Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
If you ’re upgrade from an aged Intel Mac ( or even an M1 ) , the Mac Studio offer exciting processing prowess . It may even be a suitable replacement for an Intel Mac Pro in certain situations .
Best Prices Today: Apple Mac Studio (M1 Max, 2022)
As the M1 rollout continues in the Mac card , Apple is now in the part of the oscillation where the computers are n’t for everyone . The Macs being introduced late in the transition are meant for users who mean M1 fast is n’t fast enough and they need every troy ounce of processing great power they can get . They ’re also Macs that are an investment and are anything but affordable for world-wide consumers .
The Mac Studio is ideal for contented God Almighty of any tier . But here ’s the thing : the Mac Studio ’s performance over the M1 in theMac minior24 - column inch iMacisn’t just a marginal boost like we used to see with Intel - based Macs — it ’s a serious amphetamine improvement . Add to that an attractive mix of features , and you ’ll find in Mac Studio a estimator that is attractive to any power user , regardless of the kind of work they do . It ’s worth the investiture at all levels .
[ Apple offers two standard configurations of the Mac Studio , a $ 1,999 Mac Studio with an M1 Max System on a Chip ( SoC ) , and a $ 3,999 Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra . This review await at a custom-make variation of the entry - level Mac Studio with an M1 Max with a 32 - core GPU , 64 GB of co-ordinated memory , and a 2 TB SSD that sells for $ 3,199 . ]
Practical design
say the Mac Studio looks like a Mac mini on steroid hormone is a somewhat spot - on agency to key out it . It measures 7.7 inch square , the same as the Mac miniskirt , but it ’s 3.7 inch grandiloquent , near thrice the pinnacle of the Mac mini . When lay underneath theStudio Display , there ’s about an inch ’s worth of headroom .
At 3.7 inch tall , the Mac Studio easily match under Apple ’s new Studio Display .
Willis Lai / Foundry
The Mac Studio M1 Max consider 5.9 pound , while the M1 Ultra version weigh two pounds more due to its caloric system . On the Ultra it ’s made of bull , which is better at immerse oestrus than the Al system in the Max variant . Copper is heavier than atomic number 13 and costs more , which likely affects the Ultra ’s price , which is doubly that of the M1 Max Mac Studio .
coolheaded melody enters the Mac Studio through holes in the bottom of the political machine , circulates through the components to cool them off , and then the warm air is blown out the back . While Apple notice that the Mac Studio will make fan noise when pushed , the party piddle reassurances that it ’s still a very quiet reckoner . That title held up throughout my examination ; most of the time , I did n’t learn a thing , and I had to turn back myself and mind when there was fan noise . It was scarce detectable .
The bottom of the Mac Studio has the product logotype surrounded by melody vent-hole .
The Mac Studio is available only in Ag — as is the Studio Display , so they match nicely . The Mac Studio ’s top and bottom edge are quite shrewd — by compare , the MacBook Pro has smooth , rounded edges . While small , however , the Mac Studio is n’t meant to be a portable Mac , so you wo n’t be grabbing it nearly as often as a MacBook Pro .
Taste is a personal taste , and in anews articleabout the Mac Studio I said it count “ refined . ” And boy , that discussion triggered a flock of people , ground on the emails and tweet I got . One reader say , “ It is a shoebox painted silver grey and see dreadful . ” And mycohorts over at PCWorldhad fun mocking the excogitation ( granted , they make playfulness of anything Apple does ) . I found that after using it for a calendar week and experience the Mac Studio ’s performance , I appreciate the figure even more — it ’s powerful , a big occlusion of muscle computing , sitting on the desk . Compared to the various performance PCs on the market with their see - through cases , run piping , and yes , even fin , the Mac Studio is , quite simply , graceful .
If you want to knock Apple for unoriginality , I understand that — Apple basically necessitate the Mac mini design and expanded it . As a new entry in Apple ’s Mac lineup , it would ’ve been cool to see Apple do something unique . But gone are the days of Apple taking serious blueprint risks , like with acube , achrome cantilever arm , or acylinder . Apple now prioritise practical designs , and then embellishes them to make them have that Apple face and feel . Sure , the Mac Studio is fundamentally a silver metal box , but it ’s instantly placeable as an Apple production — and not just because of the big Apple logo on the top .
liken to the G4 Cube , the Mac Studio ’s intent is quite conservative , but it is theupgraded Power Mac G4 Cube we waited 22 years for .
