Mac Studio Review - The Need for SPEED

My review of the Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display. Comparing M1 Ultra to M1 Max, a Ryzen 5950X and the Intel 12900K in gaming, video editing, xcode development and blender.
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[@Dave2D]

SMOL BUT THICC

[@flamingkillermc2806]

Thicc but smol

[@SuhruthV]

Dave being one of the first to post a vid abt the mac studio. W KZbinR

[@daimhafizy]

Hi Dave, what Sennheiser device you plugged in at 2:06?

[@DNKI]

THICCCCCC

[@RobberClobber]

4 grand and HDMI 2.0 eh?

[@Hilo-]

Absolutely love Dave’s style of presenting with his vids. It just feels like he’s just having a conversation with you about tech!

[@dkchen]

Yes you're right.

[@lohithreddy6629]

@@fakepolana1674 ratio

[@user-zc2hz3yj2k]

@@fakepolana1674 bro there's no reason to bring up your sexuality here..

[@hello.4rpan]

@@user-zc2hz3yj2k ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh burnt straight through 🙌😂

[@rawadosa90210]

@@fakepolana1674 your dad

[@sachafievet3131]

I love it that Dave tells you when you shouldn't buy a product when you don't need it

[@blackcat-mp7kh]

that's almost case with every new gadgets

[@tonyburzio4107]

What you should do it expand your business until you can use all the power.

[@makasete30]

I don’t need it. I just want it…Like Dave said.

[@kas4751]

Do u need Dave to tell you that and remind you every time?

[@zongyu100]

the only reason he was able to say that is because Apple allowed him to say that

[@tbray]

i purchased a base M1 Mac Mini a week before this was announced. I have no regrets. This is fun, and the level of power is very impressive, but I don't need it. Just nice to see someone who isn't completely fawning over it and sees it for what it is - a great, powerful option for some people, but not everyone.

[@bradhaines3142]

agreed, but i wouldn't mind that cooler on the M1, i bet it'd basically run passive lol

[@velvetsno]

I love the style and presentation of your videos. And the impartiality you keep. Ape has built something special here.

[@nasimhaider9124]

I was waiting for this. Thank you for the work that you do - it has helped me make tech purchase decision for a long time.

[@onehungrygeek]

Nowadays, I just watch your videos for a chill, laid-back, and meditative time. Very relaxing.

[@Generictubber]

Dave, I must commend you for your unbiased reviews. Most youtubers flex the GPU power of the M1's to levels claiming it surpasses all existing GPUs, but your Blender result showed a lot of practical comparison for someone I know who uses Blender and was deciding between an M1 mac (not even M1 Ultra) and a 3080 GC windows one, it's clear from your video what would perform better, I really really love this comparison and really wish more youtubers did comparisons for real world proper non-apple applications.

[@thelastdadonearth]

Honestly the most impressive thing I find about this is the packaging. I wish more products opened up like a flower like the Mac Studio and display instead of having to tug on a device that tightly heled together by foam that you pretty much will have to crack parts off of it to get the item out of the box.

[@maxhoppe8313]

Great review as always. Did you test out the camera on the monitor at all? I’ve read mixed to disappointing reviews on the camera and was hoping to hear your take in this video

[@damolin77]

Dave Is the man when it comes to reviews and what positives and negatives are in product that my maybe thinking of buying.

[@NomusaMagical]

❤️👏🏾 Honest, straightforward, zero fluff to extend vid time and as always, answers our questions before we ask.

[@SteveSegura]

Loved the review. Well explained some of my questions. The display is way over prices but my next mac might be this. Thanks.

[@TechOutAdam]

I love that you reviewed this for what it is. Many in the tech community are talking Benchscores and truly aren't giving this machine credit.

[@OriginaldoBo]

I like that you just tell it like it is! Only review I need to watch.

[@daibando9893]

This is the only review I've been waiting for on this system and I'm not disappointed.

[@DinovanderMerwe]

You’re such an underrated tech KZbinr Dave. I really enjoy your reviews. Nothing flashy, nothing over the top, no attitude or ego, just a nice to watch, honest and credible review. Also love the studio you have. Super minimalist the way I like it. Looks like a spaceship.

[@jamespotts8372]

Great review, as always, Dave. I’m currently using a MBP 16 Max. I’d love the smaller footprint of the Studio on my desk, but if I’m choosing a single machine… the laptop still wins. Having the flexibility to work from a location other than my desk is value I won’t trade. That said, I do find myself fantasizing about the Studio despite it not making logical sense.

[@biosgl]

Same here with mbp 16 m1 max, and loving it. You forgot to mention we have liquid retina hdr displays with 120hz refresh rate. They will have more powerful processor next year on 3nm, and will be in the macbook pro, which might end up faster than top of the line mac studio.

[@jamespotts8372]

@@biosgl The display is a beauty! I’m typically at my desk, so mostly looking at external panels. Even so, I find reasons to work in different parts of the house just to experience the great keyboard and 120hz refresh. 😆

[@mingli9563]

@@biosgl Then the next mac studio will crush the mbp again.

[@lntg]

Yeah bro! I finally got my 16 inch a couple of weeks ago. Before that I was working (video editing business) off of a desktop PC. And when I would go and stay up north with my parents for a week I'd have to unplug my cables, monitor and PC and lug it all to my car, plus set it up when I got home again. Hours of effort when now I can literally just pop it in my bag in 2 seconds. Worked in a cafe with it for the first time as well, was so fun, and my battery only drained 30% in 4 hours while editing Multicam in FCP.

