Buying advice needed for a home office

[anthony13]

Hey friends,

Need a computer for the home office. Vectorworks, Photoshop, multiple files and applications open in my work flow a lot (FileMaker Pro, spread sheets, browser, CAD programs.

I already have a 14" MacBook Pro maxed out, and love it. Performance is great, although sometimes I get slowed down when updating viewports in vectorworks or using media brushes in photoshop.

I have two Apple studio displays already that I drive with my laptop but I'd prefer a dedicated home machine. Seems like the Mac Studio is the only solution for me at this point? I've always been an iMac person, but the studio seems great considering I already have the monitors. I know the old adage buy what you need when you need, and work is offering to help with this. Do I just go with the Mac Studio Ultra base model? (the ram seems like a crazy expensive upgrade even though it might help in my work flow?). I use mostly cloud storage so not worried about the hard drive, and the ultra has all the thunderbolt ports anyways. I dont think a Mac Pro will be in budget. And I doubt the studio will be upgraded for at least a year yet?

 

[BanditoB]

I assume your MBP has 64 GB RAM then. Do you see any issues with memory pressure on it? If not, then 64 GB should be adequate on the Mac Studio as well. The extra CPU and GPU cores will likely address your issues with the viewports and media brushes, so determining how much RAM you need is really the only thing you probably need to look at.

With all of the apps that you typically have open in your workflow, more RAM would probably be a good idea and if work is helping you purchase it, why not go for it? I don't think that it's something that you'll regret in the future.

 

[Technerd108]

I agree with Bandito. If you are getting bogged down with an M1 max and 64gb ram then you need something else.

The 16” would handle thermals better and has a high performance mode but it sounds like a studio would be the way to go.

If you can afford it you may as well get an xdr screen along with it.

It is expensive but you can write it off as a business expense and if you earn your living using your Mac then I think it would be a wise investment.

Also I wouldn’t worry about what comes out in a year as tech moves so fast but rather does it help you get your job done better now. If it does then the choice is obvious.

If I were you I would keep your 14” and compare side by side. If there still isn’t a huge difference you can return the studio and keep your 14” no harm done. If it is better then if you want to you can sell your MacBook on Swappa.com and get a decent price to help offset your expenditure.

 

[theluggage]

Performance is great, although sometimes I get slowed down when updating viewports in vectorworks or using media brushes in photoshop.

You might want to do some research into what is causing those slowdowns before splashing out on a M1 Ultra. Look at memory pressure, cpu usage, GPU usage. Ask on app-specific forums how those apps perform those tasks on ultra. Mostly all the ultra does is add more of the same CPU and GPU cores, which only helps if your workload can do more work in parallel. If you’re not already lighting up all the CPU cores on a Max or pegging the GPU usage then going Ultra may not help - your bottleneck could just be the single core speed.

If you’re not seeing high memory pressure, RAM isn’t the immediate bottleneck.

If you’re seeing moderate memory pressure and maxing out the CPU and GPU then you may want 128GB of RAM on an ultra to keep those extra cores fed… Probably unlikely.

If it’s thermal throttling (fans spinning up?) then simply a M1 Max studio might help.

There’s not likely to be a new Mac Studio for at least 6 months but (a) we’re expecting a Mac Pro announcement by the end of the year - and while that’s probably gonna be expensive it might not be off the scale if you’re already in the Ultra market and (b) the next year will probably see M2 or M3 MacBook Pros. If your performance bottleneck is single core speeds then M2 or M3 is the only thing that will help.

 

[anthony13]

So I know vectorworks 2023 is going to better take advantage of multiple cores, but looking at it now, during a render, with multiple large files open, it doesn't look like it's using my M1 Max very much? The GPU percentage however is going between 85 and 95 most of the time. Again I think they optimizing 2023 to use more cores, but this is where it stands right now.

 

[satcomer]

If you doing this a Home I would Go for the Mac Studio and forgo larger hard drive and use a good M2 external for more space for less that $250 dollars to get a great drive!

