Mac Studio - any users here?

[ConcertinaChap]

Well that's all very interesting reading. I'm not feeling any pressure to move on from my iMac Pro, which still rockets along quite nicely on everything I do on it even though it's 3.5 years old. However my wife is still on a 2012 Mac Mini so I think the new mini will make a perfect birthday present.

CC

[Johnny Stecchino]

I just found three videos which shows some benchmarks and those might be of interest to the one who didn’t order yet. Seems like the M2 Pro bits the M1Max in some cases (especially the 12CPU core configuration) but when it comes to GPU or SSD velocity the M1 Max wins. I don’t know how much that would be crucial to us, for ex. Kontakt libraries I’m going to put on an external SSD anyway and I will agree with Tea for two about upgrading cores but stay with the 512GB. From some research I did I think to get this one: https://www.acasis.com/products/acasis- ... e-c-tbu405

Here are the videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owLXj4BFZ-A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx8vMlTGUC8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDFID1wA76g

Anyone knows when the Mac Studio M2 is coming?

Best of luck and please tell us how is the mini when you’ll get it and how silent it is.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[tea for two]

Just one vid to add to the vids listed by Johnny Stecchino.

New mcmini pro m2 12core Cpu Vs mcstud m1 10core Cpu
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-24_4-pkVwk

Starts at 2min55sec.
Tests. Benchmarks. Cpu and Gpu.
As well as wattage, temps, cooling, fan speed, wifi, ssd speeds,
coding, photo editing, video editing, 3d rendering, logic 8min24sec.

::

My takeaway from this comparison :
if can wait then wait for m2 mcstud;
if want to get something now then mcmini pro m2 12core Cpu.

::

Myself I'm chugging along on my decade older i5 iMac.
It does give the overload sign on a couple of pieces.

If I was to get a M series Mac it would have to be 16GB ram for not using swapfile as much as 8GB ram would
and minimum 512GB SSD for speed as 256GB is slooooow according to utube tests :
that's quite an outlay for me as an amateur for a hobby which at the moment let's say funds is better allocated elsewhere for me lol.

[dBerriff]

Just one contribution to the discussion in which slow is still fast compared to not that many years ago.

My 2018 Intel i7 Mac mini reported:

Thunderbolt/USB4:
2 x Thunderbolt/USB4 Bus

USB:
1 x Apple T2 Bus (Headset, Apple T2 Controller)
3 x USB 3.1 Bus

Now the new Mac Mini M2 Pro, base model:

4 x Thunderbolt/USB4 Bus

5 x USB 3.1 Bus

So for those of you who use external disks it might be worth knowing that you have this extra bandwidth. The audio interface also gets its own bus of course under this scheme.

[adamskij]

Yepp, bought my M1max Studio (64gb ram, 32core gpu, 2tb) in November, got it in December. Was waiting until October to hear from M2pro minis, so it was a surprise introduction January.
After looking at the basic price of an M2pro and the cost of its upgrades guess i would still choose a Studio over the stronger mini. The bandwidth of a Max/Ultra board is twice of a Pro/basic one. Studio has ports in the front and it's chassis is a new design. Adding two upgrades for an M2Pro you are already hitting the price of the basic M1max and this latter one is a stronger computer.
Guess an M2Pro 16Gb 1Tb would be an ideal mid-level configuration (with the weaker 10core cpu), but i am just a bit more cautious with memory size. Think for mac os memory is the most important upgrade, even more important, than cpu speed. Therefore i would always opt for maximum memory what is available. However M2Pro 32Gb 1Tb costs almost the same as M1max 32Gb 512gb but this latter one feels more future proof with at least 1Tb internal drive.
Ah yes, ventilation: it is always working in a Studio chassis, but my earlier late 2009 mini was way louder when they were put next to each other. i am pretty sure those who need a silent computer could find a spot where this ventilation is even less prominent.

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.

