Advice needed selecting MacBook M2 Pro vs. Max for Resolve

It seems I might find myself in the need of the laptop to use while traveling. Naturally I started looking at recently released MacBook Pro models and have so far settled on 14” model with 32 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage.

One thing I can’t decide on is which CPU to go for. Highest workload I expect to put on this machine while traveling is video editing. Complexity of video projects I need to handle while traveling is probably nowhere near what majority of pros in this forum do, it is “medium” at maximum. Think of average vlog / travel / interview / commentary YouTube video. At most 4K 60fps footage coming from consumer cameras, some Fusion transitions and effects, denoising, stabilization, tracking, third party plugins (Izotope, NeatVideo …) and that should be it. Just to make and upload good enough video that can’t wait while I am back from trip.

Money is tight so my impulse is to go with cheapest CPU model, M2 Pro with 10-core CPU & 16 core GPU, but at the same time I worry what my experience using it will be, will performance and experience be smooth or I will regret not spending another $500 to get M2 Max with 12 core CPU and 30 core GPU.

Yes, money -IS- tight but price for lower model is already high enough that I wouldn’t feel it is low enough to be an acceptable compromise if performance is not completely smooth.

On the other hand I need to use this MacBook in hot climates (think Southern California / Arizona / Nevada in the middle of the summer) and I am concerned that M2 Max might result in much easier thermal throttling than Pro. My definition of thermal throttling is one CPU industry uses, which is when system starts reducing clock frequency of CPU in order to protect it from overheating, which in turn drops overall throughput of CPU and could in theory result in Max being slower than Pro.

I tried searching for reviews that might answer that but with no luck, it is like searching for needle in the galaxy of haystacks. Many of so-called reviewers claim “even base models are already fast, that should be good enough”. -HOWEVER-, as I watch their reviews it is painfully obvious to me they don’t know how to benchmark systems, much less in a way that would reflect their performance and experience in real world usage, so I am very hesitant to just blindly take their word for it.

Also, quite a few of them just rattle off final numbers compared to previous generation and that tells me nothing because this would be my first Mac ever so I don’t have a reference point.

So, I thought I should ask people that actually use Resolve, members of this forum, what they would do, what is their experience working on MacBook M2 Pro vs. Max, do they have links to reviews/discussions that answer these questions competently?

Thank you in advance!

Well, if money is tight and you are fast to decide, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Model I'm using (see my sig), since it's massively discounted ATM. You don't even need to go for the higher SSD capacity, since it has the speedy SSD RAID even in the base model, while the M2 has a secret downgrade there.

Regarding thermals, even the 14" M1 starts throttling under heavy load, while the 16" M1 Pro never gets too hot. Now with more power in the M2, even for the Pro in the 16" case thermal throttling will kick in for longer renders. The Max will be even worse.

If you ask me about future proofing: unfortunately, Apple is not really in their comfort zone with the M2 laptops. These chips are still 5nm ones, since the 3nm processors are not yet available. The impressive advantage regarding thermals and battery life of the M1 line is starting to degrade with M2. Personally, I'll wait for a 3nm version should I feel the need to upgrade.

See this article, containing a benchmark, if you want to know what it can handle:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l6znbhmtjc3mm ... 0.pdf?dl=0

Hi Uli, Article you linked to gives me a lot to go over but I didn’t want to wait to thank you for your reply, for doing so thorough review, and sharing your findings with community, it is truly appreciated!

I too feel M2 Pro/Max lineup is Apple’s stopgap solution while they are working on transitioning to 3nm and that everything indicates they’ve in the meantime raised temperature envelope when compared to previous generation (at the possible expense of throttling and longevity) to be able to release new models with claimed performance improvements and keep the cash flowing.

Thus if I could wait for the next generation I would but, unfortunately, unless my need changes I can’t. While I don’t need to make purchase immediately I am guessing I will need to make it in approximately 3 months.

If I could put my hands on M1 Pro model I want at heavy discount I would go for that and live with compromise until next generation is out but I can’t find any available, what I can find isn’t any cheaper than M2 Pro.

Thank you again!

Did you check Amazon?
I wouldn't consider the M1 Pro much of a compromise for having a fast SSD even at base price and longevity due to healthy thermals. The only reason to go for the M2 model would be its HDMI if you desperately need the higher resolutions and/or frame rates.

Did you check Amazon?

Yes, I did it seems to be unavailable everywhere I looked, at least in configuration with 32GB memory and 1TB SSD.

What about Apple's Refurb and Clearance?

What about Apple's Refurb and Clearance?

