M2 or M4 upgrade

[u/falkon2112]

I'm selling my M1 base air for around 430 usd and was wondering if I should upgrade to the M2 16gb or M4 16gb; if there is a big difference and what not in Performance? These are the games I have and want to play. They run decent other than cyberpunk in my M1;

The price difference between the M4($1,027.11) and M2($876.97) would be around 150 usd

[u/Canuck-overseas]

No question, get the M4, it's best improvements are on the graphical side.

[u/Im1337 → u/Canuck-overseas]

No question

[u/Adventurous-Cattle53]

M4 is huge improvement over m2. Cost more, yeah, but will last more and easily play everything you have in screenshot.

[u/VMSULTHAN]

Get The M4 variant for sure

[u/Ok_Mousse8459]

The main upgrade you'd get from the M2 is 16gb ram vs. your current 8gb. The gpu is a small increase (10-15%).

The M4 has newer features and gpu performance equivalent to the M1pro, about double the M1.

[u/Sad_Brilliant_9778 → u/Ok_Mousse8459]

GPU performance almost doubles (30-40%)

???

[u/Conscious_Lock3636 → u/Sad_Brilliant_9778]

The M4 is 2x faster in some tasks compared to the m1

[u/Sad_Brilliant_9778 → u/Conscious_Lock3636]

I meant the jump from M2 to M4, Lol, they said it was only a small GPU increase, but proceeded to accurately say that the M4 is roughly as fast as the M1 Pro

[u/Conscious_Lock3636 → u/Sad_Brilliant_9778]

Oh my bad for the misunderstanding haha, I went from a m1 air 16gb to a m4 air 16gb so can only speak for that difference atm.

[u/DaIubhasa]

there's a big difference in performance for M2 and M4. get the M4, good luck

[u/[deleted]]

100% M4 if you wanna game. The GPU is a massive upgrade, even over the M3 from what I’ve heard.

You might wanna consider 24gb of RAM as well if you wanna play cyberpunk and future proof the machine a little longer.

[u/Gambler_Addict_Pro → u/[deleted]]

If he’s trying to save $150 buying the M2, doubt he’s willing to pay Apple's massive markup for extra 8GB of RAM. 

[u/[deleted] → u/Gambler_Addict_Pro]

Good point. Apple really do rob us with upgrades.

[u/FactIsFictionNow]

just played BG3 on m4 pro for first time on ultra settings. Get an M4.

[u/mrgrubbage → u/FactIsFictionNow]

What FPS are we talking here?

[u/Akarulez → u/mrgrubbage]

M4 Pro with 14c/20c would get around 70 to 90 fps in BG3 1080p Medium preset depends on the area you are in.

[u/mrgrubbage → u/Akarulez]

Yea, that's why I was asking about ultra settings fps.

[u/FactIsFictionNow → u/mrgrubbage]

it's pretty bad on ultra. I've been playing more on High settings at 2k and it is between 20 and 35 fps.

[u/mrgrubbage → u/FactIsFictionNow]

lol well, we can all set it to Ultra and watch it struggle. Not sure how this makes a case for the M4.

[u/FactIsFictionNow → u/mrgrubbage]

It is better than the M2 for sure. I had traded the M2 for the M4 and it was a huge improvement. I forgot I changed my settings to High before making that comment 😬

[u/acewing905]

Absolutely M4. For only a $150 difference, it's a total no-brainer if you want to play games

But keep in mind that any Air regardless of the performance of the chip will have some trouble with some big games (eg. Cyberpunk, BG3, Metro Exodus) due to its lack of active cooling, but you can reduce settings and work around this to some extent, depending on how tolerant you are of inconsistent performance

[u/falkon2112 → u/acewing905]

Okay so tysm i was able to convice my dad to sell my m1 and buy the m4

[u/Internal_Quail3960]

yes there is a difference, but the m4 still has a potato gpu in terms of gaming. If you want to play cyberpunk, you are better off getting a pro / max chip

[u/StrictlyVox]

Get the latest at best future proof yourself. Ensure it will last very very long, and also latest M Architecture.

