Mac Studio M2 MAX / M2 ULTRA Pro Photo Ultimate Test

[@wlsntech]

You have no idea how much I’ve been waiting for your review specifically. Hoping to get one in the next week and I can’t begin to tell you how much insight I’ve been able to get from your videos, really appreciate it.

[@ArtIsRight]

thank you! Much appreciated!

[@kuau714]

Thanks Art you just saved me a bunch of money being a LRC user and currently owning the MS M1 Ultra w/h 64GB of ram and 2TB ssd I don’t see any compelling reason to upgrade to the new MS M2 Ultra. You still have the best YT channel for actual working pro photographers and only give real world results, if I see one more YT channel that only runs synthetic benchmarks I.e. geekbench, etc they are wasting everybody’s time. Lastly I applaud you for always discussing where the “real” bottleneck is, not the hardware but un-optimized applications we run.

[@ArtIsRight]

agreed! much appreciated!

[@melmagallon6233]

Thanks! Was debating between an M2 Max and M2 Ultra. Saved me quite a bit of money, so I figured I’d give some back. Keep up the good work!

[@ArtIsRight]

awesome and thank you!

[@azwb]

Ever other youtuber talks only about the M2 Ultra. Thank you for doing a video about M2 Max. Great comparisons. Best video yet

[@ArtIsRight]

I appreciate that!

[@aw7425]

Very helpful as an astrophotographer just starting out with post processing, thank you

[@ArtIsRight]

Very welcome!

[@tomheim9516]

Excellent video. Extremely helpful in making the right purchasing decision!

[@ArtIsRight]

Nice!

[@David-xt5ob]

Just wanted to say how awesome this is and hopefully this buys you a nice coffee as a thanks

[@ArtIsRight]

Thanks so much!

[@mrt.7146]

Finally - some Mac Studio M2 tests .... thank you 🤩🤩🤩

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@rafograph4714]

I was waiting for this. Thanks, Art!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@n.r.c.w]

Your videos are truly amazing. So much real world info and tests with apps people actually use. I like the comparisons between M1/M2 and the Pro, Max, Ultra. I mostly use Lr CC and some Ps on a base M1 Air, but feel it’s pushing its limits (for my basic work tasks it’s still super fast). The RAM vs SSD if you can only spend your dollars once is a great insight. Again, real world advice. I’m just a hobbyist at this point so I need to be careful about what’s getting allocated to my hobby😄

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@GMS444]

WOW...Excellent job

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you so much 😀

[@brentandeck]

This is amazing and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for all your tests and hard work! Real world situation and applying your workflow is so much more helpful than just general benchmarks apple puts out!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@jhapeman]

@ArtIsRight, this is great as usual. You need to add some testing on the new AI-based tasks in Photoshop and Lightroom; those are showing some different numbers and big gains with increasing GPU core counts. I compared my M2 Ultra 76GPU/128GB against my M1 Ultra 64GPU/128GB and for the new Denoise function in LRC the M2 averaged 28% faster.

[@ArtIsRight]

It uses GPU but not NPU, I checked this. The current version uses model that runs on the GPU. More core = faster but the times are just measured in second / files anyways, the variation is small. But I'm looking into this.

[@madskrabbefotografi]

The review I've been waiting for!!!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@MrPourcelturk]

Another great review. Loves from Turkey

[@ArtIsRight]

Much appreciated!

[@Nugromant]

I've found myself coming to your channel for in depth and real pro reviews! great work man

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@jessemoffett6035]

just what I've been looking for! thanks man!

[@ArtIsRight]

Awesome!

[@anoopthomas5830]

Your videos are sooo good! Excellent depth and details for all types of users!! Keep making these videos.

[@ArtIsRight]

More to come!

[@mrmosk2011]

This is a very good review, packed with useful information.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank You!

[@ben_silver]

Excellent. Much appreciate the in depth video.

[@ArtIsRight]

Very welcome!

[@deesee6009]

Commendable amount of effort and detail - thank you!

[@ArtIsRight]

thanks!

[@RenaDeane]

Wow! I’m blown away. I was about to really consider forking out for the M2 Ultra. But based on what you’ve shown me I’m gonna save some $$. I used Ps, Pr, Ae, Lr, Ai and Davinci Resolve. As well as Webflow and your tip to look at my Activity Monitor and iStat makes so much sense. Thank you so much!!! Have subscribed to support your channel 😊

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@renevanderbruggen731]

Thanks a lot for this thorough review- very well done and very valuable

[@ArtIsRight]

😀

[@renevanderbruggen731]

Your review helped to consider an M1 Ultra refurbished for my music production studio

[@ArtIsRight]

Awesome!

[@ShehZad]

Your videos are the correct review thing unlike anyone else..! ❤ I badly wait for your videos everytime and watch them multiple times 😊

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you so much!

