I’m looking at these new MacBook Pro computers, and the M3 Max seems excellent - although its RAM options are limited. The one I’m looking at can do either 36 or 96 GB of RAM, but nothing in between.
Right now I have NotePerformer NPPE with BBCSO Core, and it’s working well (2019 MBP, 16 GB RAM). If I ever step up to another sample library, do folks think 36 GB of RAM is going to be enough? Would I be better off with an M2, but more RAM?
I’ve been eagerly waiting for someone else to ask this, but I haven’t seen anything here, and not a whole lot on vi-control. So any advice is appreciated!
1 Like
Regarding music, I have a 2,5Yo MacBook Pro with M1 Max 64 GB for almost three years and it is still a powerhouse for music production. I use Noteformer with Spitfire Symphony Orchestra full version without any issue with additional Kontakt instrument (piano, choir, soloists, etc.). I am running three screen, 2 Full HD and one XDR. I suppose switching to M2 with more RAM would be a better option in your case if you want to save money. But my advice would be to go for the M3 96 GB for a long term investment. My guess is that M3 compared to M2 or even a M1 will be faster when exporting to audio your project, but nothing noticeable otherwise as M1 Max do already the job perfectly well from what I see.
2 Likes
I’d get as much RAM as you can.
From what I’ve read, most comparisons of the M3 are to the M1 which makes me suspect that it’s not that much better than the M2. It’s what I’ve read.
1 Like
I have an M2 Pro Mini with 32Gb of RAM, and BBCSO Core works fine. Loading all the instruments uses 15 Gb.
If you had the full “Professional” library, that requires a bit more than 32Gb RAM. (Though some people have still got it to work on a 32Gb rig!)
The new M3s are a little bit faster, but there have been some concessions – there are more efficiency cores (slower); and the memory bandwidth I think is halved. Some suggest that compared to an M2 Pro or Max, there’s not much in it. (The base M2 to M3 may be a larger delta.)
2 Likes