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M4 MacBook Pro

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Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#151

Post by rbanffy »

kristofferR wrote: post #133
carlgreene wrote: post #94

What’s amazing is that in the past I’ve felt the need to upgrade within a few years. New video format or more demanding music software is released that slows the machine down, or battery life craters. Well, I haven’t had even a tinge of feeling that I need to upgrade after getting my M1 Pro MBP. I can’t remember it ever skipping a beat running a serious Ableton project, or editing in Resolve. Can stuff be faster? Tec…

Yeah, I feel like Apple has done the opposite of planned obsolescence with the M chips. I have a Macbook Air M1 that I'd like to upgrade, but they're not making it easy. I promised myself a couple of years ago I'll never buy a new expensive computing device/phone unless it supports 120 hertz and Wi-Fi 7, a pretty reasonable request I think. I got the iPhone 16 Pro, guess I can wait another year for a new Macbook (hop…

Apple equipment always last a long time and retain value on the second-hand market.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#152

Post by doctoboggan »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #76
tomrod wrote: post #19

This is the first compelling Mac to me. I've used Macs for a few clients and muscle memory is very deeply ingrained for linux desktops. But with local LLMs finally on the verge of usability along with sufficient memory... I might need to make the jump! Wish I could spin up a Linux OS on the hardware though. Not a bright spot for me.

Off topic, but I’m very interested in local LLMs. Could you point me in the right direction, both hardware specs and models?

In general for local LLMs, the more memory the better. You will be able to fit larger models in RAM. The faster CPU will give you more tokens/second, but if you are just chatting with a human in the loop, most recent M series macs will be able to generate tokens faster than you can read them.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#153

Post by Analemma_ »

twilo wrote: post #136
opjjf wrote: post #5

It seems they also update the base memory on MacBook Air: > MacBook Air: The World’s Most Popular Laptop Now Starts at 16GB > MacBook Air is the world’s most popular laptop, and with Apple Intelligence, it’s even better. Now, models with M2 and M3 double the starting memory to 16GB, while keeping the starting price at just $999 — a terrific value for the world’s best-selling laptop.

Great news. The pro is kinda of heavy for my liking so the Air is the way to go

I think spec-wise the Air is good enough for almost everyone who isn't doing video production or running local LLMs, I just wish it had the much nicer screen that the Pro has. But I suppose they have to segregate the product lines somehow.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#154

Post by RobinL »

Can anyone comment on the viability of using an external SSD rather than upgrading storage? Specifically for data analysis (e.g. storing/analysing parquet files using Python/duckdb, or video editing using divinci resolve).

Also, any recommendations for suitable ssds, ideally not too expensive? Thank you!

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#155

Post by fckgw »

doctoboggan wrote: post #73

Does anyone know of any good deals on the older models of apple laptops? Now is usually a great time to purchase (a still very capable) older model.

Most retailers have had the older models on closeout for a few weeks now. Best Buy, Amazon and Costco have had the M3 models for a few hundred off depending on models.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#156

Post by snjnlsn »

thimabi wrote: post #82

Nice to see they increased the number of performance cores in the M4 Pro, compared to the M3 Pro. Though I am worried about the impact of this change on battery life on the MBPs. Another positive development was bumping up baseline amounts of RAM. They kept selling machines with just 8 gigabytes of RAM for way longer than they should have. It might be fine for many workflows, but feels weird on “pro” machines at thei…

I'm curious why they decided to go this route, but glad to see it. Perhaps ~4 efficiency cores is simply just enough for the average MBP user's standard compute?

In January, after researching, I bought an apple restored MBP with an M2 Max over an M3 Pro/Max machine because of the performance/efficiency core ratio. I do a lot of music production in DAWs, and many, even Apple's Logic Pro don't really make use of efficiency cores. I'm curious about what restraints have led to this.. but perhaps this also factors into Apple's choice to increase the ratio of performance/efficiency cores.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#157

Post by nsteel »

opjjf wrote: post #5

It seems they also update the base memory on MacBook Air: > MacBook Air: The World’s Most Popular Laptop Now Starts at 16GB > MacBook Air is the world’s most popular laptop, and with Apple Intelligence, it’s even better. Now, models with M2 and M3 double the starting memory to 16GB, while keeping the starting price at just $999 — a terrific value for the world’s best-selling laptop.

But still just 256GB SSD Storage. £200 for the upgrade to 512GB (plus a couple more GPU cores that I don't need. Urgh.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#158

Post by Yabood »

wiremine wrote: post #29
shrubble wrote: post #22

Disingenuous to mention the x86 based MacBooks as a basis for comparison in their benchmarks; they are trying to conflate current-gen Intel with what they shipped more than 4 years ago. Are they going to claim that 16GB RAM is equivalent to 32GB on Intel laptops? (/sarc)

It could see it as disingenuous, or a targeted message to those users still on those older x86 machines.

Exactly how I read it. I have an intel model, and the press release felt like a targeted ad.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#159

Post by jart »

carlgreene wrote: post #94

What’s amazing is that in the past I’ve felt the need to upgrade within a few years. New video format or more demanding music software is released that slows the machine down, or battery life craters. Well, I haven’t had even a tinge of feeling that I need to upgrade after getting my M1 Pro MBP. I can’t remember it ever skipping a beat running a serious Ableton project, or editing in Resolve. Can stuff be faster? Tec…

I hate to say it but that's like a boomer saying they never felt the need to buy a computer, because they've never wished their pen and paper goes faster. Or a UNIX greybeard saying they don't need a Mac since they don't think its GUI would make their terminal go any faster. If you've hit a point in your life where you're no longer keeping up with the latest technological developments like AI, then of course you don't need to upgrade. A Macbook M1 can't run half the stuff posted on Hugging Face these days. Even my 128gb Mac Studio isn't nearly enough.

Re: M4 MacBook Pro

#160

Post by jonah »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #70
scrlk wrote: post #2

Nano-texture option for the display is nice. IIRC it's the first time since the 2012 15" MBP that a matte option has been offered? I hope that the response times have improved, because it has been quite poor for a 120 Hz panel.

Love the nano-texture on the Studio Display, but my MacBooks have always suffered from finger oil rubbing the screen from the keys. Fingerprint oil on nano-texture sounds like a recipe for disaster. For my current laptop, I finally broke down and bought a tempered glass screen protector. It adds a bit of glare, but wipes clean — and for the first time I have a one-year-old MacBook that still looks as good as new.

I put a thin screen cleaner/glasses cleaner cloth on the keyboard whenever I close the lid. That keeps the oils off the screen as well as prevents any pressure or rubbing from damaging the glass.
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