M2 Max MacBook Pro for Photographers & Filmmakers 

This is easily the best comparison Ive ever seen. I really appreciate you showing the comparison through the process instead of render and export times!

Man, this is exactly what I was looking for. Other reviewers were only comparing export times, which don't matter as much as how fluid Final Cut or Resolve is during editing by adding multiple layers and noticing any skipped frames.

very nice comparison! thats exactly what i felt with my m1pro 16". even without 6k footage it just stutters with effects and titles etc. i was mostly editing with hevc and h264. ill probably upgrade to the m2max with 64gb...how was temperature fan noise etc? still as silent as the m1s?

Been looking specifically to do more locally generative art and I think this has helped me decide whether to go M2 or to buy a refurbished M1 Max. I’m moving from intel so paying the little extra for the M2 might be a better buy right now. Thanks for this.

@stalman This is the most useful review for a filmmaker using Resolve! 100% it's all about the smooth playback experience and editing. Question: I shoot w Canon R5C on Canon RAW LT-do you know if the M1 Ultra Studio plays back Canon 8K RAW LT w conversion LUT smoothly in Davinci Resolve? I know you tested the R5C and Ultra Studio w FCP and I noticed that at 07:14 of this video the M2 plays RED RAW 6K smoothly, so that gave me some hope! Thank you.

I always wait for your review, I’ve always been using macs, but sometimes i find my self need to do some work tasks on 3dmax, is there any chance to use 3dmax on the M2 max and parallels

Coming from a Intel MCP 16", I think it's about time to upgrade 🤔 I was waiting for your review Tyler 😁🔥

thanks for your time Tyler!

Do you have a tutorial about your workflow going in between FCPX and DaVinci? I just bought DaVinci and looking to get started 🙂 Great video, btw! Loved the end interviews.

Hi Tyler, can I ask you which display settings you use for video editing and color correction? I mean preset and frequency (proMotion, yes or not?). Thank you

Thank you for mentioning that the fluidity of moving through the Motion VFX plugins in the interface is the most important! 100% agree and it's exactly what I am looking for in this sort of review. My M1 16" Pro struggles to play stacked MotionVFX plugins in Resolve. I hope the M2 Max or Ultra chips can solve this, such a pain in my workflow.

Thanks for the timeline review. Much more important than render times.

Exactly the comparison that I am looking for. Thank you a great deal.

Really helpful. Can I ask where do you think the base MacBook Pro m2 pro sits. Is it better than the M1 Max?

I am MAINLY in doing lrC. I would be using as a display for my camera as well during shoots. Would you recommend going to the m2 max? I am coming from a much older version Samsung and will be my first Mac. Thank you

As someone who still has a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13 that turns 10 this March, I need this upgrade regardless of M2 Pro or M1 Pro.

thanks for this video man I know its been a min you did this. but im in the middle of upgrading and I wondering about the 4k or 6k footage for smooth editing in Final Cut. also what ram would you recommend ? how is the M3 pro in comparison. aloha.

This is the review I have been looking for, I have finally made the decision to upgrade from my old but reliable i7 2015 MBP but I was agonising whether to go M2 Pro or Max. I think you have answered that question for me. Thanks a very good video.

Really good summary compared to other reviews posted yesterday!

Great video ,I just bought one coming from windows what's the best color profiles to use or color preset for the monitor ?

Nice! You certainly found the point where the M1 Max can't keep up. One thing about those stress tests, because the extra effects were packaged as titles, that means that the additional effects are (I think!) applied to the timeline resolution (8K) rather than the clip resolution (6K) that they'd use if they were effects. While that makes the M2 Max all the more impressive, If you were working in a 4K timeline, the M1 Max might have been able to keep up. Thanks!

Coming from an intel based Mac it's amazing what these new silicon chips can do and how smooth and fast it runs!! love my 14'' m2 pro

Question, in the FCP example of playback. Was the playback in better quality or better performance?

This might be a dumb question but is there really a huge difference in performance between the 30 core and the 38 core?

This is “the” only doubt I have ,and this video just make me clear what I needed (I didn’t saw any other videos about this) Thanks a lot ❤very helpful 🙈

would love to see the same testing you did on final cut but on premiere pro

Would you get the M2pro 14” or go for the M1 Max 16”. It has been a couple years since M1 so there have been so many deals that have made the M1 Max 16” similar in price to the 14” M2pro

Great video Tyler! No one seems to understand that while export times are a good way to compare which GPU is better between devices, the most important thing is efficient playback. Just one question, during these tests how much maximum RAM was being used, would the 64GB RAM version be more than enough? or is there any advantage to the 96gig variant.