[@ShehZad]

@@ArtIsRight your most welcome

[@guyjordan8201]

Thanks Art! The bar gets moved, my appetite increases, but my needs are the same… I’m fine. Ha ha. Nice presentation as always .

[@ArtIsRight]

Much appreciated!

[@grabedigger]

Just bought me a Studio M2 Max 12x38 64GB 1TB before I watched this, I feel relieved :D

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼

[@siewkimng1085]

Great video! Love these real world benchmarks.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@sloanNYC]

Very thorough. Thanks for the data!

[@ArtIsRight]

My pleasure!

[@AdautoAraujo]

27:12 this part alone would worth the like. The whole video deserves the subscription. Best video of it's kind.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@mb-moose]

Once avain, great help. Loads of info, cheers

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad it helped

[@mb-moose]

@ArtIsRight hi, is it possible to run lightroom and photoshop from external storage effectively? In the UK, there is a great deal on the 1tb M2U but not on the 2tb version, so the price delta becomes £700 for the 2tb model. Cheers

[@we.visuals]

Very informative. Thank you for including video editors who heavily use PP/AE/DaVinci. Just switched from FCP, so looking at upgrade paths. I use a lot more motion graphics now.

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@chinmaymorgaonkar6516]

Brilliant video. Helps a lot. Great insight.

[@ArtIsRight]

Glad to hear it!

[@gravitymediapro]

New sub! Amazingly helpful video, thank you.

[@ArtIsRight]

Welcome!

[@CG-yf4qi]

this is what i needed. thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

No problem!

[@innnews6299]

I cannot wait for the 4K comparisons. Can you also do upscaled render tests to see which is better and faster? Thank you.

[@ArtIsRight]

It will be faster on the ultra. the relative speed between each of these SoC won't change much

[@orlandonoa]

Thank You so much for this very informative breakdown !

[@ArtIsRight]

You are so welcome!

[@robertcrain9849]

Thank you! Looking forward to the 128 ram ultra tests too! Thanks for making these!!

[@ArtIsRight]

You bet!

[@ronkunk144]

Very good stats and you helped me make a decision.! Thanks

[@ArtIsRight]

You're welcome

[@burn1nator]

I got a Mac Mini M2 Pro and it works perfectly fine with 100mb files. the only issue is that i got it, is that i only got it with 16GB of memory and photoshop crashes since it can take all 14 to 15GB of memory with photoshop only. definitely get 32gb of memory no matter what mac you pick.

[@ArtIsRight]

Agreed!

[@joshi-toshi]

thinking of picking up the mini m2 pro with maxed out memory because i'll be working with video files mostly so your recommendation to go with maxed out memory is great!

[@erdomust]

Many thanks Art. Another fantastic video. Really appreciate it. What about Coil Whine or Fan humming of new M2 Studios?

[@ArtIsRight]

I have not noticed any this round

[@RogerZoul]

So, my M1U, less than a year with me, is now “the best value option” on the high end. :). I guess I can live with that since I’m not yet doing much FCP video yet. I’d like to keep this machine another one or two years before upgrading. Glad I got the 64GB and 2 TB storage options on top! Art is right!! Thanks.

[@ArtIsRight]

If you have the M1U I would still keep it, no need to upgrade really. Unless you need more RAM ;)

[@1Aquadon]

Thanks Art!

[@ArtIsRight]

You're Welcome!

[@boristahmasian9604]

Thank you Art. I was waiting for this comparison. I have the MS MAX 10/24 64GB/1TB. In your comparison the MS MAX has 32GB RAM. I am wondering how the results would have looked had you had a machine with 64GB RAM. In any case I think your MS M1 Ultra recommendation is excellent. I have a 64GB machine but would go to a 128GB or even 196GB for my next upgrade. My major use and application is almost all PS. I process a lot of Sony 60MP files with layers, etc. I also do a fair amount of panoramics that end up in the 4-6GB files sizes when they are done. I am happy with what I have but would like to cut down processing times drastically. To me a 20-30% improvement is not significant enough. The gain has to be 2X or more to justify the significant hit in the added cost of a new machine. Love your channel my friend. Your tests should be the benchmark as they are real world.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you as always. And I'll tell you, Ultra regardless of M1 or M2 is super sweet. I might look at M1 Ultra with 128GB refurb from Apple and see how much that cost, You might be able to get a great deal on it and sells your off which you will loose some but it won't be much like the intel Mac Pro price dropped, more than 50% value dropped over night once the original Mac Studio released.

[@boristahmasian9604]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you Art. I think I paid about $2,600 for my Studio Max 64GB/1TB. I should be able to get about $1,500 back. Another $2,500 on top gets me the M1 Ultra with 128GB/1TB. I'll wait until the end of the year to see how my finances shape up. The computer race never seems to end!!

[@ArtIsRight]

By that time, I would just wait for the M3

[@boristahmasian9604]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you Art. You mentioning M3 is the second time I heard about it. I thought it was a joke but I guess it is true. So there is an M3 coming soon. As I said earlier, this race is never going to end!!

