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M4 MAX? Or is M4 PRO sufficient for occasional gaming?
So as the title suggest, I am currently in a position to buy myself a new MBP (my first proper apple device) and since I am a gamer, I would like to know your opinion, whether I should shell out more money for m4max? Primary reason I am byuing a mac is work related. And for work staff, m4pro would be probably sufficient. Main reason I am considering m4max is for gaming. It is also good to point out, that I have at home a PC battlestation, which is running all modern games more than fine, the reason why I am thinking about it is that I might be lazy switching between mac an pc, if I would like to just play few quick games, or when I will be travelling, on the go.
My M4 Pro is able to run everything I throw at it at great settings. You should be fine with the Pro.
That is very nice to hear. Can you give some game examples with fps?
Overkill. I have M2 Max. Should not have purchased it.
For casual gaming when travelling, given that you have the battlestation at home?
Get the Pro. Your FPS will be lower, not all games will be playable, but enough will play, and play well, that you won't care.
Save a few of the indy/older titles that you love for when you're travelling, or that older back catalog title you've always wanted to play.
If you're a hardcore gamer with a specific game you want to play, then likely neither machine would be good, due to even the max not getting enough FPS for that competitive shooter, or the 50/50 chance that any specific game won't run, even under crossover.
Here’s how I made the choice between the 2. I use a Mac for work first and foremost and game second. If your workload calls for the extra power of the Max chip, I.e video editing with heavy effects and color grading, or 3D work then get it, and you will love gaming on it. If your work load isn’t that much like light video editing or office work then save the money and get a pro, maybe upgrade the ram with the extra money saved. The only thing you’re getting out of a max chip is better cpu and gpu. I ended up going for the max because my work calls for it. Don’t waste your money on it if all you’re looking for is gaming.
Yeah, I am a programmer, mostly using virtualization for both win & linux, and yeah, as everyone I am also tinkering with a little bit of LLM, and I mean, m4max would probably help compile few codes quicker here and there, not to mention, even with pro chip I need the 48gb version, so the step forward for max is not that huge in comparison, but as I said, the workload I am planning would work without much issues even on the m4pro variant.
The M4pro should be great for playing any Mac native games. The Max is obviously more powerful, but at around $1000 more, if the only use you would have would be gaming, it wouldn't seem like a good value upgrade to me. Especially given the current state of gaming on Mac, with so few native games available, and translation being very hit or miss (e.g. recent Steam updates breaking compatibility with Whisky).
I’d recommend M4 pro. I have it and love it. I run LoL and BG3 on it just fine. Some benchmarks have shown the Max in a 14 inch doesn’t have sufficient cooling to let them chip go much harder than the Pro. So screen size matters too
check out Just Josh on YouTube. He uploaded some good benchmarks off all 3 options
Max has 2x more GPU