14" M3 Max 14 Core 30 Core GPU Users - happy?

[Chevron]

Hey Mac Rumorists,

I wanted to share my recent experience using the 2020 13" M1 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM as my primary studio computer for the past few months, replacing our studio i9 Hackintosh for testing purposes. Contrary to my initial skepticism, this M1 machine has handled Pro Tools mixes with 50+ audio tracks impressively well. I've thrown CPU-hungry plugins and mastering tools on the mix bus with high oversampling rates, and there have been zero issues.

Originally contemplating a move to a 16" M3 Max 16 Core, the performance of the M1 MacBook Pro has given me a reality check. Now, I'm leaning towards the 14" M3 Max 14 Core, believing it could keep us efficiently working for at least 5 years.

For those of you who have experience with the 14" M3 Max 14 Core MacBook Pro, could you kindly share your insights and report on your experiences? I'm particularly interested in how it performs in a studio setting, handling various tasks and demanding plugins.

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[whg]

I also had the 14" M1 Pro with 16GB and upgraded to the 14" M3 Max with 36GB. I don't have a studio setting, but recently began playing around with Large Language Models using llama.cpp and some MLX examples. I get from 3 to 30 tokens/s depending on model size. The fans start, during inference, up to about 5500 rpm and became quite audible. CPU temperature goes up to 102°C, GPU up to 98°C. That's why I would recommend the 16" for the top M3 Max version.

Normally, the fans are off and the temperatures are at about 43°C, and I am very happy with this MacBook!

 

[Chevron]

I also had the 14" M1 Pro with 16GB and upgraded to the 14" M3 Max with 36GB. I don't have a studio setting, but recently began playing around with Large Language Models using llama.cpp and some MLX examples. I get from 3 to 30 tokens/s depending on model size. The fans start, during inference, up to about 5500 rpm and became quite audible. CPU temperature goes up to 102°C, GPU up to 98°C. That's why I would recommend the 16" for the top M3 Max version.

Normally, the fans are off and the temperatures are at about 43°C, and I am very happy with this MacBook!

Thank you kindly Sir, I appreciate the feedback - I think you correct and the 16" would be a better option for maxing the CPU and future proofing!

 

[3SQ Machine]

Your M1 Pro will run quieter, if that matters. Also, while M3 max is absolutely better, the value proposition for music production is not really there. You are basically paying for a lot of advancements in the GPU and 3-D, rendering and other Video – related pieces. You really just need the performance cores for audio, and you’ll only be getting two additional on M3 max vs M1 Pro.

If you plan to take advantage of video as part of your audio production, then it may make some sense. However, I think you could just as easily benefit from speccing up the ram on another M1 pro and saving a bunch of money. Until the developers figure out the best way to take advantage of efficiency course for audio production, the best bang for your buck in the current lineup will remain with the M1 pro.

Either way, the single core performance of the M3 chip will certainly yield benefits for audio, but since it sounds like you are already not reaching the limits of the M1 Pro, it might be premature to upgrade at this point until you really know where the bottleneck is. Good luck with your decision.

 

[mdhaus72]

The lower tier M3 Max chips are OK in the 14" model. But you get better cooling with the 16" models. And if you do ever consider getting the full M3 Max chip, then it's far better to get it in the 16" version. It is simply not an awesome match in the smaller chassis.

 

[geta]

Like @mdhaus72 said, with M3 Max CPU you want to get 16” MBP for the extra cooling.
But for your needs, you should get M3 Max CPU only if you need more then 36GB RAM for your work, if not, M3 Pro would be better choice special if you planing to buy 14” MBP.

 

[wubbdie]

I’m also a music producer. I was in the situation that I had to choose between the pro and the binned max. My 14“ binned max will arrive today. The point why I choose the max over the pro was that I‘ll use this baby for at least 5 years, the amount of ram and: the DAW I use. I use Ableton and this software only uses the performance cores of the Apple silicon.
So check out how your DAW performs with Apple silicon if you want to use it for several years.
I‘m a little bit concerned about the fan noise in the review videos. This is why I wanted to get the pro first. But now I choose the max and will get back to this threat after installing and testing. If the fan noise is too much for me, I‘ll check the low power mode. At least I‘ll have enough power to produce for several years without problems.

