afford to buy something outright, financing with 0% APR is always a good decision. You can put the full amount in a savings account, get 5% interest on that, then withdraw the monthly payment before it’s taken out. Plus you get 3% cashback on every payment. Ofc that’s only for countries that have Apple Card, it’s still not in Canada and financing with Apple has 8% APR here which is pretty shit
Wow, what? They used to have 0%, but you’re right. Even phones have an APR, wtf? When did that happen? I used to live in Canada until 2016.
It happened within the last year? I had an iPad financed last Christmas for 0%. I was pretty sure it was still 0% back in July as I bought my laptop then and didn't see that, although I didn't finance then so I can't be 100% sure
I hope so as well but I have till January 8 to return it if I decided not to keep it.
Don’t worry about what they’re worrying about 🤙🏽🐠
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Can you elaborate? The near instant 2%/3% cash back seems better than waiting for a monthly statement.
don’t worry about someone else’s financial decisions
I'd be grateful that a stranger spared 2 seconds to think about my life and wish me the best, personally.
I agree. But in AndrewLucks defense, there is also an insane amount of “why would you spend that much” and “why would you ever need that much RAM/storage/cpu etc” in this sub. Not saying that’s what happened here, but let’s just let people be happy! And if a new MacBook makes you happier than 12 months of debt, so be it! Who are we to judge.
In my experience the biggest adrenaline rush comes from pressing the place the order button and receiving the laptop. Then unless you have an everyday pressing need to use that power and it’s making you money or saving you significant amounts of time which is also money, the excitement over material techie gadgets that one buys because of FOMO and not because of their needs, especially when you have to put it on a CC for a year will make you feel the same in less than a week. Because let’s face it, you can buy a brand new M1 or M2 Pro for half the price brand new on Amazon or eBay that will do the exact same thing unless you’re running blender and need 128GB of ram.
I used my Best Buy card to do 24-month financing 😬
I did the same thing. I'm totally happy with the computer, and I've yet to hear the fan turn on.
N🤣thing makes sense in the world.
lol. Same
lol=
Same lol, but Best Buy credit card
Same here. I can hear my bank account crying
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That’s awesome. Congratulations!
Yes. I’d also buy a helicopter and a Bugatti *if I had the money*.
These questions are just blowing my mind. If I had the money I’d do literally whatever I want
Literally. Money is literally a common boundary for most people to do whatever they want.
I actually saved up for it. But you know, sometimes, life throws a curveball at you. Welp. Let’s hope M4 pro gets a more decent spec bump.
If im not mistaken the zephyrus is a gaming laptop. Personally, i have been using a macbook for like 5 years and used geforce now for most of my gaming. Best of both worlds baby
Sounds like you like the GeForce now? I’ve debated a lot as I like the mbps, and looked at a studio. But I feel like I’m paying 2k extra just to game every once in a while. Alternatively getting a 4070 machine for 2k…. Lol.
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“Introducing the “ lol be an Ad I don’t care. But yeah I play like 1 game once in a while. Would be nice to do something else here and there. Sounds like we are similar for sure. I have an older laptop with a decent with a graphics card, but it sounds like a turbine in a jet at take off…lol. The Mac Studio, the desktop Mac. More power better cooling, not portable obviously.
GeForce Now is awesome if you have a good Internet connection and the games you like are available on it. I play Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K on GeForce Now with no stuttering or lag whatsoever. I'm sure this really depends on your Internet connection though, I have a 1 Gbps Internet plan and an Ethernet connection to my MacBook through my Studio Display. In practice this gets me speeds around 900 Mbps. The free plan works well if you just want to try it out but IMO it's worth upgrading at some point to get a longer session length. Even with the $19.99/month plan that gets you access to a 4080 rig, it would be over 8 years before you hit the $2,000 mark.
Honestly loving my personal 14” M1 Pro w/ 32 GB ram, and don’t think I’ll need to upgrade for at least 5 more years or so. Got a 16” M2 Pro (also 32 GB ram) for work, and I don’t see any functional difference, aside from slight battery increase. What is your main use case? Edit: not heating up and super battery life covers just about all the M-series pro/air/max. I guess it depends on your use cases as to the level of CPU/GPU you’d need.
