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> It feels like my M1 can still do everything I need it to

I think you answered your own question: No, you don't need the upgrade.

(I'm in the same boat as you, for what it's worth. My wife and I both have M1 machines, and they both do what we need, so we're not upgrading.)

Still interested to know the answer to this Q tho:

> for those that did upgrade, do you feel it was worth it, or are the gains incremental?

It may be faster when switching between multitasking. My problem is mainly that the screen of my m1 mba is too bad. It would be great if I could replace the screen module separately.

That's why my next thing is a framework laptop (I'm aware how tone-deaf it might sound in an Apple thread, but I really think Apple should be leaders on this front instead of making their devices less and less upgradeable and repairable)

They are finally starting to move somewhat in this direction. Maybe we end up closer to that in 3-4 more generations

Let's see, one can hope, but before that they have to abandon decades of a business model based on rent seeking and up-selling memory and storage at 10× the price. Wall street won't like it and only the EU can incentivize them enough.

I was comparing notes with a new coworker the other week - I've got an M1 pro, he's got an M3. Running an individual test for a feature we were working on (in Rails) lines up with the 25-30% numbers quoted up thread a bit, but that's the difference between my machine taking 40sec or so vs his taking 30 or less.

It's noticeable when you've got it to compare against, and I'm looking forward to work's hardware refresh cycle bumping me to M4 next year, but I still don't think I'd upgrade if it were a personal machine (and if I can get a decent discount to buy out the depreciated M1 for personal use I'm planning on that rather than looking at anything new).

That's my take as well. I used an M1 and an M3 for the same work, the M3 was definitely faster but the M1 wasn't bad. Both were substantially better than the Intel Macs I was using before (for the same tasks as well). Times cut from 5-10 minutes down to 1-2 minutes on the M1, and another 10-30 seconds shaved off with the M3. So faster, but not as game changing as the M1 itself.

The one thing I do like with the M3 vs M1 is when I had to, for reasons, run an x64 VM. I felt it was barely usable on the M1, but it was tolerable on the M3. The performance on the M3 of an x64 VM was close to the old Intel Macs I'd ditched, which were acceptable but hardly great. The M1 running a VM felt like a time warp back to my college days in the early '00s.

I have an M1 mini and and M3 air. I use both of them in very similar ways and don't see a noticeable difference in performance. They're both more than fast enough for everything I do.

I have a personal 2020 M1 MBP and a work MBP with an M2 or M3 CPU. IMO, the difference isn’t worth an upgrade yet, especially if you compare it to the upgrade from intel to Apple silicon.

> I think you answered your own question: No, you don't need the upgrade.

They asked if it would be worth it, not if they needed it.

I am an android dev who works with an M1 Pro 14" on some client and private projects and I also use an M3 Pro 16" provided by one client for a specific project.

I can't tell the performance apart. Everything is absolutely good enough on both machines.

OLED should be coming to MacBook Pros within a year or two. If your current laptop still works for your needs, I’d wait for that to upgrade.

What version of the M1? I just “upgraded” from an M1 Max to a M3 device. The single core performance is higher on paper, but I don’t really notice it. I do notice the fewer cores. If you are on a base model, it may be worth upgrading to a Pro or Max CPU.

M1 Pro, the 16" MacBooks (and by extension, all MacBook Pros) only have Pro or Max chips, not base.

I'd upgrade not for the specs, but just for MagSafe.

It is nice to have magsafe back. Without that I'd be paranoid that the USB sockets would wear out over time from constantly being used for charging.

Don't, in my experience (and that of everyone around me), USB-C is very sturdy. My wife had a MB Pro (last Intel, with USB-C) and recently upgraded to the latest gen with the magnetic connector. It's really annoying that we can't use it on anything but her laptop, it really feels like going backwards and as a result we don't carry it. And for what? So that it gives when you pull it gently? That's also pretty much defining USB-C on all my devices... Apple just really likes their dongles and that's all there is to it, I believe.

> in my experience (and that of everyone around me), USB-C is very sturdy

That might be due to Apple's build quality, but the USB-C connector has been anything but sturdy in most machines I've used. The connection becomes wobbly after just a few months of very careful usage, and tends to cut out if the cable is pulled in a certain direction. Connecting an external disk drive is a plug-and-pray situation. I've even had the connector dislodge entirely on one machine. USB-C may have given us reversibility, but USB-A had a much sturdier connection.

To say nothing of the uncertainty of which protocol is supported and which power profile will be negotiated by the combination of cable and devices. It's a UX mess.

the fact that I can have a usb-c cable that is directional because I used a usb-a -> usb-c adapter on one end of a usb-c to usb-a cable still weirds me out. I'm not evil enough to release cables that look normal but only work on in one direction, but someone could.

I can't agree on the sturdiness of USB-A. I used to buy laptops with at least four USB ports specifically so that they wouldn't all wear out before it was time to upgrade.

Meanwhile my previous phone from 2017, which had USB-C, served for six years without issue except for the accumulation of dust and grime in the receptacle, which caused the behaviour you're describing, but once I dealt with that it was fine.

In USB-C the leaf spring holding the plug in place was moved to the plug, so typically it's the cable that's the source of the problem.

That hasn't been my experience. Dust and wear out are common issues with both connectors, but I'm specifically referring to the quality of the connection. USB-A being larger and rectangular simply achieves a better physical coupling than USB-C. Cables are a source of problems as well, but I've specifically had failures of the female ports and not any individual cable. More so on laptops than mobile devices, to be fair, but I never had these issues with USB-A.

Your rationale doesn’t make sense since every single usb port on the device can also charge it.

The reasons for MagSafe are likely

- people on average prefer a connector they don’t need to guide in or worry about pulling their laptop down with. This is borne out in the reactions even on HN when it was reintroduced.

- it frees up the USB-C ports for actual data use. If people are often dedicating one port for charging, it’s almost a waste to run data lines to it.

- MagSafe came out at a time when USB-C couldn’t carry as much power as the MagSafe connector could.

> Your rationale doesn’t make sense since every single usb port on the device can also charge it.

It does, because as I said, we now have a charger that basically amounts to e-waste. As the result of its supposed benefits being very weak and its downsides very real.

The charger is still USB C- one end of the unattached cable is MagSafe, the brick side is USB C, and can charge other USB C devices using a C to C cable - I often use it to quickly charge my iPad Pro.

The only part that is single purpose is the cable. Your charger can be used for standard usb-C.

The supposed benefits are very real whether you appreciate them or not, as I listed in my comment. , whereas the downsides are that you have one extra cable that you can choose not to use.

It feels like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill

This has been my experience as well, I don't carry the MagSafe cable anymore either as my one USB C to USB C cable and charger work just fine everywhere. Rarely am I charging two or more devices at once, something that helps when the Apple Silicon Macs have such long battery life, combined with the fast charging on both my MacBook and phone.

The good thing about USB-C is that all the springy parts are in the plug now, unlike with USB-A where the plug was non moving and the socket had the springs. Meaning the part that wears out the most is in the cable which is much cheaper to replace.

MagSafe can also cause problems.

I seem to get black sand in mine, which is magnetic.

It leads to scorch marks, which can’t be good.

New Zealand has a lot of black sand beaches. I’ve never taken a laptop to one and only go to them a few times year. Why all the laptops on the house end up with magnetic sand in the port is a mystery.

That said, I love magsafe.

I use a wooden toothpick occasionally to get it all out, works well

My 16" M1 MacBook Pro currently already has MagSafe.

>16GB of RAM could become the minimum for all future Macs

If true, this would be a big deal for local LLM inference.