 

[Chevron]

Your M1 Pro will run quieter, if that matters. Also, while M3 max is absolutely better, the value proposition for music production is not really there. You are basically paying for a lot of advancements in the GPU and 3-D, rendering and other Video – related pieces. You really just need the performance cores for audio, and you’ll only be getting two additional on M3 max vs M1 Pro.

If you plan to take advantage of video as part of your audio production, then it may make some sense. However, I think you could just as easily benefit from speccing up the ram on another M1 pro and saving a bunch of money. Until the developers figure out the best way to take advantage of efficiency course for audio production, the best bang for your buck in the current lineup will remain with the M1 pro.

Either way, the single core performance of the M3 chip will certainly yield benefits for audio, but since it sounds like you are already not reaching the limits of the M1 Pro, it might be premature to upgrade at this point until you really know where the bottleneck is. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks kindly for the info, and that helps a lot.

The M1 MBP I have been testing is the 2020 13" 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. So the M3 Max would have 6 to have 8 extra performance cores.

Candidly, you make a good point about keeping this M1 MBP, or going for a lower spec and more cost-effective MBP.

The lower tier M3 Max chips are OK in the 14" model. But you get better cooling with the 16" models. And if you do ever consider getting the full M3 Max chip, then it's far better to get it in the 16" version. It is simply not an awesome match in the smaller chassis.

Excuse me as I have not looked into it, are there issues with 14" M3 Max overheating? That would be my fear...

I’m also a music producer. I was in the situation that I had to choose between the pro and the binned max. My 14“ binned max will arrive today. The point why I choose the max over the pro was that I‘ll use this baby for at least 5 years, the amount of ram and: the DAW I use. I use Ableton and this software only uses the performance cores of the Apple silicon.
So check out how your DAW performs with Apple silicon if you want to use it for several years.
I‘m a little bit concerned about the fan noise in the review videos. This is why I wanted to get the pro first. But now I choose the max and will get back to this threat after installing and testing. If the fan noise is too much for me, I‘ll check the low power mode. At least I‘ll have enough power to produce for several years without problems.

Thanks for the reply. I am a mix engineer, so more focused on mixing and mastering audio with lots of plugins, mastering stuff etc.

I totally get the 5-year investment, as a minimum anyway. Having used for my work the 13" M1 MBP 8 Core with 16 GB RAM I have been really surprised by how much it can handle mixing in Pro Tools. I have had this machine since it was released in late 2020, bought it as a home/travel machine with a little work too. It has only been a few months since all the plugins I use have been AS native, and been using it for testing - however, it is a significant improvement over using Rosetta 2 in the past and has made me pause to think about the cost to power ratio and what would really be needed.....

 

[geta]

Thanks for the reply. I am a mix engineer, so more focused on mixing and mastering audio with lots of plugins, mastering stuff etc.

I totally get the 5-year investment, as a minimum anyway. Having used for my work the 13" M1 MBP 8 Core with 16 GB RAM I have been really surprised by how much it can handle mixing in Pro Tools. I have had this machine since it was released in late 2020, bought it as a home/travel machine with a little work too. It has only been a few months since all the plugins I use have been AS native, and been using it for testing - however, it is a significant improvement over using Rosetta 2 in the past and has made me pause to think about the cost to power ratio and what would really be needed.....

If the base 13” MBP with M1 (non Pro) and 16GB covered all your mixing needs, then with a new 14” MBP M3 Pro with 36GB RAM you will have plenty of power for years to come.

 

[3SQ Machine]

Having used for my work the 13" M1 MBP 8 Core with 16 GB RAM I have been really surprised by how much it can handle mixing in Pro Tools.

I'm not as familiar with Pro Tools' use of the efficiency cores. Does Pro Tools take advantage of them? I know Reaper does, but I can't recall if Pro Tools can/

 

[Chevron]

I'm not as familiar with Pro Tools' use of the efficiency cores. Does Pro Tools take advantage of them? I know Reaper does, but I can't recall if Pro Tools can/

Pro Tools is one of the DAWs that does not use the efficiency cores at this time.

This article is very helpful and lists those DAWs that do and those that don’t.

Apple Silicon: A Guide To Choosing The Right Mac For Your Studio

 

[mac-jam]

If the base 13” MBP with M1 (non Pro) and 16GB covered all your mixing needs, then with a new 14” MBP M3 Pro with 36GB RAM you will have plenty of power for years to come.

Would you upgrade the ram to future proof it / help with work flow?