[@marijkemcconkie2174]

​@@boristahmasian9604 M3 is coming early 2023, likely March. Definitely wait until after the release.

[@KitchenPlatform]

I work on after effects a lot and a bit of photoshop. Which one would be better for me, m2 max or m1 ultra or wait a bit and go for m2 ultra when m3 max or m4 max drops in.

[@ArtIsRight]

Ultra all the way. Either Ultra will do

[@jindrichnejedlyphotography]

Great video again, thank you!. I can't wait for upgrade to M2U 64GB, hopefully any day now. I was thinking about upgrading to 128 GB but since my intel system almost never use more than 32 GB, I've ordered base 64 GB.

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼

[@paulmoore721]

So very helpful! The names for all the different configurations are most confusing

[@ArtIsRight]

Thanks and not as much as you think, and there's no other way to do this without a reference chart / on every slide.

[@paulmoore721]

Your charts are very clear. I was referring to Apple’s naming of the different processors, etc. Thanks again!

[@enriquearredondo2615]

Increíble !!, me ayudo mucho a tomar la decisión sobre que comprar para hacer un crecimiento. Gracias !!

[@ArtIsRight]

You're welcome

[@andrejkrieger4617]

Thanks so much for this detailed comparison! If I’m on a budget and have to buy a M2 Max. What upgrade would you recommend for huge Lightroom libraries with over 100k images? And for working with 130mb raw files? Does ssd speed more matter than ram? Especially when multitasking

[@ArtIsRight]

These are generally the top machines so you can get more SSD but speed won't matter much at this top end. Also get as much RAM as you can

[@TheSajoshi56]

As usual, fantastic video information. I have a 2019 Mac Pro with 96 GB, 3.5 GHz, and 1 TB; after looking at your all-video Mac studio with M2 ultra and planning for a 2TB hard drive. But I need to make up my mind regarding 60 core to 76 core. Any suggestion?

[@ArtIsRight]

76 Cores GPU will cost you an extra $1K with very little to show in photography and video apps. I've tested the variation with the previous gen and the gained that you get does not justify the $1k price, not even close.

[@TheSajoshi56]

Thx really appreciate your time and help

[@TrondPonce]

Hi, love your videos. This may not be the right place to ask but here it goes. Do you have any thoughts on MS M1Max 64GB vs MS M2Max 32GB. Is more ram more important than the speed of the processor?

[@ArtIsRight]

That is a great question, that comes down to workflow and usage. Speed wise in most photo apps M2 gen is going to be about 10-25% depending on the app faster. But at the price that you can get M1 gen now a days, M1 might be a much better deal. Because looking at percentage is deceiving, 10-25% on 1000 RAW files really is about 3 min max, so the question is how much faster do you really want. Now I have said this and I'll saw it again, M1 Ultra referb at around $3K from Apple is a steal, it is more than double the speed of M1 Max and M2 Max and that price is sweet with 1 TB and 64GB, because when you start to spec out the MS M2 Max, you are literally teetering on the referb Ultra Price Point Already. Now back to speed and 3 min faster conversation, for this I would rather have more RAM to run more apps and work with larger files. If you use LRC, it is no uncommon for the App to take up to 20+ GB of RAM if not more. Hope this helps

[@richod9635]

Very well done!! I just bought M2 Ultra with 128GB. I'm coming from i7 Intel IMac 64GB.

[@ArtIsRight]

Oh you'll see a big jump, not just a leap, you'll love it!

[@richod9635]

@@ArtIsRight I have setup M2 Ultra and did the migration tool (Great program). You are very correct! I mainly use Blender.

[@ArtIsRight]

This gives me an idea, if you don't mind send me a dm. I like to pick your brain about blender!

[@richod9635]

@@ArtIsRight How do I DM you?

[@MolnarArnold-rv8mo]

great video, i was looking forward to it. the base m2 max also got the "slow" ssd

[@ArtIsRight]

Yes pointed this out but in all of these tasks only ones show an issue and that is an extreme case.

[@helenc8458]

Thanks for the great review. Is there any benefit upgrading from M2Max 12/30 to 12/38? I primarily use lightroom classic and photoshop.

[@ArtIsRight]

not really, if you can save the money, just go with base

[@chicagobob]

Really great channel and reviews-- it will be rewarding to watch your channel grow. I currently use the M1 Ultra 64G and 8TB -- was thinking of upgrading but Apple was only offering $1500 trade-in for a $6000 system a year old....Clearly with that price and this video it isn't worth upgrading.

[@ArtIsRight]

don't trade in - sell it on the used market, it will retain much better value.

[@chicagobob]

@@ArtIsRight Is there another used market besides eBay that your would recommend?