[Johnny Stecchino]

Just found this review - you can jump directly to the “Performance arts” section:
https://sixcolors.com/post/2023/01/m2-m ... -it-to-be/

Quoting him:
“Oh, and since I know fan noise is of particular concern to segments of the market that might be interested in the M2 Pro mini, I’ll say this: I could not hear the machine’s fan. Ever. I fired up all the cores and left them going for a while, and still nothing. I held my Apple Watch’s decibel reader near the back of the mini, and I noticed no appreciable change. I even installed Fanny, an app that reports fan data, to make sure there was indeed a fan inside. (There is, but apparently it is very quiet.) Apple’s not blowing smoke when it says low power consumption is a cornerstone of how it develops its chips.“

[Kwackman]

I've seen you a tube video where you can clearly hear the fan on a M2 Mac mini- I can't remember what program the bloke was running to cause the fan to run. There's a thread about fan noise on MacRumours.

I gave up watching opposing videos, and just ordered one. I SUSPECT under my normal use I'll not have many noise problems. In any case, it'll be quieter than my cheese grater Mac Pro!!

[Wonks]

Noise levels are all relative. In that review it would have been far more useful to know what the background noise levels level was and what the ‘no appreciable increase’ was.

If the background level was say 30dB(A) and with the fan it was 31dB(A), then the fan’s contribution would be pretty quiet at 24 dB(A). If the background level was 40dB(A) and with the fan it was 41dB(A), then it would be less so at 34 dB(A), and the fan would certainly be noticeable in a 30dB(A) environment, and in that would raise the noise level to 35.5dB(A).

Measurement distance from the fan is also important to know as that affects the level as well. A 1dB increase at 10cm will contribute a lot less to room noise than 1dB at 1m.

With noise level measurement, context is everything.

I’m not saying that it’s not a quiet fan, just that the review’s test method is flawed.

[tea for two]

just ordered one. I SUSPECT under my normal use I'll not have many noise problems. In any case, it'll be quieter than my cheese grater Mac Pro!!

I would done same.
Even the first gen M1 mcmini with 8cores (just 4 perfm cores) is way more than I would use, currently on my decade older i5 imac and even older 2010 i5 mcbook.
I have a fondness for cheese grater mcpro design.
Liked it's neatness with memory compartment, motherboard layout. Proper workstation.
I had the dual core 3,1 the the 6core 5,1.
Dvd drive door wouldn't open on my 3,1 there was a simple fix of lifting up the dvd drive itself if I recall.
My favourite mctower was the mirror drive doors G4 I had that before I got the cheese grater.

[BigRedX]

When I can finally afford to replace my MacPro 5,1 with a Mac Studio, I won't miss the fan noise in the slightest. It's just as well that it doesn't affect my day job (graphic design) and any music doesn't involve recording with microphones and is mostly done using headphones. I also suspect that the graphics card is responsible for the majority of the noise. And finally to put it all into perspective, next-door's washing machine in spin cycle is louder than the fan noise from the MacPro.

[Chromeman]

I won't miss the fan noise in the slightest.

Me neither! I recently consigned my 5,1 to the basement to use as a file server and even now after a few months I still can't get used to switching on my Macbook Air and hearing nothing. I do love the old cheese graters though, huge amounts of storage, built like tanks and mine is still going strong after 10 years!

[ManFromGlass]

Same here

[Kwackman]

Noise levels are all relative. In that review it would have been far more useful to know what the background noise levels level was and what the ‘no appreciable increase’ was.

Agreed, although when he moved towards the mini, the fan noise was pretty obvious and clear.

I’m not saying that it’s not a quiet fan, just that the review’s test method is flawed.

So true, and I think that applies to nearly all youtube videos!
I was getting a bit worked up about some videos, and wish "presenters" would, stop shouting, stop waffling and get to the point, saying "awesome" is NOT a review, and opinions aren't facts... I could go on, but I'll turn into Arpangel.
I've never watched so many, and was glad to go cold turkey when I pressed the "buy" button on the mini, so don't really care anymore!

