M1 Pro or M1 Max for Music Production?

Hopefully this will help you choose between the M1 Pro or M1 Max if your deciding which one to get for music productions. I break down what's more important for audio production.

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Gear I Use:

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[mbvglider]

Great video! You might want to mention that M1 Pro has much better battery life than M1 Max and will stay even quieter for even longer. This could be really important for some people who do mobile recording. As for the memory bandwidth thing, here's some numbers to think about. Most DAWs move audio at 32-bit internally, and the highest sample rate supported is usually 192 KHz, which most people don't even use. Anyway, one second of mono PCM audio at 32-bit 192 KHz comes out to 4 bytes (32 bits) per sample and 192K samples per second, so 768 KB/s. So, 200 GB is roughly 200, 000, 000 KB, so if you divide that by 768, you get 260, 416. Basically, for your project to be running up against the limits of 200 GB/s, you'd have to be pumping more than a quarter million tracks worth of 32-bit 192 KHz audio.

[jimmyjames]

Dude that has actually helped me a lot I would be getting the 16 inch 10 core 16 core GPU
As A at home music producer I’ve been deliberating for weeks you have really helped me so thanks

[KochJohannes]

I wrote something similiar in yesterday‘s video about the memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is very important for the GPU, not for the CPU! The CPU depends on low RAM latency, not memory bandwidth. Furthermore the M1 Max CPU can‘t even use the full 400 GB/s, it can only use ~240 GB/s according to Anandtech (compared to 200 GB/s on the M1 Pro). I recently listened to a podcast where the Head Chip Designer of Apple explained the same thing.
You should only get the M1 Max when you need the extra GPU cores or 64 GB of RAM. Otherwise don‘t waste your money!

[TheSoundHog]

By far the best review I’ve seen for audio producers!

[Spidouz]

Going with 16” as my main computer.
Going with Max because I want 64GB… just to finally open large composer template full of Kontakt, Eastwest, Omnisphere, etc…
Of course, if I wouldn’t aim at a composer setup, I would go with a M1 Pro with 32GB.

[BCE-]

Thanks Man! Great video. Just bought a 1TB 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM last week for $1030 in like new condition with 14 battery cycle count and 100% battery health. Hard to beat that I think. Was wondering how it compared to the M1 Max and your video covered that really well. Using Logic Pro as my DAW. I'm going to look up what people say about video editing too. But I think this will serve me well. If my production activity goes way up I can always upgrade. Subscribed.

[junokarah]

Can’t wait for my 16” to get here! Thanks man!

[bolttracks]

4K video editing works smoothly on the base M1 as well, the 14-core GPU is plenty for just about anyone, even when live streaming your production session.

[StellaWembley]

I have ordered the M1 Max with 24 cores, 32 Gb size 14'.
I thought this would have been the best investement as I plan to work with it for seveal years!
I also do a lot of multitasking and the M1 Max does a great job .
Anyway I need to say that these machines are heavy. I am a petite woman and the weight of the 16' is too much for me. I was at the shop and couldn't lift it without effort.
So girls out there think about the weight unless you don't care about getting pain in your shoulder!

[jeffhirata]

I think you are right about the memory bandwidth. Doesn’t help for music or CPU. There is so much bandwidth already, that more will not help unless you had 20 CPU cores instead of 10. It’s tempting to get the max upgrade for $200 just for the bandwidth but I don’t think that’s an improvement for music. For video, I think it’s better because there are so many gpu cores that can use it.

[airy_]

Awesome, thank you for your video. It helps

[sourcefor]

I love your videos, but would like to see how this thing performs with a large orchestral template, using kontakt, omnisphere, zebra, spitfire, orchestral tools, etc. right now I use 54gb in an average session so I think I need the 64 gb machine!

[klaasberings]

Thanks for this crystal clear explanation! You've answered every question I was dealing with in my survey to which MB suits best for me as a music composer/producer. And you've also saved me quite some bucks I guess 🙂

[tremblayofficial]

what about deciding between the m1 max 32gb RAM vs 64gb RAM? im trying to decide before buying!

[lorenarodriguez]

This video is The best i have seen about this topic

[SparkyTheInvincible]

The perfect config for me would probably be 14” M1 Pro, 10 Core CPU, 32GB Ram, 2TB SSD.

Could MAYBE get away with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD but I don’t really want to compromise on it. I would really want the most out of it and to be able to use it for 5-10+ years with no hiccups.

Either way I probably won’t be getting one anytime soon, not a very justifiable purchase considering I have a Ryzen 9 3900X CPU W/ 32GB Ram and RTX2070 GPU PC…

(I typically make EDM/Pop/Orchestral music)

[LipazMusic]

I was thinking a lot, knowing and understanding the technology, what is the optimum solution to every music producer (even occasional video editor), bearing in mind two facts:
- These chips will be introduced in desktop products probably by end of Q2 ‘22
- These are portable computers with superb screen.

1. I do not think that 2” of diagonal size makes the 16” worse option. It’s definitely comfy and portable, and not toooo heavy. This is a laptop, and you will gain more battery power, more screen real estate, for around 200USD more (the real difference).
2. Because you can have a super maxed out desktop next year for heavy duty tasks, and you can have around same amount of computing power in LPX with the Pro and Max, if you producing music and you are not heavy video editor, M1 Pro shall be more than enough for you.
3. RAM structure is not similar to Intel’s one. Here with 32Gb you can load multiple sample libraries with ease and hyperfast even with 200Gb/s bandwidth. That’s huuuge compared to anything you experienced before in a consumer setup. Of course, if you’re composing with professional symph libraries everytime everywhere, like a rolling Hans Zimmer, you may opt for 64Gb, for example.
4. The SSD is hyperfast here too. The external one won’t be the same experience exactly, though it’s not what holds you back. SSD size is really up to you, but 1Tb should be the minimum. Then you can check how many storage you needed in your current setup for the OS, daily tasks, plugins, sample libraries, audio samples that you use most of the time… and leave a healthy 500Gb empty space for the audio project you may work on.

Conclusion: 16” M1 Pro with 32Gb and 1-4Tb will give you a portable music studio with longer lasting battery life and huge screen, mic, speaker to create ANY recorded idea/demo, while you use it as the heart of your studio when you are at home/sound studio. $3499 and you’ll own a beast for long long time.


Well, if you are video editor and you do not have a trusty screen, aaand you do not want to be in the studio only for editing, then a top 16” Max is for you, even if you will lose battery power quicker. Still faster and convenient solution if you are working with ProRes… But if H.264 is your main format… Intel seems to handle it still better. #codecwars

[WildReelzToday]

thank you so much for the comparison im a pc user and about to get a mac and you made my decision so thank you sir.

[SpaceLeopard]

Thanks mate, confirmed all the things I thought but wasn't sure about.

[TiffersHz]

Thanks dude for the detailed comparison. I really appreciate you. Blessings.