[@ArtIsRight]

Facebook market place is good too, when you meet publicly in person there are less risks. Works well for me

[@maartendeboeck2432]

Hi Art, Great content as always. Thanks for your efforts. I am a Lightroom user and the info about preview-, export- and HDR times is really valuable, but, for me as least, even more important would be any information whether or not there would be any difference in the actual editing experience in Lightroom between Mac studio M2 max and Max Studio M2 ultra. . Or put differently: is there, while editing photos and more specifically in the applying/painting of masks (for instance in subtracting from a mask with the 'minus' brush in the masks panel) , any difference between these two models?

[@ArtIsRight]

Performance wise between Max and Ultra is small given the same amount of RAM and more is better. Speaking from experience 64 GB vs 128 GB, 128 performances way better in LRC compared to 64GB. You are looking at brushes and mask, that is not so much a function of SoC but rather RAM, having more will help, regardless of SoC

[@maartendeboeck2432]

@@ArtIsRight thanks

[@jakesouthard9175]

I bought an M1 Max MacBook when it came out with 1tb and 64gb of ram. We frequently have to close out programs in the adobe suite because the ram will fill up. Aside from that, the video playback with 8k timelines is bad. Looking into an m2 ultra , but really considering just holding out and dealing with it until the m3 max comes out.

[@ArtIsRight]

Ultra and Max are not in the same class. Personally I own 2 Ultras now, there's no point going for MAX for serious workflow.

[@squatch545]

Will you be doing a video on the Mac Studio M2 Ultra from a video editing perspective?

[@ArtIsRight]

This is going to be about as far as I go on video. What specific test or info are you looking for?

[@squatch545]

@@ArtIsRight Rendering and export times in DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premier.

[@ArtIsRight]

Both of those Apps dips into the encoder / decoder engine, time are going to be very similar to FCP.

[@mikemcdonald5147]

I bought the m2 ultra with 64 gig of ram and 1tb ssd love my studio. I upgraded from an intel i7 iMac with 32 gig of ram to the studio.

[@ArtIsRight]

Sweet!

[@ckat9161]

Thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

Welcome!

[@n1993313]

By far the most informative for fello photograhers of choosing the apple silicon mac, BTW if I only use PS Camera RAW and PS itself but I do lots of photo merging with high resolution files, and often create bunches of mask layering, are these workflow only use the RAM and the single core CPU performance? Heard lots of people said PS only use single core performance most of the time.

[@ArtIsRight]

It is mostly single core, So I would say the MAX SoC will do just fine just get lots and lots of RAM and a decent size SSD and you should be good to go!

[@n1993313]

@@ArtIsRight yeah that's what I'm thinking about, I will probably go for M2M 12/30, 64G, 1TB, doesn't need to add extra $200 upgrading the GPU to 38 core right?

[@ArtIsRight]

no point, go with base SoC

[@JayzBeerz]

Can you test the iPad Air M1 if you have it?

[@ArtIsRight]

I have it but the modal are mostly different, it does not make a lot of sense to test it. Also the performance is going to be at or around an M1 MacBook Air

[@JayzBeerz]

@@ArtIsRightOk thank you very much for your reply.

[@serhiibrazhnyk6976]

How do you think, refurb base M1Max or new base M2Max (difference in price is approx. 500 usd)? Mainly will be used for Ps and Lr.

[@ArtIsRight]

That saving is still good and I would consider it. It is still a great performing machine.

[@fredericmignot5578]

Hello Art. Much thanks for your videos and the great work that it represents. I have a question in order to measure / estimate the performance gain that would represent the transition from a 2019 27" iMac with a 3,6 GHz core i9 CPU and a Radeon Vega 48 GPU (40 GB RAM + 8 GB VRAM) to a MacStudio M2U or M2M : which Mac Silicon can we compare this core i9 iMac to, in terms of performance ? A M1 Max? M1 Pro? Other? Thank you!

[@ArtIsRight]

Any of them really! Even just the plan M1 it will rival that machine in so many aspects. Anything is more is just faster. But I would tell you to choose Pro, Max or Ultra for the best performance.

[@alf.quijano7582]

This is a very helpful video and really appreciated. Your analysis is very thorough. I’m planning to get the base Mac Studio M2 Max and based on my budget not sure if I should upgrade to 1TB storage or stay with the 512GB and upgrade to 64GB memory. Any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

[@ArtIsRight]

Do you keep your machine long term, if so up to 1TB, if not 512GB can do. but know that apps will take up space on your system and SSD is also use for scratch disk in PS and memory swap as well. So 1TB might be the better option overall. Best thing to do is look at your storage need now and your usage.

[@alf.quijano7582]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you for your reply. I do plan to keep the computer long term and based on your information from the video I did end up going with the base Mac Studio and upgrading to 64gb memory and 1TB of storage. And I’m running from an Intel 13” MacBook Pro lol.

[@afiqhamster]

hi! thank you so much on the specs comparison! i was wondering if you tried comparing the ai denoise on LRC with said specs? if not, what would you suggest working with when having to ai denoise a large amount of photos at a time? for context purpose, im currently working on a m2 macbook air. Denoise for 800 photos at one time takes me 1 and a half day uninterupted and without multi tasking.