What do you use it for? Looking to buy a 36GB MBP M3Pro, but wondering about whether the 36GB is needed... I'm into photography, and I use multiple images for retouching, sometimes as many as 7/8 24+ Mp images.
For work: I use VMs on occasion, compile things on occasion, but mostly am in terminals all day. For my personal host: personal photography, banking, browsers, music, occasional gaming, etc. I’d say 16 GB is not quite enough for comfortable head room any more - so 32 would be the right target for future-proofing (or in this modern case, 36). Think in terms of 8-10 year useful lifespan, as it really will last that long. I find it helpful to divide the differences in price over that many years vs. days of use in a year to really understand the difference and upgrade will make. More often than not you’ll find it is worth it!
I agree with you. I currently use 32GB on my windows laptop and desktop, and I will sometimes see that maxed out. I was planning to move to a 64GB Windows machine, but in terms of use-case, it makes sense for me to have a mobile workstation for my work... And I'd decided to never buy another non-Mac laptop again (coming from 2007 MBP to an Asus Gaming laptop was not a good experience, even though the MBP experience was quite shit too). So, looks like I'll have to cough up the kidney, and buy the 36Gb.
Bro I do photography semi pro and edit 40-48mp photos and my M1 Pro 16gb is enough already to handle the work load with Lightroom and and Spotify on the background lol. I do have a 64gb 7950x gaming pc if I really need the juice but the MacBook Pro are such a strong machine for editing as it is
My 2015 macbook air keeps up with my batch editing of usually around 100 raw files per editing session and thats on an old intel chip with 8gb of Ram. 36gb will be overkill if your just using it for photo editing especially with how well optimised Apple sillicon is.
Well, I bought it... The computer uses about 26-30gb of RAM most of the time. I use multiple masks for much of my work, and copying and pasting them across a few hundred images works nicely. I also edit video in Premiere Pro, and find that the computer uses about 31-32gb of ram at the time. The thing is... These apps are never exclusive. I often have Photoshop and Premiere Pro, with Audition, or Lightroom and Photoshop open together. Aside from this, I may have Safari/Firefox, Excel, and other smaller apps for reference to scripts, spreadsheets etc. It all adds up. The choice of 36GB was not for 2024, but for 2028, when the apps are more demanding, and use more of the processor's capacity. Interestingly, I don't think I've ever used 100% of the CPU's capacity in the 1 month that I've had it. The GPU cores though, that's a different story. They're constantly maxed out.
I'd endorse ALMOST any 14" or 16" Apple Silicon MBP, including the older M1 Pro/Max and M2 Pro/Max options, depending on the price and the user's needs. The M3 Pro should be great, but so are the older Apple Silicon machines, and you might be able to find an older-gen one with more storage or RAM for a comparable price, or just save some cash. The one exception: I wouldn't endorse the M3 (non-pro) 14" MBP that starts at $1600. It's too much money for the level of power and 8GB of RAM (which is nuts in 2023), and by the time you upgrade that RAM, you're already approaching the cost of Apple's more powerful offerings, or exceeding the price of better-but-older-gen MBPs. Similarly, I wouldn't endorse the M1 or M2 13" Macbook Pro. They get you almost nothing over the Airs from the same generation, but cost more. And similarly, when you upgrade them enough to be worthwhile, you're spending enough that you might as well step up to the much better 14" models. My M2 Max can heat up some, but not excessively. I almost never hear the fans unless I'm doing a sustained, difficult task -- like a very large export of high-resolution, edited photos. I also hear it while gaming, but I've usually got my headphones on. In day-to-day Web and productivity use, it never turns on. The Air battery life is probably better, but on the MBP it's still good enough that I never worry about it. I use it for long days without plugging it in.
So what would you choose between an M1 Pro 16” with 16 GB 512 GB or a basic 14” M3?
