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Buy a Mac Studio now or wait?
- Thread starter NJRonbo
- Start date
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My guess is the Mac Studio won’t get upgraded every year. It’s a niche product. For example the iMac historically got upgraded every two years for awhile.
The main reasoning is they have to create the ultra variant of the chip for the studio and it doesn’t make sense for them to create this every generation.
My hunch is that odd # generations get the Ultra and Extreme chips. Even # chips only go up to the Pro and Mac chips.
I.E
M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max
M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, M3 ultra, M3 extr
M4, M4 Pro, M4 Max
M5, M5 Pro, M5 Max, M5 ultra, M5 extr
My guess is that this means higher-end niche macs will get upgraded every 2 years, and the more popular macs (MacBooks) get annual upgrades.
The main reasoning is they have to create the ultra variant of the chip for the studio and it doesn’t make sense for them to create this every generation.
My hunch is that odd # generations get the Ultra and Extreme chips. Even # chips only go up to the Pro and Mac chips.
I.E
M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max
M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, M3 ultra, M3 extr
M4, M4 Pro, M4 Max
M5, M5 Pro, M5 Max, M5 ultra, M5 extr
My guess is that this means higher-end niche macs will get upgraded every 2 years, and the more popular macs (MacBooks) get annual upgrades.
I'm the original poster
So, I did it!
I got VERY lucky. Adorama in NYC offered this configuration for $2,399 with an APINSIDER coupon. However, it was out of stock and I really did not want to order from them.
I called B&H PHOTO (also in NYC). I got a really, really cool guy on the phone that went to all lengths to try and price match. They usually would price match Adorama, but the problem was, the Adorama unit was on backorder. They usually don't get approved to price match if it's not in stock.
The salesman put the order through anyway and...VOILA!...the system allowed him to do it.
So, I essentially got this M1 Studio at Apple Education pricing. It was an incentive enough to order it.
...and I'll have it in my hands tomorrow morning with next-day FedEx delivery.
Thank you to everyone here who responded. I got some great information and all of you were really cool to me in trying to help me determine whether this was the right time or not to order this. Thank you, again!
congrats! I should get mine from BH (4TB version) within the next few hours, very excited!
This is a good point. Probably worth asking one's self why are they buying the Studio. It isn't necessarily about the chip. I bought mine because of the I/O and display support. Those things are what they are and work for me. That's not going to change. I can say with 100% certainty that I use a fraction of the chip's power and that too isn't going to change for quite a while.
Sort of comes down to what you are doing with the device. In my case, I think it will last years and years. At least that's what I hope.
Nice!!!
The eternal question when upgrading computer "should I wait"?
well, this has been long discused already, but the thumb rule is a balance between your needs and the time to be released the next computer.
I waited 1 year since I decided to buy a new computer waiting for some M1 desktop solution, putting on standby many projects in 4K as my old Macbook was very slow. Then I bought the MacStudio at release date.
Looking back, it would be worth buying a Mac Intel when I needed, using it for that year and maybe 2 more (MacStudio is really nice but I got a lot of problems this 9 months with software not enough polished, from Final Cut to Adobe suite, and a lot of headache) I would have all those projects in 4K instead of just HD already, but now I have to catch up for that, and then upgrading to a M2 or whatever.
So the decision is always subjective.
Buy what you need when you need it 99% of the time. If an update is very close, that’s the time to wait.
The transition to Apple Silicon was kind of unique, because it was definitely a good idea to wait until the computer you need it switched over, as the power increases were huge.
That’s kind of true for the Mac Pro crowd right now.
The transition to Apple Silicon was kind of unique, because it was definitely a good idea to wait until the computer you need it switched over, as the power increases were huge.
That’s kind of true for the Mac Pro crowd right now.
I've been eyeing the Studio, but unless unless I come into some expendable cash or my 27" iMac bites the dust, I'm going to hold off for awhile. For now the iMac is doing its job adequately, I can tolerate waiting a year or two. My ideal machine would be a big iMac with Studio-like specs, which would probably be a day 1 purchase for me.
Personally I wouldn't expect a new Studio to come out for awhile anyway. The M1 launched in late 2020, and the Studio in early 2022. If that timeline remains anywhere close to similar, that'd put an M2 Studio into late 2023 or early 2024, assuming Apple doesn't do what someone suggested earlier in this thread and only do Studio MX Ultra updates on the odd versions (M1, M3, M5...), which would move it out even further. But with Apple, who knows. They've done some strange things with their product release schedules.