[@ArtIsRight]

Air just suck for any heavy task. Any of these will run faster, I would look at my newer videos to get an idea for this

[@HollandMariahGrossman]

Amazing and in-depth. quick query, I am primarily a Capture One / Photoshop user, but we occasionally do video with iMovie. We want a solid machine which will last a while (for us that is 4-5 years). We are leaning towards MS M2 Ultra, 128 Ram, 2 TB, but we do not know if it is worth the VERY large upgrade price from 60 core to 72 core. What are your thoughts? Many many thanks! (Holland and dad, Barry)

[@ArtIsRight]

For C1 and PS, don't go for ultra especially if you use iMovie, it is not necessary. Also if you don't need thatch RAM 128GB is over kill. I'll have a video on this coming out tomorrow. The improvements for most part is null. And I would not go from 60 to 76 GPU cores for $1K, no creative apps can utilized that. It would not be a wise configuration because you would just be spending the money with no gained, not little gained, but no gained in the apps that you are using. Based now what you are telling me M2 Max Base SoC, 2 TB and upgrade the RAM to either 64 GB or 96 will do just fine, although very few really need 96GB RAM

[@ArtIsRight]

Oh one more thing, Look at the M1 Ultra Refurbished from Apple. Amazing performance at a great price point. There are deals to be had right now.

[@HollandMariahGrossman]

@@ArtIsRight We are Phase One users and the IQ4 150 files are roughly 450 meg raw files. Our shoots are usually only 100 - 150 captures and we transfer from an external SSD to our (new M2) office computer. We usually will process 10-12 files into PS and then create a layered PS document for our editing. We then save out the layered file which may end up being about 1-2 gigs. (of course, we need both apps running simultaneously). I assumed I'd need the 128 ram to deal with these massive files??

[@morgonaut]

Hi Art, in this video you promised the Adobe benchmark link in video description but it's not there. Can you add it?

[@ArtIsRight]

ah thanks for the reminder Here it is community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-beta-discussions/multi-frame-rendering-is-here-aka-the-multithreading-you-ve-been-asking-for/m-p/11885358#M533

[@jcxstar13]

Numbers are great and all but I want to see the max studio in action. My 2019 max pro and pro Vega 2 card can’t run Lightroom on 2 monitors. As soon as I turn on my second monitor Lightroom becomes super laggy and sliders are no longer smooth and adjustments aren’t applied fluidly. Can you show me a dual screen setup and show me that it’s able to run dual screens with no lag.

[@ArtIsRight]

not going to make a video that show you but will tell you yes it can just fine and tell you to watch videos in this play list kzbin.info/aero/PLjlr8rlxl_q65mOyASWU2naUlPCr78nxi

[@craigjohnchronicles2504]

Would love to see you (just once) export 1000 Nikon D850 (45MP) RAW files to 240PPI JPEGs in Capture One Pro, to compare speed results (apples to apples) with Lightroom... and post the results in a new video comparing Lightroom and Capture One export efficiency. Love your work in these videos. :)

[@ArtIsRight]

The exporting that I am doing already meets this parameter. You can simply compare the LRC and C1 results now. C1 is much slower relative to LRC and does not scale well with SoC

[@moow950]

What are you expectations of the upcoming M3 chip generation? These are based on 3nm and promise to be a big leap forward. I wonder when they will be released.

[@ArtIsRight]

Genuinely, I wonder as well. The thing is that not all M1 to M2 performance improvements are the same. Some are way lower than quoted metric, for instance, M1 to M2, M1 Pro to M2 Pro, M1 Ultra to M2 Ultra, but when it comes to the MAX apple totally deliver. So we'll have to see. if they can get 25% again, my question would be on what SoC?

[@viveksuryavanshi6165]

Hey Art, waiting for your take on new m2 air 15. Please compare 8gb vs 16gb RAM or storage speeds like you did last year. I didnt find 8gb on m2 air 13 to be limiting for my general computing usecases.

[@ArtIsRight]

so far performance between the 13 and 15 is exactly the same so the tests from last round are as valid as ever

[@viveksuryavanshi6165]

@@ArtIsRight Ordered Base 15 M2 Air !!! lets go.

[@ArtIsRight]

Same as the 13 M2 Air no need to do further testing

[@utubekullanicisi]

One thing to keep in mind is that the percentage figures you're showing indicate how much less time the new stuff took to complete a task, not how much faster it was. One is about the rate of speed, the other is about the amount of time. If A took 100s to run 150m and B took 150s to run 150m, A ran 1.5 meters a second whereas B ran 1 meter a second which would make A 50% faster, but it would only take A 33% less time to run the same distance. If it took A 50% less time than it took B, A would be 2x / 100% faster. Not saying you did anything wrong, by the way, just so that people realize other people's test results aren't inflated, nor there is anything wrong with the results of this video.

