mind . TheMac Minican do a lot of matter and do them well . But there are just certain line of work that you ’ll need more power than even the top - of - the - personal line of credit model can handle . In those cases , it ’s time to whip out the big hit man , namely the Mac Studio . From its chunky size ( liken to the Mac Mini ) to its M4 Max or M3 Ultra chipset , the Mac Studio fall solidly in the land of originative professionals and the AI coder wunderkinder . Plus , Apple Intelligence is baked in , so some redaction tasks can be finish even quicker .
The Studio is made for piece of work , and you ’ll be hard - pressed to tax it to the point where you ’ll evoke anything but a soft whirr from its fan . And the operation is just that damn skilful ; the price is a horse of a different color . The base model Price are prohibitive for the average customer , and it only gets more painful as you look to expand the memory and store .
But if your billfold can stomach it , the Apple Mac Studio is the new king of background for originative professionals and those with gravid - responsibility workloads .
©Photos: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC
Apple Mac Studio
The Apple Mac Studio bring unbelievable performance in a sleek , splinter boxwood that can cost and sleeve and a leg
Pros
©Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC
Cons
Apple Mac Studio Review: Pricing and Configurations
There are two configurations of the Mac Studio to consider , and neither is inexpensive . The M4 Max foundation mannequin cost $ 1,999 and has a 14 - essence M4 Max chip with 36 GB of unified memory , a 512 GB SSD , and a 32 - core M4 Max GPU . A tricked - out M4 Max Mac Studio will set you back $ 5,800 . That heart - watering damage grow you a 16 - center M4 Max CPU with 128 GB of unified computer memory , an 8 TB SSD , and a 40 - center GPU . My review unit falls in between with $ 3,699 and has the 16 - core M4 Max CPU,128 GB of unified RAM , and 40 - pith GPU with only 1 TB of RAM .
But if you need even more tycoon , the M3 Ultra constellation starts at $ 3,999 . The base of operations model uses a 28 - core M3 Ultra mainframe with 96 GB of unified RAM , a 1 TB SSD , and a 60 - substance M3 Ultra GPU . The high-pitched form of the M3 Ultra Mac features a 32 - core CPU with a ridiculous 512 GB of unified RAM , a 16 TB SSD , and an 80 - heart GPU . I ’m not sure what eccentric of employment you ’ll be doing with that much power , but it ’ll be you $ 14,099 for the perquisite . Wowzers ! !
Apple Mac Studio Review: Design and Build Quality
The Mac Mini I reviewed last year is every bit the goody dearie . When I pick up the Mac Studio , however , it immediately spark off some 80s baby nostalgia .
“ HEFTY , HEFTY , HEFTY ! ”
The Studio is indeed hefty , matter a solid 6.1 pounds , which jump to an even eight pounds for the M3 Ultra model . It makes the 1.5 - pound Mac Mini find like a paperweight . And measuring 3.7 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches against the Mini ’s 2 x 5 x 5 inch , the Studio well dwarfs its little brother .
©Photo: Sherri L. Smith/Dreamsmith LLC
However , that does n’t intend that the Studio is any less pretty . Seriously , when was the last time you saw a truly ugly product design from Apple ? I ’ll wait . While you ponder that head , I ’ll give you a tour of the design . As expected , the exterior is made from silver anodized aluminum with gently rounded bound . The iconic half - run through apple logo is stamped in the middle of the top of the twist .
Two Thunderbolt 5 ports and an SDXC card proofreader are on the Studio ’s front . And just like a gray mullet , the party ’s definitely in the back as there are four Thunderbolt 5 ports in the back , a pair of USB - A 3.2 port , an HDMI port wine , an Ethernet jack , a headset jack , and AC power input . All this sits below a large rearward exhaust system grillwork meant to distribute air into the system to keep thing nice and cool . Unlike its little counterpart , the power button is located on the back of the twist instead of the undercarriage , which was my one major queasiness with the Mini .
If you flip the Studio over , you ’ll see a protruding foot breed with golf hole . Those holes are part of Apple ’s new cool down system , which moves nerveless aura over the power provision and components . Mac Studio is press into the very bottom of the groundwork .
©Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC
Apple Mac Studio Review: Apple Intelligence
Nowadays , increasing numbers pool of gadgets are jumping on the hokey intelligence agency train , and a destiny of major companies are get their own version of the engineering . Apple ’s no different . Apple Intelligence is broil into the Studio . In fact , my revaluation unit has a 16 - core Neural Engine to palm any AI - powered project such as exposure or video redaction , utilizing productive AI or even using one of those snazzy AI video recording conferencing setting .
But Apple Intelligence has a few more tricks designed to make your oeuvre go just a minuscule smoother . The Writing Tools feature can help work through a writer ’s engine block with its summarizing , proofreading , and rewriting capabilities . Best of all , the feature can be employ beyond Apple apps .
You ’ll also get a aid hand from Apple Intelligence in your Mail and Messages app and Notifications . It will parse the information to the most authoritative function , making it easy to skim and go . This particularly come in ready to hand when you have a long e-mail thread . And when it ’s time to respond to an electronic mail proportionateness , the Smart Reply feature can zigzag out a feeling - appropriate reception .
©Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC
I touched on the photo - redaction capability at the top of the incision . Like Google ’s Magic Eraser , Apple ’s Clean Up feature can get rid of objects and people from photo taken with an iPhone and DSLR images . And instead of scroll through a net ton of old pic and TV looking for that specific shooting , the search has been streamline with musical accompaniment for raw speech query . you may also reckon for specific spot in video .
Siri is also become an Apple Intelligence power - up . The digital assistant is a much chattier and more conversational variant of Siri that can pick up on setting cues . That have in mind you may refer back to something you or Siri said in a recent request , and the digital helper will respond in kind . My favorite part about the new , improved Siri is that it does n’t get spark up when you stutter or have a case of nous freeze . And for question that you ’d rather not require out loud , you may type in your query .
Apple Mac Studio Review: Software
The Mac Studio runs on the latest version of macOS Sequoia . The manoeuver arrangement looks to be a jack - of - all - trades as it aim to optimise productiveness , video conferencing , security , and , in certain cases , some gaming . As a tab hoarder , the updated windowpane tiling is my young preferent matter . It give me easy access to multiple tabs to quickly move between Google Docs , Adobe Photoshop , social media , and Google Chrome .
And even though it ’s not my default app , Safari , Apple ’s entanglement web web browser , is making a strong casing for a promotion with the Highlights feature . It can suss out quick summaries , directions to a locating , information about a song , TV show , movie , and other helpful information . And for those moments where I want to jump down a YouTube maw , Distraction Control restricts access for more focused web browse .
As a journalist , I carry a fair amount of audience . Going back and transcribe the audio recording is a tedious experience that I would n’t like on my spoiled foe . The Notes app excrete ennui as it now supports audio written text . And when I need to take benchmarking averages , note of hand can become a makeshift calculator .
©Photo: Sherri L. Smith/DreamSmith LLC
iPhone Mirroring let iPhone proprietor interact with the smartphone via the screen background . It took a little less than five minutes before I scroll through Instagram reels and every app on my iPhone . Being able to check my sound ’s apprisal without having to catch my phone is a definite time recoverer .
As swindler become more sophisticated with AI scamming pecker , get a unlike password for every login is vital . But let ’s be literal : Many of us do n’t follow that salvia advice , leave ourselves undefended to a serious security falling out . The Passwords feature eliminates all that hassle , storing your passwords in one place , protected by end - to - final stage encryption .
For gamers , Apple ’s newfangled secret plan Porting Toolkit 2 gives developers handy new tools to work game to all Macs and iOS devices . One such claim is hacker 2077 , a notoriously graphically - taxing form of address that can make lesser devices bring about stuttering , unplayable messes . Assassin ’s Creed Shadows will also make an coming into court on Macs . This is a big step for Apple , as Macs have been write off as gaming machines due to the lack of living for console and personal computer games over the year .
