How will 64GB of memory in the MacBook Pro with M1 Max affect power consumption?
I currently have an early 2013 MacBook Pro with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 (quad-core) processor and 16GB of RAM. This computer has served me very well and it has outlasted my previous MacBook Pro, as I maxed out everything on it except the storage space. I have been waiting for the transition to Apple Silicon to upgrade. When reading about the previous Intel-based model some time ago, I learned that upgrading from 32GB to 64GB of RAM would make a significant difference in power consumption and, therefore, battery life. (I forget where I read this.)
Since Apple has moved to a unified memory architecture, it seems that in order to get the same total memory as an Intel-based MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM and 8GB of video memory, you'd need 40GB of unified memory. I understand there are advantages in the unified memory since it eliminates duplication and increases speed (as there isn't as much need to move data around), and that this offsets the lower amount of total memory to at least some extent, but I'd still prefer as much memory as possible.
So my question is - will upgrading from 32GB to 64GB of memory with the M1 Max make a significant difference to power consumption and battery life? I don't know enough about the difference in processor architectures to know whether the amount of memory will have the same impact as it would in the Intel-based x86 system. I'd appreciate any guidance you can provide about the amount of memory that might be best for me, and the tradeoffs (besides cost) of maxing out the memory in a MacBook Pro.