 

[geta]

Would you upgrade the ram to future proof it / help with work flow?

Yes, if I had to buy new MBP for music production, 36GB RAM (depends on the CPU) would be the minimum i would get.

That been said, unless your DAW can support the efficiency cores, you should also look for used 14” MBP M1 Pro (10 core) or M2 Pro (12 core) with 32GB RAM instead of M3 Pro (12 core/6p&6e) with 36GB RAM for the extra performance cores.
Also M1/M2 Max would be an option if you don’t mind 16” MBP…

 

[jlc1978]

Excuse me as I have not looked into it, are there issues with 14" M3 Max overheating? That would be my fear...

I have not had any issues but I don't push my 14" M3 Max all that hard.

 

[3SQ Machine]

Pro Tools is one of the DAWs that does not use the efficiency cores at this time.

This article is very helpful and lists those DAWs that do and those that don’t.

Apple Silicon: A Guide To Choosing The Right Mac For Your Studio

Nice link. Strangely, I just did a quick test of forcing logic to use ALL the cores--and it did! I looked at the CPU History in Activity Monitor and noticed the efficiency cores being utilized. I don't recall being able to do that before (it would still just default to the performance cores). I would need to test this a bit more. Anyone else notice this?

 

[Chevron]

Nice link. Strangely, I just did a quick test of forcing logic to use ALL the cores--and it did! I looked at the CPU History in Activity Monitor and noticed the efficiency cores being utilized. I don't recall being able to do that before (it would still just default to the performance cores). I would need to test this a bit more. Anyone else notice this?

Yes I noticed with Logic in the Audio > Device settings that you can change the Processing Threads to I think include efficiency cores - certainly looks that way in the CPU monitor.

 

[mdhaus72]

Excuse me as I have not looked into it, are there issues with 14" M3 Max overheating? That would be my fear...

The biggest issues I've seen are high fan noise and thermal throttling when you place the fully unlocked M3 Max into the smaller 14" chassis. A lot of people have also complained about the lower-tier M3 Max chip running a bit warm at times in that set-up.

This is why if you are going to get the M3 Max in either configuration, I highly recommend getting the 16" model if you can afford the up-charge. Yes, it's a bigger unit...but you get way better cooling and also a bigger screen as a bonus when you're not docked.

 

[wubbdie]

Just a quick update after setting my new baby up completely new:

My main problem is that not all of my
plugins are ready for Sonoma so I can’t check everything.

I‘ve tested a lot of things but I wasn’t able to get the fans to start. Only one time the fans started where I rendered out a track and imported my 4 email accounts with thousands of mails the same time. I‘ve loaded the latest track I did with my old book where I‘ve had 93% processor load. My new baby just had 15% processor load. What a beast.

Conclusion: I was really concerned about heat and fan noise but it seens that at least to my workflow the book
seems to stay cool and quiet.
So I‘ll keep it since the Apple M3 binned max has more than enough power and with the 36gb of memory I‘m futureproof for at least 3-5 years.

I could have gone with the m3 pro with 36gb but I got such a good deal for my new baby that I would have been stupid not to keep the binned max version over the pro version with 36gb of memory. (It was only 10 Euro difference).

So if you have the money to spend and if you don’t want to buy a new book in the next 2 years - go for the binned max.

 

[dmccloud]

Just a quick update after setting my new baby up completely new:

My main problem is that not all of my
plugins are not ready for Sonoma so I can’t check everything.

Unfortunately, it seems that some plugin creators have little to no motivation and/or desire to keep their plugins updated, whether simply for the latest OS or (in some cases) moving from x86 to Apple Silicon.

I‘ve tested a lot of things but I wasn’t able to get the fans to start. Only one time the fans started where I rendered out a track and imported my 4 email accounts with thousands of mails the same time. I‘ve loaded the latest track I did with my old book where I‘ve had 93% processor load. My new baby just had 15% processor load. What a beast.

Conclusion: I was really concerned about heat and fan noise but it seens that at least to my workflow the book
seems to stay cool and quiet.
So I‘ll keep it since the Apple M3 binned max has more than enough power and with the 36gb of memory I‘m futureproof for at least 3-5 years.

I could have gone with the m3 pro with 36gb but I got such a good deal for my new baby that I would have been stupid not to keep the binned max version over the pro version with 36gb of memory. (It was only 10 Euro difference).

