My 2018 MBP finally died and I’m planning on upgrading to an M3 Max. I’m leaning towards 14” for form factor, 16” seems quite bulky. It will primarily be for coding, but I am also learning game dev as a hobby so will probably try putting ZBrush/Maya/etc and using unity/unreal on it as a more portable break from my windows desktop. I have a 14” M1 for work and feel there’s enough screen real estate, maybe you have another opinion? Anyone have the 14” and have concerns with theirs? Anecdotally on YT I’ve seen how thermal throttling and fan noise kicks on way sooner. Or if you got 16”, do you wish you got 14”? Curious about your use cases and why you prefer what you prefer. TC 330k
Buy 14" for portability and save some money. For home/office use an external monitor/keyboard/mouse for better experience.
Thanks Google, I have a similar question as well. I’m between the 14” and 16” Pro for music production and coding (web stuff). I commute by train and bus most of the time, and travel a lot. Would the 16” be a pain to carry? I would much prefer for the extended battery and screen space.
Yes, from personal experience, the 16'' is a pain to carry. I now use the 14'' and don't see any difference in coding or doing anything.
Thanks, what I fear is not being able to cope with the lack of real state. The pain to carry is related to it being heavy? I’d assume that most backpacks would have space for it
I just went through this same decision recently. I’ve used a 16 inch MBP with work for years and it’s always docked, but a little cumbersome when I do need to move it. Figured I would appreciate the extra portability and save some cost at the same time, so bought the 14 inch. I tried to convince myself that I was happy with the decision but ended up returning the 14 inch and getting a 16 inch. I really needed the extra real estate for my IDE and things such as chrome developer tools/monitoring dashboards. Returning was a bit of a pain as well, given UPS managed to lose the laptop for about a week, so took a while to get refunded. Save yourself the hassle, go for 16 inch.
You don't use a monitor?
I do 90% of the time, was mainly talking about when not using a monitor as that’s when screen size really matters. My implied summary is that despite how the 16’’ is less portable, it’s still worth it for the extra screen space when carrying it around
I’m actually considering a 15” Air because realistically don’t need the compute of a Pro machine given that the Apple silicon computers are all so efficient
Yeah use that Air and then come back to edit your comment. Even the people at the Apple Store don’t recommend air these days because it’s so nerfed. So unless your only task is to read emails, that Air is basically a Starbucks candy
How do you mean? As long as you get enough memory the M2/M3 should be enough to handle most needs. I’m not gonna do anything serious on my personal machine like super heavy builds or video editing
Is it going to be your main computer at home? If so, are you going to use the screen a lot, or is it going to be mostly plugged in to external displays? If you want to use the screen a lot, I'd go with 16". Otherwise 14" - or if you're actually going to carry it with you all the time. I picked Apple hater in the poll though, even though they got the hardware right ever since moving to ARM, I can't believe how much they get away with how trash the OS is. By far the worst OS I've used, but anything that goes wrong with it always gets blamed on the user. If Microsoft pulled that shit, everyone would be up in arms.
Buy a 16 inch and start lifting weights to neutralize the weight difference
I’m yet to hear my 14 inch M2 Pro fan. Not sure what you’re planning to do but I doubt you need M3 max. Better off last years model and a cheap discount
Honestly, just buy m1 or m2 refurb. Theyre basically brand new and it’ll be literally 4x faster than your 2018. Any of the Apple silicon Macs blow that out of the water. $1100 and it’s amazing. https://www.microcenter.com/product/675889/apple-macbook-pro-mkgp3ll-a-(late-2021)-142-laptop-computer-(refurbished)-space-gray
Apple refurbs is the move
Same situation. My 2018 is the i9 with 32GB and 1TB. If it wasn’t for the over heating I probably would’ve continued for a few more years. Bought the M3 Max 14” and found out that the screen size is too less for any of our work. It’s our home laptop so my partner does a lot of their work, I do a ton of photo and video processing, along with my dev work. Had to return that within a week and got the 16” as the latter has much better thermals and audio. Finally ended up with a 16” M3 Max the top end one w/64GB and 1TB. The difference in weight isn’t really an issue at all, if you’re strong enough
I’ve taken a 14” to the max for literally hours and not had any thermal issues. Maybe your fan is blocked or something?
Idk 🤷🏻♂️ the performance difference while using Adobe After Effects, Lightroom and Photoshop were very significant on the 14” and 16”. Also, screen real estate is very important while working and I wouldn’t sacrifice my eyes for that
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If you’re not carrying your laptop in a backpack standing for extended periods (like riding a bike/scooter) I don’t see how the bulkiness of the 16 is a problem