You really do make some high-quality videos. I can't believe you don't have millions of followers yet. It will come.

Hi mate. Best test out there! Im editing in 4K ProRes in FCPX on my M1PRO, 10/16GPU, 16GB. I compound a lot of clips and use color grading masks and color finale 2 + add cinema scope border.png layers, and I'm surely not able to play back in "optimal quality" - a lot of dropped frames and the project (300GB) takes 1min 20s to load from my Lacis SSD PRO 2TB and 2/3 the program crashes when I try to open. Im thinking about buying the M2MAX since I use the computer all day long and I hate a lacking workflow. Do you think the M2MAX with 32Gb ram is enough for a smooth workflow or should I get the 64GB instead? I also use a lot of time in Topaz AI upscaling, de-noiseing etc.

Will 32gb be enough to run Final Cut? Been trying to determine if I need 32 or 64 gb of the m2 max

Brilliant second channel plug, integration. 👏🏼

honestly, I've watched a ton of reviews on the M2 max so far.. been mulling building a PC rig, waiting for the M3, getting an M1 max until M3 is out. I have Sony A1 footage. This really gave me a ton of confidence in the performance now for raw 8k which is absolutely incredible. This has been probably the best and most meaningful review. thank you. subscribed

does the m2 max run hot? did u touch above keyboard? my 16 i9 runs super hot.

Thank you for making this video XD ! i have the same laptop and yeah, it is deffo faster than my windows computer but yeah, it does have it's limits when adding loads of VFX to a clip fantastic video 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

excited to see your m3 review

Was that intro a 3D scan?? :O Looks fantastic Tyler!

Just one question, based on your usage do you think the 96gb variant makes sense for video editing or do you think the 64gb is enough for 99% of workflows?

Best real world comparission, thanks for share it.

Need to upgrade from my 2017 MacBook Pro 256gb because the battery lasts 2 hours and the ports are broken and the butterfly keyboard has 7 broken keys. I need to choose between M2 Pro vs Max and need help deciding. I mostly us Lightroom CC and occasionally Premiere but also want to use it for 3D rendering.

I have a 5 year old Dell XPS laptop. Been really intrigued with the Apple Silicon transition, and most likely will upgrade to the 16in MacBook Pro. Very impressed with it's performance and efficiency :)

What are your specs on the M2?

Great Job Tyler. Slick and personable presentation. Is that a Sigma 14-24 on the Lumix S5mk2?

Great test, Thanks

The NeRF intro!! Love it

Good review, thanks for posting. Did you mention the amount of ram you are using? I know you said you didn't want to get technical, but any idea what a good amount of Ram would be? Do you need to max out go get benefits, or does the chip construction make that not as important. Heaviest use case for me is doing multi cam edits with three streams of 4K.

Sadly the speakers on the 2021 model kept crackling whenever I was pushing the cpu, either on after effects or final pro or anything cpu intensive... Very sad! My friends and employee's at the local Apple report the same

What specs were you running on the M2 max?

What microphone? Thanks

What do you do with all the old MacBooks? Can I buy one?

Hi, I am editing in Final Cut Pro and looking for a new MacBook. Ik have M1 13 inc now but it's starting to lag. I am going to edit wedding that will be about 2 hours. Which one should I buy with the max modal 30 core gpu or 38 core gpu? Thank you if you can give some advice :)

i really like your testings, anyway, what i would be looking for is a comparison to a windows machine. with a 5nm or 4nm cpu

YOU'RE MY HERO!

thank you for this comparison

Have you tried M1 Ultra with the same noise reduction?

I’m hoping my answer is in the video but… Is there a lag when viewing and scrolling through Raw files? I have the 8gb ram M1 Pro 13”, and i hate how it buffers when I’m viewing my raw files 😢

try lumion 12 run on m2 max if its work then it worth of buying.

Props for the intro)

What are the specs of your mac?

how is the m2 mac speed compared to windows nvidia card machines?

Would the m1 max 16" Macbook Pro with 64gb ram from last year stutter like that?