Brand new M2 Pro 10-core CPU + 16-core GPU, 32 GB memory 1 TB SSD = $2599
Nothing on clearance
Refurbished M1 Pro of same capacity and 10-core CPU + 16-core GPU = $2229, not much of a discount for what is second hand refurbished

Hi all,

I'm in the same shoes as well. I need a video editing rig for travel, and really considering the M2 Max. Based on YouTube reviews it seems it's much faster on DaVinci, and overheating is not an issue. It seems for some tests, the fan didn't even kick in.

My budget is tight as well, but for future proofing I think I'll be going for the Max. One you-tuber tested color grading a 16K (upscaled video) where he started noticing very small slowing.

Anyone has any experience with it yet?

Cheers

Hi all,

I'm in the same shoes as well. I need a video editing rig for travel, and really considering the M2 Max. Based on YouTube reviews it seems it's much faster on DaVinci, and overheating is not an issue. It seems for some tests, the fan didn't even kick in.

My budget is tight as well, but for future proofing I think I'll be going for the Max. One you-tuber tested color grading a 16K (upscaled video) where he started noticing very small slowing.

Anyone has any experience with it yet?

Cheers

From what I have seen M2 Max, at least in the 14" model, seems to have potential for thermal throttling, at least when pushed hard. Problem is that "reviewers" often come up with "tests" that don't reflect real world usage and thus it is impossible to conclude based on them whether throttling will be an issue or not. Thus I've concluded only way to get reliable answer to that question is by me actually trying to use it once need to purchase is imminent. In the meantime I've put my research on backburner, especially because there are rumors of M3 Air being released relatively soon.

I'd go for 16". The 14" tends to throttle even with the M1.
I have yet to see any thermal limitations on mine, even under heaviest loads from DR or Blender. Heck, it doesn't even get loud.

16" is not an option for me as it doesn't fit in my luggage, so I need to stick with the 14".

M1 Pro users! How is Davinci running with 4K (24/30/60fps) Cinema Gamut 10 bit raw videos? I'm switching from Premiere (after 2 decades) to Davinci, so my need is not huge, but would like to get a laptop for the next 5 years.

I'll be working with dual camera setup, drones and 4K raw video (2x Canon R6Mk2s), and approx 30-60 min videos, color grading and maybe some basic effects.

I'm still debating if I need the M2 Max, or the M2 Pro would work? Most reviews says for Davinci video stuff you should get the Max. Is that really needed? How is the M1 Pro tackling the tasks?

I'd go for 16". The 14" tends to throttle even with the M1.

14" tends to throttle even with the M1 Pro? Or you meant Max?

Either one. And then, the audio is better from the 16".
But it's not massive throttling, so if you need the compactness, go for it.

Either one. And then, the audio is better from the 16".
But it's not massive throttling, so if you need the compactness, go for it.

Thank you for the clarification Compactness is of huge importance to me for travel so whichever chip ends up working best in 14" is one I will go for. That is why I put brakes on when I heard 13" M3 Air might be out in April. I am hoping that M3 will bring performance increases and lower temperatures that would make Air a good enough option for work when traveling.

Even the current Air is a good enough solution with 16 GB for editing on the road.
But only if you have a beefier machine at home for finalising. Of course, that can be a PC too.

Do you guys think the M3 air will be enough for editing? I'm looking for something that will be my main computer. So when I come home, I'll just plug it into my 2 or 3 32" screens, and carry on. Pro only supports 2 displays, Max can go up to 4.

This throttling is interesting, as I watched some youtube videos on this topic, editing, colorgrading in live videos, and they were not mentioning throttling. Also, if M2 throttles back a little bit, probably performance is still crazy good. Right now I have a basic M1 mac mini.

I was looking at the price differences, and the basic model (M2 Pro) and top model (M2 Max) has only 600-700 dollar difference (both was built with 32GB memory and 2TB SSD). When you drop $3000-4000, that little difference might be justifiable to go with the bigger one. Not sure yet....

Even the current Air is a good enough solution with 16 GB for editing on the road.
But only if you have a beefier machine at home for finalising.

When traveling I need to be able to do complete process on laptop (cut, edit, some basic coloring etc., and final export and upload) as I will be away from main machine for a while and need to post regular footage updates in the meantime. So I think I should come up with "benchmark project" that will represent "worst case scenario" of what I need laptop to handle while I am traveling and when time for purchase comes test with that.

Refurbished M1 Pro of same capacity and 10-core CPU + 16-core GPU = $2229, not much of a discount for what is second hand refurbished

Just a note that many of the "refurbished" Macs in Apple's refurbished store are actually new, simply returned unopened in their boxes by people and companies that changed their minds; years ago David Pogue interviewed people at Apple about it and a large proportion of the refurbished machines are actually unused. And all the refurbished Macs have the same 1-year warranty as a new one.

