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$220 SAVE $130 = 37.0% Western Digital 16.0TB Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 3.5-in… in Storage: Hard Drives
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2023 MacBook Pro M3 Max: Recommended Models and Accessories
Related: Apple MacBook Pro M3, Apple Silicon, backup, computer display, display connectivity, DisplayPort, GPU, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Macs, Other World Computing, OWC Thunderbay, SSD, Thunderbolt, video tech, weather events
Please buy your gear at B&H Photo and OWC/MacSales.com using any link from this site.
Consult with Lloyd, to design a complete system for photography or similar including backup and data safety
MPG tested both the 14-inch and 16-inch models Apple 2023 MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB /4TB, model Z1AU002AK and model Z1AF001AN. See all Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max.
Consult with Lloyd to design a complete system for photography or similar including backup and data safety.
Incredible performance from the 2023 Mac Pro M2 Ultra!
Executive summary
- Realistic performance gains of M3 Max vs M2 Max are typically around 10%.
- Realistic performance gains of M3 Max vs M1 Max are typically in the 15% to 25% range, but can be greater in specific cases.
- M3 Max is typically 10% faster than M2 Ultra, dropping to 80% of the speed of M2 Ultra when all CPU and/or GPU cores are used. Some exceptions are seen.
- The M2 Ultra 60 GPU cores outrun the 40 of the M3 Max chip most of the time, but not always—software plays a decisive role*.
- One test disappoints badly: Photoshop (java) scripting is subject to some peculiar overhead, throttling performance heavily. Intel machines are still top of the heap here.
- Not tested: the 76 core GPU option. In the best case this could increase performance by 25% for GPU-intensive tasks.
* Increased overhead and/or contention, see Gunther's law of computational scalability.
Which model?
This work is not free; it is very time consuming with no direct reward. I need your support. Thank you for buying your Macs and other gear at B&H Photo, which provided the machine for testing. Subscribing to my photographic publications is another way to help support work like this—consider that AppleCare alone is $350 on $4000 to $7000 machine.
I deem the fan noise excessive, at least for my workflow. Wait for a Mac Studio M3 Max (or Ultra) unless you must have a laptop, as it will be a far better cooled device.
It is hard to go wrong with a 4TB SSD and 40 GPU cores. Spend more on an 8TB SSD only if this is a primary machine and/or you do huge projects out and about.
View: current Mac wishlist and all current OWC wishlists.
B&H Photo Payboo pays sale tax for most states.
Getting a deal
As this was written, M1 Max models were still being discounted at savings up to $2100 on maxed-out models. For the true power user, fastest is best regardless of cost, but for those of us with a budget, saving that kind of money particularly on a secondary computer might make a lot of sense, which is why I (MPG Lloyd) bought the M1 Max back in spring 2023.
Backup, peripherals, etc
Budget for peripherals. Also for AppleCare, given the pathetic 1-year warranty.
Memory Upgrades • External SSD • Internal SSD • External Storage • Hard Drives • Port Expansion • Cables
Backup
Everyone should have an absolute minimum of two backups drives and preferably four: two always-attached, and two offsite. Single drives are best for offsite backup (separable and multiply redundant on power supply).
The OWC Thunderbay 4 makes an excellent “always attached” backup unit for Time Machine and clones spread across its 4 drives (use the drives individually, not RAID).
See the OWC storage wishlist.
Primary storage
Most photographers are going to need large storage like the OWC Thunderbay 4 or OWC Thunderbay 8.
See the OWC storage wishlist.
Port expansion
To attach Mini DisplayPort display, the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock is best.
See the OWC port expansion wishlist.
See also OWC Offers Dual DisplayPort and dual HDMI Adapter for Thunderbolt 3 Macs or PCs.
Seagate 22TB IronWolf Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5" Internal NAS HDD (CMR)
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