Mac Studio Review - 6 Months Later

Long term review of the Apple Mac Studio after 6 months, was getting the M1 Ultra worth it, how much RAM and storage should you get, what are the best features of the Mac Studio's design & what are the downsides with getting a Mac Studio.

In this video we'll walk you through the overall design of the Mac Studio, our favorite ports, how quiet it is, how fast its performance has been in our day-to-day workloads, how the M1 Ultra compares to the M1 Max, if it's worth upgrading the GPU cores, a good rule of thumb for storage upgrades and who we recommend should get this computer.

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PC Specs:
HP OMEN - Gaming Desktop - AMD Ryzen 7 5700G - 48GB HyperX Memory - AMD Radeon™ RX 6700XT - 1TB SSD - Jet Black

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0:00 - M1 Ultra vs. M1 Max and regrets
2:36 - RAM options
4:21 - SD card reader design
5:06 - Mac Studio port design
6:10 - Gaming experience issues
7:34 - Dust build up
8:08 - No mini black key keyboard
8:27 - Issues handling multiple Bluetooth devices
9:02 - Mac Studio vs. Mac Mini vs. MacBook Pro
9:54 - GPU core chip upgrades
10:18 - Storage size reccomendations

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#apple
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#studio

[MonthsLater]

Here are the purchase links and other reviews mentioned in this video:

[goobfilmcast]

Back in the mid-90s to early 2000s, I sold PCs (and Macs) when many small businesses were buying their first (and expensive....very expensive in today's dollars ) "practical" computers. I always encouraged customers to buy the FASTEST, Most feature-rich computer that their budget would bear....followed by the quip: You'll never go to work, fire up your computer and complain it's TOO if you "cheap out" it will haunt you....for years.

[philscanlan]

I was originally going invest long term in a M1 Ultra with 48core GPU, 128gb ram and 4tb ssd but once I noticed performance in my particular workflows wasn't night and day compared to the M1 max variant, I decided to go with an M1 Max w/32core GPU, 64gb ram and 2tb ssd (with a slew of ssd external drives). Performance has been excellent and I saved approx $3000, leaving me the option of upgrading in a few years.

[CarlosRiveraPhotography]

Great video. I got the Mac Studio M1 Max with 32gpu and 64gb ram 2tb storage. I am so happy with this purchase. Final Cut, YouTube, photos, on1 photo raw, affinity pro, etc. I have many apps which use a lot of memory, open in multiple spaces. I find the Mac Studio is fantastic at having all my apps open and ready to use at all times. I also love how quiet it’s is and the sd card is so clutch. Best machine I have ever had

[sharkshock]

I ordered the base model Mac Studio because I'm poor. No complaints. It's super smooth and have not had any issues with 32gb of RAM.

[TrevorCurtis]

I waited to buy a refurbished Mac Studio with an M1 Max and the 32GB/1TB SSD. I've been very happy with it. I've never felt a need for the M1 Ultra chip, and 32GB of RAM has been fantastic for 2D design work. I use the SD card slot a lot too.

[garytempleton]

I went with the MAX, upgraded the ram to 64GB, upgraded the GPU to 32 cores but stayed with the base 1TB storage. I thought $400 for to upgrade to 2TB was price gouging on the part of Apple. I can add external high-speed SSDs when I need them. Also, when I'm finished with a project, I archive everything to an external drive. I primarily use this computer with DaVinci Resolve 18 which has been optimized for Apple silicon. So I'm far very happy with it and astonished how fast it boots up. In fact it boots up faster then the time it take for my displays to turn on. I have three displays connected, two for Resolve and one for full screen video output of my timeline.

[pieromonteverde]

I went from a 2015 iMac to a pimped up 2019 Mac Pro to a Mac Studio Ultra with 128 Gb memory and it is the first Mac that I am happy with in my Lightroom Classic workflow with dual HDR monitors streaming videos concurrently: finally no lag, no spinning beach ball and snappy transitions between heavily edited images. I ended up using up to 100 Gb of RAM often. I would have chosen the Max configuration but I had the feeling that I needed the extra memory and I did.

[dremias]

Been using one since launch. I got the base model which is plenty powerful for what I use it for. The annoying display bugs have been fixed. Now my 38 in HDR monitor starts every time. Overall, I enjoy the Mac Studio

[BillStreeter]

I got the Max in February with 32gigs and I have never regretted it. Probably my favorite Mac ever. And I have had dozens of them going back to the 1980s. I don't think I ever ran out of ram. So no issues at all. Also I do professional video post production, motion, photo editing, and graphic design. There are probably good uses for the Ultra but probably only if you are doing heavy app development or 3D work or something. Anything less get the M1Max and you'll be fine. I also have the M1 Mac mini and I do some basic post production tasks on that too. I really like it a lot.

[UENE]

I don't have that bluetooth problem at all. I've been using the base model of Mac Studio, with logitech mouse, magic trackpad, magic keyboard, and wireless headphones working together all the time. Never have any connection issue. I can easily switch to airpods too.

[masagazialvink]

I got the M1 max model with 32 GPU cores and 64GB of RAM, I use DaVinci Resolve to edit long documentaries.... its pretty fast and responsive!! I usually max out the RAM when I have resolve, Blender and Aftereffects open

[lindahodgdon]

I have the Ultra studio with 64 g ram and I'd been a fantastic computer. I have no complaints!!

[Lord_Mangoat]

I went from a dying 2014 iMac to the M1 Mac Mini. The mini was nice, but I quickly realized that even with the RAM options maxed out, it wasn't enough for my needs. Then when the Mac Studio was announced, I right away started the trade-in process for it. Shortly before the due date for the mini to go away, it had a crash so bad, I lost everything on it. My fault, no backups. This is actually the 2nd mini I've had that did this. The 1st being prior to the iMac. That previous mini died right after I transferred everything from it to the iMac. After which, the mini died. Could not power on. My luck with Mac Minis is not a good one.

Anyway, my Mac Studio specs:
M1 Max Mac Studio with 64 GB RAM & 500 GB internal storage. I opted for external storage for most things. Figured going this route I can save money each time I wanted to upgrade to a new machine since I wouldn't need to be buying 1TB+ every time.

[darylfortney]

Regarding memory usage a lot of apps just pre-allocate some percentage of total available regardless of actual demand so looking at activity monitor isn't really telling the truth. Add more memory and run the same apps and you will see the amount being used goes up proportionally.

[mimaz]

Your complaint about the keyboard is bizarre

[asdf]

I have an M1 Ultra with maxed out RAM and GPU cores (not maxed out storage though, because I’m not TOO insane), not because I needed it, but rather for two reasons: First, I wanted a powerful small form factor Mac that my g/f can happily use for years after I’m gone (medical issues), and secondly I got a 25% discount on it.

The Mac Studio’s GPU, even maxed out, is rubbish for gaming when compared with an Nvidia 3090.

But otherwise, it’s a small, silent, pretty powerful machine and I like it.

[Miami_Baby]

Which one should I get; the mac studio M1 Max or the mabook M1 Max? both 32ram

[k.o.t.o.n.]

number pads should be on the let side from now on i think

[JTechWP]

I bought the Mac Studio M1Max 64gb 1TB, studio display with VESA mount and a 42” ASUS Rog strix 4K HDR Oled. Waiting for the secret labs Magnus pro xl desk to arrive. 4TB sandisk pro extreme NVME for video editing. Main uses, Lightroom, photoshop, video editing, screen recording and web building. M1Max is plenty powerful enough for 4 streams of 4K video with titles and graphics.