I stopped buying new Macs in the late 1990s and all my Macs (and iPads) since then have been refurbished, never had any problems. I would never buy a new Mac unless I couldn't find a refurbished one that had the specs I need (which is often the case, but if you wait long enough the one you want is likely to turn up).

Refurbished M1 Pro of same capacity and 10-core CPU + 16-core GPU = $2229, not much of a discount for what is second hand refurbished

Just a note that many of the "refurbished" Macs in Apple's refurbished store are actually new, simply returned unopened in their boxes by people and companies that changed their minds; years ago David Pogue interviewed people at Apple about it and a large proportion of the refurbished machines are actually unused. And all the refurbished Macs have the same 1-year warranty as a new one.

I stopped buying new Macs in the late 1990s and all my Macs (and iPads) since then have been refurbished, never had any problems. I would never buy a new Mac unless I couldn't find a refurbished one that had the specs I need (which is often the case, but if you wait long enough the one you want is likely to turn up).

That is good to know, thank you for the input

However, I feel only 15% of the "saving" over brand new one of current generation is not worth it and not enough of incentive, at least for me.

Even if I were to win roll of the dice and receive "refurbished" one that hasn't been used 15% I thought I "saved" by getting M1 will likely be lost once it is time to sell it because prices of used M2s will be higher.

On the other hand, if I, with my luck, lose roll of the dice and get one that was previously used it would be impossible to know what I am getting myself into, how much life is left on that SSD (for example). Yes, money is tight but time is money too and I avoid possibilities to waste it dealing with customer service and repairs. Not to mention Murphy's laws dictate that would happen at worst possible time, while traveling overseas for a month with no Apple store anywhere in sight.

If savings were significant my dilemma would be harder but as they are I pass on them.

This is exactly how I view it too. I’ve had a few refurbished items. Usually apple devices go “obsolete” in 5-7 years, depends on the setup and cycles. The 15% discount and 1-2 yrs behind the newest models might not always be the best deal. If you want to buy something for 1-2 yrs then resell it, I think refurbished might be good, but if you are buying something long term and also higher end, I think new is better.

The Mac Pro Max just came out a month ago, so I don’t think this will see an upgrade until at least fall/xmas, but this is purely my own speculation.

I think I’m set on the M2 Max, but can’t decide if that couple hundred dollars upgrade is worth having an extra 8 core in the GPU to future proof it. Any take on that?

Cheers

The Mac Pro Max just came out a month ago, so I don’t think this will see an upgrade until at least fall/xmas, but this is purely my own speculation.

I think I’m set on the M2 Max, but can’t decide if that couple hundred dollars upgrade is worth having an extra 8 core in the GPU to future proof it. Any take on that?

I would be surprised if Apple came out with M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro just a year after M2 Pro/Max one. I am speculating they will release M3 Air first, only question is when.

Unfortunately I can’t even speculate on pros/cons of M2 Max with 30 vs. 38 GPU cores (I can’t remember even a single review that compared them in a scientific way in real world use). If you do come across such info I would be interested to see it and appreciate you sharing it.

I would be surprised if Apple came out with M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro just a year after M2 Pro/Max one. I am speculating they will release M3 Air first, only question is when.

Unfortunately I can’t even speculate on pros/cons of M2 Max with 30 vs. 38 GPU cores (I can’t remember even a single review that compared them in a scientific way in real world use). If you do come across such info I would be interested to see it and appreciate you sharing it.

I think you are over-thinking all of this. I don't think you can get a real world review because the guys who do these reviews are using over-simplistic benchmarks not designed for real world situations and people using these computers in the real world are not likely to have more than one laptop. The difference between 30 or 38 cores is likely to be very difficult to detect in the real world. I suggest you get the best spec you can afford and prioritise memory over internal storage, as the latter is very expensive and you can use tiny external SSDs with no performance hit.

I have the 14" M1 Max from November 2021 with 32 cores and 64 GB of memory essentially maxed out except for the internal storage. It is a really nice size for travelling - a lot lighter than the 16". I may have wasted a bit of money going for 32 rather than 24 cores but so what now. It has incredible performance for a laptop, handles anything I throw at it (I don't use Fusion). The only time I ever hear the fan is during a longer render in Resolve or importing raw stills into Lightroom but I have no idea if there is thermal throttling - it works very well and it is very fast in comparison to my previous MacBook Pro.

Finally I would go for an M2 Pro or Max over an Air, as they are designed for professional use and you can get a lot more memory. Also they have XDR screens in case you ever decide to use HDR.

Second all of that.
Some thermal throttling during long renders is acceptable if compactness and weight is your priority.

I think you are over-thinking all of this.

