Apple launched its new Mac Studio with powerful internals more than a week ago and it is finally making its way to the customers. The new machines come with a new design and the company's new M1 Ultra chip with enhanced performance capabilities. Now, reviews for the Mac Studio are out and it has been very well received. Check out some of them below.
Mac Studio Receives Positive Response From Reviewers But and Overkill For Average Users
Apple's new Mac Studio comes with Apple's M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips that promise enhanced performance capabilities. The new M1 Ultra chip features a 20-core CPU and GPU with up to 64-cores with a 32-core GPU. The new machine is powerful it beats Apple's 28-core Mac Pro.
My first stop was Becca Farsace, our video director who edited the entire video review of the Mac Studio and Studio Display (which you should go watch if you haven't already) on our Studio unit. I watched her work in Premiere and Media Encoder for hours, and even to my amateur eyes, it was clear that the Studio was flying. It was miles better than our two-year-old Mac Pro (which Becca uses for most of her work) at basically everything.
Becca was able to play 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2 footage from a Sony FX3 at full resolution in Adobe Premiere Pro at 4x speed with no proxies. It was lightning fast. On any other machine, she'd have had to be in half-resolution at most. There was also no lag between hitting the spacebar and stopping playback when playing footage at 2x or 4x speed, something she finds to be a big annoyance on the Mac Pro.
The Mac Studio has some benefits that are obvious even before you turn it on: It doesn’t take up much floor or desk space; it’s easy to move around (clocking in at either 5.9 pounds for the M1 Max model or 7.9 pounds for the M1 Ultra); and its curvy aluminum case looks like something you’d find at MoMa. It’s not meant to disappear into the background like the Mac Mini. No, the Studio deserves a prominent spot on your desk, a symbol that you’ve become a true creative professional. Also, you’d definitely want it on your desk to get easy access to all of its ports. So many ports!
The Mac Studio is a good choice if you’re committed to the desktop lifestyle and have a display handy (or are buying the new Studio Display). If you’re someone who also uses a laptop, it might be worth considering that the Mac Studio with the M1 Max processor is almost identical in performance to the MacBook Pro with the M1 Max processor. If the M1 processor is powerful enough for your needs, there’s no need for a Mac Studio—a 24-inch iMac will suit, as will a Mac mini.
Both models can then be upgraded further. Tick all the boxes and you’ll end up with an Apple M1 Ultra with a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and 32-core neural engine. You can also upgrade to 128GB of unified memory (let that sink in for a moment) and 8TB of SSD storage. (…) It’s a lot – like, a lot – of money. It’s also not upgradeable after the fact, so once you’ve locked in that order, that’s it, you can’t add in more memory or anything else internally.
You can check out the videos below for in-depth details on how people received the new Mac Studio.
This is all there is to it, folks. Are you looking forward to getting the new Mac Studio? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