Personally I wouldn't expect a new Studio to come out for awhile anyway. The M1 launched in late 2020, and the Studio in early 2022. If that timeline remains anywhere close to similar, that'd put an M2 Studio into late 2023 or early 2024, assuming Apple doesn't do what someone suggested earlier in this thread and only do Studio MX Ultra updates on the odd versions (M1, M3, M5...), which would move it out even further. But with Apple, who knows. They've done some strange things with their product release schedules.
Just wanted to say this may have been the most informative and helpful comment I've seen! Thanks!
Congratulations and good for you!! I absolutely love mine and have had no issues with it!!!
No one has any idea whatsoever. The latest rumors indicate that the M2 Pro/Max/Ultra is a 3nm chip. It could potentially have a massive performance improvement over the M1 Pro/Max/Ultra.
But who cares? The current Studio is an absolute beast. You're not going to be missing anything. Just get one if you need one.
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Why?
No they don't. MacBook Pros have had silver and space gray options since 2006 and they still do today. Before 2006, it was just silver. You've only really had color options and changes on the 12-inch MacBook (which is long discontinued at this point), the MacBook Air as of 2018, and the iMac as of the 2021 M1 models. You had Space Gray come to the Mac mini for the final Intel model (before disappearing again with the advent of the M1 models) and be a visual differentiator on the iMac Pro - clearly exceptions. But otherwise, the statistic you say here is false.
Again, that hasn't been reported anywhere reputable. If it's not talked about in 9to5mac, MacRumors, or AppleInsider, odds of it happening are minimal.
What is a Pro Mini? Apple has products with the "Pro" moniker and products with the "mini" moniker. Never any with both.
That happened only on the MacBook Air and primarily because THE ENTIRE CHASSIS GOT A REDESIGN!
It did not happen on either the 13-inch MacBook Pro nor the iPad Pros both of which got the M2.
The Mac Studio is not getting a redesign or even a color bump on its second rev. Not happening.
Never heard of that dude before and I'm guessing most reputable outlets that cover the Mac rumor mill haven't either.
Take yourself down a few pegs. Unless you are getting information directly from Apple, you shouldn't be so arrogant and sure of yourself.
At least I used the word "rumor" and didn't present myself as if I had definitive information on any upcoming release.
I follow Mac news coverage pretty religiously. Have been doing so for the last 20 years. I know when I'm reading a rumor that has the likelihood of coming to pass. When I tell you that your source is full of it, I'm telling you that because I have carefully studied which rumors end up being true and which ones don't. And the ones from some dude that are literally not reported on the main outlets are the ones that statistically don't end up being true. You're commenting on them like they're a safe enough bet that it's influencing your shopping. I'm telling you, based on data that I have, that your sources are not likely to be accurate.
I do not need to be directly from Apple to say this since I'm literally talking about how to discern credible rumors from incredible rumors.
All I'm telling you is that your sources are likely not trustworthy and that your assessment of trends is false. I'm not telling you that you are a bad person nor am I telling you that you're an idiot (I truly don't have enough information to make such claims one way or the other). Maybe take YOURSELF down a few pegs.
I follow Apple news just as much as you. You have no exclusive data is that is not available to everyone else that has access to the Internet. Your "advice" is speculation just as was my post.
Your responses to my post were nothing short of arrogant and condescending. I am certainly not the one who needs to take it down a couple of pegs.
I'm truly sorry that you do not like being told that your analysis is based on things that didn't actually happen and that your sources are likely bunk. If that's what you consider to be arrogant and condescending, then maybe Internet forums are not the place for you?
No, the sources could absolutely be right and you wrong.
You came here and responded to my post in a completely impolite manner. You were absolutely arrogant and condescending by presenting your information as "factual" and mine as being wrong.
Perhaps, if you don't know how to be respectful to others you should have a thicker skin when called out on the carpet for it.
Again, it's statistically unlikely. You are ignoring the statistics. Statistics are all anyone has to go off of when dealing with Apple predictions. There is nothing rude or impolite about calling you out on that.
I truly do not care one bit that you are calling me out for being rude.
The original question was whether to buy/wait - kind of a classic question for tech stuff.
