MacBook Pro 16“: Which M4-Chip for Cubase 14?

Cubase
,
1

I’m about to buy a new MacBook Pro 16” and I’m wondering which chip to choose. There are five to choose from:

  1. pro 14 CPU / 20 GPU
  2. max 14 CPU / 32 GPU
  3. max 16 CPU / 40 GPU
    I am working on complex Cubase tracks with many channels, but not on templates with several thousand channels and not on large symphonic scores.
    I use two extra screens: one 8K (49") and one 4K.
    I need a MacBook because I’m also working as a DJ.
    Does anyone have any tips for me?

P.S.: I shortened the list because 16" MacBook Pro’s are only available with three different chips. Plus: Because of my work as a DJ I preferred the nano-textured-glas-display.

2

There’s no M4 Pro with 16 CPU cores (#3 on your list) that’s only M4 Max variant, so go for #5 because it has the most performance cores (12).

But really - #1 or #2 will be plenty enough.

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3

I’m looking at the Mini currently, thinking the base M4 Pro model (12/16 core) with 24Gb but going for more internal SSD memory. Might end up boosting the CPU to 14/20 and the memory to 48, depends if The Wife is watching :joy:

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4

Again, where do you guys see M4 Pro with 12P+4E cores??? Pro goes only up to 10P+4E.

Apple M4 - Wikipedia

5

I was referring to the M4 Pro with 12 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores vs the 14 CPU/20GPU. Not sure on the split between performance/efficiency, I should probably check! And I was talking about a Mini rather than MacBook, not sure if that makes a difference?

6

No, the chips are the same as per the link I provided.

7

@antic604

this is in my basket

Apple MacBook Pro, Apple M4 Max Chip 16-Core CPU, 40-Core GPU, 48GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 16 Inch

No rating value Same page link.

(0)

Item #MacBookPro16M4Max40CGPU48GB1TB

Starting at£3,999.99

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8

For music you want the best CPU + the “worst” GPU, unless you’re also doing complex video rendering / editing, which OP does not.

No reason to pay for 40-core GPU. Or for 48GB of RAM, for most people.

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9

@antic604 becasue that’s the minimum you can get with the 16 core CPU.

M

10

Indeed, you’re right.

However - in Poland at least, but I’m sure it’s the same in UK - going from:

  • M4 Pro 14c CPU 20c GPU 48GB/1TB to
  • M4 Pro 16c CPU 40c GPU 48GB/1TB

you get +15% more CPU power (relevant for music), but you pay +34% more, precisely because of the bigger GPU you won’t be really using.

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11

It’s probably more like 20% improvement as you’re getting 2 more performance cores, but yes the price is 30% more for the privilege :slight_smile:

M

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12

I think the silicon M* laptops throttle down CPU performance once the thermal load starts to get high. So unless you absolutely need the portability of a laptop you might be better off with one of the new M4 Mac Minis instead. I’ve run some large projects on an older M2 Mac mini with 32GB RAM and while the fan did eventually go on, CPU performance did not look to be diminished. Either way though it’s unfortunate there simply aren’t many choices when it comes to trying to optimize the number of performance cores at the expense of having to pay for more efficiency cores and GPU’s. Intel chips have a similar trade-off now with mixing performance and efficiency cores on the same chip, but my impression is there are more choices there. I would expect S.O.S. or some pro-audio magazine to publish test results from running the various DAW’s on the new M4 machines. When they tested the M2 silicon Macs, it looks like ASIO guard was able to make some use of the efficiency cores. This article from 2023 (no longer behind a pay wall) compared Logic Pro 10.6 and Cubase 12 running on the M2 processors, Apple M2 MacBook Pro & Mac mini: Part 2

13

M4 Pro’s have typically a clock higher by 1GHz compared to my M2 Pro - and I never heard its fan - so indeed I wonder about the throttling. Also, the new Mini is very small & tightly packed, so I’m not sure it’s that much better cooled than a laptop. Honestly, if they throttle at all, I’d expect both MBPs and Minis to be potentially affected.

14

Yes, we are concerned about that as well and are waiting to see what non-laptop, non mac-mini machines Apple may announce in 2025 that don’t use (an optional set of) $400 aluminum wheels :face_exhaling: We still use Intel Macs including hackintoshes for the most demanding projects.

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