Mac Studio - any users here?

[Kwackman]

Hi,
Anyone using one?
Especially the "basic" 10 core model.
Are they silent?
I believe the 20 core (which gets good reports on it's silence) uses different cooling materials than the 10 core.
Any other experience from users would be appreciated.

[muzines]

I don't have one, but they're not silent like the laptops etc mostly are, as the fan is always running.

However, the fan speed doesn't seem to change under load, so the noise level is constant, and should be mostly inaudible unless it's on a desktop in front of you and the room is quiet (as long as you don't get one of the ones that whine).

You'll want more actual user reports of course, but if you search around (eg on MacRumors) you'll find plenty of user discussion on this...

[Kwackman]

You might not be a user, but your track record on Mac knowledge moves your opinion well up the credence scale!

Thanks for your reply, useful stuff as always.

[muzines]

Thanks!

(These M1 machines are amazing though - on my M1Pro MBP - best computer I've ever had - the fans have spun up exactly *once*, when doing a video encode... not even when running my Logic sessions with virtual instruments etc.)

[Luke W]

I've got one, but I opted for the Ultra in the end. It uses a copper heatsink in place of the Max's aluminium version, but aside from that I'm not sure if there are any other differences.

For what it's worth though, it's a very quiet machine and I've not heard a peep out of it yet from where I sit (it's racked up about a meter away from my ears). I ran a (not very scientific) test to see if I could get it to start coughing or crash whilst playing back a heavy session, but I got bored before it played up and it was still making no additional noise whatsoever.

[Kwackman]

Thanks!

(These M1 machines are amazing though - on my M1Pro MBP - best computer I've ever had - the fans have spun up exactly *once*, when doing a video encode... not even when running my Logic sessions with virtual instruments etc.)

Good to know!
I'm still on a 2010 Mac Pro (Cheesegrater) and looking at what my next step might be. I tend to keep computers for a long time!
The M1 Mac Mini seemed the ideal solution, but now Mac Studios are appearing in the refurb site and might be a better long term computer with the extra ports and 32GB standard RAM.

[Kwackman]

Thanks for the info Luke.
I'm more than a little jealous of your machine!

[IAA]

I’m running a studio, the max. It’s silent as far as I can tell. It’s not spun up once yet! I’m running all native Apple silicon so no Rosetta. Either way it’s hugely powerful for my audio needs.

[Kwackman]

Thanks for the info IAA.

[muzines]

I’m running a studio, the max. It’s silent as far as I can tell. It’s not spun up once yet!

The fans in the Studio/Ultra machines are *always* running - unlike the lower end Mac laptops, where the fans are completely off and spin up as needed, the Studios etc go for a more constant cooling profile, so they are always running even when the machine is idling.

They are large and efficient though, and as far as I've seen, stay running at that same speed, no matter the workload (unless something really bad happens, I guess!) - ie, they don't spin up and down depending on workload.

If you put your ear to the case you'll hear them, they are not silent according to most user reports I've seen, but how noticeable they are depends on how quiet your room is, and where they are mounted etc. And possibly unit-to-unit variances (there were a few issues here, certainly with the early reviewed/purchased units.)

It's good to know that for studio use, they are pretty unobtrusive even when running...

[Kwackman]

Just to muddy the waters, Apple have announced M2 & M2Pro Mac Mini today.
The M2 Pro comes with 2 extra TB4 connections, and can have 32GB RAM.
The price is a little bit under the Mac Studio Max with similar RAM & HD size.
Hmm..

[Gone To Lunch]

I have one, on a shelf under my desk, and I can't hear it.

[Kwackman]

I have one, on a shelf under my desk, and I can't hear it.

Good to hear (sorry!).
Is yours a Max or Ultra?

Last weekend I almost bought a Max from Apple's refurb site, but now I'm wondering if the M2Pro Mac Mini is a better choice. I'm hoping there'll be comparisons soon.
Thanks for the reply.

[RobinC]

I too have one under my desk and can’t hear it from my listening position. If I get under the desk and put my ear close to it I can make out the fan noise. Mine is a Max and has been used daily for the last 6 months.

I think now though if you don’t need over 32 gig ram then the M2 Pro mini is probably the way to go rather than the Studio Max. I’m happy with my purchase and won’t be changing any time soon

[BigRedX]

I think now though if you don’t need over 32 gig ram then the M2 Pro mini is probably the way to go rather than the Studio Max. I’m happy with my purchase and won’t be changing any time soon

The thing is, as soon as you start adding on features to the Mac Mini to get it to close the same spec as the Mac Studio it goes up in price quite quickly. The base model Mac Mini looks very good VfM but everything else (to me) seems overpriced when compared to the base level Mac Studio.

[Kwackman]

Thanks Robin, good to read your experience with your Max.

