M1 MAX 64GB vs M2 PRO 32GB

SketchUp Computer Advice
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Need recommendations for my next computer.

Back story… Switched from OSX to PC in my last computer upgrade.

Now, I’m on a Dell Precision 5550
i7-10850H CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.71 GHz
32.0GB RAM
Nvidia quadro T2000 graphics card.

BUT! I miss the Apple environment, I still use iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Apple TV, etc.

I want to go back to the integration and ease of using a Mac with OSX along with the rest of my tech stuff.

I just sneak back to my MB Pro 2017 for everyday surfing, planning, communication, arranging files for my sketchup projects and so on.
It came down to that im only using my PC for sketchup and renderings.

So! Now I want to go back to OSX and run everything in one computer. Life, project files, communication, sketchup and renderings (Maybe i’ll keep the Precision just for rendering…)

Been looking at two different specs, which one do you think does the everyday job för a hobby “sketchupper” best?

M1 MAX, 64 GB RAM
PRO: 64gb RAM
CON: Not the latest processor

M2 PRO, 32 GB RAM
PRO: Processor speed, 3.5 GHz over the M1’s 3.2 GHz
CON: “Only” 32gb RAM…

So…

Higher single core performance vs higher RAM.
Which is better for the all-in-one-magic-machine?
What would you choose and why?

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Neither. They are overkill for the everyday work aof a hobby sketchupper :slight_smile:

But ok, fine, someone asked the same question a while ago, this was my answer

tl;dr I would pick the M2.

M1 is 3,2 GHz M2 is 3,5 and SU needs a high clock. 3D softwares work on a single core, the faster the better
the M1 will become obsolete before M2, within a few years we’ll see softwares asking for M2 or more, especially in pro machines.
Because of the integrated RAM, quantity is not as crucial as on a PC : my M1 mac has 16gb and gets better results in SU or photoshop than my gaming PC with a slower CPU but twice the RAM.

The limit between 32 and 64Gb would appear while rendering, working with multiple huge files (I can work on 500mb files with 16Gb ram) or working with multiple softwares open at the same time.
It would be vital for audio or video editing and rendering, less so in our case. especially since :

yeah. that would be smart, if you can afford not selling it, keep it as a rendering machine. Pre-parameter everything on your mac, when it’s ready, leave the PC do the work on the side. especially if you use Vray / Enscape, it works super well with Nvidia.

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Thx for your input!

I’ll agree, a bit overkill for Facebook and simple SU-files :slight_smile:
But, from what I’ve read earlier, Sketchup and OSX isn’t always best friends, so better safe then sorry and go upp a notch in performance and, hopefully i’ll get a good SU (and maybe simple renderings) experience with OSX on this machine.
It’s in my price range and I’m longing for a MacBook again :smile:

I’ll probably go for the m2 as its the latest and therefore more future-proof, 32GB ram is more than enough for SU. The Precision can stay as a render PC for sure.

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really ? been using SU on mac since 2007 (and on occasion, on PC) and I’ve seen bugs and crashes on both. If you’d told me Autocad or Vray, yeah, sure, PC versions are above, but SU is fine imo.

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So, I got this hot tip from Linus Tech Tips. It’s at the 2:54 mark.

If what you want is rock solid single-core processing power, the M2 does indeed run circles around the M1 Max. Well, maybe not circles, but it’s pretty notable for a higher end setup like a Studio.
The 32GB of RAM is definitely a con compared to the what the Mac Studio can give you, but I’ve been running SketchUp on a pre-M1/Intel-based mac mini with 8GB and I’m hard-pressed to think of any time I’ve had performance issues. Maybe the frame rate chugs a little when I’m rotating the camera around a large diorama with lots of components, but that’s the worst of it. I think you’ll be fine.

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If you take a look at the single threaded performance , even the base M2 is marginally higher performing than the M1 MAX / Ultra,

Save yourself some money and get a cheaper M2 machine with at least 16GB memory

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Quite often there is news of new MacBook Pro machines at the world wide developers conference time. That’s in 12 days from now, might be worth waiting to see what is announced then.

Here’s an example article on what is thought to be coming out:

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None of them really…
If you are not a DJ or a musician stick with pc and be happy.
Mac have all sort of problems with 3d softwares… moreover in general for the same price you can have hella better hardware on a pc, most importantly you get better GPUs.

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Glad to hear! :+1:

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Thx! Great info!

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Yeah, but…
Even if SU is important for me, I’ll have to consider the bigger picture in what OSX brings to my table, where my other apple stuff lives.

As long as SU is working without issues, I’m good.
The question isn’t PC or MAC, the question is M1 Max och M2 Pro :slight_smile:

Im looking into the MacBook pro’s.
To get the 14" or 16" ill have to go M2 pro, the M2 is only available at the 13" MBP unfortunately.
It feels like 14" is bare minimum, ill probably go for a 16".

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I have a M1 max with 64 gb of ram, and it works perfectly, I’ve never used more than 20gb of ram using my machine, and that was rendering on blender, sketchup doesn’t use a lot of ram compared to other softwares. As ateliernab said, sketchup and all the 3D modeling softwares I know use just 1 core of the cpu, it doesn’t matter if you have a threadripper with 64 cores, sketchup will use only one, so get the machine with better single core performance. Anyways the performance gain between M1 and M2 are barely noticeable, you wouldn’t even know what machine are you using if you could test both machines blindly with sketchup. The only negative point with the new Mseries Macs for me is the gpu performance compared with Nvidia or even AMD, apple’s gpu’s don’t have ray tracing acceleration hardware, for rendering an Nvidia gpu will do the job a lot faster than any Mac, and there are softwares that require to have this, either to work or to have a feature unlocked, like twinmotion that requires ray tracing hardware to be able to use path tracer. Apple as Trimble is a company that doesn’t reveal anything to their customers, there have been only rumors of new chips with ray tracing capabilities, that’s why apple returned with Imagination after few years of their first run, I really hope apple can catch-up or at least get close to Nvidia with their gpu’s.

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I’ve been reading alot about how SU is working with cores and RAM,
Not so much about LayOut… How bout Layout then?

Does LayOut take advantage of multiple core’s/high RAM or is it single core all the way?

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as far as I know, it’s the same as SU, they are built on the same architecture, and what this thread explains about 3d drawing is valable for 2d drawing too - CAD in its globality is afaik single core.

here and there you will find on the forum ideas like “having each imported frame in layout be rendered on a separate core” but I don’t know if it’s possible in the end.