[@otherlego]

My dad uses a 2019 iMac Pro currently for work, (with the intel) so if he does this with a nice monitor he would be amazed.

[@GimmeMonie]

Love the honesty in your reviews.

[@TheItssM]

favourite tech tuber , so straightforward and precise !

[@tastyfanpop]

I can't even imagine what a full fledged Mac pro tower with no power limitations will be like. Remember, these new mac products are mostly mobile and pulling less than 250 watts. The old mac pros fully specd used to pull 1000+ watts power. Now imagine the performance from an silicon with 500+ watts. Insane

[@arvinsim]

But does it scale inearly?

[@mehuljain5916]

Bro, cpu power to perform scaling is not linear, it can use 2x the power for 10-20% improved performance thus expecting night and day difference in performance is not ideal.

[@dukey1380]

The problem is it won't scale like that, the more power you pump the less real world performance you get and Apple got the sweetspot for their product

[@danie7kovacs]

@@mehuljain5916 Well, in M1 Ultra's case it is almost linear both in power consumption and in performance.

[@davidchang3088]

@@mehuljain5916 You're right, but I don't think there's been any cpus that have the kind of efficiency these chips have and running at the low wattage it is running at. Thus, they have a lot more head room in terms of drawing more power if they choose to go in that direction. I'm not tooooo well-versed in x86 cpus so I may be wrong about this, but I don't think there are cpus doubling their power draw either from one generation to another or through turbo boost.

[@ThatGuyyyyy]

I would love to see a video about the M1 Max version of the Mac studio with 32 core GPU and check if performance is better than MacBook Pro with better cooling due to bigger size of the Mac Studio and being plugged in all the time. Ultra is obviously performance king, but way overkill for most.

[@andileleelife]

This is the video you're looking for bro: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4Lbk3eMhMl1hMU

[@tora201jp]

Love your thoroughness bro! One of the best tech reviewers I reckon!

[@MarbsMusic]

I just picked up the base Studio and it's probably more powerful than what I needed for my basic Final Cut and Logic Pro use but I think I'm good to go for the next few years. I can't imagine how fast that Ultra would be!!!

[@mikkelkristiansen3694]

Okay. Dave2D you got me with the ultimate badge: the black Apple stickers! Love the chassis size and form factor. I’ll get the Max version w/ 1TB SSD. Think that’s the sweet spot.

[@TheStrangerJr]

@Dave2D, Intel did *try* to make something that powerful in that small of a chassis, the whole Intel NUC line of products. I don't think they'll be able to compete with a company that can control the experience vertically like Apple can.

[@AD7Films]

Love your reviews as always.

[@ondenny420]

Love Dave’s reviews!!

[@SamTRajkumar]

Always waiting to see your reviews Dave ❤️ you're awesome

[@jackzhangxiao]

6 months later, Cook will remove the A13 chip from the Studio Display and slot in a M1 Max and call it iMac 27 inch. That's why this display is so thick.

[@Applecompuser]

I would like to have the 5K imac. I am ok with a little thicker. The current line is too easy to chip, fracture the glass tho I think it looks nice.

[@Ledzep17]

Thanks for the information. U do a great job. Keep them coming!

[@rameezrafeeq9334]

Your reviews are just so to the point 👍

[@jonny2085]

The power cable being unremovable on the Studio Display is absolutely insane. Why does apple do this?

[@yoyo-nf1ww]

money? of course

[@mikkelkristiansen3694]

Agree! Would have loved the same connector as the iMac 24”

[@nakedexposure964]

To give the idea of a cheaper product I imagine, so the XDR Display has that extra polish of a super premium display

[@roosky203]

@@nakedexposure964 so you have to pay for it's repair, that's always the reason

[@origins777]

Not like you can go wireless with it anyway.

[@jtpacilio123]

Every time I watch a Dave2D video the more I wanna be friends with Dave. Like he seems like such a genuine person and we would have so much to talk about with tech!

[@acron7559]

Your videos are super clean and minimalistic.

[@BlueStarsNY]

Love your channel. Informative video as always. Thank you =)

[@Hikari_3301]

Amazing content as always!

[@tr4nnel752]

Nice video, but the graphs are a bit hard to read quickly. I have to check what each color is.

[@P__114]

Great review, Dave

[@WoodyDataAI]

supre great!, you are the first one with the first real test on Mac Studio!

[@olcayertas]

I love the termals of the M1 chips! I have the M1 Max 16" MBP and when I play games with it, it stays cool. Before M1 I had the lates 16" Intel MBP and it was almost untouchable when I played games with it.

[@karandevilocs]

Define "GAMES" ... also one is mobile SOC suped up and the other is a PC architecture CPU hence the compatibility issues with numerous games/programs.

[@joeblack7262]

@@karandevilocs I was wondering about his word selection too.

[@giornikitop5373]

@@theoneonly5368 calm down fanboy. arm arch may not be a laptop arch pre se but it was build from the ground up for low power consumption first, so there you go. of course, anyone can license an arm arch and build their own chip and blablabla. and no, apple is not the superior computer corp. none is. as with the rest, m1 is great at a lot of tasks and just good at others. but that's true for most chips out there...

[@ljmzdev]

@@giornikitop5373 so now saying facts gets you called a fanboy? fml

[@dennvenger]

You play games on Mac?

