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Ask HN: Should I buy MacBook M1 Pro or M1 Max for software development

15 points by mr_o47 ↗ HN
Hello HN,

Both seem like a great choice but M1 Max seems really expensive but tempting at the same time.

I would to hear your experience as developer when using M1 Pro vs M1 Max or Vice versa

24 comments

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antomeie
Honestly, unless you are working with GPU heavy tasks, I would say that both are overkill. I use a Mac Mini M1 16GB and it is more than meets all my software development needs. I mainly work with XCode (iOS), Android Studio (Android), and Visual Studio (.NET).

I really don't think the Max would be worth it over the Pro.

skydhash
Same. A mini for my work needs and an Air for personal and when I travel. The former handles everything that I sent its way so far including docker containers. I don’t really see the appeal of the max unless you’re into cpu or gpu-heavy tasks.
rozenmd
It depends what you're building.

I'm building my entire business on a base model MacBook Air M1 with 8GB of RAM - it handles running GitKraken, VS Code, Spotify, Chrome, iTerm, and several dev servers without perceptible lag.

My top of the line i7 16" MacBook Pro from work feels slow in comparison.

lupire
Can it compile Haskell projects? They are famously RAM hungry.
culopatin
I’ve completed tasks on my 16gb M1 pro in half the time than a 32gb i7 8gen Intel. Not Haskell but an R script processing lots of bioinformatics data. Maxed out CPU for the first time with this script and I couldn’t hear the fan
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sylens
For me, the limiting factor was the external monitor support. I couldn't go with just the Air because I have two external monitors. I don't yet have 3, so I settled for the M1 Pro.

No regrets so far. Just a great machine all around.

GOATS-
I've had my base model M1 Pro since release and I think it's more than powerful enough for running a handful Docker containers, compiling C# projects and whatever else I do in the background, all at the same time. I also around 2 days of usage from a single charge, which I find pretty impressive. :)
joshstrange
I bought the fully specced out M1 Max (max for everything but SSD, I only got 1TB). Honestly I didn't need the extra GPU at all. I could have been fine with just the 10-core CPU. It's harder to know about memory speeds (Pro vs Max) since I don't have anything to compare with but unless you are doing something GPU intensive (the most intensive thing I'm doing is running 4 external monitors, 3x2K, 1x1080p) you don't need the upgrade. The other Pro vs Max difference that mattered to me was the number of external monitors, I needed the Max to run my setup that my old i9 ran.
bradgessler
I’m thinking about a Mac Studio w/ an M1 Pro, 32 GB RAM, & 2 TB disk for a 3 display dev workstation and an M1 Air for when I need to go in the road.

Any thoughts on this approach? It costs about as much as an M1 MacBook Pro.

sylens
You can only get a Mac Studio with an M1 Max or an M1 Ultra, not the M1 Pro.

Other than that, this is probably what my future setup will look like. If I knew the Studio was coming I might have held off on my M1 Pro MBP.

bradgessler
Oops yeah, meant Max. That’s the only one that can drive 3 - 5K displays.
vlucas
I program, compile, etc. and run 2 external 4K monitors off my M1 Pro. It's been the best MacBook Pro I've ever owned by far.

You don't need the M1 Max unless you have a real need for the extra GPU (daily video editing, 3+ monitors, etc.)

idontwantthis
Isn't 64 GB also only available with the Max? A good requirement if you are running many VMs.
starwind
I have the 14inch M1 Pro MBP with 32gb of Ram and the 10-core CPU with the 16-core GPU and 500mb of storage and it's fantastic. I drive one 27in 4k 60hz monitor off the HDMI and it's great for everything except gaming.

Compile time is fast, I have no lag no matter how many apps I have open, I've heard the fans spin up twice and once I couldn't figure out why (maybe it's programmed to spin up every once-in-a-while just to clear dust)

Maybe I'll come to regret not buying more storage but I've never filled up a drive and I don't have any problems with external drives/dropbox

I think the M1 Max would be super overkill unless you want to drive a bunch of monitors

sdflhasjd
> 500mb of storage

Apple are a really getting that stingy with the base models now? :p

What kind of development ecosystem do you use?

