Apple’s all-new Mac Studio desktop computer launched this Friday. Ahead of time, the first reviews and unboxing videos for the Mac Studio have surfaced, giving us a closer look at the machine and its companion Studio Display.
performance
Although Mac Studio is similar to a larger Mac Mini, it is much more powerful. The computer can be configured with the same M1 Max chip available for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, or the new M1 Ultra chip, which features a 20-core CPU, up to a 64-core GPU, and a 32. – Core neural engine. With the M1 Ultra chip, the Mac Studio has faster performance than the 28-core Mac Pro tower that was released in December 2019.
In particular, the Mac Studio achieved multi-core scores of around 23,500 to 24,000 in many Geekbench 5 results, compared to an average multi-core score of 19,956 for a Mac Pro with a 28-core Intel Xeon W processor. It’s particularly impressive given that a Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra chip starts at $3,999, while a Mac Pro Tower configured with a 28-core processor is three times more expensive at $12,999.
The VergeMonica Chin of:
My first stop was Becca Farces, our video director who edited a full video review of Mac Studio and Studio Display (which you should go check out if you haven’t already) in our studio unit. I’ve watched hours and hours of his work in Premiere and Media Encoder, and even to my layman’s eye it’s clear that the studio is flying. It was miles better than our two-year-old Mac Pro (which Becca uses for most of her work) in basically everything.
Becca was able to play 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2 footage in Adobe Premiere Pro at full resolution from the Sony FX3 at 4x speed without any proxy. It was lightning fast. On any other machine, it should be at half-resolution at most. There was no lag between hitting the spacebar and stopping playback when playing footage at 2x or 4x speed, which he found to be a major annoyance on the Mac Pro.
connection
On the back of the Mac Studio, connectivity options include four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, a 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones. On the front, there is an SD card slot along with two USB-C ports for the M1 Max configuration or two Thunderbolt 4 ports for the M1 Ultra configuration. The computer supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
six colorsJason Snell:
But that could be it: it’s a computer designed to be used, not to be seen as a piece of art. When you choose to stick ports on the front of a computer—hey everyone, Apple puts ports on the front!!—you’re choosing function over form. That’s the story of Mac Studio.
Apple didn’t leave out Mac Studio when it wanted a specific part of its customer base – connectivity. I used the SD card twice in the first day in front of Mac Studio. I plugged a keyboard into that front USB port. (My test unit was an M1 Max model, so the front ports were USB-C; on models with the M1 Ultra chip, they’re full Thunderbolt 4.)
And then there’s the full array of ports on the back: four Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A, HDMI, a headphone jack, and 10GB Ethernet. While I didn’t fill all those ports, I transferred an array of cables and adapters from the back of my iMac Pro to the Mac Studio and didn’t have to dig out a single adapter or find a USB hub to accommodate.
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