Knowing myself I believe you are most likely correct, it is in my nature to overthink (almost) everything LOL

I don't think you can get a real world review because the guys who do these reviews are using over-simplistic benchmarks not designed for real world situations and people using these computers in the real world are not likely to have more than one laptop.

If “only” they used over-simplistic benchmarks that wouldn’t be as bad as them using “benchmarks” that are from the get go destined to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, destined to fail. Max Yuryev {insert facepalm here} subjects them to simultaneous long duration multi-core Cinebench and Wild Life Extreme in order to claim which one thermal throttled but who in the (real) world uses their laptop in a such manner?! I mean, even he prefaces that test by saying it is unrealistic. Thus my comment about lack of scientific real world tests.

The difference between 30 or 38 cores is likely to be very difficult to detect in the real world. I suggest you get the best spec you can afford and prioritise memory over internal storage, as the latter is very expensive and you can use tiny external SSDs with no performance hit.

I am definitely prioritizing memory over internal storage. I feel 1TB of internal SSD will be more than sufficient for current projects and $400 difference between 1TB and 2TB will be better spent elsewhere. Only thing I’m not 100% sure about is whether 32GB of unified memory will be aplenty or I will really need 64GB. You have 64GB model. What your peak memory utilization looks like when doing Resolve projects, please?

I have the 14" M1 Max from November 2021 with 32 cores and 64 GB of memory essentially maxed out except for the internal storage. … The only time I ever hear the fan is during a longer render in Resolve or importing raw stills into Lightroom but I have no idea if there is thermal throttling - it works very well and it is very fast in comparison to my previous MacBook Pro.

You are from Europe. Have you ever used it to work on Resolve project while outdoors in south Europe in the middle of the summer? If yes did you observe any signs of thermal throttling or it not being able to handle such heat, please?

Finally I would go for an M2 Pro or Max over an Air, as they are designed for professional use and you can get a lot more memory. Also they have XDR screens in case you ever decide to use HDR.

If I were choosing between M2 Air and M2 Pro/Max then I wouldn’t be getting Air for the reasons you mentioned but I am keeping a sight on future M3 Air. If it brings 32GB of memory and XDR to the table then I will be tempted with it.

Some thermal throttling during long renders is acceptable if compactness and weight is your priority.

I don’t have a problem accepting some thermal throttling as a trade off for compactness and weight. Anything will throttle if one ends up pushing it beyond its thermal envelope. Only question is how easy it will be to push it, how much it will throttle, and how fast it will recover. Part of that depends on variables we have no control over and part depends on pattern of use that varies from one individual to another. Majority of testers out there subject system to long term sustained highest technically possible load (for example, PC owners like to run Prime95) and form statements based on result of that.

However, real world workloads very often vary in intensity over the course of session giving system a chance to avoid hitting throttle limit or to minimize its appearance. So it is possible that this might end up a non-issue or that I won’t be able to get an idea just by asking because part is very subjective. However, I felt it is still worth asking because if I started getting number of responses “oh, yeah, Max thermally throttles in Resolve” I would know what to steer away from for sure.

Well, thermal throttling is very difficult to predict right now with M2 in particular. I would expect DR to hammer your hardware on long renders as much as "MaxTech" is trying with his less realistic tests. DR is able to use the available hardware, GPU in particular, quite efficiently. BRAW will use both GPU and CPU to the max. But then, you could always reduce render speed, e. g. in a hot environment.

And then, I've got a project here with over 4 hours and 3 cameras (only one all the time), which needs less than 6 GB memory. Please note that it's in HD and there are no temporal effects, like NR or speed changes with optical flow. So, even in UHD and with some of such effects, I doubt you'll run into issues with 32 GB if not using Fusion. Finally, if you rarely need more, these machines are pretty good at swapping. But that should not be used regularly, since it'll wear out you internal SSDs faster.

I am definitely prioritizing memory over internal storage. I feel 1TB of internal SSD will be more than sufficient for current projects and $400 difference between 1TB and 2TB will be better spent elsewhere. Only thing I’m not 100% sure about is whether 32GB of unified memory will be aplenty or I will really need 64GB. You have 64GB model. What your peak memory utilization looks like when doing Resolve projects, please?

You are from Europe. Have you ever used it to work on Resolve project while outdoors in south Europe in the middle of the summer? If yes did you observe any signs of thermal throttling or it not being able to handle such heat, please?

I've not done any hardware testing on the computer. It has never crashed due to running out of memory though.

My philosophy when buying a new computer for years now (and much moreso since the silicon Macs cannot be upgraded at all) is to get twice as much memory as I think I need for now in order to get some future proofing. I decided on 64GB for that reason. I wasn't actually using Resolve at the time I bought the machine (mainly Final Cut Pro, Motion, Photoshop and Lightroom Classic).