Having been bitten somewhat hard with the 32bit removal from Catalina, even though there's an emulation layer (which won't be around forever, I'd imagine), I am very cautious. Especially when quite a few of the tools I use can be fairly old at times.

sdflhasjd
My 2017 MBP is getting very tired now, and after getting a taste of what a real machine is capable of since working from home, I've realised how much time I've wasted waiting for builds and whatnot.

The laptop form factor doesn't do anything for me any more either, and I want to jump straight onto a Mini or Studio (who's price is similar to what my MBP originally cost), but I feel like it's a blind jump without knowing if all my development tools are going to work.

Apple's relationship with backwards compatibility has always been poor, and Catalina's 32bit removal - even though I delayed by update for a year - still hurt. Tools that I used wouldn't get 64bit updates for another few months.

I am concerned that Rosetta won't be around forever, and I use tools today that one might regard as abandonware - they'll never get arm64 versions. I do sometimes use and Linux and Windows VM's as well, VirtualBox doesn't support M1 yet and Apple have some new poorly supported virtualisation framework

So, for anyone in a similar situation: 1) What kind of codgy old tools do/don't work? 2) What VM software do you use? Does it have USB passthrough? How does it compare with VirtualBox's more advanced features?

lmarcos
I was in a more or less similar situation (old 2015 MBP). My main concern with the new Macs were mainly: can I run ubuntu VMs via vagrant?

I bought the M1 pro (32GB ram). So far, so good. I'm using Vmware fusion (tech preview) which is free, Vagrant and the vmware plugin (which Hashicorp released for free as well). You can use any of the Vagrant arm boxes available on Vagrantcloud, or if you are like me and don't trust random people's boxes, built your own Vagrant box using, for instance Packer (search on github).

I have to say, though, that my requirements regarding VMs are not that advanced (I just want to be able to spin up N VMs, all with custom ip addresses and to mount volumes from the host so that I can write code in my Mac, but execute it in the guest).

Edit: performance-wise, the M1 pro is awesome. I'm running 6 Ubuntu VMs, tons of tabs in Safari and Chrome, a couple of Jetbrains IDEs, iterm, YouTube videos, PDfs open, even OpenEmu with a psx game... And the laptop (the 16 inch version) is still cold on touch and I cannot hear the fans.

2143
I only do lightweight coding on my personal machine. I don't need a powerful machine. And coding is the only thing I use a computer for.

I've been running Linux on my old Dell laptop for like 8 years. I've upgraded its internals over the years, so it still runs well. However, it's getting long in the tooth and I was thinking about changing it.

(My employer provides beefier machines for work).

Thought about buying a Mac because I've used it occasionally before and I like the UI and display; here's what happened:

2019: I should probably get a Mac

2020 March: Covid-19! Better limit frivolous purchases.

2020 end: Ooooh! Those M1 Macs seem cool. Because it's a new processor, let me wait a few months to learn about long term issues with early adopters.

And thank God I didn't buy the earlier Intel Macs!

2021 March: they might launch Pro models with bigger screens. Let me wait for that, because I'm used to atleast 14".

2021 December: Macbook Pro is more expensive than I thought. Let me wait a few months to learn about long term issues with early adopters.

2022 February: The Pro models are expensive and an overkill for my purposes. I should just get the Air.

2022 March: a new redesign of Air is expected to come out later this year. Wait for that, unless I want my device to be obsolete sooner.

It'll probably be the end of this year when the redesigned Air comes out. And then I'm again going to wait a few months to know from early adopters if there are any long term issues with the new Air.

I realised I'm in an analysis-paralysis situation and this could go on forever.

I settled for a ThinkPad E14 Ryzen 5 (Linux). Costs half the price of a 512/16 Air here in India.

If the new Air turns out to be irresistible, then I might get that and maybe sell the ThinkPad.

mr_o47
I have been in a same boat as you.

I always make a decision then I get hesitant to buy

I would be like let’s just wait for the new one

crsl
I think it depends on your usecase. Check if you will actually benefit from pro/max. I'm willing to bet regular M1 is fine for the majority of people.

I got M1 air 16gb around 3 month ago and it works great, although it's not my only laptop. I was choosing between air M1 16 gb and 14" M1 pro 32 gb, and the price difference for additional ram, extra ports and screen size didn't make sense to me.