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼

[@oldtimer666]

I’m currently using an i9 9900k with Rtx 2080super and 32gigs of ram. My main workflow is premiere and after effects. I just want one machine which can last for next 5 years at least and I’m confused between getting a 13900k 4090ti along with 128gb ram or Mac Studio ultra m2 24cores with 128gb

[@ArtIsRight]

"I’m confused between getting a 13900k 4090ti along with 128gb ram or Mac Studio ultra m2 24cores with 128gb" There's a boarder question to answer here do you want a relatively cheaper machine? If so PC may be the way too. Do you care staying in Windows, if so than PC. Switching between Mac and PC is an ecosystem and paradigm shift. Either way my advice would be to choose the Ultra base with 60GPU vs the $1K upgrade to 76GPU. Very few apps can take advance of that and the margin that you gained will not be worth the $1K extra. Also if you care about power consumption then go for the Mac. But if you want to stick with what you are used to then go PC. There's really no straight forward, black and white, answer to this question, it is a gray area based on one preference and workflow. Also you mentioned 5 years, that is a rather longterm approach to getting and using something that you are not used to (but can learn and get accustom to).

[@oldtimer666]

@@ArtIsRight i own a 2019 macbook also im used to thr mac but i just want to know whether the performance ratio on the windows would be the same in after effects? If yes then id make a pc build

[@weaverrealestatephotograph7716]

I just purchased a M1 Ultra. I use LR and PS a lot. I got it for right at $2300 out the door price. I couldn’t turn that down. It’s still eligible for AppleCare. I was debating buying a new M2 Max. I am currently coming from a 2019 16” i7 MBP with 16 GB of ram. 😂

[@ArtIsRight]

Ultra will beat max and day, I would keep the Ultra. Don't bother with the max

[@weaverrealestatephotograph7716]

I’m definitely not switching to the Max. It’s been smooth so far. Being able to immediately begin working is quite a difference than what I am used to. I use LR and PS more heavily. The price to performance I got is excellent.

[@Peter-df1br]

When Apple was going to kill the iMac 27 5K, I picked up their last one for 2020 with Intel. I was worried that any replacement would not provide an ability to personally upgrade its Ram. Bought it with 8GB and updated it to 64GB from OWC. I like the Studio M2 Max. Performance wise, with Capture One and 'occasional' PS use, would the base 32GB Unified memory give me similar memory performance? I find difficulty comparing an Intel iMac with 64GB vs Unified 32GB.

[@ArtIsRight]

It is still have the memory, in your daily use how much of the 64GB are you physically using and what is the pressure level at?

[@dorys5799]

Art - looking at M2 Max mostly for PS and Affinity - I understand upgrade the Memory - any benefit upping the gpu core in order to increase the memory to 96gb from 64 gb? Thanks!

[@dorys5799]

p.s. running from aa PC :-)

[@ArtIsRight]

No real benefit with GPU upgrade. And going from 64 to 96 GB, you won't see much benefit unless you really need it.

[@dorys5799]

Art - from your reply sounds like I just saved a good bit of money - going with M2 Max 12/30/16 with 64 gb mem and 1TB ssd Very sweet, thanks

[@jaimeduncan6167]

Great video I hope people listen.

[@ArtIsRight]

I hope so too

[@andersvinberg144]

Excellent, thanks. One more thing I would like to see: what is the effect of huge amounts of memory and storage? Apple speaks of very fast internal communication, both to RAM and SSD. How well does LrC utilize this? Speed of internal SSD vs. Thunderbolt? Etc. I’m a big believer in the SoC architecture integrating everything. It would be useful to see the impact. In the absence of such testing, I’ll just max it out as I usually do… I did max out my M1 MacBook Pro, with 8 TB of SSD. After a year and a half it’s filled up with photographs, so I have to move some stuff to external storage, and then I have to help LrC to find it. Have gone through this process many times over the years, a hassle. Laziness is the mother of invention.

[@mvp_kryptonite]

Have you considered a NAS? Synology do good units and of course there are other brands.

[@andersvinberg144]

@@mvp_kryptonite Yes, I have a Synology NAS, but I use it mainly for backup. It is slower than the internal SSD, partly because it is populated by spinning hard drives (I could rebuild it with SSD…), but also with the speed of the internal connections of Apple Silicon. But this is why I would like to see more testing of various combinations of hardware and software. How does LrC use RAM? Because when it runs out of RAM it shuffles data to storage, so with less RAM, fast storage is important. What does the trade-off RSM/storage/dollars look like? The easiest solution is to max out all three, but that’s not smart.

[@mvp_kryptonite]

@@andersvinberg144 backup as a primary use on your NAS won’t benefit with SSDs then imo. If you don’t mind a desktop setup the Ultra offers double the memory bandwidth and it would be interesting to see results of how that affect things. It’s funny as the video mentioned some tasks actually are taking longer than previous. Optimisation should be done really from the vendors

[@andersvinberg144]

@@mvp_kryptonite Yes, of course, SSD in the NAS would be if I want to use it for primary storage, but I’m not fond of that idea now that we have very fast internal storage. Yes, I am thinking of an Ultra Studio. That’s why I would like Art to measure its speed with larger RAM and storage.