Not southern Europe but I spent a bit of time last year in the Canary Islands which are further south although don't generally tend to get as hot as southern Spain. Temps were generally mid-20s to low-30s (75-90F) whereas it can get into the low 40s in southern Spain. That would thermally throttle me, never mind the computer.

I didn't stress the computer (I can't afford another one right now) and didn't measure anything so observations only. The fan comes on when ingesting a set of raw images into Lightroom (or rendering in Resolve) but nothing like my previous 2014 MacBook Pro which sounded like it was about to take off and did crash under those conditions. I didn't notice any slowdown in my workflow though.

As far as I am aware the recommended max operating temperature is about 35C but that might be problematic for any laptop.

That is a great point. My mind was still in the times when SSDs were super fast in laptops, but not really good/fast yet as external storage. So with these new laptops, do you guys find that these new external SSDs are nearly as fast as the internal? Honestly I would rather spend my money on memory and not on storage.

My Acasis enclosure with a Samsung 980 PRO is writing 2.3 GB and reading 2.6 if connected by Thunderbolt, not USB-C (and it's filled to 75% right now).
Twice as fast? Not really, if you don't buy the smallest internal SSD from Apple. All the bigger ones are actually RAIDs and blazing fast.
Fast enough? You bet. It can play uncompressed ArriRAW @24fps with over 30 MB per frame smoothly. How much throughput do you need?

That is a great point. My mind was still in the times when SSDs were super fast in laptops, but not really good/fast yet as external storage. So with these new laptops, do you guys find that these new external SSDs are nearly as fast as the internal? Honestly I would rather spend my money on memory and not on storage.

They are not as fast as the internal drive which is incredibly fast but it is not necesary to have ultra fast drives (for what I do at least - grading up to 8K raw video which I edit in FCP), as disk speed is not the rate determining factor. Even the older 520MB/s disks are fine for editing and rendering 8K. The Sandisk Extreme 1050 MB/s has no problem with anything Attaching some BM Disk Speed screenshots for the internaldrive and two external SSDs as above.

Oh, and if you are concerned about longevity of internal SSDs, DriveDx is showing me 99% of lifetime left for mine. That's after one year and 3 months of daily use. I'm afraid, my SSD might live longer than me…

Well, thermal throttling is very difficult to predict right now with M2 in particular. I would expect DR to hammer your hardware on long renders as much as "MaxTech" is trying with his less realistic tests. DR is able to use the available hardware, GPU in particular, quite efficiently. BRAW will use both GPU and CPU to the max.

It is always very hard to predict whether something will thermally throttle as so many variables come into play. Only time I am able to be confident my system won’t thermally throttle is when I am in charge of selecting its cooling components and operational parameters (CPU clocks and fan curves). So only thing I can try is gather some anecdotal evidence that might indicate what I am likely to deal with. Definitive answer will be, as they say, in the pudding.

With a caveat that I don’t have hands on experience with benchmarking / stress testing of M* chips I still feel MaxTech’s tests whether Mac will thermally throttle subject system to conditions that are much worse than (almost) any real world use does. I’ve seen way more than one system in my lifetime that can’t handle such synthetic tests yet works fine running real world apps all day long .

But then, you could always reduce render speed, e. g. in a hot environment.

Thank you for reminding me of that, I constantly keep telling myself I should keep that in mind and constantly keep forgetting about it LOL

And then, I've got a project here with over 4 hours and 3 cameras (only one all the time), which needs less than 6 GB memory. Please note that it's in HD and there are no temporal effects, like NR or speed changes with optical flow. So, even in UHD and with some of such effects, I doubt you'll run into issues with 32 GB if not using Fusion.

I expect to use Fusion very little, next to zero, when traveling. I will be mainly using some transitions and titles. NR and speed changes will be minimal and, if push comes to show, I will just not do them. Whole purpose of this machine isn’t to be able to do everything while traveling that I do when at home but to be able to deliver something that meets minimum requirements.

Finally, if you rarely need more, these machines are pretty good at swapping. But that should not be used regularly, since it'll wear out you internal SSDs faster.

Yes, swapping has its pros and cons. That is why I am trying to strike good balance between getting too little memory and spending too much on memory unnecessarily.

Oh, and if you are concerned about longevity of internal SSDs, DriveDx is showing me 99% of lifetime left for mine. That's after one year and 3 months of daily use. I'm afraid, my SSD might live longer than me…

Thank you for that very valuable info! It makes me feel comfortable selecting 32GB.

I am definitely prioritizing memory over internal storage. I feel 1TB of internal SSD will be more than sufficient for current projects and $400 difference between 1TB and 2TB will be better spent elsewhere. Only thing I’m not 100% sure about is whether 32GB of unified memory will be aplenty or I will really need 64GB. You have 64GB model. What your peak memory utilization looks like when doing Resolve projects, please?

