Brian started this topic with "Now I just need a couple of SSD external drives". Solid State Drives. Brian also said he is considering WD or Samsung.

The LaCie Rugged is not an SSD.

The WD Black is not an SSD.

The WD My Passport Ultras is not an SSD.

For me, this was a good excuse to see what external SSD prices and availability are. I picked 2TB as a good size.

Examples are the Samsung 2TB T7 Shield Portable SSD and WD 2TB My Passport SSD. Both have read speeds of about 1000 MB/s and are in the $170 price range.

Reference:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1691589-REG/samsung_mu_pe2t0s_am_2tb_t7_shield_portable.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1595640-REG/wd_wdbagf0020bgy_wesn_my_passport_2tb_external.html

Consider that Brian invested in the "MBP with the M2 pro chip" for it's renown speed. That might mean that the LaCie 2TB Rugged SSD PRO Thunderbolt 3 External SSD is the right choice at $379. It has up to 2800 MB/s data transfer speeds!

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1503996-REG/lacie_sthz2000800_2tb_rugged_pro_ssd.html

32 is probably better but unless you try to run LR, PS, and do video all at the same time it’s also probably overkill…but you can’t add it later so I put 32 in my M1 Pro MBP. The Max isn’t worth the expense IMO and in most evaluations I’ve read for users that aren’t doing it for a profit…for amateur use you likely will never stress it enough to make the Max faster…and even if you did it’s like getting the video exported in 3 minutes instead of 4…and for non making money users that’s not much gain.

I think you will be blown away by the power it has. My son has an M1 Pro 14" with 32GB and 1TB and it is a beast for video and photo processing. The M2 Pro in the same configuration and 16" model is a nice step up from that.

Apple refined the HDMI port and the SDXC reader, along with the speaker tone and the web cam video quality and the system-on-chip update. There are a few other tweaks I've forgotten, but they are minor.

If you need more ports in your workflow, look at hubs and docks from OWC and CalDigit. If you want a portable dock, I use and LOVE this one: https://www.charjenpro.com/products/ultimatedock .

The Yuryev brothers at MaxTech YouTube channel bought about a dozen different versions of these and tested them to determine the sweet spot.

The Max versions of the M2 SOC are for people doing 3D modeling and high end graphics/special effects for TV, motion picture, and other video production. The primary advantage of the Max is the additional graphics cores for such tasks.

Bottom line, as Vadim said this week, get the M2 Pro. You want AT LEAST 16GB unified memory and AT LEAST 1TB storage if you can afford it.

WHY??? Because the M2 Pro and M2 Max Macs have HALF the storage modules of their M1 predecessors! Instead of two 256 or four 128GB modules, the 512GB versions use just one 512GB module. That means they are NOT configured in a RAID 0 array, which speeds up read/write operations significantly, ESPECIALLY during swap memory/virtual memory operations. The 1TB models use TWO 512GB modules, in a RAID 0 array, so they perform much better.

The main advantage of the RAID 0 array is MOST NOTICEABLE when running Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. It does little for video editing.

Personally, if I were buying for photography, video, and audio production, I'd get the 32GB/1TB version of the M2 Pro MacBook Pro, or the 24GB/1TB version of the M2 MacBook Air. With these computers, there is very little memory swap needed, and I/O operations are at full speed. When swap is needed, it won't slow you down.

I have an M1 MacBook Air, 16GB/1TB, which works great for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Final Cut Pro, and GarageBand. All my everyday apps are lightning fast. The only time it has slowed down due to thermal throttling, I was rendering an 867GB Apple ProRes video file to an external drive as a 4K MOV file. It has no fan, but most of the time, it barely gets warm. Compared to all my previous Macs and PCs, it runs like a bat out of hell! And the fact that it is COMPLETELY silent is great when I'm trying to narrate a video.

The 16" version of the MBP will throttle less than the 14", because it has better cooling fans. The difference may or may not matter to you.

MOST PEOPLE do not need the fastest versions of these machines. If you're like UHH user CJC2 (above) frequently processing massive quantities of files, you can justify them. But for occasional "high stress tasks", the midrange models are plenty.

If you need MORE than 1TB storage, get fast external storage. My Samsung T7 SSD drives are plenty fast enough when connected through a small hub. If you need more speed for video editing, a Thunderbolt 4 M.2 solid state drive is the ticket.