A Practical Talk about M2 PRO/MAX Generation SSD Speed in Pro Photo & Video Workflow

[@jackhmchang]

wow, Ive watched almost every M1, M2, Pro, ram, ssd performance review videos out there, plus most articles and forums that I can possibly read to decide which one to get. Your videos are something else. Super informative, clear and genuine advices from real world usage. Thank you so much for making these videos! Liked and subscribed!

[@ArtIsRight]

Wow, thanks!

[@wingsley]

Art, your detailed testing is all about research to pursue empirical evidence on practical business computing matters. If find your videos to be informative, interesting and entertaining. Truth can be stranger than fiction. Please keep pursuing your empirical truth. Thank you for sharing your endeavors in these videos.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you

[@pahountisg]

I actually I appreciate your content, nobody seems to be as thorough as you, you have earn my trust!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you! I appreciate this

[@marcodimario9918]

The best talk about SSD I've found so far. Thanks for your professionalism :)

[@ArtIsRight]

Much appreciated!

[@mvp_kryptonite]

Excellent video! This is the problem with disk tools trying to prove theoretical SSD speeds when in fact it’s not a use case for most people unless you are selling the SSDs! Real work like what you have proved is way more useful!

[@ArtIsRight]

Well said! Thank you!

[@marcusslade9804]

Terrific video, Art. Thoughtful and lots of perspective with emphasis on the high-value points for most of us mere mortals. Though I’ve mentioned it before, when I started doing my research nearly a year ago now when the Studio was launched, it was precisely that native SSD capacity that had me going back and forth in deliberation. I believe my M1 Ultra is the same as yours accept for my 2TB SSD. Where I used to think 512GB was the sweet spot for native SSD, I agree and now wouldn’t go lower than 1TB. Thanks.

[@ArtIsRight]

Well said Marcus, Thank you!

[@RogerZoul]

I feel like you have spent a lot of time trying to make this clear, so thank you very much. Too bad that many people don’t realize how fast Apple’s slowest SSDs are really fast. An American seem to have a huge fear of missing out or feeling like they don’t have the absolute best thing. Take care!

[@ArtIsRight]

I know... but then most people don't know how to compare these speeds either. When the term "slow SSD" is the tag line and click bait title. Yet very few every put any of the "slow SSD" assertion into any type of usable context, it just irritates me.

[@tiagobmaciel]

Thanks man! You helped me a lot. Almost spend way more money than needed and your video helped me with the decision. Keep on the good work!!!

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad to hear it!

[@brightboxstudio]

Excellently reasoned video. Regarding your example of someone wanting to watch a video on the Mac while doing other things, that would probably be an even smaller impact than you proposed. Even a 4K video (encoded for consumer viewing, not editing) would read from storage at only 7 to 8MB a second; that won’t even strain a hard drive. Video playback processing is likely to be done by the efficient, specialized media engine on the SoC, so the video also won’t demand much of the CPU, which is why movies can be watched for so many hours on battery. Although it does make sense to watch video on another device, one reason to watch it on the Mac is if it’s got one or more desktop displays that are much larger than a phone or tablet. Because playback of a consumer encoded video has such little effect on overall performance, I often run a video full screen on my Mac’s second desktop display while working on my primary display.

[@ArtIsRight]

I hear you, however, when exporting with LRC using full CPU+GPU, the system comes to almost a halt and Strat to slowdown, momentarily evening on my M1 Ultra. So will video play, sure, it might stutter a little at the beginning. And sure bigger screen, but for 5 min - 10 min of high speed export time? I'm sure at least some can take a break from the computer.

[@Sergei__v]

@@ArtIsRight wow, for a machine with so much bandwidth and resources. I didn’t expect that. Not that it would matter to me that much, but wow. Thanks for testing

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼

[@RobertLitschauer]

Thank you for these informations and thoughts. This helps a lot thinking for the next configuration! 👍🏻

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@NikCan66]

Always excellent video that's educational and a straightforward for newbies to experienced users 👍

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@10MasterM]

Thoroughly conducted test, in great detail. 👌

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you very much!

[@SmartByTravel]

Thank you for another video. These are so useful and appreciated.

[@ArtIsRight]

You are so welcome!