You are from Europe. Have you ever used it to work on Resolve project while outdoors in south Europe in the middle of the summer? If yes did you observe any signs of thermal throttling or it not being able to handle such heat, please?

I've not done any hardware testing on the computer. It has never crashed due to running out of memory though.

My philosophy when buying a new computer for years now (and much moreso since the silicon Macs cannot be upgraded at all) is to get twice as much memory as I think I need for now in order to get some future proofing. I decided on 64GB for that reason. I wasn't actually using Resolve at the time I bought the machine (mainly Final Cut Pro, Motion, Photoshop and Lightroom Classic).

My memory buying approach has been for years similar to yours, I would be maxing out what motherboard can support, but that decision was easy because PC memory is much cheaper (I paid less for 128GB on my PC than Apple asks for 64GB) and getting more doesn’t incur hidden penalty (Apple requires you to upgrade to Max chip if you want more than 32GB, which in turn might trigger thermal throttling). With Macbook Pro I have to weigh much more carefully.

Not southern Europe but I spent a bit of time last year in the Canary Islands which are further south although don't generally tend to get as hot as southern Spain. Temps were generally mid-20s to low-30s (75-90F) whereas it can get into the low 40s in southern Spain. That would thermally throttle me, never mind the computer.

I didn't stress the computer (I can't afford another one right now) and didn't measure anything so observations only. The fan comes on when ingesting a set of raw images into Lightroom (or rendering in Resolve) but nothing like my previous 2014 MacBook Pro which sounded like it was about to take off and did crash under those conditions. I didn't notice any slowdown in my workflow though.

As far as I am aware the recommended max operating temperature is about 35C but that might be problematic for any laptop.

That is good info to know, thank you, but unfortunately my use case will be worse (think south of Spain/Croatia/Greece like) so it probably won’t apply. It will be interesting to see what I find.

That is a great point. My mind was still in the times when SSDs were super fast in laptops, but not really good/fast yet as external storage. So with these new laptops, do you guys find that these new external SSDs are nearly as fast as the internal? Honestly I would rather spend my money on memory and not on storage.

What Uli Plank and mickspixels said. Good combination of external drive and connection port will give you speeds approaching those of internal SSD but if you take a look at transfer rates you actually need when working on the files you will realize that even “slow” external SSDs are often way more than fast enough.

Besides, I use external SSD as “spare storage”, files I work on I transfer to internal one and once I am done I put it back on external one. That way speed of external one becomes even less relevant and I focus on its capacity and price per TB.

Thanks for all of you for all the great insights and info! I bit the bullet, and placed an order on a MacBook Pro. Went with the 12 months 0% interest payment plan.

The rig is: 14" M2 Max 12 core CPU and 38 core GPU, 1TB SSD and 64GB memory.

I don't usually compare specs with PCs, as you can have the "same" numbers (cpu numbers, gpu, memory, etc) and the Macs beat the PC with light years....

I decided to go with the 38 core to future proof my mac, and that was the idea behind the 64 gb memory as well. 96 gb was way out of my price range. Well this rig was out of my price range as well, but the payment plan definitely helped.

This machine will be my main DaVinci computer, so all-in-one. I need mobility, but when I'm not on the road, I have the option to use my 3x displays with my resolve editor keyboard.

And with SSDs that's my plan as well what 4EvrYng wrote. Hoping to keep only 1 or 2 projects on the laptop at a time. If the videos are too big, then I might start using an external SSD, but once project is done, they will be stored on my NAS. I think I only have one project now where the raw videos are more than 600GB.

Thanks for all of you for all the great insights and info! I bit the bullet, and placed an order on a MacBook Pro. The rig is: 14" M2 Max 12 core CPU and 38 core GPU, 1TB SSD and 64GB memory.

Congratulations on your new system! I'm happy for you and not jealous at all, not even a little bit! {imagine emoji here of me throwing very very jealous tantrum}

My joking aside, I will appreciate if once you get to use it in real world you share your observations about memory utilization, temperatures, and any eventual core downclocking, with us

Congratulations on your new system! I'm happy for you and not jealous at all, not even a little bit! {imagine emoji here of me throwing very very jealous tantrum}

My joking aside, I will appreciate if once you get to use it in real world you share your observations about memory utilization, temperatures, and any eventual core downclocking, with us

LOL I know how you feel as I was in similar shoes in the last 15 years, I always wished that I could afford things like this. This is by far my biggest investment in macbooks ever, so I hope I won't regret it. I'll definitely give you guys some feedback once I had some time with it. It is scheduled to be delivered March 13-14th, so it will be a while...