[@ArtIsRight]

Large RAM test is coming, but I'll tell you don't expect much. As far as SSD goes if you already have 1 TB more more the variation is marginal at best. Also remember the larger the internal SSD the better back up solution you need, if one NAND failed, your SSD is toast and because it is encrypted and paired with the SoC, data recover is going to be very difficult, if not almost impossible.

[@gabaknegocios]

and FCP review with m2 ultra?

[@ArtIsRight]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGKmZXuGi7Rgna8

[@sinenomine9143]

Thank you for this video, it helps a lot to guide me to the right Mac Studio M2. Send you a mail.

[@ArtIsRight]

You're welcome!

[@boristahmasian9604]

Thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@ShahzadBPhotography]

Hi Art. I'm hearing a lot of folks who are facing very sluggish performance with the MacBook Pro M2 Max chip models on Capture One when trying to use the sliders and during tethering with images taking 8 to 10 seconds per image to load up on screen. Any idea what seems to be the issue here and have you faced any such issues with your systems?

[@ArtIsRight]

I have not tested that much, but that has to do with optimization of the App and code or the lack there of from capture one.

[@stkuj]

Studio M2 Max vs Studio M1 Ultra... is the M2 the way to go?

[@ArtIsRight]

Between those 2 I would choose M1 Ultra

[@bartez8018]

Guys I want to buy mac studio for working moslty in adobe illustrator (using wacom cintiq pro tablet) but I need 2 additional monitors, what do you recommend? I really don't need ultra high end monitors :)

[@ArtIsRight]

For what you need Mac mini M2 Pro will work as well if you don't need the extra ram beyond 32GB

[@benjaminreynolds3659]

I get paid by hour/well salary actually, not by project. So saving a couple minutes means nothing to me. Plus I ran the AE benchmark on my Windows system and got 7min 6secs. Doing it in 3mins 14secs means nothing to me because I just go make a sandwich or something similar while it renders. Regardless, this is top tier content! Great job.

[@ArtIsRight]

not every one is afford your opportunity and thanks

[@marcodimario9918]

Thanks

[@ArtIsRight]

Welcome

[@DonDon-Corleone]

we are seeing raw export MS M2M is about 180 sec slower for 1000 image, means if in average I export 50 pics that is 9 sec difference. not a big deal at all. Thanks for the statistics

[@ArtIsRight]

Yes but that is not how computer OS and software is supposed to work, faster not slower on the same silicon when it is known that it was faster at some point.

[@afonsosantos8364]

Why I am still “stuck” with an intel based 2018 Mac Mini ? Because Capture one tethering does not work reliably on Apple silicon. Bottom line? Functionality first, performance last.

[@ArtIsRight]

There you go, so sad that they can't get their act together. You could benefit from hybrid intel and apple silicon.

[@kgb70040]

Mac Studio M2 MAX($2,199)、Mac mini M2 Pro($1,899) 32GB memory 1TB SSD Only use Ps,LR how would you choose

[@ArtIsRight]

LR can benefit greatly from MAX compared to pro

[@SMor42]

How much ram do you have lightroom set to use across these machines?

[@ArtIsRight]

Lightroom does not have RAM quantity setting unlike PS, nor does LRC

[@SMor42]

@@ArtIsRightsorry, I meant cache

[@ArtIsRight]

ah, you can't set that either, cache is only for video and not stills.

[@ZoranvonderHeide]

Mac Studio M2 Max 12/30 with 64GB 1TB SSD (Z17Z-01100) vs. Mac Studio M1 Ultra 20/48 with 64GB 1TB SSD ? The price difference in Germany is about 700 EUR. 2995 EUR vs 3699 EUR.

[@ArtIsRight]

I would go for the ultra any day and for $700 price delta, Ultra is worth it over any max SoC

[@ZoranvonderHeide]

@@ArtIsRight in Final Cut Pro the export time was similar, but in Adobe After Effects the M1U was significant better. I would like to see if DaVince Resolve could benefit from more GPU cores in M1U in comparison to M2M for video exports.

[@CorentinHarbelot]

Expand RAM first, LRC takes 24go alone while running doing almost nothing. 64 is a must. M2 max / 64 / 1to here

[@ArtIsRight]

if only other knows this, now go tell this to those that said 8GB works well for them :D

[@CorentinHarbelot]

@@ArtIsRight they obviously never used LR for real. I’ve got a MBP 13 with 8GB too and the struggle is real 😅

[@ArtIsRight]

Tell me about it, I love it when people tell me that 8GB is more than enough. I'm like... please

[@CorentinHarbelot]

@@ArtIsRight opening a bunch of raw files and try to work on it 😅then do the same with more ram. Night and day experience.