External expansion
Perception is a comical matter . Apple ’s past MacBooks had Thunderbolt or vanilla USB - C porthole , and that seemed to evolve into this idea that Apple limited its port offering inallof its Macs . So when the Mac Studio made its debut , there was a outspoken crowd of sept who were exempt and rejoiced in its porthole offerings , particularly the handiness of USB - A. Shoot , The Verge post notone , buttwoarticlesandyammered all about it in itspodcast . But the Mac miniskirt and Mac Pro havealwayshad multiple port offerings , so the surprise that the Mac Studio does too can only be explained by misperception .
Apple almost nailed it when it comes to the Mac Studio ’s ports . Here ’s what ’s on the back :
Rear port for the Mac Studio .
Here ’s what you get on the front :
How did Apple miss ? By go through HDMI 2.0 instead of2.1 . That means its HDMI port ’s maximum resolve is 4 G at 60Hz . Had Apple go away with 2.1 , you ’d be able to apply a 4 K presentation at 120Hz or 8 K at 60Hz . ( suitably , the 5 K Apple Studio Display does n’t have ProMotion . ) With the porthole shape , you’re able to plug into one exhibit via the HDMI 2.0 porthole , and then four more showing ( 6 K at 60Hz each ) using the Thunderbolt 4 ports , for a maximum of five displays at one time . While that sounds like a whole fate of screen veridical estate to general substance abuser , it ’s a essential for media producers and a welcome inclusion after the somewhat confine M1 .
While we set up the Mac Studio here with two display , it can support up to five .
The Mac Studio does n’t have a magnetised connector like the 24 - column inch iMac ; instead , it practice a standard three - prong plug for the power transcriber . It also does n’t have the iMac ’s nifty mogul brick with a built - in ethernet nag . The Mac Studio does n’t need such a cable television , though it is a nice lace one like on the HomePod , sacrifice it an added touch of durability .
The Mac Studio has sight of interface for most people , but if you have a complicated setup , you ’ll probably still want to invest in a Thunderbolt loading dock or a hub . There will no doubt be enough designed to touch the Mac Studio ’s aesthetic , or you may get three USB - C ports if you settle to invest in the Apple Studio Display . That might be enough for most people , but you’re able to find four - port Thunderbolt hubs for a lot less than $ 1,599 .
A show of strength
The Mac Studio in this brushup has an M1 Max , which has thesame 10 - core CPUas the M1 Pro in the MacBook Pro . Last October , I reviewed the14 - inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro , and that was followed by Jason Snell’sbenchmarks that compared the M1 Pro and M1 Max . So we have an idea of what to expect with the performance of the M1 Max in the Mac Studio .
The Mac I tested has a 10 - effect M1 Max central processing unit with eight performance cores and two efficiency core . It also has a 32 - core GPU , 16 - core Neural Engine , 64 GB of unified memory , 400GBps retentiveness bandwidth , and a 2 TB SSD . I also admit the observe Macs in the test final result for reference :
Geekbench 5is a very democratic general - role bench mark used to approximate overall performance . The results are n’t surprising : in our examination , the Mac Studio and the MacBook Pro that both have the M1 Max have the same answer . Also , the M1 Max and the M1 Pro having the same results is n’t surprising , either , since they have the same CPU — the difference is the GPU , which we ’ll cover in a number .
The M1 Max posted a 65 percent encouragement over the M1 in Geekbench 5 ’s Multi CPU tryout — Apple has stated a 70 percent increase , so that ’s airless enough . As expected the Single processor effect echoed what we ’ve found in all of our M1 - series results : the number are all practically the same .
We also ranCinebench R23to caliber central processing unit performance , since it mainly uses 3 - D rendering and is a better benchmark for creative professionals . As with the Geekbench results , the M1 Max stake Multi - Core final result that are like the M1 Pro with a 60 pct improvement over the M1 .
Apple ’s website states that the Mac Studio of capable of 7.4GBps read speeds . The 512 GB SSD in our test unit posted read speeds of 5.5GBps in Blackmagic’sDisk Speed Test — that ’s still a lot faster than the SSD in the 24 - inch iMac . Interestingly , Blackmagic showed that the Mac Studio had a 32 percent gain in write stop number over the SSD in the 14 - inch MacBook Pro . Our effect withAmorphousDiskMarkandStibiumproduced take results that were much confining to Apple ’s claim : 6.9GBps and 7.3GBps , severally .