Congratulations on your new system! I'm happy for you and not jealous at all, not even a little bit! {imagine emoji here of me throwing very very jealous tantrum}

My joking aside, I will appreciate if once you get to use it in real world you share your observations about memory utilization, temperatures, and any eventual core downclocking, with us

LOL I know how you feel as I was in similar shoes in the last 15 years, I always wished that I could afford things like this. This is by far my biggest investment in macbooks ever, so I hope I won't regret it. I'll definitely give you guys some feedback once I had some time with it. It is scheduled to be delivered March 13-14th, so it will be a while...

I wish you many years of nothing but smiles

P.S. Is it there yet? Is it there yet? Is it there yet? Huh? Huh? Huh?

It is shipped now. I'm glad I went all in with the pro max. My M1 basic imac mini is struggling with some basic effects in Davinci. I know it's not a crazy machine, but excited to work on the max.

Got the laptop about a week ago. Super impressed with it so far, especially I love the battery. 4K 10 bit clog videos with Davinci on the road, and after 3-4 hrs of work, battery dropped down to only 75%. Speed is great. When scrubbing lots of raw videos back and forth, playing, encoding, fan definitely kicks in, but absolutely not loud. On a super quiet night at home, that's when I heard it.

Love the small factor of this laptop, super easy to pull it out at airports, and start working on it. I even managed to cut some videos on the plane.

Cheers

Got the laptop about a week ago. Super impressed with it so far, especially I love the battery. 4K 10 bit clog videos with Davinci on the road, and after 3-4 hrs of work, battery dropped down to only 75%. Speed is great. When scrubbing lots of raw videos back and forth, playing, encoding, fan definitely kicks in, but absolutely not loud. On a super quiet night at home, that's when I heard it.

Love the small factor of this laptop, super easy to pull it out at airports, and start working on it. I even managed to cut some videos on the plane.

Thank you for coming back and sharing this feedback with us That is truly wonderful news, congratulations, I’m very happy for you!

Personally I’m not concerned with noise from fans as I will, most likely, use headphones majority of the time when editing on the go. What I worry about is will there be significant CPU throttling when working in hot environments on timeline of medium complexity, like less than 15 minutes long 4K60 10-bit HEVC clip with some medium weight titles, transitions, denoise, sharpening …

I don’t know fps of clip you tried nor environment temperatures you did it at (I am guessing they were low as it is winter) but if you try clip & timeline like one I have in mind at temperature of room that resembles summer and use monitoring tools to observe system during use/run what CPU clock speeds and temperatures you see, please?

FYI: you can check all internal temperature values with TG Pro, which is free for a demo period (but helpful enough to be bought).
One thing about external SSDs: the super fast ones can get quite hot and have passive cooling only. For footage in H.264 or 265 you can work very well with cheaper and cooler ordinary SSDs and n USB-C. They are plenty fast.

Thanks for all of you for all the great insights and info! I bit the bullet, and placed an order on a MacBook Pro. Went with the 12 months 0% interest payment plan.

The rig is: 14" M2 Max 12 core CPU and 38 core GPU, 1TB SSD and 64GB memory.

How satisfied are you with the performance? I’m also torn between M2 Pro and M2 Max. My work won’t be as complex as everyone here. Mainly short shots of interiors and exteriors for real estate business.

I should decide by next week as I’m also going to order BMCC 6k.

Macbook 16” M2 Pro 16gb 1TB 3,278€
MacBook 16” M2 Max 32gb 1TB 3,968€

With the difference I could buy Sigma 50mm f1.4 DN DG

Save on internal storage, but not on RAM. I'm glad I decided to get 32 GB RAM and only half a terabyte, since DR is often using 18 of it or more. A MBP with less RAM will work, but it'll be slower and the SSD will get worn out faster.

For the model with 38 GPU cores, you'll need more than 32 GB! As a rule of thumb, I'd recommend 2 GB for each GPU core if you use DR with demanding tasks.

Let's see what Apple's event on Monday will bring.

Save on internal storage, but not on RAM. I'm glad I decided to get 32 GB RAM and only half a terabyte, since DR is often using 18 of it or more. A MBP with less RAM will work, but it'll be slower and the SSD will get worn out faster.

For the model with 38 GPU cores, you'll need more than 32 GB! As a rule of thumb, I'd recommend 2 GB for each GPU core if you use DR with demanding tasks.

Let's see what Apple's event on Monday will bring.

Thank you for your input.

So you recommend high specs even if the tasks wouldn’t be demanding? I’m don’t think I’m going to use Fusion; maybe noise reduction only, but mainly color grading.

Moreover, I still don’t know if I’d be shooting in Open Gate 3:2 mode because it allows 32fps not more. I need to slow down the clips, I have no idea how they would look like if reduced to 25fps or less.