[@CosmicApe]

If nothing else, I think this system proves people's desire for an incredibly powerful computer built into as small a chassis as possible.

[@TankTheSpank]

If you can call this small

[@brandon_nope]

@@TankTheSpank compared to Dave's build it's crazy small

[@the_wiki9408]

Does it? Or did Apple just decide to make it? I think the demand would be higher if they put the same chips in a chassis 2x as tall with some room for storage expansion.

[@BryceNg]

@@the_wiki9408 Then you should go for the upcoming Mac Pro.

[@lucas_vlanc]

but wouldn't that make it not upgradable? For a desktop work/gaming computer, I'd much prefer having a better upgrade path (at least upgradable RAM and nvme) then a smaller chassis

[@nbugash]

Great review Dave

[@protoplast.youtube]

great video!,.. + good info about portability

[@WSP_DS12]

Best reviewer along with mrwhosetheboss and MKBHD man, thanks for the awesome videos! I do feel like the “ultra” name isn’t like what it suggests since I saw that it couldn’t give out performance compared to the 3080 and 3090. Still amazing though.

[@albyx]

Love that Dave actually called out the fact that most apps are still single-core-working apps… performance in most apps is nearly the same whether you’re on the Pro, Max, or Ultra (3.22Ghz freq). 64-cores is great and all but… yeah… doesn’t mean much if you’re not using even a quarter of them, which is why the Air and the base 14” MBP are probably best for 99% of people.

[@msandersen]

The people who need it know who they are. It's a very different beast to the Air or base Macbook pro. And yes, there are people who will be tempted but don't actually need this, as he pointed out. Even most video producers can do fine with any of the 16Gb+ Macbook Pros (not so much the air), but if you want an M-series desktop, this is it for now. And it has way better cooling and port selections. A no-brainer for many studios.

[@kuvak8277]

Some very details in ur review makes total sense for consumer ty

[@dcmeans7]

Best reviews on KZbin, I feel like he is the only high quality honest reviewer

[@tobiasjennerjahn8659]

I think the winning combination would be M1 MacBook Air + M1 Max Studio instead of m1 max MacBook Pro. If you already have peripherals this combination actually saves you money, while providing incredible portability (with very respectable performance) and crazy performance at home.

[@cystarkman]

agreed. also my preference. thing is i want a bigger display when mobile. if there was a 15-16” Air then i would buy it and the studio with joy. until then i will lug around the new 16” MBP

[@edamameme1789]

ive got an ipad Pro 13 inch with 16gb. Will get the Macbook Pro 16 inch with 32gb. The Mac Studio will be with the M1 Max processor with 64gb. iPad Pro I can take with me to the office. The MacBook will be specifically a travel companion (international flights, etc). The Mac Studio will be the home office machine. The Ultra offers too little for double the price. Better off getting an additional PC desktop machine with that extra $3000.

[@loteq101]

Ya nailed it. Ive got an Air, and bought studio max. I dont want any of the nitpicky issues of having to use clamshell mode. I also dont like having to drag a 6k machine all over the place. I want a cheap ish machine for the road I can bang around and the heavy boy at home.

[@quitram]

@@edamameme1789 wouldn’t it be better to plug your 16 inch MBP to your desk setup’s monitor via thunderbolt/type-C? Saves money as well as allowing you to instantly resume working on whatever you were doing on your MacBook. The MacBook can also act as an additional display for improved multitasking.

[@CastaneArias]

I’m doing all my creative work off the m1 Mac mini. I’m thinking you are right. But after watching this video. I don’t think I need the m1 ultra. The performance gains aren’t that high. I’m just a hobbyist with 3D and the performance gain doesn’t seem that great especially if I go with cloud rendering.

[@mime454]

I can definitely notice the difference between 4k and 5k at 27" because Mac OS is awful at rendering text at non-retina resolutions.

[@franciscoaguilar7505]

So true i had the M1 mac mini with a really good display but the txt looked awful. So i had to sell it and get am imac and oh boy the difference is sooooooo glaring

[@m4t7eo]

Eh, rendering @5k on a 4k display and downsampling looks fine

[@RabbitConfirmed]

@@franciscoaguilar7505 kind of sad that they can't do it right for 4k.. like there are many people using 4k

[@joeldb]

Can you expand on this a bit? I have a 28" 4k samsung monitor and haven't noticed any rendering weirdness. What have you seen?

[@mime454]

@@joeldb are you using an Apple silicon chip? I’m not sure if the issue is present in any Intel mac. It was fine with my Intel but when I switched to Apple Silicon suddenly my 4K display was borderline unreadable for long periods because of how fonts were rendered on this technically-not-retina-dpi display. If you’ve seen fonts on non retina iPads it’s similar to that.

[@mike__durrett]

Beautifully designed and executed. If I didn't already have my DIY PC that runs everything I need it to, and has upgradability, I wouldn't hesitate.

[@ezalddenalmaghout]

awesome as usual Dave!

[@charles_wren_films]

Love the review Dave. Question - Was the Blender test definitely using the GPU? Because even in 3.1, Blender still defaults to the CPU. You have to manually select it in the prefs, and then the properties panel afterwards. I’d expect those scores to be much higher if they were on the GPU tbh. Loved the review either way.

[@RenatoRegalado]

Verge got similar tests. Apple just basically lying when it comes to their GPU performance as usual.

[@explosev6513]

@@RenatoRegalado did you see the premiere performance? Did they fake that too? Is Dave lying to us now?

