Should I buy the MacBook Pro 16" M1 pro with 32gb ram or M2 with 16gb ram ?

[Yoyo12314]

Hello,

I am upgrading my Macbook Pro 16" of 16gb RAM from 2015 and I am not sure which laptop to buy. I started receiving more work for animations and 3D. Could someone tell me which laptop would be perfect for me?

These are the options I've seen so far in my country, I would have to extend my budget (it hurts):
1. APPLE MacBook Pro 2021 (16", Apple M1 Pro Chip, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD) 2'899.90
2. APPLE MacBook Pro 2023 (16.2", Apple M2 Pro Chip, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) 2'599.–
3. APPLE MacBook Pro 2021 (16", Apple M1 Pro Chip, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD) 2'249.–

I am a heavy user of my computer. I have around 12 tabs open, I use it to send emails and messages, make websites, animations, watch movies after I finish work.
I am 16/7 with it. I have external hard drives, so the space is not very important for me.

I also would like to have the laptop for many years as I've had my current one, since 2015.. 8 years already. I have managed to make animations with it but as you can imagine, I have to wait for soooo long when it renders.

I will appreciate any help and if you have a better option, I will welcome it as well.

Thank you!!!!

 

[maflynn]

I'm going to say, since there's no way getting around ram shortages, go for the 32GB configuration over anything else.

Why not get the 16" M2 MBP with 32GB of ram for 2899? I'd probably opt for that over the 2021 M1 option you're showing.

 

[floral]

The M2 Pro chip is a mild bump over the M1 Pro, but it sounds like you need multitasking more than power. I would recommend the one with 32GB ram.

Also @maflynn, the M1 Pro chip beats the M2 base chip, so if they had to spend 2899 for a laptop then the one with M1 Pro would be a better bet since they otherwise have same RAM.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

M1 Pro with 32 gb hands down. M2 Pro isn't a massive leap so you're not missing much. Plus the M1 Pro is still an insane chip. (Should note that the HDMI port on the M1 Pro is 2.0 while M2 Pro has HDMI 2.1, and the M2 Pro has Wifi 6E. That's not a complaint, that's a warning.)

Even Linus Tech Tips recommends the M1 Pro with 32 gb

 

[Yoyo12314]

Hello, I am very grateful for your answers.

I bought the mac of 32gb M1pro chip. I am actually writing this post with it.

But I have a question:

Yesterday I was working on a short video of 5 seconds with no effects, just putting videos together. I was using Adobe premiere Pro, I had a youtube video playing in low resolution in the background, and at the same time I was editing a website on WordPress.

Suddenly, the computer froze and restarted, before that, the audio of the Youtube video was all messed up.

When it came to life, I got the report that it was the watchdog timeout. This happened twice.

Before the second time, the audio was weird, it sounded like interference and then... frozen...

And my question is, is it normal?

Is it normal for a computer like this to freeze during those tasks and restart?

The deadline to return it is on Monday and I would like to know if you would return it or if there's a solution.

My computer from 2015, has never restarted like that while doing the same tasks.

Thank you in advance for your replies <3