I have a late 2019 16" MBP that has been my faithful workhorse for the past five years. It was close to the top-of-the-range at the time of purchase (2.4GHz 8-core Intel i9, AMD Radeon 5500M 8GB, 64GB DDR4); Apple launched the M chips shortly thereafter. My laptop has seen daily heavy 4K video editing in Premiere Pro and frequent bulk photo editing in Lightroom, plus the occasional After Effects composition. I'm not feeling the need to replace it anytime soon, but when I do, I'm wondering if it'll be necessary to go that high on the MBP totem pole to get similar or better performance as I did when I got my current laptop.
In other words, do today's middle-shelf Apple Silicon Macbooks outclass the top-shelf Macbooks of the Intel era, at least when it comes to my type of usage? Would a standard M4 or M5 with 32GB knock my socks off thanks to the five years of evolution the M chips have gotten since I purchased my 16" Intel MBP? Or would I need to spring for an M5 Pro or Max with 64GB to really feel the difference?
Thanks in advance for any input