[@marcodimario9918]

Thanks

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@mikeandjoannie]

Thank you for your fine insights! I’m guessing that I’m going to be thrilled with the speed increases when I upgrade my 2009 Mac Pro later this year to a Mac Studio. I work with some very large Photoshop files when I light paint. So I’m going to try and get at least 64gb of ram and probably a 4tb HD.

[@ArtIsRight]

Makes perfect sense, you'll love these machines. And coming from the 09 MP, the bump in speed and less thermo is going to be a dream!

[@TIVisual]

Best resource on this subject, great work!

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ondrejbobek.]

Very useful and practical comparison, thanks :)

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@randomcomentator]

I would say the piece of mind that you can store entire projects at once on the super fast internal hard drive is definitely worth the price for me. For years I've been using external drives because of stinginess, and I can honestly say it's a day and night difference to no longer be dependent on the feeble and highly unreliable workflow. USB cables can break, a drive can be accidentally disconnected or dropped, all your ports might be occupied with external monitors and USB peripherals that take up all the bandwidth, and finally - you are bound to be missing your content on access at some point because you also cheap out on the external SSDs and have at least 4 smaller ones and forgot to connect the correct one. Anyway, if anyone is serious about their workflow and makes a living out of delivering content to clients, he or she should not be hesitant to invest in the largest internal storage there is.

[@ArtIsRight]

ok

[@thischangeseverything972]

Thanks Art for another thorough and most informative video. My question is: is the difference between 400Gb/s memory bandwidth (MacStudio) compared to 200Gb/s (MacMini) a big deal? How much of a speed/performance difference is there?

[@ArtIsRight]

I've tested this before using 32GB RAM on M1 PRO & MAX, no variation whatsoever, we have to remember that most apps today, can't leverage these kinds of memory speeds. Apple is not just years but decade ahead on this one.

[@PolluxChung]

When comes to internal drive I mostly get "just enough plus a little extra". Only use the internal SSD for "scratch disk" and very temporary file copying. All my stuff are stored on external SSDs and none of them get over 2000MB/sec. I never like the idea of storing everything internally. With Apple's all-soldered-in system when one unrelated part is dead the whole board is replaced and you will lose everything, basically you are screwed if you don't have your stuff backed up externally.

[@ArtIsRight]

That is what a lot of people don't tell you when you get a very larger internal SSD on apple computer, you have better have a great backup plan. Because one wrong thing or corruption happens and all the data on the $2400 - 8TB can disappear in an instance. Forgot to add this fact to my video. :) But you are totally correct.

[@blackeaglezee4645]

same idea with you, but i can't decide 1TB or 2TB , what's your choice

[@1nkd]

I am curious about a Photoshop paint brush test on a flattened file or blending 2-3 images together, eg; Normal exposure & an Over / Under exposure. (Brush at 100pc opacity 1-2pc flow) & or a Dodge & Burn performance test at varying RAM sizes on working on 50mp R5 & 100mp GFX (or similar). Ideally with at least 10 total images open to edit. Programs do quite well at editing a single file & don't see much slowdown. When using the brush / dodge and burn tools it slows down & lags the brush strokes. I'm really looking forward to a MAC Silicone upgrade from my 2014 Intel i7 5960x & 64gb RAM build & My 2019 Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen1, 6/12core 64gb RAM. They are now showing their age. I got a hold of a free 2020 Intel 13" i5 Macbook Pro 16gb RAM & it seems to handle really well. It seems Adobe etc.. Photoshop & C1 run really well on Apple operating system. Sometimes the illusion that the Intel Macbook that 16gb RAM editing is faster (except for brush & doge and burning) than my 64b PC variants. I can get a really cheap version of the base Mac Mini M2 Pro 16/512 for $980 USD on the used market or $1180 new.