I use Prores 422 LT because it works best for my A7III + Atomos Ninja V setup and like it better than the in camera recording.

I am still using an Intel macbook pro from 2020 and tried to edit files coming from the GoPro, tried Premiere Pro, official GoPro app and GyroFlow as well, they all die when processing the 5.3K and 4K files. I think it's time to upgrade the laptop

What was the exact config uses here?

I love y M1 pro 14 inch dont think i will upgrade this time maybe next year

Thank God for this video. If I saw another RU-vidr just comparing export times I was about to snap 😂. Earned my subscription for not cutting corners keep it up

How does this M2 Pro compares to Windows Intel and Amd workstations?

You should demonstrate how the m2 max does with fusion in resolve. Or with raw 6k. These are the real tests that people willing to spend 3k plus on a laptop want to see. Also, blender and after effects demonstrations would be great.

Nice work! I completely agree with you that playback in realtime is way more important than the actual exporting speed. The m2 max mbp is a beast of machine! I got 14” version and I’m able to add countless layers of graphics and it plays smoothly with no stuttering whatsoever.

Thank you. Scrubbing is way more useful than export. I honestly just leave the export running and come back.

Here to see stable diffusion. Been playing mid journey for awhile now.

Just dropping by to say I am a pro editor and work on complex projects. My M1 Max 16" is fully spec'd out and it rules on most projects. Rarely have slowdowns. If you are looking to get a great video editing rig and cant afford M2 then you should really still consider m1 max. It is a great machine and I probably won't see a reason to upgrade in the next few years unless apple adds more video encoders/decoders to the chip.

Excelent video. 🔥🔥🔥

Have you tried to proxy the videos?

6 layer effect still smooth on m2 max...is it because of your high spec m2max or can it be done with m2max base spec?is it dpending on GPU upgrade or RAM?

I didn’t know you used Resolve but I’m not surprised to be honest :) great review as always Tyler thanks !

I still use super 8 and glue it gas a unique look

Umm can we talk about that intro 👌

Damn that intro was good

How much ram these systems have.

Awesome & Thanks :)

Hi Tyler, do you think 96gb of memory is really worth it on the M2 Max for someone who edits in FCPX. I mainly edit 4k footage from an A1 and A7S3, I do use a good amount of motion VFX plugins. Or would 32gb be more than enough? I'd be coming from a 16" M1 Pro with 16gb of memory.

I recently got the m2 max macbook pro, but is unable to playback 4k footage on a 1080p timeline without frames dropping, anyone know why that is? I have color corrections and slow motion in the clip but that should not make it difficult for the macbook to playback.

For M2 max's smoother 8K RAW effects adding, is it owing to CPU or GPU or 96GB ram upgrades? I'm a noob, thx!

You needs a robot camera when you got NERF :) awesome intro tyler

Hi, thanks for this great test. If I'm not wrong, your have a M2 max machine with 96 GB and 38 GPU that is ... a way stronger than the M1 Max 32 GPU. And fortunetly in your test with resolve and final cut, it proves it, clearly. But the price of the full loaded M2 max is ... a lot of money too. Do you think that a M2 Max with 30 GPU, 32 Go Ram will be also faster than the M1 Max 32 GPU, 32 Ram in these kind of work on Resolve?

8K60 HDR video on YT is a good stress test. The M1 Max struggles to do this without frame dropping (obviously, some frames will get dropped without noticing, but these are noticeable stutters).

gooddd content thxxxx

what mic is that?

Id love to see M1 MAX vs M2 PRO

Great review Tyler! I personally don’t think I’ll upgrade my M1 Max until they can run Denoise smoothly

The intro proves that this man is the white Marques.

Premiere pro?

Thanks for testing AI images, not many people cover this. Is 32 gb enough for this? I wonder how long these would take using a 3060 gpu instead

Ok so M2 Max it is!! I am currently using the Intel & yea I’m getting frustrated while editing.. 😢

I have a 2015 mac pro I think it's time to upgrade haha

Pro res hq is the goto, purely because its butterly smooth in final cut.

I would love some Photoshop action in these reviews. I don't do video, so as good as these reviews are, they don't give me an idea of what the computer can do.

After that intro shot, I couldn't hear anything you said in your review, because I kept thinking on how you've done it..

I haven’t used ProRes in years it just works without it