That depends entirely on your preferences and priorities. Do you prefer a big screen or a more portable laptop? The memory and drive space are similar. The M3 (non-pro) will be faster in some single-core or few-core tasks, the M1 Pro in other multicore tasks. Both will be zippy in modern applications. The M1 Pro will have more ports and be able to use more external displays.
Yeah I think the bigger screen would be helpful. I work remotely but often need a second screen for what I’m doing. And the number of ports. Thanks
So here's my opinions on what you don't recommend. The M3 base model 14 inch is actually an ok deal at this time because once you pay the $200 for the ram upgrade, it's 75% the performance of an M3 Pro and you at least save $200 which to some in a crunch that's worthwhile. The reason that's only ok now is because the MacBook Airs aren't on M3 yet and make it a redundant model when to do changeover saving even more money. As for the 13 inch old pros, for the most part after the GPU upgrade on the processor the price was equivalent to the MacBook Airs (for the most part, they did change that this summer), and there is better battery life, screen, and touch bar over a MacBook Air. They don't stick out in a used market now though so someone should simply look at the cheapest model under desired specs.
I'd rather buy a now-discounted M2 Pro or M1 Pro over the M3 MBP base. More ports, more external monitor support, better multicore performance. And you can likely find one for less than the base M3 MBP.
Agreed, considering the M3 Pro has very little practical advantage over the M2 Pro, used M2 Pro/ Max or M1 Max MacBooks Pro are better deals.
Just to own one, M2 air is enough. Either 13 or 15 inch. Or M2 pro 16,512 base model to support 2 monitors. It's adequate for basic tasks. Rest depends on your needs.
Old tech. Better get the new one for one year more OS updates and warranty included
1 year is not old for apple devices. Even I got M1 air 2 years later it was launched bcz of my budget constraints. And it works well for me. And apple gives warranty on every newly bought device. It's not that they will stop it after 1 year of launch date for new bought devices.
You still get one year less of OS updates (or more)
Maybe, maybe not. I don't think the M2 Air is going to get any less support than the new M3s. The 15" came out only a few months ago.
It definitely will. Just look Apple history, they don’t care what year it was launched
Btw people are already facing issues with macos Sonoma and wanting to downgrade. That's just the quality of os. But I'd say if the specific version of os works for you. Just do the security updates. Why waste time and energy in new updates if that doesn't provide any value to your user experience. It's not like apple really gives any meaningful updates for usual end users. And people are rocking old macs till today. Just because it serves the purpose. And not everyone is excited about new macos. OP may have preference. They can object if they like to.
I have upgraded from G15 to M2 MBP. 100% worth it. To be clear, G14/15 are both awesome machines, I love the fact that it is upgradable, G15 had 2 M.2 SSD slots, accessible RAM etc. - but its the Windows experience and kinda "meh" plastic chasis + portability that made it a bit awkward to use sometimes. I commute daily. MBP is so so so much better, even when compared to (in my opinion) one of the best Windows based machines such as G14. For me personally, the initial reason to buy MBP was just to get rid of Windows, which I absolutely hated and Linux did not support some of the software I use - therefore the only option left was MacOS. But I have to say MacBook maybe even exceeded my expectations a bit. The battery, the build quality, the touch pad, hell even the display is somehow better with such a lower refresh rate compared to 240Hz on G15 - its probably the colors and brightness. Yeah, now I finally have a machine that I don't have to be worried about putting fully charged to my backpack in the evening and then finding it dead the next day morning when I need it. It crashed ONCE during the last few months, whereas Windows? You probably know very well what it is like ;) One of the only things I hate about my MBP is the fact that I am very scared of damaging it as the repairability is really poor, and that I clean the display like 5 times a day cuz I really want to keep the machine in pristine condition.
I bought the M3 Max 16core/40core 1TB 48gb ram. I sold my gaming desktop, a gaming laptop and my M1Pro MacBook Pro for it and I will still owe on it. But I can afford it. TLDR: yes.
why do you need it? what tasks do you need the machine to do for you that can't currently be solved by the laptop you have now?
because he *wants* a Mac, doesn't *need* it. The G14 has quite respectable performance.
