---
title: "M1 Pro and Max: the Mac for serious work is back."
date: 2021-11-08
url: https://remiam.co.uk/notes/m1-pro-and-max-pro-machines
tags: [Apple, Apple Silicon, Hardware]
read_time_minutes: 6
description: "M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros — first-hand notes from a small studio running them on real workloads. What changed, what got faster, what we would still wait for."
---

# M1 Pro and Max: the Mac for serious work is back.

*Published 2021-11-08 · 6 min read · by Liam (Remiam)*

Apple just launched the redesigned MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. After four years of fan-noise complaints and butterfly-keyboard apologies, the Pro line is genuinely Pro again.

Apple launched the new MacBook Pros last month with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. We bought two — one of each — and ran them through three weeks of real client work. They're the first laptops in five years where the answer to 'is this enough machine?' is 'definitely yes'.

## What's actually different vs the base M1

| Spec | M1 (2020) | M1 Pro (2021) | M1 Max (2021) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CPU cores | 8 (4P+4E) | 10 (8P+2E) | 10 (8P+2E) |
| GPU cores | 7-8 | Up to 16 | Up to 32 |
| Max unified memory | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 68 GB/s | 200 GB/s | 400 GB/s |
| ProMotion display | No | 120Hz | 120Hz |
| Ports back | Lost ports | MagSafe + HDMI + SD | MagSafe + HDMI + SD |
| External displays | 1 | 2 | 4 |

*Apple Silicon M1 vs M1 Pro vs M1 Max, November 2021.*

## How they hold up on our workloads

- Big Nuxt builds drop another 25% off our base M1 benchmark from last December.
- NativeScript Android packaging is finally indistinguishable from native speed.
- Final Cut Pro renders that used to need the office iMac Pro now happen on the laptop, in less time.
- Fan noise is essentially nonexistent on the Pro, occasional and brief on the Max.

## Memory matters more than cores

If you're choosing between an M1 Pro with 32GB and an M1 Max with 32GB, the M1 Pro is almost certainly enough. The Max is for people who run multi-camera video edits or large 3D scenes. For web work — even heavy web work — the Pro is the right call. Spend the difference on RAM, not GPU cores you'll never use.

> Six months ago the studio question was 'when do we replace the Intel machines?'. Today it's 'how fast can we?'. The Apple Silicon strategy is working.

## What we'd recommend

- Engineers: M1 Pro 16-inch, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. Three-year machine, easily.
- Designers: M1 Pro 14-inch, 16GB RAM is fine if you mostly live in Figma.
- Video / 3D specialists: M1 Max, 32-64GB, 2TB+. That's the configuration that earns its money.
- Anyone running heavy x86 VMs or x86-only Docker: keep an Intel Mac around for another year.

Six months ago the studio question was 'when do we replace the Intel machines?'. Today it's 'how fast can we?'. The Apple Silicon strategy is working.

## References

1. [Apple — MacBook Pro 14 and 16 launch (October 2021)](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/introducing-m1-pro-and-m1-max-the-most-powerful-chips-apple-has-ever-built/)
2. [Anandtech — M1 Pro and Max deep dive](https://www.anandtech.com/show/17024/apple-m1-max-performance-review/)