OurHandBraketest involves a 4 special K picture commute to 1080p . When using the H.265×265 setting , the M1 Max evidence a 19 per centum speed improvement over the M1 Pro and a 204 percent advance over the M1 . When using the H.265 VideoToolbox go under , the improvement of the M1 Max were about 53 pct over the M1 Pro and M1 .
As refer earlier , the M1 Max and M1 Pro have the same CPU constellation . So why are n’t the HandBrake results for the M1 Max the same as the M1 Pro ? It ’s likely that the Max ’s bigger GPU comes into child’s play here . Also , the Mac Studio has a big electric fan that sits atop the constituent to keep the internals nerveless , so it may be a thing of the Mac Studio ’s power to sustain processor speeds and contain the temperature . The M1 Pro we test is inside a laptop , and while the MacBook Pro has fans to keep it coolheaded , laptop computer need to do more to maintain right temperatures , and that can involve operation .
The M1 Max in the $ 1,999 Mac Studio has a 24 - core GPU , but our fashion model has an advance 32 - heart and soul GPU . If you have software package that relies a lot on GPU processing , you ’ll definitely want to take a looking at the rise or perhaps even the M1 Ultra with a 48 - core GPU , which can be upgrade to a 64 - nitty-gritty GPU .
Geekbench 5 has a Compute bench mark that tests the GPU performance using OpenCL or Metal APIs . Since the Mac Studio ’s M1 Max is the same one that ’s available in the 14- and 16 - inch MacBook Pro , it has the same scores . The 32 - pith GPU ’s melioration over the 16 - core GPU is impressive , but can you imagine what an Ultra ’s gobs would be ?
Black Magic
Apple does not include any stimulant gadget with the Mac Studio . You ’ll have to buy them separately , adding to the cost of your investing if you are get to corrupt novel ace . Apple now offers new black versions of itsMagic Mouse($99 ) , andMagic Trackpad($149 ) , in addition to the white versions . ( The distance grey edition have been discontinued . ) TheMagic Keyboard Touch ID and Numeric Keypad($199 ) is also now betray in black , but it ’s extremely similar to the space gray poser offered previously .
Apple ’s stimulation devices are now available in black .
you could get Touch ID if you grease one’s palms the Magic Keyboard , and it ’s as good as it is on Apple ’s other Macs . However , I experienced a one - time quirk during the Touch ID set up on the Mac Studio . The setup prompt tells you to “ double - pressure ” the Mac Studio ’s power button on the back of the machine to dispatch the frame-up . I could n’t get the rhythm of the duple - pressure down , and I ended up doing 13 set of twofold presses ( that ’s 26 public press in total ) before I finally incur theContinuebutton to activate in the setup interface . You ’ll only have to do it once , but it ’s one of the more annoying Apple setup processes .
Malus pumila
A worthy investment
Apple has been touting its Macs as societal media creators even before social medium was a matter . At first , that pattern was isolated to personal exercise — home plate videos , photo slideshows , and the like . Eventually , we got to a point where medium made by everyday folks was shared with the public . Thanks to the cyberspace , social medium , and prosperous - to - acquire gear that produces high - calibre medium , just about anyone can make a hit video , song , invigoration , game , app , and more . It ’s not just for professional anymore .
The media creation market has expanded enormously , and there ’s a turgid segment of that market — the YouTuber , the indy player , the independent game and app developer , the for - hire lensman — that does n’t want or require to invest in a media - existence figurer that ’s mean to be used in large - scale professional production houses . They want a computer that offer a combination of processing power , price , flexibility , and good aspect .
The Mac Studio tally that bank bill to a tee . If you ’re upgrading from an older Intel Mac ( or even an M1 ) , the Mac Studio ’s processing prowess is exciting — you may expend that newfound superfluous time for some well - deserve recreation , or you may learn how to do even more with your creations . Its port configuration is very adapt for most users , and its sizing make it easy to place on , under , or beside your desk .
The Mac Studio starts at $ 1,999 with an M1 Max , an attractive ledger entry - level price for the mogul and features that you get . ( You ’ll require to also enthrone in a display , but you’re able to get one that ’s cheaper than the Apple Studio Display that start at $ 1,599 . ) For users who ca n’t get enough processing power , the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra is the one to get , starting at $ 3,999 . That may seem like a steep cost , but the return on investment funds will be positivistic in no time .
take abouthow the M2 Pro Mac miniskirt compares to the Mac Studio .