Apple Mac Studio Review: Performance
There ’s work , and there’swork . You know , the form that could potentially put a colony on Mars , edit some of the man ’s most breathless photography , or code the next technological boom . That ’s what Apple has in mind with its M3 Ultra and M4 Max chipsets . The society has nickname the latter “ the world ’s fastest CPU core , ” while the former has resolve to deliver “ extreme public presentation ” on both the CPU and GPU fronts . Both 3 - nanometer chips are designed to deliver optimum performance without sacrificing efficiency , thanks to increased cores and unified retentiveness . These microprocessor chip strike off the first prison term the big three of graphics performance add up to the Studio : Dynamic Caching , hardware - accelerated net , and ray trace .
While I would have have it off to get my hands on both iterations of the Studio , I have to say that the M4 Max will suffice for a lot of creative professionals . According to Apple , the central processor with its 12 performance core and four efficiency cores offers multithreaded CPU public presentation that ’s twice as fast as the M1 Max and over 3x faster than the fastest 27 - inch Intel - based iMac ( Whew , remember when Intel in Macs was a thing ? ) On the graphics side , Apple lay claim “ 3.5x faster art performance than M1 Max , and up to 6.1x faster than the fastest Intel - based iMac . ”
And if that was n’t enough , here are a few other chassis to mull over
All that ’s a fancy way of saying that I confound everything I had at the littlest tank car , and it just laughed at my effort . My 80 RAM - eating tab in Google Chrome with its mix of G - Suite apps , telecasting , news , amusement , and shopping situation ? Nope . resize a stash of 300 altogether photos to 1080p in Photoshop ? Done in 1 minute and 12 s . fork over five 10 - minute 4 K television on DaVinci Resolve ? Completed in an average of 2 minute and 53 second . It ’s annoyingly good , and I vow to find something to trip up this matter up . mayhap a flight simulator or some RAW picture Indian file ? But for now , the Mac Studio consider my regular workflow a joke . And btw , I just heard the buff outside of a soothing whir at meter .
The Studio also had a big laugh at the expense of the synthetic benchmarks . For instance , it notched 3,926 on the single - core interlingual rendition of the Geekbench 6 test with a comparable 25,885 . The same trial run on theCyberPowerPC Gamer Supremedesktop , which has an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D , and theFalcon Northwest Tiki(Intel Core Ultra 9 285 CPU ) give way account of 3,142 and 3,045 , respectively . The Studio also kept its gait on the multi - core subdivision , scoring 25,885 . The Tiki took second plaza with 21,753 , and the Gamer Supreme took third with 17,148 .
I saw similar results on Cinebench 2024 , where the Studio impinge on 2,071 and 186 on the multi- and exclusive - thread tests , sweeping the two personal computer out the door . On the Handbrake benchmark , it consume the Studio 1 minute and 58 seconds to transcode a 4 K video to 1080p , speeding past the Tiki ’s 2:31 and the Gamer Supreme ’s prison term of 3:07 .
Apple Mac Studio Review: Verdict
The Mac Studio is in a class of its own . design for the AI software engineer and Disney Imagineers of the mankind , this small loge has enough powerfulness to tackle any piece of work project , no matter how big . The M4 Max is an absolute beast of a micro chip that , with the proper amount of interconnected storage ( I suggest at least 48 GB ) , is a nigh - unstoppable military force to the average consumer . Inferno , I think its target consultation will have problem slowing this thing down , and that ’s a great matter .
While massive compared to the Mac Mini , the Studio gets the job done and stays pretty quiet . It has a innkeeper of quick Thunderbolt 5 ports , which will come in ready to hand for a multi - display apparatus or whatever dock you require to plug into this matter . Is it a bit of a chunky client ? surely , but like most desktops , it ’s not stand for to travel with you over the river and through the woods . The swelled obstruction for most consumer is the toll , which , if you ’re endeavor to get the most brawny system potential , will set you back almost $ 15K. That ’s a wild proposition in any saving . However , the Apple Mac Studio is right in class for the world ’s heavy - duty software engineer and creative professionals .
AppleApple Mac StudioDesktopsMacMac Studio
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