[chris...]

For those waiting for an M2 Mac Studio, such a thing may not appear any time soon (if you believe the info).

https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/05/ap ... ac-studio/

[Kwackman]

My M2 Mac mini arrived last Friday.
This is replacing a 2010 Mac Pro (Cheese Grater)
I decided not to use the migration tool, as I'm sure there'd be loads of incompatible or useless software I'd forgotten about on the MacPro.
I'd copied files not on iCloud storage to an external drive- Photos library, Documents folder etc.

The Mac Pro had 3 separate SSDs for Samples, Studio projects (Cubase), And my CD library. These were put into external cases to connect to the Mac mini.

So, it was a new install, and generally, this has been much easier than expected.
Once I logged in with my Mac ID, all my Safari favourites, emails, calendars etc just happened. I'd some emails not in the cloud, and exporting/importing maim boxes sorted that.
The only odd thing was the Photos App put all my photos in the iCloud, which got me an alert of running out of iCloud space. Fixed that quickly!

Despite the software not supposed to work with Ventura, The Id22 interface is working fine.
Cubase works fine as expected.
Toontrack's Product manager made it easy to download the Superior Drummer, EZDrummer & EZBass programs, then point them to the sample libraries on the external drive.
I've had no issues with Spectronic's Trilian, Scuffham S-Gear3, Overloud's TH-U, Guitar Rig 6, and even Kontakt 6 which isn't supposed to be Ventura friendly.

The Mini is on my desk right beside me, it has a hub and several SSDs hanging off it. I can't hear any fan noise at all! So far, very happy.
Thanks for all the info and advice given in this thread.

I'll be back in 12years asking for advice about my next Mac!!

[sonics]

That's great news, thanks for posting. Perhaps give us an update in a few months about any issues and how it's performed?

[Jay Menon]

What monitors do you guys use with the Mini & Studio? Is an inbuilt WebCam essential?

[BigRedX]

What monitors do you guys use with the Mini & Studio? Is an inbuilt WebCam essential?

I upgraded to a Mac Studio almost 2 months ago.

I'm using three Dell 27" monitors. A high quality one as my main display and two cheap(er) ones either side. All are connected to the Mac using Thunderbolt/Displayport cables. The main use of the this Mac is for graphic design for print, which is why the reason for the monitor choices. If it was just for music I could have got away with three of the cheaper model display. None have built-in webcams. I don't have any use for them.

Regarding a previous point about fans noise, the Mac Studio is completely silent. There is slight fan noise from the 5 bay Thunderbolt drive enclosure I use but it doesn't affect any music I do as most of it is done wearing headphones and I don't record anything with microphones using this set up.

[ConcertinaChap]

I use a Mac Studio display, beautiful but expensive though I reduced the cost by buying Apple refurb. It integrates so closely with the Studio computer you might be using an iMac. Decent integrated webcam. A webcam is essential for me since I use Zoom a lot but it doesn't need to be integrated into the monitor (very neat and tidy, if it is, though). Remarkably good speakers for a monitor. My second screen is a 27" LG Tbolt 2 screen that I've had for years, connected via an Apple Tbolt 3 to 2 adapter.

CC

[IAA]

I use a Mac Studio display, beautiful but expensive though I reduced the cost by buying Apple refurb. It integrates so closely with the Studio computer you might be using an iMac. Decent integrated webcam.

Yes I use one too with my Mac Studio, they are a fine monitor. I use a smaller 23 inch (I think) monitor for tracking purposes (when I’m sitting at my piano keyboard away from my main desk) over on the other side of the studio connected via HDMI.

So far the M1Max is still going strong, but when the M4 Max Studio comes along ….

Ian

[ConcertinaChap]

Yes, I'm happy with my M2 Ultra and expect to remain so for quite a while to come as the power it has well exceeds my modest needs, but if I was buying now I might hold off until the M4 version appears. But how long might that be?

CC