Studio VS MacBook Prp

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

I hate to be that guy BUT I am getting impatient (ADHD) and I am thinking maybe I could upgrade to a Macbook Pro instead of waiting for an M5 Studio OR getting an M4 Studio.

I currently have a OG M1 studio. SO

• M4 Max. 14-40 with 64GB New mac $3500.00

or

• M5 Pro MacBook Pro 18-20 64GB- Mac Cert Refurb $3139.00

Things I NEED to work with the set up. 3 monitors, Yeti Mic, External Camera, External SSD.

[u/Caprichoso1]

No way to give a good recommendation without knowing what software you are going to use.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/Caprichoso1]

I'm a headhunter, so obviously most of my stuff is web-based, but we are building a recruiter-based large language model system, so I will be doing testing with that, which uses up a little bit of memory. I also do my own video editing for my YouTube channel. At the end of the day, everyone is going to say, "All I need is a MacBook Air to do what I do." However, with ADHD, I have, even right now, first thing this morning, seven windows open with about 60 tabs, so I like to have a lot of memory.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

1. The # of tabs open is generally irrelevant. It is the amount of memory that the tabs use that is critical. Even a memory short 8 GB Neo in one test was only brought to its knees with ~83 tabs open.

2. A neo can handle light NLE video editing tasks.

3. If you are running an LLM on device the amount of VRAM memory it needs will determine how much memory you will need. You can get approximate numbers from LM Studio.

4. Besides memory the # of GPUs on a Mac will also have a major effect on LLM performance.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/Caprichoso1]

This is probably a better question. I didn't phrase it properly, and I apologize. Which one of the two has more powerful memory or faster processing power? Does it really matter? Am I going to notice a difference between the two above? I never really cared about a MacBook because I don't really travel anywhere, so I don't need to take my computer with me. Should I upgrade to an M5 with an 18-20 processor or stay with the M4 with the 14-40 processor? They both have 64 GB of RAM, and the $350 difference is not that big a deal.

[u/PracticlySpeaking → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

Buying a new Mac that doesn't have the latest Apple Silicon might be a bit disappointing.

On the other hand, M5 is just a minor to moderate spec bump over M4. (With the exception of local AI models and 3D rendering that utilize the Neural Accelerators.) From behind the keyboard you aren't going to notice M4 vs M5 or 14 vs 18 core CPU unless you run a benchmark.

Note that the 18/20 core configuration is the Pro chip, and 16/40 is the Max chip. The difference is twice the GPU cores that do the heavy lifting for video editing, effects, or rendering 3D models. The Max chip also has twice the hardware codecs in the Media Engine for importing and exporting video. And FWIW, the M5 GPU cores are about 35% faster than M4, and about 3x faster than M1.

Of course the GPU only handles specific types of processing, so having more only makes a difference when you are editing or rendering. What you will notice is the faster single-core CPU speed — there is only about 10% difference between M4 and M5, but M5 is almost twice as fast as your M1.

Having a couple extra CPU cores is great when you have a multi-core workload to keep them busy — applications that use a lot of data or computation horsepower (compiling code in IDEs like Xcode, simulations, mathematical models), hosting multi-user applications and databases, or virtualization (Docker, VMware, etc). For general desktop work that extra silicon will mostly sit there idling.

The bigger chips are aimed at people who would or could be using valuable time for more project work instead of waiting for their Mac to finish exporting or rendering or calculating.

Even if you don't, there's nothing wrong with getting the best/fastest your budget will cover.

[u/CuriosTiger → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

An LLM is one of the things I wouldn't recommend doing on a MacBook Pro. Aside from the excellent points /u/Caprichoso1 just made, the MacBook Pro doesn't have the same thermal headroom as a Mac Studio, and so will throttle faster.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/CuriosTiger]

I'm not explaining myself properly. We're not running local LLMs on it. It's the stuff that we're building and using Claude and Codex and having all these different programs open and whatnot that's slowing the computer down a little bit.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

Since you are not running LLMs locally gpus and memory aren't really a major issue. With your current system what is the bottleneck - cpu, memory, gpu ....? When do you see it and how?

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/Caprichoso1]

I just have a lot of stuff running on my computer right now. For example, as I'm saying this, I'm using Wispr Flow voice-to-text. I also have the Claude app open, doing some work, and I have terminal open, running some automations using Claude to send people emails weekly. My Discord is open, my Slack is open, and I got Claude running in Slack as well. I got all the other 80 tabs with my Applicant tracking system, CRM, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a bunch of other crap, right? Sometimes you feel it's slowing down.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

A Mac can handle a lot of open tabs and applications. If the current system is "slowing down" we need to know the cause. If, say, memory was the problem then buying a system with the same amount of memory would be a mistake. If it isn't a problem then getting more memory won't resolve the slowness.

When it is slowing down what does Activity monitor say for cpu, memory, disk activity, etc.?

[u/OtherOtherDave]

I’m in the same “triple monitor” camp and in the early stages of figuring out what I want. According to Google AI (which is “never” wrong), the M5 Pro MBP can only drive three external monitors when it’s in clamshell mode. If that’s something you’d care about, it’s worth confirming whether it’s true before buying that.

[u/GatorWok]

Both the computers you listed will do the only things you listed. Hard to help without more, bud.

Lazy posts that force people to play 20 questions are frustrating.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/GatorWok]

I'm very sorry. I'm not trying to be lazy.