[@charles_wren_films]

@@RenatoRegalado Other tests show the GPU performing really well. It increasingly looks like it’s a lack of ray tracing capabilities on the M1 that’s the limiting factor unfortunately.

[@malipedduparthiv6147]

@@charles_wren_films Its the media engines on the m1 ultra making it really good at video editing

[@winjaywin]

Maybe these workloads are optimized for tensor cores and cuda. I remember some of the blender tests were demoed at nvidia RTX launches.

[@savedfaves]

“Why is the display so thick? Not everyone wants to pay extra for speakers built into the display.” Dave, don’t jinx it for those of us who cherish built-in audio quality and functionality over thinness. I want iMac Pro to be this thick, too. And include every port you can dream of.

[@rinrin4711]

Every component should have only one function. The function of the display should be only to display image. As soon as something alien is added into the design, like speakers or usb hubs, the whole system becomes full of compromises, it becomes heavier, therefore less stable on the arm mounts; bulkier, meaning taking up more space on the desk; pricier, meaning that for the same price you will get worse performing device. And the worst is when you completely don't need all of those features, but you have no other choice but overpay for them because there is no alternative.

[@D-One]

I'm a musician so I always have pro speakers connected to an external interface and even I don't care about thickness. It's not a phone or tablet, it's meant to stay on a desk. Im glad the super thin obsession is no longer the priority even in laptops, finally!! Function over form.

[@rinrin4711]

@@MikeeRogers, smartphones are all-in-one because they simply cannot be anything else. Yet smartphones are terrible at pretty much every task imaginable and are a one big compromise. 1. They are too small for comfortable video/movie watching, unless you connect it to an external display - device created SPECIFICALLY for this task. 2. Terrible for music listening unless you get headphones - device created SPECIFICALLY for audio listening. 3. Web browsing is highly restricted by the screen size and most of web devs have to cut a lot of functionality in order to make their websites useable on smartphones. 4. Gaming is rudimentary not so much from the lack of computing power, but because of lack of input methods and their low precision. 5. Any smartphone camera is still worse than a cheap DSLR because of physical constrains and is only good for casual users and even then, decent photos/videos could be made only in good conditions. 6. Any professional tasks are out of consideration. 7. No flagship phone can hold the charge for an entire day if you fully utilize your phone, meaning many users have to constantly worry about running out of battery if the use their phones "too much". All of this beacuse of the neccesity to have everything crammed into one spot. With desktops, however, you have no such neccessity. Apple sells their new display for 1500$. Imagine if you could spend just 1000$ and have 500$ saved, or you could buy pretty much top quality desktop speakers and place them wherever you want with any device you want resulting in marginally better sound than you can get with any built-in speakers in any monitor. iMacs are solutions for buisness and you need to be really dumb to by one for personal use, unless you are in a situation of extreme lack of space.

[@rinrin4711]

@@MikeeRogers, I definitely didn't mention another type of iMac buyers - people who don't care about money spending efficiency and just want something that works well out of the box and looks good. However, from this comment thread I assumed I am talking to people who value function over form and would prefer to get more for the same price. I guess, my mistake, since you in particular never said so about yourself. But, you know, it really doesn't make a good conversation when "that was a whole lot of nothing" gets thrown at you after you carefully argument your point of view:/ yes, my reply might have been unnecessarily long, but noone is perfect and I am not used to online discussions.

[@auralstudent2841]

I think you are one of the better tech reviewers out there, so I would love to see you include software development as a use case when reviewing such high-end hardware. Almost all tech reviewers on KZbin seem to think that video editing is the only profession out there. They don't understand that not everyone out there is going to be editing videos ... I would guess that a lot of potential Mac Studio buyers are programmers, because tests have shown that this thing runs Xcode really well.

[@telisto]

Thanks Dave, I was going to buy it for having final cut and blender on one device but looks like it’s best to stick with having a windows and a Mac computer

[@EndzMoney]

Who even needs to buy something like this? Superb review as always Dave

[@bred4808]

Content creators

[@nemoralia-]

those who bought $10k mac pros

[@white-bunny]

@@bred4808 Not all of them, considering the Blender workload.

[@PogsManalili]

My guess about the Studio Display thickness is that Apple made it thick so they can still include the speakers and other extras without giving the display a chin. I remember one tech reviewer (forgot who), mentioned this when the M1 iMac was announced - he didn't like the chin and wished the iMac was thicker...

[@FernandoAES]

The chin housed the fans, the board and part of the speakers. Also, the iMac has an external power supply, while this monitor has it inside and it probably is a beefier one to charge a macbook and run the bigger display.

[@sapuahsamad3340]

Love your new studio ! 😍

[@CH-fw9dz]

Thanks for the honest review Dave!

[@JifferRiffic]

Forget the Mac, Let’s talk about package design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need an unboxing of the box.

[@commentarytalk1446]

LOL!

[@snelpiller]

Very cool. Apple is on top of their game right now. I use PC, but only really because of gaming and familiarity (also like to be able to have hacky solutions that only exist on windows tho). If apple would get support for gaming for real, id probably switch.

[@52thephotoshop]

Apples biggest weaknesses continues to be software they put the m1 is and iPad give you nothing to run on it

[@techtipsuk]

@@52thephotoshop absolute rubbish some far better software on MacOS than windows. Gaming is a nonstarter though. I personally use Mac for work and have a pc for gaming. Some fantastic third party devs for Mac though.

