I am going to purchase a MacBook pro m3, but can't decide between the 14 inch 11 core CPU/14 core GPU setup or 12 core CPU/18 core GPU.
This would be my first MacBook. I will use it for gaming (resident evil village, Baldur's gate 3, no mans sky), streaming shows, and some spreadsheets.
Please let me know your suggestions. If any of the other configurations sound like a better fit for me, I am open to ANY advice.
Thanks so much!
I cannot say anything about it other than to say you need to make sure the games you want to purchase will actually work on macOS 14.x Sonoma AND on an Apple Silicon M-series Mac. Even if a game has a native macOS version, they may not work properly if they were developed & released on the older Intel Macs. Some will be fine, others may not. Games have always been tricky even when a computer meets & exceeds the Recommended System Requirements. Unfortunately with Macs, things are more complicated. Don't just trust a macOS 10.15 or later requirement as meaning macOS 14.x is compatible....especially for older games that may no longer be supported since no one likely will update the requirement to exclude newer versions of macOS that no longer are compatible with an older game.
I would also be careful about how long even these recently released games will work on an M-series Macs unless they have a native ARM version available. If any of the games are only compiled for an Intel Mac, then once Apple stops providing Rosetta, those games will no longer work.
Just remember Apple computers are not known as gaming systems. Yes, they can sometimes run games and even run them quite well, but game developers have a hard time keeping up with support with an ever changing OS so support can be there today, but gone tomorrow.
Hopefully some other users & contributors can chime in on the other part of your question. The usual recommendation is to purchase the most computer that you can afford so that it will last you for the expected life of the computer. Since the games seem to be the most resource intensive items listed, check with the game developers/publishers of those games and the users on their respective game forums to find out what an ideal M-series configuration is needed for those games you want to purchase. Just remember, both memory and internal SSD storage cannot be upgraded after purchase, so make sure you don't skimp on those items since they need to be able to support your current & future workloads.
M3 Pro CPU vs GPU for gaming