[@ArtIsRight]

M2 Pro is not a bad one, I would give it a try for your work

[@truphotos8476]

Thanks for another great and insightful video Art! I got the MM M2 Pro 12/19 32GB 512SSD recently and use it with a 4K monitor. I noticed that when I run Lightroom Classic and processed a few photos, my memory pressure went to yellow with LR taking up more than 20GB of RAM! Seems like it's going to gobble up whatever amount of RAM that's available😂 I'm just wondering if it's a point for concern? I mean, I can't do anything about it since my RAM is maxed out but just wondering what are your thoughts. I was somewhat shocked that almost all the RAM was used up🤣

[@ArtIsRight]

No that is about what is normal for LRC. And it is a good thing that you got 32GB. That is an on going thing with LRC, it used up but don't give up. It just keep using more.

[@truphotos8476]

@@ArtIsRight Thanks Art. That somewhat puts my mind at ease😅

[@michaelmanus7765]

Started with M1 Mini 512/16 and sadly found the lack of memory resources kept coming up. Usually, I was using opening up Affinity Photo while having email, message, and Safari with some tabs open. I ended up with the M1 Studio Max with 64 gigs of RAM and nearly all issues went away. Seems like a drastic upgrade. I do like the M1 Studio and no regrets as it has done exactly what I needed without hiccups. I do wish Apple would do something about memory management but that would make too much sense.

[@ArtIsRight]

It is really no much of an issue with the OS or engineering as much as one run apps that needs RAM and if one run apps need RAM just configured more. There's no other way to go about that. Unified Memory is not Unicorn magic memory every one, who misunderstood it, fantasize it to be.

[@walkhawaii]

Thank you for doing this video!

[@ArtIsRight]

You are so welcome!

[@justadropable]

Amazing work. Still can't decide wether buy M1 or M2 base model because of this SSD problem. In my country 14" M2 is same price as 16" M1. It causes anxiety as some reviewers said M1 can be faster in multitasking and video edit, which is what I do, and suggest get 32GB RAM or 1TB. I guess I'd just have to stretch for a 1TB.

[@ArtIsRight]

SSD is not realty the problem. Most of the reviewers over hyped the fundamentals to get more view and create a controversial issues. You'll only see slightly slower speed under extreme RAM usage as I have shown in this video. For normal use and multi tasking you are not going to see any issues. And even if you do for your work load, you'll probably won't notice it, unless you have many of the machine variety in your studio to test them all out. So get what fits you best, don't worry about SSD, it is not an issue.

[@yugimanne7161]

Hi, would you know the difference in battery life between the M2 max and M2 pro, I was thinking off getting the max. I intend to use it for mainly light use but would like to get the highest performance macbook, but if the battery life difference is significant I might just get the M2 pro (I would be getting the 16 inch), what do you recommend?

[@ArtIsRight]

watch this, it will give you a good indicator kzbin.info/www/bejne/gamui316oZp2qdU what is not used is not using power, so if that helps. You also have low power mode. Personal I would get what you need and let the battery life fall where it may, they are all so good already anyways.

[@CSEducator]

Is the Mac mini M2 Pro 16Gb, 512 stroage could that last me for a while I currently have a 2017 i7, 4.2ghz, 24GB momery, I mainly use my current iMac to process large image files and perform other operations. It is starting to get a little slow; I have had my iMac for 6 years. . Edit; what about a refurbish Mac Studio M1 MAX base model?

[@ArtIsRight]

If you are looking at that spec M2 Pro, I might consider Mac Studio M1 Max base as you said. Really great computer still, at one point it was on sale at Costco for $1700, with the way how things are going, that machine is going to drop or come down in price soon, as stores are clearing out their excess inventory for the next gen machines. But referb is a great way to go

[@brianpratt2432]

Don't let all the people posting all the bad crap bother you haters will hate it will always be that way.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@randomcomentator]

I have not seen any hate in Art's comments yet, just love everywhere! 💜

[@ArtIsRight]

Not this video, but some of the ones that I linked to did get plenty of hate in the past

[@randomcomentator]

@@ArtIsRight No need to care about the haters, Art! The more popular the video the more haters will come, it's just the nature of the world. They are hurting that's why they want to hurt others. There is nothing civil about them, they are lost and they should be left alone until they heal somehow. Best wishes, Art!

[@Techtalkuniversal]

great work

[@ArtIsRight]

Thanks!

[@iammetaldave]

Thanks

[@iammetaldave]

This video was fantastic Art! Thank you! 32GB and 1TB it is! :)

[@ArtIsRight]

Welcome