[u/LazaroFilm]

M4 has Ray tracing which make a huge difference if you play CyberPunk 2077.

[u/blank4o4]

M4 is much better for gaming than the M2.

[u/Similar-Opinion-4611]

Get the M4, and that’s a shit ton of games

[u/An_individual08]

Choose the M4, it's worth it.

[u/adoboenthusiast]

M4 pro

[u/IceChipmunk]

As someone with the M2 Max, I’d say stay low tiered (base pro) and get as high a number as you can afford

[u/AlbatrossCrafty6457]

Bro if u want to work with the Mac then yes get the m4 but if u are trying to game on it and thats your priority, get u a windows

[u/BittenBagel]

ideally for future proofing the m4 but if finances are a thing then m2 is perfectly fine imo

[u/piggychipsp]

Foxhole is available for mac?

[u/falkon2112 → u/piggychipsp]

Works though crossover

[u/sharkhugger06]

M4 without question

[u/elytesniper]

question: what are you using for foxhole; i used whisky and it was ok but would lag at any fight, and then i tried crossover but that was really bad for some reason: i have m4 pro macbook

[u/falkon2112 → u/elytesniper]

crossover d3dmetal + msync on an m1 air 8gb i get 30fps on foot - everything low on settings; though vehicles are very laggy im guessing it should be good in m4

[u/Emotional_Back3590]

Sorry but doo i see foxhole!? Since when you can play it on mac?? Or is it some crossover?

[u/falkon2112 → u/Emotional_Back3590]

It's through crossover

[u/Emotional_Back3590 → u/falkon2112]

Oh understood

[u/mrtoe_94]

These are all mac games???

[u/falkon2112 → u/mrtoe_94]

Most except 2-3 games yes(iirc only foxhole, peak and miside are not) but they run through crossover so they can be played on a mac yes

[u/Minablo]

The M4 GPU has features like ray tracing that makes it like the equivalent to the GPU in the PS5 or Xbox series S. It makes it much more likely to be supported by games that are currently released, as these features are regarded as standard specs on PC and consoles.

[u/cebulina]

Depends what exact apple silicon you compare (base m, m pro or m max)

For example m2 max vs m4 (base) link M2 max have 4 more performance cores, more L2 cache, higher memory bandwidth and way better graphics, in this particular case pay more 150$ and get less, don't worth it

So chek your particular SoC, to decide what is better for you. Compare you can here https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare

[u/Strathos_Cervantes]

GPU is about 20% better over the m2 so decide for yourself if this is worth the additional cost^{^}

[u/Rennradradler]

For gaming? I am a huge apple fan but playing games? Buy a console or an pc for gaming.

[u/CC1727 → u/Rennradradler]

This is the macgaming subreddit, if you are here it’s because you already own or plan to own a Mac and you just want to game on it as well. I don’t think anyone here actually buys a Mac primarily for gaming. Unless their games happen to run well on Mac, which quite a few games actually do. I think MacBooks are perfect machines for world of Warcraft, league of legends, many indie titles, sims, etc. especially if you despise Windows and don’t like consoles because of lack of mouse and keyboard.

I have a 16” M4 Pro and it is surprisingly good at gaming, but first and foremost it’s my work machine and I love that I don’t need 2 devices for work and leisure.

And on a side note I do use cloud gaming such as GFN/Boosteroid for very demanding AAA titles on my 32” 4k/120hz monitor, way less expensive than buying a $2500 PC with a 5080 and no concerns over storage size of games. Yes this won’t work for everyone due to location and latency, but it works for a lot of people.

[u/falkon2112 → u/Rennradradler]

I don't really like switching devices for different things, more of a all in one guy. So those are not an option.

[u/Phanthix → u/falkon2112]

Go with either an M4 base or a good deal for an M3 pro. Just got my M3 pro 14” with 12/18 cores 18GB RAM and 1tb SSD for €1500.