So if you have the money to spend and if you don’t want to buy a new book in the next 2 years - go for the binned max.

Even the binned M2 Max (32GB, 30 core GPU) has more than enough power and headroom to last several years. With my M2 Max, I rarely even get the fans to spin, and when they do, I hear the air leaving the machine rather than the fans themselves. The only time I've even gotten the machine to get warm to the point of noticing anything was when running Cyberpunk 2077 via the Game Porting Toolkit, and even then it was just a slight warming around the 6, T, and Y keys.

 

[Dfds]

Just a quick update after setting my new baby up completely new:

My main problem is that not all of my
plugins are not ready for Sonoma so I can’t check everything.

I‘ve tested a lot of things but I wasn’t able to get the fans to start. Only one time the fans started where I rendered out a track and imported my 4 email accounts with thousands of mails the same time. I‘ve loaded the latest track I did with my old book where I‘ve had 93% processor load. My new baby just had 15% processor load. What a beast.

Conclusion: I was really concerned about heat and fan noise but it seens that at least to my workflow the book
seems to stay cool and quiet.
So I‘ll keep it since the Apple M3 binned max has more than enough power and with the 36gb of memory I‘m futureproof for at least 3-5 years.

I could have gone with the m3 pro with 36gb but I got such a good deal for my new baby that I would have been stupid not to keep the binned max version over the pro version with 36gb of memory. (It was only 10 Euro difference).

So if you have the money to spend and if you don’t want to buy a new book in the next 2 years - go for the binned max.

How’s your battery life been so far?

 

[wubbdie]

to be honest: haven't checked it yet. Currently using it stationary in my studio. But I ordered AIDente Pro to keep my battery alive since its plugged into my monitor most of the time.

 

[richinaus]

The biggest issues I've seen are high fan noise and thermal throttling when you place the fully unlocked M3 Max into the smaller 14" chassis. A lot of people have also complained about the lower-tier M3 Max chip running a bit warm at times in that set-up.

This is why if you are going to get the M3 Max in either configuration, I highly recommend getting the 16" model if you can afford the up-charge. Yes, it's a bigger unit...but you get way better cooling and also a bigger screen as a bonus when you're not docked.

Wouldn't the better advice be to just buy the computer you want, test it out and make a decision? Send it back if it isn't right. I bought a M3 16" Max and sent it back, and decided to keep my 14" M1 Max.......
I can do all sorts of tasks on it and it's fine on the whole.
If I want to do sustained rendering I will use a Mac Studio [which is far more suitable for music production anyway].

 

[AVBeatMan]

I got the 14" M3 Max base model. I am a light user and don't need all this power at all, but I got a good deal. I have been a bit concerned about it heating up. Can anyone tell me when it might heat up? I mean, how much have you got to have running before it heats up?

 

[savethyinterweb]

Just a quick update after setting my new baby up completely new:

My main problem is that not all of my
plugins are ready for Sonoma so I can’t check everything.

I‘ve tested a lot of things but I wasn’t able to get the fans to start. Only one time the fans started where I rendered out a track and imported my 4 email accounts with thousands of mails the same time. I‘ve loaded the latest track I did with my old book where I‘ve had 93% processor load. My new baby just had 15% processor load. What a beast.

Conclusion: I was really concerned about heat and fan noise but it seens that at least to my workflow the book
seems to stay cool and quiet.
So I‘ll keep it since the Apple M3 binned max has more than enough power and with the 36gb of memory I‘m futureproof for at least 3-5 years.

I could have gone with the m3 pro with 36gb but I got such a good deal for my new baby that I would have been stupid not to keep the binned max version over the pro version with 36gb of memory. (It was only 10 Euro difference).

So if you have the money to spend and if you don’t want to buy a new book in the next 2 years - go for the binned max.

Hi wubdie,
I'd really like to know more, since I am also caught in the decision between 14 m3 max and m3 pro for audio production .. and fan noise (basically anything above the first stage of fan activity, i.e. above 1800rpm) is becoming problematic.
Are you running a lot of virtual instruments and sample libraries at the same time?
Did you do some audio related stress testing, i.e. trying to push a lot of virtual synth instances, i.e. U-he Diva or sth. similar.
Which sample rate and buffer size are you using?

Would appreciate you sharing some more experiences.

Kind regards!

 

[iCyprus]

Anyone experience high RAM usage when performing basic tasks in MCB pro 16" M3 pro 32GB?