One of the most interesting novelties that Apple offers since the end of this year with the arrival on the market of new MacBook Pro is that the company allows users to choose between two very different chip configurations in terms of performance.
At first glance, many might think that the more expensive M1 Max chip is simply a more powerful and capable chip compared to what the cheaper M1 Pro can offer. However, it is not advisable to get carried away by appearances.
The two new chips are closely related, and depending on what kind of work you do with your MacBook Pro, the extra power of the M1 Max may not be worth the hefty extra price you have to pay.
First of all, the M1
But before thinking about buying a computer with the new M1 Pro or M1 Max chips, it is worth specifying what the M1 offers, the first chip with which Apple inaugurated the new era of Apple Silicon architecture and with which we are all surprised for his good performance.
Somehow, the era of Intel processors has been abandoned to get all the benefits that iPhone and iPad devices have offered for years, surprising performance in many ways.
The M1 was an evolution of what Apple had achieved with the A12X and A12Z chips, which boosted the power of the iPad Pro. The M1 has demonstrated that a chip listed for iPad can also provide sufficient performance and battery life to be part of an Apple laptop. or a Mac computer.
The addition of specific features, such as compatibility with Thunderbolt, shows its great gifts in equipment such as Macbook Air, the Mac mini and even in the last 24-inch iMac.
With the new chip, Apple has hit the nail on the head when it comes to meeting the most basic needs of business users of the company’s products. However, when you compare the M1 to the new M1 Pro and M1 Max, you can see how similar they are.
In terms of single-core performance, all of these chips offer more or less identical scores. Where things diverge is when it comes to handling multiple workloads based on using multiple CPU cores or GPU based processing.
The M1 only has four high-performance cores, while the M1 Pro has six (on the 14-inch model at $ 2,249) or eight, and the M1 Max has eight. Unsurprisingly, the M1 can’t keep up with the new chips when it comes to heavy, threaded workflows.
Likewise, the M1 only has seven GPU cores (in low-end MacBook Air or iMac configurations) or eight, while the GPU cores of the M1 Pro and M1 Max range from 14 (low-end MacBook Pro 14) to 32 possible. .
Unsurprisingly, GPU-intensive tasks are two to three times faster on a new MacBook Pro than on a MacBook Air with an M1 chip. Add to all this the number of ports to manage and a maximum of 16 GB of RAM.
This is where the differences start to be palpable, although that’s not the M1’s fault. Indeed, the chip does its job well and, for people who do not do professional work, it will be more than enough compared to what we had months ago before it hit the market.
M1 Pro vs M1 Max: The main comparativa
If we get carried away by the names of the chips, we would assume that the M1 Max would outperform the M1 Pro in every way. But the truth is, there are nuances to the difference between these two chips that you should be aware of.
It all comes down to the processor cores. Both chips have a maximum of eight high-performance processor cores, and those cores are roughly identical. They are similar to the M1 processor and even the A14 processor that powers the iPhone 12.
If you buy the low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, you’ll be lagging behind the rest of the lineup in terms of processor speed, but it’s still going to be faster than the M1. But beyond that, the figures don’t lie.
If your work is mainly related to CPU processes, there isn’t much of a difference between the M1 Pro and the M1 Max.
But if you are a developer and use Xcode Benchmark on the MacBook Pro on a daily basis, the results you can get with an M1 Max processor can be very similar if you do with an M1 Pro. Take a look at the results we got, with just a few seconds apart.
Enjoy the M1 Max
What really makes the difference between the M1 Max and the M1 Pro is not the processor cores, but the rest of the settings. That is, GPU cores and memory bandwidth, media encoding and decoding. Let’s see this in detail.
GPU and GPU memory and bandwidth
If your work speeds up as you increase the power you need to handle graphics, choosing a MacBook Pro with M1 Max is certainly the most suitable. With 24 or 32 GPU cores, it is much more powerful than the M1 Pro.
Both the M1 Max and M1 Pro are considering the possibility of using dual memory bandwidth. However, the only way to really take advantage of the bandwidth is to deal with all those extra GPU cores. They all go hand in hand.
Media encoding and decoding
Both chips offer special tools for publishing professionals, including dedicated media encoding and decoding space on their chips. But if you’re a video professional working with files stored in Apple’s ProRes codec, you’ll see the benefits of using an M1 Max.
Indeed, while the M1 Pro has a custom design element for ProRes encoding and decoding, making it an impressive ProRes processor in its own right, the M1 Max has two of those elements.
It won’t be so obvious in all workflows, but in the most extreme cases, you will see a marked difference. Even a file export in Final Cut Pro allowed us to see the benefits of the M1 Max, some related to increasing GPU cores, and others to both ProRes elements.
M1 Pro vs M1 Max: how to make the right choice
If you are a professional, no one will know your workflows better than you. So, for most people, an M1 Pro will be blazingly fast.
If you know your job involves the use of a Software The evil multithreaded CPU overload make sure you get the 10-core model. If you know you need GPU or ProRes power, or a massive amount of memory bandwidth, then the M1 Max is the best choice.
Finally, if you are in workflow environments where you may need as much memory as possible, you have an even simpler option. The M1 Pro is limited to 32GB of shared memory, while the M1 Max is at 64GB.
Leaving aside the rest of the considerations, if you want to get the most out of your memory, the final bet is to bet on a configuration of Macbook Pro with the M1 Max.
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