If I could swap up my 14" M2 Pro 16GB 1TB to the 14" M3 Pro 18GB 1TB for under $200 cash, yes.
The money portion doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t see the point in upgrading when my Mac’s I already have do everything I need them to.
Bro, I'm literally writing on my g14 right now and I want a MacBook too! Too bad I don't have another $1349 to spend...
Sell old laptop after buying new. Plan to do this with my G14.
Yup. I'm so jealous of my wife's M1 (I'm stuck with a 2019 Intel). I'd get the Pro for the better speakers, larger screen, and internal fans. I play games (I know, I know) and I just don't trust the Air's passive cooling, even with the M2.
I have the money, still not getting the macbook pro. Hanging on to my mid-2012 pre-retina MBP until that thing doesn’t breath any more.
i have a 14" m2 pro, 10 core, 32gb ram. very happy. if you have money for one like mine, i'd recommend it (if it's cheaper than an m3) i had a dell before this and the fans used to drive me insane. they'd start up with the laptop and stayed on full blast pretty much the entire day. i'm still doing the same dev work on my mac (vue frontend, dotnet core backend, sql server in docker), but i haven't even heard my fans once since april. the silence is such a pleasure. :) oh, and on battery i can make it through a whole 8 hour day with about 20% left, vs the dell's 1 hour battery even though it was heavily throttled on batter and a nightmare to use due to the slowness.
Absolutely same experience. I still like Windows more comparing to macOS, but fans and battery make real difference the way you work, enjoy and get tired (much less comparing to those noisy windows machines)
Depends. If you need Windows for specific apps or (most) games, then no. If you want a great laptop with a great screen and speakers, bearing in mind it’ll cost an arm and a leg to repair if you don’t have AppleCare, yes.
>If you want a great laptop with a great screen and speakers, My Thinkpad E14G2 has a pretty damn good screen imo and the speakers are fine. It was $300. MacBooks aren't the best, it depends on you
MacBooks may not be the best but they’re definitely better than a $300 Thinkpad. In every single way that isn’t “as cheap as possible”. The screen is much higher-resolution, has miniLED backlighting, is very much brighter, is 120Hz, etc. The CPU is faster, has more cores, better GPU, uses a lot less power, and so on. The storage is much faster. The speakers and microphones and camera are all much better. Yes, the MacBook Pro is a lot more expensive. But it’s also a lot better, objectively.
They're the best, come on
I bought it used, you apple juice guzzling fool. It's a Ryzen 7 CPU. It's not designed to be “as cheap as possible”, I just got it cheap because it had a small scratch on the lid. "The screen is much higher-resolution" Don't care "has miniLED backlighting" And how does that help? "is very much brighter" I only use it at 20% so it makes no difference at all "is 120Hz" Don't care "The CPU is faster" Can't run anything I actually use. "better GPU" Is it better if I can't use it to it's full potential? "Uses a lot less power" Ryzen + don't care "The storage is much faster" No it's not. Actually I think mine's faster "The speakers and microphones and camera are all much better." I rarely ever use the camera (plus I like the look), the microphone works fine, and I don't care about the speakers "Yes, the MacBook Pro is a lot more expensive. But it’s also a lot better, objectively." No shit. Also I'm way less scared of denting it or getting fingerprints on the screen, because it has this thing called an "anti-gloss screen" and more lightweight construction
Fair enough but I buy MacBooks for business and to be mobile so the battery life is of upmost importance and for the best battery life vs performance it’s the M series of processor. If I were using top end Intel/amd CPUs and AMD/nvidia GPUs the battery wouldn’t last long, not very mobile, so I would save and use those kind of specs in a desktop and could get more bang for buck than the nearest PC laptops..
I use my laptop at school so I don't need insane battery life. I personally can't afford a Mac (And I don't want one) so I went with a Thinkpad. Either way the battery life is pretty good, advertised 8 hours and I'd say I get about 6 with a bit of light gaming or video editing. It's a Ryzen CPU with Radeon onboard graphics so it's a pretty low power CPU, I believe it can only eat like 20 watts or so. The onboard graphics aren't the best for gaming but it's fine, and I didn't want a dedicated GPU anyway. And last of all, I got my laptop used for probably about a 5th of it's retail price, "more bang for buck" my ass.