I read in one of your posts that you recommend using NVMe with enclosure, I understand that you recommend editing externally and not internally? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Again, thank you Uli.

My advice was not related to Fusion. You need to understand that Apple silicon is different, it's using unified memory. Where PC users would need a GPU (graphics card) with massive memory, your Mac can just use more of that unified memory. I've actually no yet seen an out of GPU memory message on my laptop.
But, if you exceed the RAM, your Mac will still work by swapping out memory to the internal SSD. This swapping will not only make things slow, but it'll ruin the SSD faster than normal use. And it's expensive to replace.
Demanding effects for memory can be all temporal processes, like NR or Speed Warp, and most neural functions.
I made a benchmark with such demanding effects and mixed footage, from 6K to 8K and from H.265 to RAW. All was running fine from a regular external SSD, I kept only the library (aka database) on the internal. But the important observation was this:
My humble laptop with 16 GPU cores needed more than 16 GB for DR and system, nothing else running, but was stable. A friends MBP with 38 GPU cores, but only 32 GB RAM started swapping massively, but was stable too.
A fully loaded Mac Studio Ultra with 76 GPU cores was using over 100 GB of its 128 GB.

My MBP has only 512 GB SSD and I have dozens of programs on it. If you keep things clean, that will suffice. But watch out, Apple is playing a bad trick recently: the base model with the smallest SSD has a much slower SSD speed (being a single SSD), while from one level up they are all raided SSDs.
External storage is far cheaper and fast enough.

P.S. Apart from the known bugs discussed in this forum, my laptop has proven very stable for DR over nearly two years. My best laptop ever. But I'm still running Monterey for my OS.

My advice was not related to Fusion. You need to understand that Apple silicon is different, it's using unified memory. Where PC users would need a GPU (graphics card) with massive memory, your Mac can just use more of that unified memory. I've actually no yet seen an out of GPU memory message on my laptop.
But, if you exceed the RAM, your Mac will still work by swapping out memory to the internal SSD. This swapping will not only make things slow, but it'll ruin the SSD faster than normal use. And it's expensive to replace.
Demanding effects for memory can be all temporal processes, like NR or Speed Warp, and most neural functions.
I made a benchmark with such demanding effects and mixed footage, from 6K to 8K and from H.265 to RAW. All was running fine from a regular external SSD, I kept only the library (aka database) on the internal. But the important observation was this:
My humble laptop with 16 GPU cores needed more than 16 GB for DR and system, nothing else running, but was stable. A friends MBP with 38 GPU cores, but only 32 GB RAM started swapping massively, but was stable too.
A fully loaded Mac Studio Ultra with 76 GPU cores was using over 100 GB of its 128 GB.

My MBP has only 512 GB SSD and I have dozens of programs on it. If you keep things clean, that will suffice. But watch out, Apple is playing a bad trick recently: the base model with the smallest SSD has a much slower SSD speed (being a single SSD), while from one level up they are all raided SSDs.
External storage is far cheaper and fast enough.

P.S. Apart from the known bugs discussed in this forum, my laptop has proven very stable for DR over nearly two years. My best laptop ever. But I'm still running Monterey for my OS.

Thanks again, Uli.

The MBP you’ve mentioned is the one in your signature? If so, a similar MBP but M2 Pro would be sufficient for moderate video editing. If not, I have no other choice than going with higher ram and GPU, as you’ve recommended before, 2 gb for each GPU.

The MBP you’ve mentioned is the one in your signature? If so, a similar MBP but M2 Pro would be sufficient for moderate video editing. If not, I have no other choice than going with higher ram and GPU, as you’ve recommended before, 2 gb for each GPU.

My MBP Pro from the sig is serving me well. You can edit UHD in H.264 or H.265 smoothly.

The MBP you’ve mentioned is the one in your signature? If so, a similar MBP but M2 Pro would be sufficient for moderate video editing. If not, I have no other choice than going with higher ram and GPU, as you’ve recommended before, 2 gb for each GPU.

My MBP Pro from the sig is serving me well. You can edit UHD in H.264 or H.265 smoothly.

Oh, I’ll be editing 6K footage. I should test the below format and codec so I find the sweet spot among them.

6048 x 4032 (Open Gate 3:2) up to 36 fps
4832 x 4032 (Anamorphic 6:5) up to 36 fps
6048 x 3200 (6K DCI 17:9) up to 48 fps
6048 x 2520 (6K 2.4:1) up to 60 fps

By using a 16mm lens, I should avoid cropped image for interiors; exteriors won’t be an issue.

BRAW is less demanding on the machine than H.265.
I can edit 12K footage in a UHD timeline in 24 fps.

Do you already have the camera? You can put a few samples to a cloud service and I'll test them.