[@lidordanino5111]

That thumbnail though!! 🔥🔥🔥 Spaceship vibes

[@mksteve8470]

This guy's videos always high quality 👌

[@joshuatatro4503]

Very interesting to see benchmarks and render times from a system out in the real world... A little surprising that it isn't just crushing the Cinebench scores from the 12900K or 5950X, and while seeing it match a 3080 is impressive, it probably doesn't bode well for the price (i.e. starting at $3999 means you could build/buy a competitive Windows PC for less even with the insane GPU pricing right now). I'm sure there are "professionals" who both **can** use the compute power this system has on tap and **want** the form factor... But from my perspective as a "content creator," I'm less concerned with the size of the machine compared to upgradability, and lacking the ability to swap out or add RAM, SSD/HDD (or to just have both internally, bc trust me that's nice), GPU, or CPU... yeah, that's too big of a compromise. I've incrementally upgraded the system I originally built two years ago to scale with my needs, and I still have headroom to grow in all the categories listed above if needed. Oh, and I haven't yet spent $4000.

[@andynormancx]

I'm not convinced you can easily build a quality PC for much less than the price of the Ultra, with similar specs. Put together a 12900K, 60GB of DDR5, a Thunderbolt Z690 board, 1TB of SSD, a 3080 Ti (it is still hard to find a 3080 actually selling for less than a 3080 Ti most days), decent case and PSU. Add it all up and you're above $3,500 and well on the way to $3,999. That'll come down a bit when GPUs finally settle. And the PC will beat the Mac on some stuff, but so with the Mac beat it on plenty of other stuff. And yes, the PC is upgradeable, but the Mac is a Mac and that is what some of us want. They are a lot closer in price than you'd imagine before you add up all the costs.

[@UJustGotGamed]

@@andynormancx so you just proved their point, it's less, and it is more versatile, especially when you don't have to deal with MacOS (which is a pile of shit)

[@mozzinator]

This!

[@andynormancx]

@@UJustGotGamed if you don't see any value in macOS then you're not going to see any value in any Mac, whatever the price. Which is fine, do you own thing.

[@yae_123]

@@andynormancx Truth is, the mac is great for video editing, but for 3d work and gaming, the PC is just a superior device. Plus, a PC is upgradable. The ugly truth is that in between mac and pc, the pc will benefit consumers more, since there are far more gamers than there are video editors.

[@ViraDrama]

Thanks, for me this one is overkill. I’m waiting for the M2 MacBook Air, which should be good enough for me. 🐯😇😎

[@DipMaster20]

Same dude. I need to get a new computer in July, hopefully the new Air will be out

[@YourLocalCafe]

M2 in the Air would make a lot of the previous line-up in cluding the macbook pros from the previous gen obsolete, i think they would rather stuff a M1 Pro/Max/Ultra in it instead. Even though apple did "out perform* the MBP with the mac studio it is not portable power yet and what you ask for will kill MBP's market because its sole selling point is that power. Edit:- After reading various kind replies i have understood that i had a severe lapse of judgement.

[@brandenwatt]

​@@YourLocalCafe They've already hinted at it bro and they will just phase out the old pro line up. pretty standard...

[@brandenwatt]

@@YourLocalCafe also the m2 is slower than the m1 pro or max

[@strictnonconformist7369]

@@brandenwatt likely if you’re talking the successor to the minimal M1, but..l it’s not released yet. I expect the lower end M2 to be faster, but not hugely faster than the M1 it replaces.

[@monroelouisa6786]

Ayyy Dave love your new G-Shock such a stunning watch. Also great review 👍

[@ResizeFilms]

Still absolutely loving my high end iMac Pro, workhorse for professional video editing on a daily basis. Already paid for itself countless times.

[@MaybeLoveHate]

For a music studio it seems perfect. I love that they are so focused on making these quiet while still having beast performance.

[@charliecarrot]

How useful are the many extra GPU cores on a M1 Max or Ultra compared to a regular M1 for a music producer? I can't imagine spending an extra $1000 for a built-in SD card slot and extra thunderbolt ports - I feel like the money would be better spent on a Mac mini M1 with extra RAM and an external thunderbolt 4 hub. The performance increases on Max and Ultra are almost entirely focused on video editing and other GPU-intensive tasks.

[@MaybeLoveHate]

@@charliecarrot for actual music creation probably not that useful in most cases. It depends on how the program was coded though. GPU's are so fast at iterating arrays they are often used in code outside of graphics tasks as well. I think it would also help future proof the device, especially with 8k coming in the somewhat near future.

[@mbvglider]

@@charliecarrot More GPU performance is completely useless currently. However, I wouldn't be surprised if music software in the future started using GPU cores more. Also, since M1 is 8-core with 16 GB RAM max, whereas M1 Max can go up to 10-core with 64 GB RAM and Ultra up to 20-core with 128 GB RAM, fact is, you still do have to jump up to the higher SKUs to get the more CPU cores and RAM, too. Also, extra connectivity is absolutely vital. Your average professional music producer will be using at least one display, at least one USB-C/TB external audio interface, one or more fast external storage drives, MIDI keyboard, iLok USB key, etc. Therefore, a Mac mini would require a Thunderbolt hub to function in many studios, and keep in mind that a good one is like $300 and you lose a little performance and reliability every time you add hubs. With a base M1 Max, you'd be able to go hub-free in a lot of setups, and maybe you need a couple USB 2.0 docks at most for your low bandwidth devices. Also, being able to run more than 2 monitors natively could be useful for some. I think if you're serious about running a music studio, the M1 mini isn't quite enough. The CPU performance is more than enough, mind you, but everything else that is packaged with the M1 isn't quite enough.