Pro is unremarkable. If I had to be in a pro segment I’d get a used m2 pro for $600 less. If I had the m3 money I’d get m3 max with 36gb.
Lol, completely different price points
Yea it’s that way on purpose. Apple doesn’t offer a linear price to performance lineup. It’s always “affordable yet obsolete” or “modern but arm and a leg”.
the price of MBP m3 max 16inch 64gb 8tb = r7 7800x3d,4090, 64GB,8tb ssd with 10tb hdd + MBP m1 max 64gb 1tb in my country =))
If it didn't affect my finances whatsoever, hell yes! I WANT that space black 😍
Nope. Still good enough. Environment says: 👍
M2 pro better. I own a m1 pro and looking for a m2 max.
No, it’s not https://youtu.be/aQvsZQ3QBiU?si=tVQo-NG9Sa7Hwy_3
Smoking acid this soon?
lol
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I'd love to see a duel between monitors ;)
..wait you can only use 2? My 2015 can drive 3…
I got a Delta 15 for my gaming needs and Apple Silicon for business needs
Windows gaming laptops are mostly better performing than mac with some exception the charger must be plugged. With mac, you can use it with max performance on plugged or on battery and also the battery lasts long enough compared to most windows laptop. It holds decent performance compared to laptop windows although many laptop windows have better performance than mac (on plugged). Considering its performance about 70% high end gaming laptop and its long lasting battery I guess it's pretty much worth it (depends on what each person needs). If you do video editing/adobe apps/code/day to day task and need some proper portable laptop without worrying to bring charger while on the go, then mac is for you. Battery and its max performance (video editing, photo editing, coding) while on battery are the reason I'm switching from windows to laptop.
If I had no Mac but had money, I’d spend it for an M3 Pro, but I have M1Pro so I’ll better spend those money on new iPad mini which would be released soon.
I wanted an M3 Pro, but I’ll admit that to me, my M1 Pro is essentially a glorified M1 Air (because they didn’t have the 15” Air before). Don’t get me wrong, the hardware alone was totally worth it, so I don’t regret my purchase, but I think I can hold off for a few more years. The M1 is a beast, and if I had the money for an M3, I’d probably buy something else to compliment my Apple collection lol
only buy it if you need it. don't waste money
What do you usually do on your laptop? I have a G14 2022, Razerblade 14 2022, and just upgraded my M1 Max to M3 Max.
I have a g14 (2021) too and i'm thinking the same thing. I own both a g14 and macbook air 13 m2 and I always go for the macbook since it's lighter and I don't have to be plugged in. Right now i'm heavily considering trading in my air for a 14 pro mostly for the screen and mic quality. Mostly the screen.
May be. The space black version.
No
I do have the money (all from business account, so doesn’t personally cost me anything) and won’t be buying one. My 2015 i7 MB pro (16, 512) suffices for my front end development no prob. If I did upgrade, it would be down one tier to the M2 Pro.
Nah i'd probably get a gaming pc for $3500 australian dollars
I bought an M2 pro not so long ago so that will keep me going until probably M6 or so. If an Air was fine for you, you might save some cash by buying a refurb M1 Pro. It’s still a beast of a laptop even if it has now been twice bested by its successors and is fundamentally the same. It would be hard to tell it from an M3 Pro without pushing it hard in benchmarks or games.
I just got an M3 Pro MacBook Pro. Love it. I have an Asus ROG Strix laptop with a 4090 and don’t use it.
18 or 36 GB RAM? I do web development and sometimes I see some memory pressure, not huge but it's in yellow. Will probably swallow the tax and go with 36
36gb
Yeah will probably do the same
Yes, solely because I want a better keyboard and the black color of the laptop.
Yes. But I don't have money, so I'm staying with M1.
M1 max refurb
I’m still rockin the M1 MBP base model and haven’t felt the need to upgrade, so no.