IMO - Apple products have gotten so good that (at least for me) this is less of a conundrum. I kind of just buy whenever I want to.
Example: Early on I got a new iPhone every two years and still felt like I was missing out a bit - the enhancements from version to version were generally pretty meaningful. Now I keep an iPhone at least three to four years and couldn't care less. The incremental updates just aren't compelling. The only reason I bought the iPhone 13 was 5G (a pretty significant update) - had been on iPhone 8 since 2017.
Studio seems similar to me. I love mine and couldn't care less if they release a "faster" version. That wouldn't move the needle at all as it is already blazing fast for my tasks. And I've never had the thought I wish it could do X,Y,Z. I'm fairly confident it is a 5-7 year machine for me and that would be just fine on "value".
I also have a MBP14 (rumored to soon be outdated) and feel very similarly. I have some fleeting interest in the M2 MBA but it has nothing to do with the chip - just for form factor. When the new MBP14 comes out with some M2 variant, that will do nothing for me again. My suspicion is the MBP14 won't last me as long as the Studio because my laptops never do. The battery is an added wrinkle in a couple of ways (daily life and also battery health) that often helps me justify and upgrade.
The one caveat I will put on this is the transition from Intel to AS. That was revolutionary. My 2019 MBA feels ancient compared to the AS stuff. The difference b/w a 2019 and 2020 MBA is very significant. I don't expect a quantum leap like that for a while.
Long/short - I'd buy an M1 Studio again today if I wanted to. The Studio and MBP14 are the best machines I've ever had.
IMO - Apple products have gotten so good that (at least for me) this is less of a conundrum. I kind of just buy whenever I want to.
Example: Early on I got a new iPhone every two years and still felt like I was missing out a bit - the enhancements from version to version were generally pretty meaningful. Now I keep an iPhone at least three to four years and couldn't care less. The incremental updates just aren't compelling. The only reason I bought the iPhone 13 was 5G (a pretty significant update) - had been on iPhone 8 since 2017.
Studio seems similar to me. I love mine and couldn't care less if they release a "faster" version. That wouldn't move the needle at all as it is already blazing fast for my tasks. And I've never had the thought I wish it could do X,Y,Z. I'm fairly confident it is a 5-7 year machine for me and that would be just fine on "value".
I also have a MBP14 (rumored to soon be outdated) and feel very similarly. I have some fleeting interest in the M2 MBA but it has nothing to do with the chip - just for form factor. When the new MBP14 comes out with some M2 variant, that will do nothing for me again. My suspicion is the MBP14 won't last me as long as the Studio because my laptops never do. The battery is an added wrinkle in a couple of ways (daily life and also battery health) that often helps me justify and upgrade.
The one caveat I will put on this is the transition from Intel to AS. That was revolutionary. My 2019 MBA feels ancient compared to the AS stuff. The difference b/w a 2019 and 2020 MBA is very significant. I don't expect a quantum leap like that for a while.
Long/short - I'd buy an M1 Studio again today if I wanted to. The Studio and MBP14 are the best machines I've ever had.
I don't think we'll see a studio update in the spring. I also wouldn't be surprised to see any update occur after March. I have no "inside" information but rather just my gut and its purely a guess
This guys knows nothing.
There is almost zero chance that we get midnight STUDIO as that would make zero sense. If anything, space grey would be an option but I doubt that.
As for your situation - well, if you didn't buy when they announced them and you don't seem to be really needing it then you should wait. You have nothing to lose and you will gain a better machine overall. (the current studio has limitations)
You didn't really tell us more about your situation so we can only speculate but I vote for wait.
If your situation was more pressing you would have a machine already so right now its most likely fine to wait till spring event.
p.s.: unsubscribe from that tool - that guy knows nothing. Waste of time
There is almost zero chance that we get midnight STUDIO as that would make zero sense. If anything, space grey would be an option but I doubt that.
As for your situation - well, if you didn't buy when they announced them and you don't seem to be really needing it then you should wait. You have nothing to lose and you will gain a better machine overall. (the current studio has limitations)
You didn't really tell us more about your situation so we can only speculate but I vote for wait.
If your situation was more pressing you would have a machine already so right now its most likely fine to wait till spring event.
p.s.: unsubscribe from that tool - that guy knows nothing. Waste of time
I only hope that the Mac Studio remains silver grey as it is.