[Kwackman]

The thing is, as soon as you start adding on features to the Mac Mini to get it to close the same spec as the Mac Studio it goes up in price quite quickly. The base model Mac Mini looks very good VfM but everything else (to me) seems overpriced when compared to the base level Mac Studio.

I agree the price of the M2Pro Mini spec'd up to the Mac Max comes in at a similar price. So, that leaves the question which is better, and which would be the better long term choice.

[tea for two]

Last weekend I almost bought a Max from Apple's refurb site, but now I'm wondering if the M2Pro Mac Mini is a better choice. I'm hoping there'll be comparisons soon.

mcstud has 2x memory bandwidth than mcmini m2pro.
I don't know whether memory bandwidth is important for the projects you would do.

[IAA]

Last weekend I almost bought a Max from Apple's refurb site

Which is where I got mine from. Bought most of my macs this way.

[Kwackman]

macstud has 2x memory bandwidth than mcmini m2pro.
I don't know whether memory bandwidth is important for the projects you would do.

I don't know either TBH.
They both have 10-Core CPU, but the Studio has 8 Performance, 2 efficiency and the M2Pro Mini has 6 performance and 4 efficiency. I have no idea which is better.
Maybe a M1 core and a M2 core are different and can't be compared by numbers!
I'm sure either would be a great computer, but I don't know how you go about comparing them performance wise. I'll have a look at Geekbench when the M2 Minis make it to their lists, although I'm not certain what the scores mean, other than bigger is better!
There's a page here, that gets updated which is helpful.
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/produc ... mpare-them

If I'd just bought the refurb store's MacStudio last weekend, none of this would be important!

[Johnny Stecchino]

There's a page here, that gets updated which is helpful.
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/produc ... mpare-them

Thanks Kwackman, I’m on the same situation, my MBP 2012 start to cripple when it comes to audio for video and definitely can’t use external monitor with 4K resolution. It would be wise to wait few weeks if you can to understand if the mini get hot or not or if there are other issues (hopefully not). Here you can see some benchmarks: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/mac-mini ... his-is-big

Good luck and please tell us what you opt for!
Cheers mate,
Jonathan

[tea for two]

macstud has 2x memory bandwidth than mcmini m2pro.
I don't know whether memory bandwidth is important for the projects you would do.

I don't know either TBH.
They both have 10-Core CPU, but the Studio has 8 Performance, 2 efficiency and the M2Pro Mini has 6 performance and 4 efficiency. I have no idea which is better.
Maybe a M1 core and a M2 core are different and can't be compared by numbers!
I'm sure either would be a great computer, but I don't know how you go about comparing them performance wise. I'll have a look at Geekbench when the M2 Minis make it to their lists, although I'm not certain what the scores mean, other than bigger is better!
There's a page here, that gets updated which is helpful.
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/produc ... mpare-them

If I'd just bought the refurb store's MacStudio last weekend, none of this would be important!

Hopefully another mcstud appears on apple refurb for you

Max Tech is a pretty handy channel I check out to get some info for myself.
This is a pretty useful vid from them, also talks about double memory bandwidth of mcstud and uses for larger memory bandwidth.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x7bIHnSGovI

More Performance cores for more horsepower so apple made mcstud larger for cooling these extra performance cores.

Also according to Max Tech testing avoiding 256GB storage as it's a lot slower and when used as swapfile (due to having only 8GB ram on our mac) it can downgrade performance even more.

I personally if I had the bread currently would go for mcstud (instead of mcmini m2 pro) minimum 32GB ram minimum 512GB storage.
24coreGpu according to Max Tech test (on other vids from them) is plenty for 8K video editing.
Then it's just choosing the amount of cpu cores 10 or 20. 10 cpu cores for me is more than plenty according to Max Tech tests.

I just priced up new
mcstud £1999 (£1799 on apple refurb) : 10cores 24gpu cores, 512GB storage, 32GB ram.
mcmini m2 pro £1899 : 10cores 16gpu cores, 512GB storage, 32GB ram, 10Gbit ethernet.

However if enuff bread is an issue then new
mcmini m2pro £1399 : 10cores 16gpu cores, 512GB storage, 16GB ram.
This would be more than plenty for me.

[Gone To Lunch]

I have one, on a shelf under my desk, and I can't hear it.

Good to hear (sorry!).
Is yours a Max or Ultra?

Max with 64GB memory with 2TB drive. A superb machine that is spectacularly fast. I recommend.

[tea for two]

Max with 64GB memory with 2TB drive. A superb machine that is spectacularly fast. I recommend.

GTL have you had any instance of throttling occur on your mcstud.

On reviews they say when both Cpu Performance cores and GPU cores are pushed to their limits at the same time that's when throttling occurs : on all M silicon macs.

From this my takeaway is that throttling doesn't occur when only Cpu Performance cores are at their limit.

Even an 1st gen M mcmini is way beyond what I do : currently decade older imac. So I don't imagine pushing a mcstud even 1/3 of its Cpu performance.