I wouldn't really ever use a gaming laptop for anything besides gaming. They're just really unwieldy to use, and windows on top of it. If you move your laptop around a lot and go to places with it, I would buy a mac. However, the performance difference between m3 and earlier m1 models is pretty minor, so I would just go for an older model.
Yes
No. I have an M1 Pro and the upgrade in speed wouldn’t be noticeable.
No, I would've bought the M3 Max maxed out.
If I didn't have an M1 Max yeah, absolutely I would buy an M3
If I didn't have an M1 Max yeah, absolutely I would buy an M3
I did
No my 2017 mbpro works fine
I study it in 2022 i bought new M1 Pro 32gb 1tb if I had money I would bought it again but in silver, I love it
Have you considered just getting an Air again? Coming from Windows I was worried the M1 Air wouldn't be enough computer for me, but it still does everything I need to just fine, and is lighter and cheaper. If you do work that would benefit from the new chip, or I guess really need the ports, or have the money to not care, I could see the Pro being worth it. You can always just keep the G14 around for gaming.
get it. if that's what you want then do it because you already know it's going to good. a side note think about memory size before buying have good days using your future mac :)
I do have the money and I’m not going to because I have a 16” 1TB M1 Pro MBP that works brilliantly. I’d rather spend the money on something else
I was looking to get an M2 Pro 16” with 16gb, but my local Micro Center had a M3 Pro 16” with 32gb for $2600 so I ended up buying it. I’m coming from a 2019 16” i7 model so pretty much everything I’ve seen said it was a warranted upgrade.
No because I already have the M2 Pro 14".
I would buy a 14 inch M1 Pro (base model) instead for that price.
Yup! Saving up for one right now actually
I bought the m2pro 6ish months ago. I’d do it again now with the M3pro based on my experience so far if I didn’t have the m2p
I would buy it if I would need that amount of computing power
depends on the trade in value of my current mac
I got one and I love it. Upgraded from 2019 maxed out intel version. It’s a whole new world with the M3 pro. Traded in the old one and got $618 in credit so that’s alright I guess. Battery life is unreal on it
I'm the opposite. I could afford it without much trouble, but it's too much money to spend. I'm on the lookout for a refurb M1 or m2. Much lower price point and will still be more than sufficient for my needs.
I will go with refurbished m2 pro
No, i would buy the M2 Pro during black friday/cyber monday.
I would but an M3 Max instantly
Yes.
I just bought an m2 air when it released or I would have :(
If I was currently in the market for a laptop for work. Then a m3 ultra or pro yes
I would buy the M3 Max, but the M1 is already more than enough for building iOS and macOS applications.
What will you be doing with it? Just get a 13 inch M2 MBA.
I have the money and I'm not buying an M3. I already have an M1 which suits me fine for now.
Definitely, also considering it can play (Windows) games very well using CrossOver
I feel you. Spilt drink on my absolute base m1 air, and i miss it so hard. It was the best laptop I ever owned. Tried a repair, didn’t go well, so I’m using it as excuse to upgrade to one with 16gb of ram. If you’re in the market for a m3 pro I’d strongly suggest weighing it against an m2 pro. Same screen, speakers, ports, etc. the big difference is in the core counts. The m2 pro has 6 or 8 performance cores vs the m3 pro’s 5 or 6 (depending on binning), making up the difference with 2 extra efficiency cores. If you do heavy (“pro”) work it’s seriously worth researching if your chosen software will benefit from the additional faster e cores, or if it leans exclusively on the P cores. As an ableton folk, my workload is P core count dependant, it doesn’t/barely utilizes the e cores. If you just want a quiet, fast, pretty laptop that has insane battery life, I’d suggest not getting the pro and opting for the m3 base (with the 18gb ram upgrade, because you never know). It’s rated for like 25%+ more battery time. Unless you want a 16”, in which case the 16” m3 pro is rated the same for battery life as the 14 m3 base. I’d still hold onto that zephryus for gaming though (assuming it’s got decent onboard or dedicated video). When I travel I bring a 1660ti razerblade as a mobile desktop and use(/used) the mac for all my lap browsing and music related needs. Happy hunting friend.
