4 ms·

I've owned an M1 MBP base model since 2021 and I just got an M3 Max for work. I was curious to see if it "felt" different and was contemplating an upgrade to M4

by extr 2y ago

I've owned an M1 MBP base model since 2021 and I just got an M3 Max for work. I was curious to see if it "felt" different and was contemplating an upgrade to M4. You know what? It doesn't really feel different. I think my browser opens about 1 second faster from a cold start. But other than that, no perceptible difference day to day.

charliebwrites 2y ago
This is how I feel about the last few iPhones as well I upgraded from a 13 pro to a 15 pro expecting zippier performance and it feels almost identical if not weirdly a bit slower in rendering and typing I wonder what it will take to make Mac/iOS feel faster
- alwillis 2y ago
  > I upgraded from a 13 pro to a 15 pro expecting zippier performance and it feels almost identical if not weirdly a bit slower in rendering and typing I went from an iPhone 13 mini to an iPhone 16 and it's a significant speed boost.
  - lawgimenez 2y ago
    I went from 12 to 15 pro max, the difference is significant. I can listen to Spotify while shooting from the camera. On my old iPhone 12, this is not possible.
    - jonhohle 2y ago
      I think that says more about Spotify than your phone.
      - stevenjgarner 2y ago
        Test Spotify against YouTube Music (and others) - I personally see no reason for Spotify when I have YouTube Premium, which performs with less overhead.
        lancesells 2y ago
        Maybe they have friends and family on Spotify
    - pacifika 2y ago
      I’m sure you’re right but that’s pretty unreal.
- microtonal 2y ago
  I think the only upgrade now is from a non-Pro to Pro, since a 120Hz screen is noticeably better than a 60Hz screen (and a borderline scam that a 1000 Euro phone does not have 120Hz). The new camera button is kinda nice though.
  - matwood 2y ago
    > The new camera button is kinda nice though. I was initially indifferent about the camera button, but now that I'm used to it it's actually very useful.
- tomjen3 2y ago
  I upgraded my iPhone 13 pro to the 16 pro and it was overall really nice - but it was the better use of hardware, the zoom camera, etc. The CPU? Ah, never really felt a difference.
- doublerabbit 2y ago
  XR to 13, as I don't want the latest and didn't want to loose my jailbreak. Infuriated by the 13. The 3.5mm audio thunder bolt adapters disconnect more often than usual. All I need to do is tap the adapter and it disconnects. And that Apple has now stopped selling them is even more infuriating, it's not a faulty adapter.
  - internet2000 2y ago
    It’s probably because of the jailbreak.
    - HumblyTossed 2y ago
      How would that woller out his port?
  - HumblyTossed 2y ago
    > The 3.5mm thunder bolt adapters The what? is this the adapter for 3.5mm headphones? If so, you don't have to get Apple made dongles. Third parties make them also.
    - Kirby64 2y ago
      Or just buy the actual Apple adapter from any number of other vendors. Best Buy still has plenty in stock, for instance. I'd guess the GPs actual problem is lint in the Lightning port though. Pretty common, relatively easy to clean out too, especially compared to USB-C.
      - doublerabbit 2y ago
        I'm in the EU. Third party ones cost the same as authentic Apple ones. If not more. Regardless of either, they both have the same fault. The connector between the phone and the adapter is poor. It could just be a fault with my phone but I have no way of proving this.
        2y ago
- andrei_says_ 2y ago
  16 pro has a specialized camera button which is a game changer for street / travel photography. I upgraded from 13 pro and use that. But no other noticeable improvements. Maybe Apple intelligence summarizing wordy emails.
- thenthenthen 2y ago
  > I wonder what it will take to make Mac/iOS feel faster I know, disabling shadows and customisable animation times ;) On a jailbroken phone I once could disable all animation delays, it felt like a new machine (must add that the animations are very important and generally great ux design, but most are just a tad too slow)
ToucanLoucan 2y ago
Can confirm. I have an M2 Air from work and an M1 Pro for personal, and tbh, both absolutely fly. I haven't had a serious reason to upgrade. The only reason I do kind of want to swap out my M1 Pro is because the 13" screen is a wee small, but I also use the thing docked more often than not so it's very hard to justify spending the money.
stringsandchars 2y ago
> It doesn't really feel different. My work machine was upgraded from an M1 with 16GB of RAM to an M3 Max with 36GB and the difference in Xcode compile times is beyond belief: I went from something like 1-2 minutes to 15-20 seconds. Obviously if opening a browser is the most taxing thing your machine is doing the difference will be minimal. But video or music editing, application-compiling and other intensive tasks, then the upgrade is PHENOMENAL.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  I very much enjoy being able to start compilation and just seeing results fly by.
- fwip 2y ago
  I think most of that difference is going to be the huge increase in performance core count between the base chip and the Max (from 4 to 12). The RAM certainly doesn't hurt though!
- eropple 2y ago
  FWIW I think that's more the core count than anything. I have a M1 Max as a personal machine and an M3 Max at work and while the M3 Max is definitely faster, it isn't world-beating.
- jcgrillo 2y ago
  My current work machine is M1 Max 64Gb and it's the fastest computer I've ever used. Watching rust code compile makes me laugh out loud it's so quick. Really curious what the newer ones are like, but tbh I don't feel any pressure to upgrade (could just be blissfully ignorant).
jcalabro 2y ago
I've found compile times on large C++ code bases to be the only thing I really notice improving. I recently upgraded my work machine from a 2017 i7 to a shiny new Ryzen 9 9950x and my clean compile times went from 3.5 minutes to 15 seconds haha. When I compile with an M2 Max, it's about 30s, so decent for a laptop, but also it was 2x the price of my new desktop workstation.
thadk 2y ago
The biggest difference I’ve seen is iPad Sidecar mode works far more reliably with the M3 Max than the M1 Max. There have been incremental improvements in speed and nits too, but having Sidecar not randomly crash once a day once on M3 was very nice.

