Hey! I am new to learning about how computers actually work but am learning a lot and loving all of it. I am in need of a new laptop, and am comparing upgrading the M2 Pro from 16 to 32gb RAM (this version has the slower 512GB SSD), or instead upgrading from 10 to 12core CPU, and 16 to 19core GPU (with a faster 1TB SSD). I do a lot of 3d modeling in Fusion 360, I use the Adobe suite a lot, am getting into Ableton, and work with large video datasets that I need to analyze with custom Python scripts (think terabytes of data, stored externally). I am also looking into using machine learning for video analysis as well. I tend to run multiple things at once and am bad at quitting programs until I'm sure I'm done using them (working on this!). Just dropping some info for reference - if anyone has any thoughts, I'd really appreciate it. I dont know computers well enough to have an instinct for which would max out first. Trying to get the best bang for my buck here. Cheers!
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Limited budget, need help choosing between upgrading RAM or CPU, GPU for the M2 Pro laptop...
- Thread starter twinkletwink
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When I got my M1 MBP, I went for doubling the storage over RAM. While that worked great at first, I started running into issues as my workflows moved more towards 4k video editing instead of 1080p. You can always add an external drive if you need additional storage, but you can't add an external solution for RAM.
I have a 13" 2019 Macbook pro with the 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor. My computer is dying on me, the battery is totally shot at this point, which I think is partly because of what I've been putting it through. I don't know how to check which is the bottleneck, so maybe that's where I need to start - I'll get on that, if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate that too. When using Fusion 360 with larger projects it can gets laggy, and some objects can be imported but then are impossible to work on (eg imported high poly 3D scans). My computer gets incredibly hot when using the Adobe suite and illustrator together. I use OpenCV to process terabytes of large video files (4056x3040, 75 frames long) and with this computer, it takes between 30 seconds and a minute per video (I'm tracking different numbers of aruco tags in different frames, which accounts for some of this variation), but it forces me to run things overnight and makes my computer unusable in the meantime. I haven't started working on training neural networks and running through my datasets with them yet, so I'm not sure what type of bottleneck I might have there. Hopefully this helps? I know the new macbooks are going to be much speedier than mine right now, but I have a feeling I am still going to find a way to push things on my new one. Many thanks for replying so quickly!
Hmm tough call. Seeing your workflow if it were me I'd probably go for the ram because if for no other reason it'll help out when you get to training neural networks if you're running it locally. It will likely help out using the Adobe suite too and you already said you like to run multiple apps. I wouldn't worry too much about the slower SSD drive because its still fast and as fast or faster than the full speed drive in the Air.
Might be worth considering the M1 Pro or even Max if you can get a 32GB 512GB model. It’s going to blow your old Intel model away. You should be able to get one for a reasonable price and you won’t miss the little extra performance you would get on the M2.
Agree with this.
Check the Apple refurb store. There are several 32GB/1TB M1 Pro/Max MPBs available. This would be better than getting an M2 Pro MBP that has too small RAM or SSD.
Apple "refurbs" are literally as good as new.
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