[@daveh6356]

It's a shame Apple didn't factor in upgradability in the enclosure design. I don't mean components as with a PC but a card/tray with all the silicon parts whilst retaining the enclosure. This would be more palatable to customers and a bit more eco-friendly too.

[@ArtIsRight]

Unify memory architecture makes that more difficult. But I hear you.

[@daveh6356]

@@ArtIsRight I was thinking complete user replacement of the SoC (upgrade & sell-on) by having it in a card/tray format.

[@ArtIsRight]

I do hear you, but I'll also point out the reality as well. Most, if not, all, want this feature. However, when it comes time to replace the part only a small portion of enthusiast will even follow through with these type of upgrade. One would be because of the price comparisons, the justification to upgrade the old machine with the SoC alone cost X in dollar is going to quickly skew people perception to buying a new one. And not to mention it is not just SoC alone but socket changes, faster and new SoC have to run on slower and less optimized socket. Not to mention the components on the logic board, fundamentally they are the same but bus speed may change etc. It is really an engineering resources nightmare. And think of PC manufacture, Socket only last for so long before a new one come up that requirer an entire motherboard upgrade. Frame laptop is taking a different approach on this which is nice, but if you look at the price to upgrade vs buying new, the justification is not really there.

[@daveh6356]

@@ArtIsRight it would take some solid design to get this right but with enclosures lasting 6+ years & SoCs upgrading every 18-months , I'm sure there's more scope than current upgrade cycles may indicate. There's also the possibility of trading 1&2 generation old 'modules' to part-finance the upgrade or even lease the modules. And, this would open the door for specialised modules to upgrade graphics, compute, AI & storage. Pure fantasy I know but Apple Silicon could make it possible & controllable.

[@rangedbroom9698]

M2 Max 32GB Ram with1TB has SSD speed of 7000-7400Mb/s read&write , your comparison done here is on 512GB M2 Max which has 1x Nand chip vs 1TB variant of last years models, when you do a comparison with 1TB variant of M2 Max Studio with M1 Ultra from last year you will notice on par results of M2 Max or almost equal of M1 Ultra. My advice to everyone is to upgrade SSD to 1TB atleast as it have 2 X Nand chips , which makes M2 Max studio perform as same or on par from M1 Ultra from last year, getting an M2 chip is a better choice than getting a M1

[@ArtIsRight]

All depends on the need.

[@ckat9161]

Would your M1 Ultra advice “Price vs Value” still apply today?

[@ArtIsRight]

yes, why not.

[@ckat9161]

Sorry, with your video 10 months old I didn’t know if the Ultra was still valid with the M3 coming out. After I commented I found my answer in the comments. Much appreciated and subscribed!!

[@ArtIsRight]

no worries :)

[@marianilie7321]

Include Denoise test in LR that use 0% cpu and 100% gpu neurals

[@ArtIsRight]

It uses GPU but not NPU, I checked this. The current version uses model that runs on the GPU. More core = faster but not by much.

[@farreach84]

Thank you for the performance comparison. Now...the beef I have with Adobe and Apple is that they really lack in terms of optimization. I can't print with my epson printer without checking the print settings in LRC cause Ventura resets printer settings from time to time, will ignore or crash LRC if I save and use the printer settings as preset, and is refusing to acknowledge printer profiles(when it did it will conflict with preset and cause LRC to crash // This was my reason not moving to Ventura with my M1 Mac mini). I have an 8port usb3.0 A hub with external power that worked without a hitch on my M1/16GB/512GB Mac mini that is now giving me a royal pain, and Oh, the Dell monitor hub as well. This time, I got myself M2/32GB/4TB so I wouldn't need much port anyways? nah, I've got several disks that needs to be plugged into as well as peripherals (i1, Wacom, mouse, keyboard, xqd/cfe reader, wireless mics with internal storage) PS is struggling when it tries to utilize VGA and if I turn off the VGA support then I'm left to guess liquifying faces cause guideline is disabled in liquify. Transform->Warp turns the layer very glitchy and can't work unless I zoom in a bit or zoom in a bit cancel out and transform/warp again. Hope things would improve when we get to Sonoma.

[@ArtIsRight]

I hope so too!

[@jheelan]

It's such a shame that Capture One dind't capitalized on the power of the news architecture..

[@ArtIsRight]

with you

[@slytherben]

So disappointed in the M processors. Switched to PC. My studio is running PC for the first time in 14 years. The intel 13900 and Nvidia 4090 crush Apple in almost every way and cost significantly less. The 27" iMac is what kept us using Apple for so long. Farewell Tim Cook et al

[@njpme]

eeeh it's debatable

[@ArtIsRight]

it all depends

[@t-money561]

Benchmarking with Adobe apps is silly, their code is crap.

[@ArtIsRight]

No really, they are the creative apps that most people use. It is not to show the app as much as the performance now. Missing the entire point here.