[@_Makanko_]

Last bit is very important. Dont fall into the trap of wanting something vs needing something. If not needed there are always other great things to spend your money on. If you don't care about the money you spend I highly doubt you'd be in the YT comments anyway. I think it's a beast machine but still very much a Mac which has positive and negative sides to it.

[@_Makanko_]

@@theoneonly5368 It might feel to you like that but I don't think it's an "Apple-only" argument. I assure you the same thing applies to other brands. I don't really get the second part of your response, are you saying that unless I get the best and newest of everything I should just get nothing instead? Most of my purchases are born from a need, I suppose that's bad? Why do people buy a BMW vs Toyota? Because badge and performance and some people choose to spend their money in the way THEY want. Clearly some people like to buy based on how a product "feels/looks/is marketed" vs what they need (basic transportation). I don't think that is a bad conclusion to spending habits. This being the best computer in the history of computing? That's plain ridiculous. If that's your take then you're just a fish in the pond. Decide for yourself whether this particular product is meaningful and useful to you, I think that's the general idea behind my comment which was basically an agreement with Dave's opinion.

[@muhammaduwaismuhsinmuaz4385]

@@theoneonly5368 ''the best computer in the history of computing'' 🤡

[@4dverse]

Trustworthy reviewer👍🏻 Thank you Dave!

[@Julian_Kurt]

im on the m1 Mac mini 16gb since the beginning. Absolutely love it still. Plenty fast, super quiet and absolutely enough for me. No need to upgrade for some years to come

[@Parmigiano1]

Whoa, the Blender benchmark is even more disappointing than expected. I guess 3D or gaming on Mac is still not going to be a thing.

[@xxDxxism]

because its not marketed towards gaming?

[@danjeyowtub]

Ikr. Hope it improves with future updates

[@Parmigiano1]

@@xxDxxism They said it's faster than RTX 3090 in "industry standard workloads" so I expected more than just a video editing station.

[@xalameen4309]

yeah its really weird how after a year and a half, nothing utilizes the gpu properly except video editing apps.

[@xalameen4309]

im not expecting it to match the 3090 but at least come close because if you look at how it scales in some benchmarks you can tell there's a lot to be desired.

[@parthoomphy7214]

Nice and early as always Dave! I’m a PC guy but really interested in M1 Ultra to see if there claims were true or not. Well it’s not as powerful as 3090 as apple claims it to be but it’s pretty sweet for the 1% editors and developers.. Thanks for the video btw. Cheers!

[@ramlalmaheshwari7505]

Yeah, it's not for gaming brah. This much power in a mac is useless for general consumers when u can't game on it! High end Professionals are super niche, for those this is worth. At this price I would anyday pick up 3090 all day everyday (if I can get it that is)

[@xxDxxism]

@@ramlalmaheshwari7505 Tell me you're a kid without telling me you're a kid

[@user-hr4hu8xb5f]

Better than 3090 in 2d rendering but if you need it for 3d rendering or gaming, it falls short quickly.

[@siddhartshukla5317]

@LostChances Arjun tyagi is right. You Tell me, r u a sheep or a keyboard warrior? Only 2 possibilities here

[@ramlalmaheshwari7505]

@Siddhart Jatav lol, leave it. He himself is a kid typing from his mom's iPhone or something hating cause his parents didn't buy him a decent gaming PC.

[@lizardpeter]

Loved to see the Blender 3.1 benchmarks!

[@doganaydogan1178]

I’m glad I subscribed your channel a long time ago.

[@PWingert1966]

The reason for just an HDMI 2.0 is that it's meant to be connected to a TV. Most TVs still only have HDMI 2.0. Thunderbolt four supports the DisplayPort 1.4 standard so they are definitely the preferred connection for advanced displays such as the Apple studio display.

[@AngryApple]

Professional Grading Monitors often use HDMI, and you just cant use 4K 60Hz 10bit with full Chroma via HDMI 2.0. And you definitely cant use it for 4K 60Hz 12bit with full Chroma. Booth are necessary to master HDR content.

[@ChaossX77]

Still no reason to put the newest version of it on there as it's backwards compatible and would future proof it more.

[@beoxsgaming9388]

For the Blender test, were you using the Apple Silicon version or the regular (Intel) version? I ask because Intel is the default and you have to look for the Apple Silicon version.

[@white-bunny]

That's the thing, it SHOULD give you the download for ARM64 Architecture, rather than x86_64 one, IF that is the issue.

[@beoxsgaming9388]

@@white-bunny You would think...

[@white-bunny]

@@beoxsgaming9388 It gives me ARM64 version on my Linux System from official blender download site, so it doesn't seem to be that, anyway. I think that perf is ARM64 one.

[@danteburritar2822]

And you need to set the bucket/tile sizes larger for Apple Silicon

[@beoxsgaming9388]

@@white-bunny Very interesting. I have an Intel machine myself, but looking at my wife's m1 MacBook Pro it still gives her the Intel version as the default. Again, you would think.... 🤷‍♂ On my Ubuntu (20.04LTS) machine it gives me the Linux version as the default. Looking at the "Daily Builds" list for Linux there are only x64 builds, not a single ARM64.

