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Acertomacbook

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2023
5
0
Can't decide between getting a
14 mbp pro 16gb/1TB or
15 mba 24gb/1TB
both of them have similar prices

mba cons:
- 1yr old cpu
- no cooling
- romours about m3

mbp cons:
- smaller display
- less ram

If I want to upgrade the ram to 32gb it will cost 400usd and IDK if that's worth it

I'm kind of a person who has hundreds of tabs open, 80% utilization of 16gb ram.
 

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
18,130
9,789
Atlanta, GA
What's the lifetime you can expect out of 14inch vs 16 inch?
Unless your you all of a sudden need a different sized screen, there is no longevity difference between the same generation 14” and 16”. The 16” does let you hook up a third monitor. While the 15” Air does have a bit larger screen than the 14” MBP, the MBP has a better screen.

A M1-Max MBP, which comes with 32GB RAM, is still a very good laptop; consider buying a discounted one and seeing how it does. You have 15 days to put it though your heaviest workload, but if you are unsatisfied the M3 MBPs should be out early next year. The 15” M3 Air will probably be out middle of next year.

As far as RAM usage, Memory Pressure color is more important that % utilization.
 
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Basic75

macrumors 68000
May 17, 2011
1,996
2,342
Europe
The 16” does let you hook up a third monitor.
The number of external monitors doesn't depend on the size of the MacBook Pro. If you have a 14" and a 16" with the same chip they will support the same number of displays.

All Apple Silicon MacBook Airs and Pros with an M1/2 support 1 external display, MacBook Pros with an M1/2 Pro chip support 2 external displays, and those with an M1/2 Max chip support 3.
 

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
18,130
9,789
Atlanta, GA
The number of external monitors doesn't depend on the size of the MacBook Pro. If you have a 14" and a 16" with the same chip they will support the same number of displays.

All Apple Silicon MacBook Airs and Pros with an M1/2 support 1 external display, MacBook Pros with an M1/2 Pro chip support 2 external displays, and those with an M1/2 Max chip support 3.
You are correct about the Pro/Max difference.
 
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