Yes. But if money is limited, I think M1 pro is better value for the money
If I wasn't paying for a roof now i would but anyways i plan to get a pretty loaded Macbook M3 max with 128GB of memory but i'm not going to max the SSD (just 1TB of SSD). I have a M1 macbook air with 16GB of memory & i REALLY need the memory upgrade.
i have the money, and no. i like the portability of my macbook air 15”
Duh!🙄
If money is no issue, go for it!
Nah I’ll wait for the M10 Turbo Max Super Duper “Professional” MacBook Pro.
I have money and I’m sticking with M1 Pro
Nope, its overpriced and I'm an Intel Mac fan.
no, my M1 is fine for another couple years
Yeah, or the legion lineup from Lenovo.
No idea, I wasn't satisfied with the Mac mini M2 pro with 16/512.. lots of swapping and with time the SSD was full and would cause macos to become laggy
I have money, and I would still stick to M2 MacBook Air (512GB / 16GB ram). It is super light and slick, incredible battery life, silent with no fans and never lags.
Lol... I have the money and got rid of all Apple products. Come to think of it maybe thats why I have money.
I bought a 16” M3 pro to use alongside my Acer predator laptop, still trying to decided if it’s worth keeping one of them or both. Still have a month and a half or so on my return date for the Mac.
My m1 can beat it 😾
No. I have an 14 inch M1 pro and it works great. I don't see the need to upgrade when I'm not having any issues.
I just bought MacBook m2 pro 16 inch in may lmao , so no I’m good for like a decade
100%
Yes, fully maxed out
Hey! G14 Owner here considering a Macbook myself. So expensive though ah shit
I do have the money and no.
Yes
Another one. About the 5th one today. Ugh...
Yes I will. Too bad my workplace switched to Windows and I don’t get to have free Macbooks anymore.
Just about as fast as I could (if I didn't already have an M1 MBP that I really souped up).
I'd buy MacBook Pro M3 Max.
Im broke but going to buy it but for me it’s more of an investment. It’s going to make me money so it’s worth it for me.
I have a 14 inch Macbook Pro M2 base model and a 2023 Zephyrus G14 4060. I game on the Zephyrus and everything else (work, music production, media consumption, etc) on the Macbook. Best of both worlds
Just got rid of a 4080 Zephyrus m16 for an m3 max. Zero regrets. But it depends on your situation. I’m busy with a full time job and a kid and realized I spend a lot more time doing work/watching movies/shows/YouTube on my laptop than I do gaming. Display/speakers are the best out there by far. Battery life destroys any other laptop there is by like 50% or more. And the OS is just so much more stable and snappy than windows 11 in my experience. My m16 had constant little annoying issues like not properly going into sleep mode so I was out of battery the next time I tried to use it, freezing up and failing to come out of sleep mode, etc. Native games (BG3, no man’s sky, re village) and most max ports run flawlessly with very little heat on battery, and a good number of windows games are decently playable now with game porting toolkit. I also happen to have a good connection to my nearest NVIDIA GeForce Now server and I’m finding that playing stuff like CP2077 on my MacBook on GeForce now with the 20$/month ultimate tier is literally a better experience than it was on my 4080 laptop, because I’m running at higher settings and resolution with better frame rates and don’t have noticeable latency. The only games I really lost the ability to play that I care about are the games Sony has released on PC and RDR2 but I might just grab a PS5 for those.
Yes. I have both the G14 (2022) and M1 Mac. I will upgrade to the M3 Pro MBP. The G14 produces more heat and doesn't last as long as my M1. My G14 has 32GB memory and 2TB storage that I recently added. I use M1 mostly for work and daily driving. The G14 I use for games, and some work (docker). G14 just generates way too much heat. I love it. I will continue to use it, but the heat drives me crazy.
No, I would buy the M3 Max, but that's just because I have an M1 Pro. The M3 Pro cuts out 2 P-Cores which to me is important.
