M2 Max Mac Studio and Studio Display: 4 Months Later

In this video I give a mid-term update on how I've been using the Mac Studio and Apple Studio Display, what my workflow is, the things that I love and a few things that I would change.
4 months down the road, how are these products performing and would I have done anything differently if I was buying again?
Join in as I walk through video editing, using Final Cut Pro, Lightroom and Pixelmator Pro for my creative workflow.
A surprise benefit of this machine has been gaming, with more titles becoming available on Mac, which is great to see.

[@BIGHAMZA]

I just bought a Mac Studio, 1 TB, 64GB, 38 Core. I'll be picking it up February 1st.

[@BillMcLean]

Nice! That is a really great spec machine, lots of power.

[@jaywoo5949]

Keep up the good work,very interesting content ! I just subscribed and hit the like button. 2 thumbs up Bill

[@BillMcLean]

Thanks, will do!

[@TheDanEdwards]

Well done review.

[@BillMcLean]

Thank you!✌🏼

[@kevinwehrmeister3960]

Thanks!

[@papafuz01]

Thank you for the vid! Im selling my display and Mac Studio and doing everything from iPad Pro from now on. It's more of a minimizing but I can still edit photo and videos on iPad.👍

[@BillMcLean]

Hey Fuz! Plenty of people using iPad only setups these days, especially with Davinci and Final Cut as now good options for editing. They have become extremely capable devices in recent years, even my iPad Air does a decent job still today. As always, thanks for watching!

[@skillz-29-gamer51]

Good video!

[@BillMcLean]

Thank you!

[@SamFigueroa]

Thanks for the update Bill. I'm still in my research phase of which Mac Studio I really need and want. This gave me some good points to go on. I know you said you mainly use Pixelmator, but if you ever do have Lightroom and Photoshop open while editing in FCPX does it choke on RAM? I currently have a M1 Max MBP and occasionally the 32 GB of RAM runs out and the system gives me a dialog. Wondering if the M2 Max is perhaps better with memory management.

[@BillMcLean]

I do occasionally do roundtrips from Lightroom to Photoshop, with those open and Final Cut Pro I was at about 28GB of memory used. Photoshop and Lightroom open together in that round trip fashion definitely hog memory, but I think you can tweak how much memory you give available to Photoshop(I know you can do this in Premiere). If that is something you do all the time then you probably would benefit from the upgrade to 64GB. If I had more experience in Photoshop I'd probably use it over Pixelmator all the time, but it's a bit more challenging to learn. Thanks for watching, hope this helps!

[@PK-blue]

For your wired headphones, why not just get a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adapter then you can just plug into front Studio USB port

[@BillMcLean]

That’s the criticism though. I’d like my two thousand dollar computer to have the I/O that is frequently used on the front. It’s a nit, but that’s where I’d rather have it.

[@mosswilson]

would you be able to comment on the speakers and webcam of the studio vs the iMac 24? I am struggling to get a good comparison!

[@BillMcLean]

My wife has an M1 iMac and the speakers there are pretty close to the studio display in terms of quality. Don’t quote me on it but fairly certain the new 24” iMac with the M3 has the same webcam and speakers as the studio display. The webcam is just ok, I don’t use it often but it’s fine.

[@PK-blue]

@@BillMcLean no, the webcam in the iMac is the same 1080p one as per MacBook Pro laptops, and is meant to be pretty good. The Studio Display one is unique, and by most accounts, not very good. Speakers are similar (6 speaker system) but the Studio Display ones have slightly more bass apparently

[@jaymeez]

I’m considering getting the M2 Max Studio for $2,200 or the M3 Pro 14” MacBook Pro for $2,400. I currently have a 2015 intel MacBook Pro and I almost never take it with me. It stays plugged into my monitor on my desk with HDMI. So my question is which to choose. M2 Max seems like it will be a better bargain on a price for performance scale. What do you think?

[@BillMcLean]

I chose the desktop for that exact reason. I left my laptop “docked” almost all the time. I’m happy I didn’t get rid of the M1 MacBook Air though, because it can hold its own on smaller projects when I do have a need for a travel laptop. I’d guess Apple is planning to update the studio to the M3 Max at some point as well.

[@jaymeez]

@@BillMcLean That’s why I may wait a few months. I’d much rather get the M3 Max. I tend to keep my machines a rather long time so I want the newest I can possibly get to future proof it

[@kevinwehrmeister3960]

Does the Studio Display ever need to be calibrated with a device?

[@BillMcLean]

I have not found it necessary. I also am not doing this professionally, nor do I own calibration equipment though, so take that for what it's worth. I watch things back in multiple places(iPhone and LG OLED TV) and the colors seem accurate to me. Much better out of the box than any of the Dell or LG panels that I've had over the years. I haven't had any problems with Apple displays, color accuracy is something they do really well.

[@PSBrathwaite]

Is the camera so bad that it would actually look bad on zoom for business purposes and thus not worth buying, if you anticipate weekly zoom calls several times a week as part of your business/sales?

[@BillMcLean]

I think it depends on personal preference. Using the built in webcam will look fine(on par with anyone else you've seen on Zoom), you won't have any issues. I would suggest making sure the lighting in the room is setup properly, that will have a bigger impact than the camera for sure. Now, if you want to stand out on these calls, using the iPhone camera as your webcam or getting a dedicated camera setup to run through USB would be the best route if you want to look extra crispy.

[@PSBrathwaite]

@@BillMcLean awesome answer and I’m convinced to just buy lol

[@PSBrathwaite]

@@BillMcLean yeah if I’m on par as everyone else in zoom then it’s fine, one shouldn’t use a webcam if they’re going to do other stuff such as content creation anyway - but if it’s good enough for zoom meetings then it’s ok

[@EduardoTalaveraMoncada]

Very interesting info, although you shoul be usiing graphics, slides, pictures to reafirm your posts.

[@johnshepherd2666]

I admire everything you do (except the gaming).....gamers ...go out & get a life ....try spending the same spent gaming working for a charity more satisfying 😂 ( screen to low ? .....put an old dictionary under the stand )😅