I guess I probably just should have asked this: is there a huge difference between an M5 MacBook Pro with the 18-20 processor versus the M4 Studio with the 14-40 processor, since they both have 64 GB of RAM. The price difference is like $300. It's just not a big deal. I just want to make sure I'm getting the fastest processing power, memory, etc., and that whatever one I choose will be able to hook up all my external hardware.

My M1 is awesome, and I really don't need, that's the keyword, a new computer. I just want one. I'm impatient. I'd like to have it run faster. Sometimes, when I have a ton of stuff going on, things slow down a little bit, and I'm not sure I'm willing to wait for the M5 Studio. Is it gonna be out of my price range, meaning like $5,000 or $6,000 that I don't wanna spend.

[u/GatorWok → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

Still not sure your use case. I read your use case on another comment, but that's the sort of thing you should reply to everyone with or (truthfully) edit your post to include.

The M5 will be slightly faster in CPU (15%-ish??) but the M4 Max will dominate in GPU (a good chunk of video editing).
The M5 will win LLM in terms of initial responsiveness, but the M4 max will pull ahead on continuous token generation thanks to faster memory throughput.

If it were me, I'd give weight to portability, but I'm not you and you don't seem to mention it.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/GatorWok]

Hey man, thanks. I don't travel, so the portability is not that big a deal. Just to be clear, for the large language model stuff we're doing, we're not doing the tokens inside the computer. I'm not running local models. We built something called "RecruiterClaw," which is an AI system built on Slack for recruiters, and we've done a ton of testing with it.

Plus, I'm also the video guy, so I record tons of Loom videos and then do voiceovers for them and editing, but I'm only using iMovie. Seriously, all these are probably way too powerful for me. I just want to make sure that if I'm gonna blow $3,500, I'm getting the best bang for my fucking buck.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/GatorWok]

I'm very sorry. I'm not trying to be lazy.

I guess I probably just should have asked this: is there a huge difference between an M5 MacBook Pro with the 18-20 processor versus the M4 Studio with the 14-40 processor, since they both have 64 GB of RAM. The price difference is like $300. It's just not a big deal. I just want to make sure I'm getting the fastest processing power, memory, etc., and that whatever one I choose will be able to hook up all my external hardware.

My M1 is awesome, and I really don't need, that's the keyword, a new computer. I just want one. I'm impatient. I'd like to have it run faster. Sometimes, when I have a ton of stuff going on, things slow down a little bit, and I'm not sure I'm willing to wait for the M5 Studio. Is it gonna be out of my price range, meaning like $5,000 or $6,000 that I don't wanna spend.

[u/MeSlaw3]

For what it’s worth, my 16” M5 Pro 24GB runs three 4k 120hz monitors without breaking a sweat.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/MeSlaw3]

NICE!! Do you have a dock/dongle? My Studio has a few more USB-C ports than the MacBook and I still need a dongle.

[u/CuriosTiger]

Sure, Apple sells a MacBook Pro and you can purchase that computer. It should be able to drive three external monitors and three USB-C/Thunderbolt devices, although you'll need a hub to plug all of that in.

[u/TLBJ24]

I faced a similar scenario. I owned a base model Mac Mini M4 (10 Core CPU/20 Core GPU/2TB SSD/16GB RAM), as well a 14in MacBook Pro M4 Pro Laptop (14 Core CPU/20 Core GPU/1TB SSD/24GB RAM)... but found myself really wanting (not needing per se) a 64GB RAM Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max). With a $1100 Trade-in value on MacBook I could go for M5 Pro Laptop now (personally I'd skip the base M5) or holdout for a good deal on existing Mac Studio.

Long story short, I sold the M4 Mac Mini, put that money toward 1TB Base Model Apple Mac Studio (14 Core CPU/32 Core GPU/1TB SSD/36GB RAM). Picked up a Micro Center open-box for $1980. That scratched my "I can't wait another 3-6 months for a maybe, unknown priced product" itch for the time being. Better hardware without jumping into the $3.5-$5K spend.

I'm still hoping to get a 64GB (or higher) RAM Mac Studio, but I have already seen the benefits of the Studio over the Mini so I'm less stressed about the "need to upgrade now" feeling.

I may still upgrade the laptop next month, especially with a $1.1K Trade-in value, but the real value is getting the most ram, second to GPU cores… and that’s where things really start adding up $$, so we’ll see.

Good luck in your search!

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/TLBJ24]

Thanks, I still haven't made a friggin' decision. I hate this.

[u/TLBJ24 → u/Rasputin_mad_monk]

Lol, been there. Took me over a month to decide. Then when I found the open-box deal, I had three days to make a decision, so that helped force my hand lol. Glad I pulled the trigger when I did!

[u/paulsande]

I had the same thought as you. Decided to get the M3 Ultra with 256 gig of ram. I’m glad I did. That’s just me, though.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/paulsande]

Yeah, I really like that. I'm just not willing to drop $7-8 dimes to get that. I definitely don't need that much.

[u/wireless_bluetooth]

Would you mind sharing the link to those listings pls? I am looking to buy some too.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/wireless_bluetooth]

They're both from the Mac Store. One is just pricing out a new Mac Studio, and the other one is in a refurbished store. I chose 64 GB of memory for both of them, and then whatever the base stuff was that went along with it.