[@pehenry]

I dig your no BS format.

[@gabrielmoro3d]

Thank you for testing Blender! Awesome review as always.

[@exhaustnotemusic5835]

For 3d, viewport performance is more important than render times.. you can always render your stuff in render farms, or sure can wait extra few minutes or an hour for a render, but without a smooth viewport performance, its not worth it..

[@sushimshah2896]

Well but some people just can't look past GB & rendering times (which btw very few actually mention is due to the dedicated encoders+decoders, not necessarily the CPU/GPU)

[@bubblesbubbles3880]

Wait, so does this thing boost viewport performance significantly compared to non-apple graphic cards?

[@MrRinre]

@@bubblesbubbles3880 no

[@AngryApple]

Yeah the viewport performance sucks currently with Blender on a M1, but it was always shitty on a Mac. Hope Apple will improve this now they're a top tier supporter

[@Diogosetgo]

Very disappointing for 3D

[@djungelskog3434]

honestly, i'm grateful that apple is really pushing the limits of their current macs, it helps increase the competition in the industry. i do wish that besides performance metrics, other manufacturers like intel, amd and nvidia would try to adopt more environmental friendly and energy efficient designs. it would be nice if they could fit in small form factor builds as well, instead of having the fattest graphics card that needs a super large case to fit in. it's a pain trying to look for a case with a small footprint with compatible components.

[@nightthemoon8481]

there are small form factor even 3090 pcs, check out linus' video on the intel NUC

[@perseus31]

Imagine if Apple made an Unlocked series of their M1 products. Like everything is the same, but with more watts and better cooling. Instead of 60W imagine what this Mac Studio could with 100W or more. I know rule of diminshing returns but it would be fire.

[@nightthemoon8481]

@@perseus31 it wouldn't rly scale that well

[@NinPossible]

Because of you, Dave, I always keep in mind that these things are just tool and should get it if I need it. That's why I bought M1 Air last year on Thanksgiving. I was gonna wait for M2 but I really needed to use it right away. And I don't regret it at all! It was my first Mac and I loved it! It also serves me well. The battery's life is great and it's super light. It's very convenient to carry it around and work from anywhere. I know it's not related to the video but I want to thank you for a good mindset.

[@robovampire]

Fast, simple, clean and no BS... I love it, and the Mac is great too

[@user-yl8po9by5u]

I find it weird that Apple pulls out all the stops for their own silicon (on cooling) but really limited Intel CPUs thermally in their products. I get the M1 line is a bit better at power per watt, but this could have been done with a copper heat sink with Xeons or K processors a LONG time ago.

[@bl1721]

as APPLE knew they would go over to ARM, which would stop them from doing proper cooling for intel's cpu, so they could get hot and look bad in tests, that would make ARM's test look faster and better

[@andynormancx]

They did do it with Xeons in the iMac Pro and Mac Pro, several years ago. While the iMac Pro looks like a standard iMac, it has a totally different internal cooling setup and managed to run a Xeon with little fan noise. Besides, most of their products are laptops and sticking the Studio's cooling setup in a laptop would make for a _very_ different product...

[@ashurali22]

I mean why would they overkill when they can give enough? Afterall r&d ing a pc for another company CPU vs their own CPU is vastly different in terms of resource needed as well as ROI on component. I think Apple silicone is already planned wayy far ahead and their research simply isn't done is the only reason they use intel.

[@user-yl8po9by5u]

@@andynormancx you do see they basically doubled a Mac mini here and killed off (at least so far) an iMac line to accomidate this cooling tower...right? Right?

[@cyjanek7818]

Mac Pro Station with Intel were huge, like PC. Intel macbook air had Fan to keep temps down while m1 does nto have it. I dont buy this "Apple pulls out all the stops for their own Silicon on Cooling" since they clearly arent.

[@gavinvales8928]

this is exactly where i thought apple would go, and its the direction that pc manufacturers need to move in. I did think they would end their mac lineup here though, i wasn't expecting a new mac pro. With this, apple will change how computing is done.

[@clansome]

That's what they've been telling us for the last 40 years. Nothing much has changed, I'd never buy Apple, I don't trust them and I don't want them.

[@bobdragon7887]

looks like a fanboy talking nonsense

[@gavinvales8928]

@@bobdragon7887 you must be young.

[@TaavP]

Best review i've seen so far

[@rishabdhar9586]

That soft thomp on the box at the start... Priceless 😬

[@leonardobortolussi6411]

My doubt it's still this or a high end PC. I work mostly with 3D rendering in C4D+Redshift and the Blender tests really threw me off, unfortunately. I'll wait for some benchmarks on RS Metal, but I think I'll have to stick with my big box for a little longer :c

[@hydzior]

For 3d rendering go with PC. Apple suck here hard.

[@automaticbutt78]

I have a very small suspicion that Dave didn’t enable GPU rendering in the render settings? It’s very easy to miss as the reasonable expectation is that would be the default. If that isn’t the case though, the 3D performance is really poor. Especially to say that so much of apples marketing material seems to involve 3D artists being showcased now.

[@ruhailali7317]

Wait for RTX 4000 series and then compare with this, in these times a high end pc will cost 2× more then the mac studio.