by extr 2y ago

charliebwrites 2y ago

This is how I feel about the last few iPhones as well I upgraded from a 13 pro to a 15 pro expecting zippier performance and it feels almost identical if not weirdly a bit slower in rendering and typing I wonder what it will take to make Mac/iOS feel faster

alwillis 2y ago
> I upgraded from a 13 pro to a 15 pro expecting zippier performance and it feels almost identical if not weirdly a bit slower in rendering and typing I went from an iPhone 13 mini to an iPhone 16 and it's a significant speed boost.
- lawgimenez 2y ago
  I went from 12 to 15 pro max, the difference is significant. I can listen to Spotify while shooting from the camera. On my old iPhone 12, this is not possible.
  - jonhohle 2y ago
    I think that says more about Spotify than your phone.
    - stevenjgarner 2y ago
      Test Spotify against YouTube Music (and others) - I personally see no reason for Spotify when I have YouTube Premium, which performs with less overhead.
      - lancesells 2y ago
        Maybe they have friends and family on Spotify
  - pacifika 2y ago
    I’m sure you’re right but that’s pretty unreal.
microtonal 2y ago
I think the only upgrade now is from a non-Pro to Pro, since a 120Hz screen is noticeably better than a 60Hz screen (and a borderline scam that a 1000 Euro phone does not have 120Hz). The new camera button is kinda nice though.
- matwood 2y ago
  > The new camera button is kinda nice though. I was initially indifferent about the camera button, but now that I'm used to it it's actually very useful.
tomjen3 2y ago
I upgraded my iPhone 13 pro to the 16 pro and it was overall really nice - but it was the better use of hardware, the zoom camera, etc. The CPU? Ah, never really felt a difference.
doublerabbit 2y ago
XR to 13, as I don't want the latest and didn't want to loose my jailbreak. Infuriated by the 13. The 3.5mm audio thunder bolt adapters disconnect more often than usual. All I need to do is tap the adapter and it disconnects. And that Apple has now stopped selling them is even more infuriating, it's not a faulty adapter.
- internet2000 2y ago
  It’s probably because of the jailbreak.
  - HumblyTossed 2y ago
    How would that woller out his port?
- HumblyTossed 2y ago
  > The 3.5mm thunder bolt adapters The what? is this the adapter for 3.5mm headphones? If so, you don't have to get Apple made dongles. Third parties make them also.
  - Kirby64 2y ago
    Or just buy the actual Apple adapter from any number of other vendors. Best Buy still has plenty in stock, for instance. I'd guess the GPs actual problem is lint in the Lightning port though. Pretty common, relatively easy to clean out too, especially compared to USB-C.
    - doublerabbit 2y ago
      I'm in the EU. Third party ones cost the same as authentic Apple ones. If not more. Regardless of either, they both have the same fault. The connector between the phone and the adapter is poor. It could just be a fault with my phone but I have no way of proving this.
      - 2y ago
andrei_says_ 2y ago
16 pro has a specialized camera button which is a game changer for street / travel photography. I upgraded from 13 pro and use that. But no other noticeable improvements. Maybe Apple intelligence summarizing wordy emails.
thenthenthen 2y ago
> I wonder what it will take to make Mac/iOS feel faster I know, disabling shadows and customisable animation times ;) On a jailbroken phone I once could disable all animation delays, it felt like a new machine (must add that the animations are very important and generally great ux design, but most are just a tad too slow)

ToucanLoucan 2y ago

Can confirm. I have an M2 Air from work and an M1 Pro for personal, and tbh, both absolutely fly. I haven't had a serious reason to upgrade. The only reason I do kind of want to swap out my M1 Pro is because the 13" screen is a wee small, but I also use the thing docked more often than not so it's very hard to justify spending the money.

stringsandchars 2y ago

> It doesn't really feel different. My work machine was upgraded from an M1 with 16GB of RAM to an M3 Max with 36GB and the difference in Xcode compile times is beyond belief: I went from something like 1-2 minutes to 15-20 seconds. Obviously if opening a browser is the most taxing thing your machine is doing the difference will be minimal. But video or music editing, application-compiling and other intensive tasks, then the upgrade is PHENOMENAL.

Aeolun 2y ago
I very much enjoy being able to start compilation and just seeing results fly by.
fwip 2y ago
I think most of that difference is going to be the huge increase in performance core count between the base chip and the Max (from 4 to 12). The RAM certainly doesn't hurt though!
eropple 2y ago
FWIW I think that's more the core count than anything. I have a M1 Max as a personal machine and an M3 Max at work and while the M3 Max is definitely faster, it isn't world-beating.
jcgrillo 2y ago
My current work machine is M1 Max 64Gb and it's the fastest computer I've ever used. Watching rust code compile makes me laugh out loud it's so quick. Really curious what the newer ones are like, but tbh I don't feel any pressure to upgrade (could just be blissfully ignorant).

jcalabro 2y ago

I've found compile times on large C++ code bases to be the only thing I really notice improving. I recently upgraded my work machine from a 2017 i7 to a shiny new Ryzen 9 9950x and my clean compile times went from 3.5 minutes to 15 seconds haha. When I compile with an M2 Max, it's about 30s, so decent for a laptop, but also it was 2x the price of my new desktop workstation.

thadk 2y ago

The biggest difference I’ve seen is iPad Sidecar mode works far more reliably with the M3 Max than the M1 Max. There have been incremental improvements in speed and nits too, but having Sidecar not randomly crash once a day once on M3 was very nice.