 

[theluggage]

So I know vectorworks 2023 is going to better take advantage of multiple cores, but looking at it now, during a render, with multiple large files open, it doesn't look like it's using my M1 Max very much?

Does look like its GPU rather than CPU bound - but I think you really need to talk to vectorworks users - who aren't necessarily going to read a thread called "Buying advice needed for a home office".

Presumably vectorworks have support forums. Or, at least, I think you can change the title of this thread as you started it.

 

[Premal212]

So I know vectorworks 2023 is going to better take advantage of multiple cores, but looking at it now, during a render, with multiple large files open, it doesn't look like it's using my M1 Max very much? The GPU percentage however is going between 85 and 95 most of the time. Again I think they optimizing 2023 to use more cores, but this is where it stands right now.

View attachment 2052259 View attachment 2052258

Looking at this I would say to hold out for 2023 and see what changes are made, the system could be slightly more CPU dependent?

The memory pressure is absolutely fine. If its showing red and orange bars during the first 12-18 months of buying it, you're in a bit of a pickle, otherwise its absolutely fine.

With regards to your CPU usage, this is extremely low, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. It's your GPU that's holding back performance.

This could do with some improvement, an Ultra would give you an extra 2x headroom on that.

What were you running before this?

 

[anthony13]

Looking at this I would say to hold out for 2023 and see what changes are made, the system could be slightly more CPU dependent?

The memory pressure is absolutely fine. If its showing red and orange bars during the first 12-18 months of buying it, you're in a bit of a pickle, otherwise its absolutely fine.

With regards to your CPU usage, this is extremely low, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. It's your GPU that's holding back performance.

This could do with some improvement, an Ultra would give you an extra 2x headroom on that.

What were you running before this?

This is on a 14” Mac book pro. Before this I had a 2017 Mac book pro that was very slow for vectorworks. The apple silicon has been a game changer in general.

 

[Premal212]

This is on a 14” Mac book pro. Before this I had a 2017 Mac book pro that was very slow for vectorworks. The apple silicon has been a game changer in general.

I'm thinking of getting an M1 Max in the next couple of months, may wait for October release as it's not majorly urgent. My After Effects production could do with some substantial speed increases.

Are you running external monitors etc?

 

[anthony13]

I'm thinking of getting an M1 Max in the next couple of months, may wait for October release as it's not majorly urgent. My After Effects production could do with some substantial speed increases.

Are you running external monitors etc?

Running two Mac Studio displays. Adobe has definitely benefitted from apple silicon.

 

[satcomer]

With a small office storage long term storage should be used for over the years! I suggest a smart NAS from either Synology or QNap or TrueNas Mini! Your choice is always up to you

 

[theorist9]

Performance is great, although sometimes I get slowed down when ...using media brushes in photoshop.

This review from The Verge found that the Ultra Studio responded instantaneously with brushes in Photoshop. But they didn't compare it to the Max Studio. [And when they say brushes needs "so much computing power", I don't know if they mean ST or MT; while that phrase certainly sounds like they mean MT, obviously if it's ST the Ultra Studio isn't going to be any faster than your Max.] Echoing @theluggage 's advice about vectorworks, I'd ask about this on either a Photoshop forum or a professional design/photog forum.

Finally, ship times on the Ultra look like 5-6 weeks if you're in the US. If you're elsewhere, you'll want to check those yourself.

Apple Mac Studio review: finally

This is the Mac we’ve all been waiting for.

www.theverge.com

 

[anthony13]

Well, what a difference a week makes. Vectorworks 2023 released, and the difference is night and day. Now when starting a render, the fans kick on big time. Looks like Vectorworks now handles renders internally too, as opposed to outsourcing to Cineware. and the biggest difference, it's using the processor much more heavily then when it was using the GPU.

 

[Premal212]

Glad to hear that your machine is finally putting in the work. To think a week ago you were thinking of sacking off the machine because we didn't know when Vectorworks would actually update their software for AS, it's very funny looking back.

What's this like compared to your 2017 MBP, did this have a dedicated GPU? Is this a purchase that's increase your productivity/output by 20/30% or we talking leaps of performance increase?