M2 Pro Base Model

[Darcy]

Hi, 

 

I am looking at purchasing the 16.2 inch base model m2 16/512gb. I had a look at the recommended specs but am lost. Would this hardware work well enough with running medium-scale entertainment venues?

 

if not, is 32gb enough? 
 

Thanks in advance

[mjm]

Hello @Darcy—I bought a MBP M1 Max, 32 GB ram. he mistake I made was the 32 GB ram. I should have gotten the 64GB ram option, this due to my renderworks needs.

2D drawing, you're probably fine with 32GB, but things sloooow way down on big render

[Pat Stanford]

Are you doing photorealistic renderings?  If so definitely go for more memory.

 

If you can afford more memory, go for more memory. While 16 might be enough for what you are doing today, will it be enough in 3 years to squeeze a 4th year out of the machine? If not then the $600 you save today costs you $2400 in 3 years instead of 4.

 

Or at least that is one way to look at it.

 

But I am the guy who ordered the 16" M3 Max with 128Gig 7 minutes after the Apple broadcast ended.  🤦‍♂️😂

 

But it is to replace a 4 year old i9 Intel MacBook.

[Darcy]

Hi @mjm and @Pat Stanford thanks for your advice. If I’m just doing basic to do renders of theatre projects with some 3-D visualisation, would the 16 inch M1 16 gig ram be enough? I don’t have much money to spend. I’m happy to wait a bit for the computer to process things. Let me know what you think.

[Pat Stanford]

I have not used an M series machine yet and certainly one with that little memory. But my gut feeling is you will be disappointed with 16GB.

 

Bu with the new M3 machines coming out you  might be able to get a pretty good deal on a used M1 that might stretch your budget to get 32.

 

Remember that the memory in the M series is shared between the CPU and the GPU, so when you start rendering you are really reducing the amount of memory available for non-graphics tasks.

 

Do you usually run with just VW open? Or do you have a bunch of other programs as well. If others, then think really hard about getting more memory.

 

That is my probable right now with the Intel machine. When VW starts running hard all the other 10 apps I have open slow down and stutter as well.

[Darcy]

Yes I would probably just run vw by itself. I’ll try it out and see how I go. Thanks for your help 🙂

[mjm]

6 hours ago, Pat Stanford said:

Remember that the memory in the M series is shared between the CPU and the GPU, so when you start rendering you are really reducing the amount of memory available for non-graphics tasks.

 

Do you usually run with just VW open? Or do you have a bunch of other programs as well. If others, then think really hard about getting more memory.

This also applies to multiple drawings open, near as I can tell. I render thru renderworks alot. The shared memory pool is where I missed the bus

Edited November 6, 2023 by mjm
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