I'm considering the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU) and wondering if it's still a great buy in 2025. I noticed that it marks huge in benchmarks - why is that? Is it still a good long-term investment for power users?

I’ve been using the 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 (18GB RAM/512GB SSD) for about two weeks, after upgrading from my 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro. That old MacBook wasn’t exactly failing—aside from the random fan noise and a battery that barely made it through the day—but it was time to move on.

I debated the new 15-inch MacBook Air (16GB RAM/512GB SSD) and the 16-inch Pro. I even bought both to see which one felt right. The Air had some serious perks. It’s lighter and more portable, and the weight difference was noticeable in my backpack, though not enough to make a huge impact. Plus, it’s more than powerful enough for what I do—research, writing, email, and the occasional heavy-lift task.

But here’s the thing: the Pro’s display hits differently. The 120Hz refresh rate on its own didn’t blow me away. But when you combine that with the overall improvements in brightness, contrast, and color accuracy, it adds up. It’s the kind of upgrade that’s subtle initially, but the differences quickly become impossible to ignore.

Using the 16-inch Pro feels like a new experience. The Air’s 15-inch screen is solid, no doubt, and coming from my old 13-inch, it was a big improvement. But the Pro’s display transforms how I interact with a laptop entirely. It’s like going from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 7—suddenly everything looks and feels better in a way that’s hard to quantify but impossible to go back from.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the 16-inch Pro, or can you relate to how the display changed your overall laptop experience? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Long-time Mac and Windows user here. As an IT professional and music producer/DJ, I've owned two MacBooks for over 12 years, alongside various Windows computers. I went full throttle into Windows a year and a half ago and let's just say I'd been pampered by MacBooks for too long! Now that I'm back with the MacBook Pro M3 Pro 16", I've been debating whether to get 18GB or 36GB of RAM. I decided to write this review for the average power user or user who might be considering the 18GB option.

My Use Case

To explain my use case so others can compare: I work from home at an MSP and on an average day I often have 30-50 tabs open in Edge at a given time (my ADHD tends to make me forget to close tabs!). I also use Outlook, Excel, Microsoft Teams, Spotify, and the occasional YouTube video for background music. I might also have stock apps such as Thinkorswim, Webull, or TradingView open. When I'm producing music, I normally use Ableton on Windows, but I'm back on Logic now. Not as frequent but I also spin up VMs w/ VMware/parallels, windows jump boxes, Linux distros, excel, and Power BI for work and IT projects, utilize Adobe photoshop , Final Cut, and Logic Pro, when needing to do editing for any type of gig work/hobbies/podcast.

My Experience: Windows XPS 17 vs. MacBook Pro

My previous device was an XPS 17 9720 (2022 model) with 32gb of RAM, an i7 12th gen 14-core processor, and a GTX 3060 graphics card. When handling all the tasks above, the XPS would overheat, the fans sounded like an AC unit, and at 97-99% RAM utilization, it would freeze up and become unstable. Stalls of 10-20 seconds every 5-10 minutes were common. Mind you, this is all while on the power adapter. Without the XPS being on power this wouldn't even be possible with 50% of the workload.

I've tried replicating the same tasks on my MacBook Pro (without music production apps running). Even with only about 2GB of RAM left, the memory pressure stays between green and yellow. If you focus on one page and work, the memory pressure goes back from yellow to green. Swap has been around 1.80-2.3gb and compression is about 5gb on average. While that is a lot. the fans have yet to ramp up from idle, and the CPU utilization sits at 18-30%. There's a very slight delay when switching screens using gestures, but it's barely noticeable.

Conclusion

I think that Apple's unified architecture may hold up to it's claims. While swap and compression are a quite high, I believe Apple's intention was to utilize those other area's efficiently by packaging everything closer togethor in one chip. instead of worrying about how much RAM is being used i am concerned on how swap and compression fair, and how computer performance is being impacted by this. I wanted to make this post because I've been searching for someone to provide an actual average power user performance review for the average user. I hope this helps anyone with a similar use case. I haven't tried Final Cut, Logic, VMware/parallels yet as I normally only use for gigs and Contracting projects. I will update as these things come up! but I'm sure the MacBook Pro will handle it with ease. My 2015 MacBook Pro produced music just fine, even in 2022! I had my 2015 Macbook Pro for about 7 years, so I can imagine getting at least 4-6 years from this device, but I would say 3-5 years to be on the safe side.

P.S. While I still think 8 GB of ram is a stretch for those minimum-spec Macbooks and wouldn't recommend it. if one is in dire need of a MacBook and only browses the internet/schoolwork, I think they may work for 2-3 years, but I haven't tested it and would advise anyone to get a 16-18 GB upgrade.

TL;DR: Macbook Pro M3 Pro handles 18 GB RAM effortlessly with 60 edge tabs and several other apps open. all battery powered.

Edit:

Wanted to Provide helpful videos explaining how M chip series utilize RAM:

https://youtu.be/WTyoSv_hpgg?si=b1W3nbabHy9UAxWa

Also, Since I was audited by the "power user" committee for my blasphemy of calling myself a power user without explaining every segment of my life's computer usage; I added the other things that I do to the second paragraph.

I will also explain why I have multiple tabs open since appearantly i have to warrant my tab usage to be a power user. I work as a cloud engineer for an MSP(Managed Service Provider), because of that:

1. I have to work multiple tickets at once.

2. I have several client Azure/365 environments I have to work in and keep edge work profiles for each one so I don't have sync issues upon moving from one tenant to the next in the same browser.

3. I am a team leader and I work on projects opened in multiple edge workspaces where my team members are Collaborating because of different tenant projects. since we work with about 4-11 clients daily, I have multiple projects that I may be overseeing the progress on and helping team members.

I hope this can authenticate my identification as a "power user". I made this post to add to the community and to help the average user make an informed decision on a great long-term investment to help their day-to-day workflow which may be similar to my use case because there hasn't been much info on it.

I don't know how it became a scrutiny on who is the more powerful "power user" based on the applications they use. nor do I think one needs to give a whole life resume of their computer usage to authenticate as one. We are here together to add to the community to help others, i think we should focus on that rather than the trivial matters pointed out above.

Bought two windows laptops and sent them back already. I want to try a Mac when I get my refund back. Are there any reasons you wouldn't recommend I get a MacBook pro 16 inch with M3 Pro and 36 GB RAM?

How does it handle heat? Is it true that dust kills it (I am in dusty Oklahoma)? I will be doing database, web dev, illustrator, and maybe AI stuff. I need this machine for a few years.

I enjoy playing games but the new games suck. I think I will get a retro gaming handheld.

I do have a windows laptop and I kinda feel like I know what to expect with Windows. Terrible battery life, slow apps after a while. Advertisements.