[@leonardobortolussi6411]

@@automaticbutt78 hm, that could be the case, yeah. But given that Metal is pretty recent these results aren't too surprising to me since there haven't been too much optimization for it yet. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

[@SWSW560]

​@@ruhailali7317 You can do it for about 5 grand, and that includes the stupidly expensive 3090...just sayin

[@Liza-lm8vq]

so the biggest downside is that if one of the rams fail, there's no way to replace them. or any of the components for that matter. seems like a huge deal-breaker.

[@nanezferrer3565]

you have to buy a new one didnt they tell you ? once it broke you must buy a new one because it is apple ? LMAO

[@omniyambot9876]

the ram would not fail lmao. it's like ram on your phone. if it fails, the whole motherboard fails.

[@karandevilocs]

im not a fan but apple care or even without apple care they would swap it and replace it without any issues also i want to say this to everyone that buys apple products, don''t buy them in a third world country or where the customer service is non-existence. it's not worth it

[@mozzinator]

@@omniyambot9876 and that's exactlly his Point. He can build a system way less than 4k which will perform better and also have an upgrade path

[@Racko.]

It will not happen to a Machine like this, if so then it would of happen to previous M1 Enabled Macs

[@RealLaone]

Nah that thumbnail is heat, too much fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥Dave not playing with us.

[@chepo1956]

Hello Dave, Jose from Puerto Rico. I pre-ordered the max base model, not the ultra. I got it with 64gb of ram and 1Tb storage. That should be good for the next couple of years. I mainly edit photos with Adobe Lightroom CC classic and Photoshop. I upgraded from a mid-2014 MacBook Pro which I have plugged in to the wall, since the battery died on me. As soon as the new computer comes in, I'll send the laptop for a battery replacement and hold on to it for travel and backup use. Having said that, you just showed me how portable the Max Studio is. That thing can fit in a bag and be moved about. Let's see how it goes for me. Great video.

[@MichaelMarshall53]

The Mac Studio is the first Apple device in years, decade+, that "had" me stoked about it. Upon announcement I was like Apple lets goooo!!! I'm a 3D motion designer and after seeing the Blender test I'm back to unimpressed. Seems Apple build their systems for the video editors and 2d motion graphic artist. Looks like I'll be sticking with my 17in razer i9 with the 3080ti for the foreseeable future. Such a let down.

[@gigago2529]

it is not good for cycles bc of lack of optimization (the m1 release for blender is still in alpha/beta)

[@savedfaves]

Blender devs could consider updating their app to work with these chips. We’re at the beginning of Apple’s switch away from Intel, so I could see a blender update in the coming twelve months to take advantage of all those graphics cores in there.

[@TheRMSAndre1]

Thats the thing, they make such a specialised product that only works well with certain tasks. Its not a windows machine that can handle everything quite equally well.

[@Parmigiano1]

@@gigago2529 Blender 3.1 is already stable and has Metal support for Cycles.

[@ryonnl]

Yeah Blender still needs to release their polished version for the M1 chips.

[@rkf304]

I am still wondering why apple is calling this “Modular”

[@NYCybertruck]

Because you can BYODKM

[@danteburritar2822]

They are not. They describe a “modular system” meaning separate tower and display rather than an all in one.

[@roberttranceedm]

I definitely get one this year, it's amazing.

[@KaganRustem]

Dave your new studio is so gorgeous it makes me want to cry happy tears.

[@hukmai]

For all enthusiasts ( i.e. brand indifferent ) the best value prop is the M1 Max base with x2 32 LG ultra Fine 4k ( 2 are less than 1 Apple display) + a sandisk Extreme pro or 2 Most people already have their choice of keyboard and mouse

[@satysin630]

The Xcode difference isn’t a big as I was hoping between the Ultra and Max considering double cpu core count in the ultra. Maybe it will change with performance optimisations in the tool chain but right now for development a €1600 premium for the ultra over the max is a tough sell as it isn’t 2x performance gains. GPU performance gains scale better obviously. Edit: I was expecting around 8m on the ultra for 15m on the max tbh. If we take the Ultra time of 767 seconds as the base then the Max is 19% slower at 912 seconds.

[@malcolm_d3]

I think it's reaching the point of diminishing returns

[@dookie6734]

The only reason why I've been considering the ultra is for the extra cores. I keep a couple dev environments on different machines and was thinking the extra cores would be useful. But man that is a lot of money.

[@daviidon]

This is because the single thread performance is the same as the 2020 m1. Not much improvement in day to day app usage.

[@satysin630]

@@dookie6734 Yes, I held off ordering last week as I wanted to see if we really got 2x performance with double the CPU cores. If we did get 2x performance it was worth the €1600 extra however if it is only in the 20% range we see here I can't really justify such a premium of the Ultra over the Max. I will wait a bit longer to see more data from developers rather than just a WebKit run to see how things play out but these initial numbers are a little disappointing. I am wondering if Dave was using Xcode 13.2 or 13.3, if 13.2 perhaps there are some improvements in 13.3 we're not seeing.

[@Dave2D]

Ya I did a few builds of larger projects and none of them were as fast as I had thought they’d be. Also with the massive 128gb of ram, I thought it would contribute to faster build times.

[@dazai3874]

this is great challenge for other companies to start making small cases and builds, this product is good for competition and only

[@SHIFT-ED]

Today I filmed on my bike using 4 gopro camera's running maxed out 5.6K and extra audio from a zoom recorder. I loaded it all on my M1 Mac mini which is the lowest model and into Davinci Resolve, shockingly (No proxies, 4K timeline) it is handling all that with no stuttering at all. I Ordered a Mac Studio... Can't wait for it to arrive!