14“ M3 Pro or 14“ M3 (binned) Max for music production?

[wubbdie]

Hey there!

I’m a music producer who is using Ableton and I like to finally buy a new machine since my old MBP is very old. Coming from an old MBP from 2009 I know that the M3 will be a massive upgrade for me! But as you can see I‘m not the person who buys a new MBP every 2 years.

So I‘m torn between the 14“ Pro 12/18 1 TB, 18 gigs of ram or the 14“ (binned) Max 14/30 1TB, 36 gigs of ram

I don’t know if I‘ll use the new machine in the timeframe of my MBP 2009 but at least 4-5 years.

Ableton only uses the performance cores of the M3, so I don’t know if the Pro will fit my needs because I also bought complete new plugins which are more demanding than my old ones. And the pro has only 18 gig of ram so the might be some ssd swap when doing music. But it might be enough for me.

So the binned max seems to be the better choice on the long term because it has more ram and more performance cores. But I‘m really concerned about the fan noise of the binned max. I read so much about the fan noise on video editing and normal tasks like browsing but I couldn’t find any info about fan noise when doing music production.

Since my old MBP sounds like a start of a plane I really want a (near) silent book. So which one would you choose in terms of my work, fan noise and timeframe to use?

And don’t tell me to buy an M2 Max. I know it would be the best choice but I really want the sexy space black! 😉

 

[MacDevil7334]

I don’t have any experience with music production, so I’m afraid I can’t add anything specific there. I will say that many YouTubers do things to deliberately spin up the fans in their videos and this leaves the impression that Apple Silicon Macs are just as noisy as their intel predecessors. They’re not. For most uses, the AS Mac won’t even need the fans. And, when they are needed, they will be quieter than your 2009 model.

I think your instinct to go with the Max is the right one given your application only uses the performance cores. The Max will generate more heat but it will also complete tasks more quickly. Ultimately, I think you may just need to buy it and see if the fan noise is acceptable. Test it during your return window and take it back if it’s too loud. Remember the Pro can also be configured with 36 GB RAM if you decide to go with that chip instead.

 

[bradman83]

Since RAM can't be upgraded after the fact go with the most RAM you can afford, be it the M3 Max or upgraded M3 Pro.

 

[lclev]

I have a 14" MBP max 16/40, 64GB, 1TB. I use it for video editing and photo work. They only time the fans ramp up is when I am encoding using Premiere Pro. Then it gets hot and the fans max out but I don't think it is all that loud.
I have also worked with audio using Adobe Audition which does not ramp up the fans. I have used Davinci Resolve to edit and encode video. The fans stay off and it is quiet. Encoding is just as fast in Davinci as it is in Premiere Pro and quality is the same.

 

[Paul Deemer]

I have the 16" Max base 14/30 36GB 1TB and it runs very cool in the larger case. But I would never buy a 14 with a max in it. Just too small for a Max if you hate fan noise. The base max does run cooler than the Full Max because of less chips which is why I got it and the 16". (2 less CPUs and 10 less GPUs). It was a good middle ground between Pro and Full Max. But based on your preference I would get the pro and max out the ram at 36gb which is as high as you can go on the pro.

 

[geta]

If till now you managed to run your projects with your old MBP, get the M3 Pro version with 36GB RAM, it will run circles around it without any sweat.