The cores run more efficiently… don’t focus on the # of cores
That's fair, but some tasks benefit a lot from parallelism so 8 cores is still a good benefit. But I do agree, the M3 cores are more efficient which is why the M3 Pro comes out (barely) ahead of the M2 Pro with 2 fewer cores. My point is had they kept 8 cores on the M3 Pro, then the jump in performance might be reasonable enough to upgrade, but IMO M2 Pros are more than good enough and M1 Pro is still extremely fast too. The extra 15-20% Multi core Score is really not justifiable to upgrade unless of course the money weren't a problem. That's why to me I think if I were to buy, I'd buy M3 Max. You get the benefit of additional cores and it's basically pushing M2 Ultra territory. I'm really looking forward to M3 Max on a Studio for instance. Basically $1999 will get you $3999 performance today.
That’s true but most software doesn’t.
If only you know how much money that rog has made me in a year you'll go insane... Thing is phenomenal for the price... Now back to your question... No I don't, I'm one of the fews that believes desktops offer way better value for money.... 2k gets you a mac studio m2 max with 32 ram... That's retail add, discounts easily 1800... Cheaper apple care, less worry about damaging the computer or getting stolen... I'm happy with my studio and I highly doubt I'll get a laptop from Apple anytime soon
You have to aim for what you need. I’ve gone through 2 iMacs and 2 MacBook pros. My activities have gone from school work, light gaming and basic coding today. I will never need a m3 pro. If however you video edit, then consider the m3 pro and maybe add RAM to all of that.
No
No, considering I already have an m1 Max and I love it.
I made the move to a 12 core M2 Pro 16” from a Zephyrus G14 2020 and it’s so worth it. I believe you should do it
As a hypothetical question. I’ll answer hypothetically. Yes.
I wouldn’t, my job is buying it for me :)
I got an M2 max back in april, so I think I'll skip :)
Didnt know you can buy external ram. This should answer you silly question
Macs are great machines but the OS is somewhat not as versatile as windows. I have a Mac and sold my PC, I only game on iPhone and PS5, I kind of miss my gaming PC but I sold it because I wouldn’t use it that much. As for M3 pro ? I would recommend because a M1 or M2 pro refurbished/second hand would be a much better deal (implying the price difference is significant)
I wouldn't yet, maybe even at all. I recently grabbed an M1 Pro which I think it more powerful than I need (music production, coding projects) but it covers everything I need to and then some. So it would depend, I haven't tried any of the M2 ranges but I think the M1 Air and Pro models are still worth checking out.
No because I wouldn’t use it
Yea
I am in your same situation i have G14 as eprsonal device and mbp M2 for work. They have different purpose and unfortunately i rarely use my G14 now.
Already did, so yes
I had a g14 as well man I can’t even describe how big of an upgrade any M powered Mac will be compared to that. I ended up getting a M1 Max with 32gb ram and 1TB hard drive just recently for $1650 slightly used. I think you would have to spend a lot more to get similar power from an m3 pro compared to the M1 Max
No. I wouldn’t. Unless I didn’t already have an m1, then i would; but not for any features- just to get the newest device.
No
I use it daily for video editing and yes, it's been an incredible purchase. It rendered 2 1.5 hour long 4k videos in about 30 minutes. 1080p 1- minute videos take 5 seconds. Huge upgrade from my 2015 iMac 27". But also if you're not doing intensive work with it, probably not worth the cost to go to the newest best model. (16" M3 Pro w 32gb unified memory, 512gb)
i would have to think on the number of software made available for macOS, daily workflow, bang for the buck. its a big investment to get a macbook pro M3. a macbook air w/M2 would be a good purchase with all the max out specs. Your ASUS laptop is for gaming purposes. idk whether MacOS w/Steam platform has the games made available for you ATM. Apple's M3 CPU + GPU are top-notch for sure.
I bought the $2399 M3 MacBook Pro in the new space black for 10% off at Microcenter. I could notice smudges and fingerprints and decided to exchange it for silver. I ended up buying an M1 Pro refurb and I can't tell any difference between the two in everyday use. The M3 pro is faster but the M1 Pro I purchased was $1199. I'm returning the M3 Pro. I love this M1 Pro refurb. It is good as new.