Which is the better discount? M2 Pro vs M3 Pro

[ladydub]

I currently have the 2021 M1 Pro 14" 16GB RAM/512 SSD which I love. I'm looking for a new MBP for myself and passing this one on my assistant.

My typical use is heavy use of business products all day, every day (Office products, Quickbooks, Zoom, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Remote Desktop, etc) and heavy browsing. I also process a large amount of photos which includes very light editing (mainly in Photos), resizing, etc. I do some dark sky photography (raw files) and would like to start using Lightroom on this new computer for processing and may start doing some light video editing. No gaming. I would like to keep this new computer for as long as it's supported.

I found these 2 models on sale:

14" M2 Pro 10-core/16-core, 16GB RAM/512 SSD: $1629 ($370 off list)

14" M3 Pro 11-core/14-core 36GB RAM/512 SSD $1999 ($400 off list)

I know either of these would be fine for my day-to-day. Will the M3 Pro be noticeably faster during occasional lightroom use? Is it worth the extra $370 for longevity/more RAM?

I'm not particularly price sensitive but I don't want to pay for more than I need.

Thanks!

 

[OrenLindsey]

The difference in chips is minor, but the difference in RAM is pretty major. I'd lean towards the M3, mostly because of the extra RAM. Also, the 512 GB SSD has faster speeds on the M3 Pro MBPs than the M2 Pro MBPs.

 

[ladydub]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I probably would have ordered it by now, but the M3 at that price is only in black and I prefer silver. I'm a sucker for a good discount though, so I will probably go with it!

 

[Kotsos81]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I probably would have ordered it by now, but the M3 at that price is only in black and I prefer silver. I'm a sucker for a good discount though, so I will probably go with it!

Actually while the 12 cores version of M3 Pro is only about 3%-7% faster in multi-core than the 12 cores version of M2 Pro, the 11 cores version of M3 Pro is about 20% faster than the 10 cores version of M2 Pro! Add to this the 15% single-core gain of 3rd generation of M-series chips over the 2nd generation, the larger memory, the brighter display, and the advancements in GPU (some of which may or may not be relevant to your workload, e.g. hardware-accelerated ray tracing, but dynamic caching is beneficial to everyone) and you have there a fantastic discount.

P.S. The space black will grow to you. 😊

 

[Kotsos81]

P.S.2: Forgot to add that the SSD in M3 Pro is also significantly faster both in Read and, especially, in Write.

 

[picpicmac]

I do some dark sky photography (raw files) and would like to start using Lightroom on this new computer for processing

Are you going to be stacking images?

Anyway, it's been many years since I used Lightroom (I used the original version, on a MacBook Pro 17" while traveling overseas), and I always wanted more memory then.

I suspect the same will be true today. More memory for Adobe products seems to be what photographers declare.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Echoing others here that the M3 is the better buy. The extra RAM will be nice to have for Lightroom. Don’t forget too that the M3 model also has a brighter screen for SDR content.

 

[ladydub]

Thank you for the replies. Even though I was sure it was the better deal (it was via Adorama), I did not go for the M3 Pro. I do like the black, but feel that I would get tired of it and was worried about the finish chipping and fading. I used to have the Space Gray touch bar model and the palm rests were pretty discolored after a few years.

I realized my mom is still using the mid-2015 MBP and even though it's going strong I know it won't be supported after 2024. So, I went with the M2 Pro...ended up getting it for $1599 (so $400 off retail)... and in a year or so I'll give it to her and then upgrade to the machine I want. I can get by with what I have for limited Lightroom use until then, but eventually I would like to stack images and would want the extra RAM.

The M1 Pro I'm passing down to my assistant is replacing a 2013 MBP which doesn't jive with Office 365 all of the sudden. What a great machine that was. I purchased it used for $600 in an emergency on vacation when my older MBP got fried by a power surge. It was clearly pretty abused - the case was all scratched - and it has been in use ever since and has never missed a beat.

What can do you with these older machines that are no longer supported? It's a shame to have to dispose of a laptop where the hardware is still solid...same will happen to the 2015 next year.

 

[Pressure]

Are you going to be stacking images?

Anyway, it's been many years since I used Lightroom (I used the original version, on a MacBook Pro 17" while traveling overseas), and I always wanted more memory then.

I suspect the same will be true today. More memory for Adobe products seems to be what photographers declare.

Yeah, as much RAM as you need for Adobe.

It can quickly become painful, especially with stacking, when you have too little RAM available or just straight up crash the application.

 

[Populus]

Most people have pointed you towards the M3 Pro, and I’m not going to do anything different. But I’m going to give you yet another reason to get the M3 Pro: Battery Life.

You probably have read that the difference in raw CPU power between the M2 Pro and the M3 Pro isn’t huge, but because more of those cores are efficiency cores, the battery will last you even more on the M3 Pro.

I know maybe this isn’t important to you, but it’s a laptop, so I guess it’s usually a benefit.

 

[ladydub]

More battery life if a huge plus. When I'm ready for another purchase I will go with 32GB of RAM (I'm assuming this is sufficient for Lightroom?) and will go with whatever pro-chip is available at the time whether that is the M3 or M4.

Since this new computer will be passed down in about 12-18 months, I just didn't need to go with the Pro with all that RAM. For my mom and/or assistant, a MBA or regular M3 would have been more than sufficient for their needs, but since the M2 Pro was the same price as the entry level M3 I decided to go that route.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[picpicmac]

What can do you with these older machines that are no longer supported?

I'm typing this on a 2008 iMac. It has long since been deprecated. But it's still fine for simple web surfing as long as I don't open too many YouTube videos, and as long as I can use ad-blockers.