I have two options

M1 Pro 8 core, GPU 14core, 32GB Ram, SSD 512GB

M1 Pro 10core, GPU 14core, 16GB Ram, SSD 1TB

which one do you guys think will give me a better performance while music production?

IMO, SSD won't matter much because I'll have all the samples stored in my usb and I don't download hundreds of VSTs.

Choosing between CPU upgrade or Ram upgrade is hard to choose.

Mac that I am using now has 8gb RAM and shortage in RAM has been a pain in the ass for me
so I'm leaning more towards upgrading Ram.

Thank you in advance.

 

I suggest you look for youtube tests. I am on the market for an M aswell and it appears that memory requirements for this architecture are not as high as for typical Intel architecture. I don't have a definitive answer so far

 

The MacBook Pro M1 is easily one of the best 13-inch laptops money can buy. You get blazing performance and epic battery life for your $1,299. And yet the speed gap between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with M1 is not that great.

There are some reasons to splurge for the MacBook Pro with M1, though. You get better sustained performance for larger tasks, because the MacBook Pro has a fan and the Air does not. And I do appreciate that the MacBook Pro has a brighter display and a better GPU for its opening price. If Apple threw in two more Thunderbolt ports I think the Pro would be an easier sell.

Some may prefer the MacBook Pro 14-inch, which sports a larger 14-inch mini-LED display along with a more powerful M1 Pro chip and more ports. However, that laptop starts at $1,999. A new entry-level MacBook Pro 2022 with an upgraded M2 chip is reportedly launching later this year, but we doubt that it's launching anytime soon.

Overall, I really like the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and it’s an excellent choice for power users. But I think for the vast majority of people the MacBook Air M1 is “Pro” enough for now.

www.tomsguide.com/reviews/macbook-pro-m1

 

Get this one: M1 Pro 10core, GPU 14core, 16GB Ram, SSD 1TB.


Either will do whatever you want. Get the faster CPU. SSD matters a lot, but you will be ok with the smaller one.

You can work around RAM a lot easier than CPU.

 

Last edited: Mar 15, 2022

BUMP.

 

Unless you are working with video 4K+ and pre-renders or a lot of samplers 16GB is enough, I would opt for the faster CPU as real time effects and buses will benefit from that more than RAM.

 

It depends on how much Multicore Performance and RAM you want, single core they are all the same (even the macMini M1). I have a macMini and before I hit the Multicore Limit, anytime before. one core is overloaded or the RAM get filled.

 

Yep. 16GB RAM and the smaller SSD are both limiting but when working with larger projects with numerous sampled instruments and Spectrasonics products, I'd definitely go for the 8 core model with 32GB RAM. Less paging to SSD and 16GB RAM are filled easily.

 

Native ARM apps and plugins handle RAM really well. Much better than Intel ever did. Get the faster CPU and bigger HD, they will make a bigger difference in real use.

 

Macbook Air here , 8 Core 7 Gpu + 8GB Ram 265 SSD , work like a charm with 4k projects in DaVinci Resolve , Logic , Studio One 5 , lots of vst , but I have to mention that I have attached a Motu M4 for low latency and an external M2 in a case for large files ... Not on glitch , nothing , in everything I do ... Editing and combining movie from GOPro (4k 120 FPS ) with movie from my drone (4k 24 FPS 100MB /sec )

 

I am quite happy with my M1 1TB 16GB atm, I am going to upgrade to 32 GB once there their CPUs get a higher single core performance

 

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2022

do note M1 Pro 8 core has actually only 6 performance cores, and M1 Pro 10 cores has only 8 performance cores,

I've been using 32GB ram, 6-core i7 and 500GB ssd for over 7 years, and I would definitely not downgrade from that,
M1 Pro 10 core, 32GB ram, 1TB ssd would be bare minimum I'd consider, doing heavier work,

on the other hand, if you're tight on budget, you can go for M1 MacBook Air with 16GB ram and 500GB ssd and save lots of money now, can sell it later and get stronger machine if you'll find need for it later,
that said I've been using M1 MacMini with 16GB ram and 2TB ssd most of the time nowadays because it doesn't struggle with most of the tasks I throw into it

 

32GB all the way, cores don't matter at that point, M1 architecture is strong enough to "compensate" for the missing 2 cores so you won't notice much difference as opposed to memory.

Like jesus christ there are huge ass sample libraries now, you're gonna have a bad time with 16Gbs if you want to experiment a little bit.

And SSD size doesn't matter, just use externals anyways

I totally get where you are coming from, but what if he suddenly wants to use a huge sample library? The 32gb setup is more flexible and fool proof, like you have to be really really sure and dedicated that you don't want the extra RAM

You can handle RAM like a god, but Hans Zimmer Piano is already like 500Gbs or some crazy number like that, yeah you're gonna have a hard time regardless of memory management with 16gbs

Oh, have they allowed updating RAM again or do you mean buying another model?

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2022

that's not exactly correct information here,

M1 cpu architecture isn't even stronger than latest 12th gen Intel, there is definitely no magic when it comes to task scheduling across cpu cores, apart from smarter scheduling of performance vs. efficiency cores allocation (both Apple M1 chips, and Intel 12th gen on Windows 11),

using RAM for sample libraries is terribly inefficient, something like Kontakt can already stream libraries directly from SSD which is fast enough already (over 2GB/s even with base model M1 MacBook Air or MacMini),

using external SSDs with M1 Macs is tricky, because it seems those Macs actually support only USB 3.1 speeds, so casual SSDs like Samsung T7 are already limited in performance, and properly performing Thunderbolt3/4 NVME enclosures are hard to find - that said, having bigger internal SSD which gives much higher speed is tough to recommend, with Apple pricing being so crazy high

 

So, if I want a mac mainly for music production, mixing and mastering, would a mac mini m1 with 16 GB RAM Suffice? Do help me out. Thanks.

 

I can't judge the complexity of projects you may be working on, so don't take my words granted,
but I would say yes - BUT only if you go full Apple M1 native - your DAW having native M1 support, and all your plugins having native M1 support,

for example I was doing some heavier mixing on my i7-5820K 32GB ram hackintosh in Reaper with 154 plugins and 65 tracks, (no virtual instruments though) few years back, that exact same project makes 2014 MacBook Pro (4-core i7, 16GB ram) go wild, with temps reaching 99-ish °C within seconds, not even being able to play the project at 2048 buffer size
that exact same project uses around 1.1GB ram on my M1, with CPU usage below 40% (RT usage around 20%) at 512 buffer size,
and on top of that, I can just smack a video track at 1080p 60fps with literally zero additional load, because of M1's internal video encoder/decoder,
if you want me to test something like Kontakt or Omnisphere, let me know, I might give it a try, but I'm no skilled user of those

 

no i meant buying a new model.

Get one and try if it is enough for you, if not return it. That's the best way to find out.
I did the same and I kept it

 

Last edited: Mar 17, 2022

Ah okay, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info
It still loads cues into the RAM though right?
Not that it would matter much, but I'd be curious how the other sample players manage that like EW, Spitfire, OT - that would be the only counter argument I have, but you'd be able to do pretty much everything with Kontakt alone in the worst case.

I wanted to say that speed is still sufficient enough for sample loading, but if they stream directly there could actually be a noticeable difference :/

Mh. Predicament I guess.