D... it's great

[Killerbob]

Got my M1 Max Mac Studio delivered a few days ago, and today it is all up and running. I reinstalled everything, and holy crap Adobe Creative Suite is fast - importing photos in LRC and editing with presets in LRC and PS is faster than I can think. My Mac Pro 2013 will never be used for my photo workflow again... Video is fast, but I think my Mac Pro 2019 is faster - not a fair comparison though, that's a $4K machine vs a $14K machine.

The only issues I have had have been;

- Moving my Apple Music library from my Mac Pro - I had to remove all downloaded music and re-download.
- My Logitech Brio also acts as my Microphone, and when plugged directly into the Mac Studio it doesn't work - it is fine plugged into my monitor though...
- Divvy (windows management app) works sporadically - a reboot fixes that every time, and I know that Divvy is an older app.
- When the Mac Studio falls asleep, it disconnects my network drives mounted on the desktop - I still have to sort that one out.

I am sure there will other quirks now that I have moved to Apple Silicon, but that's development...

 

[southerndoc]

Did you use Migration Assistant to move everything (including apps) or did you just move your files with a clean install? Luckily my downloads were OK (moved everything including apps from a Mac mini M1, which I purchased last year -- I previously did a clean install of it last year).

I haven't even tested my Brio/4K camera (I have the magnetic 4K, which is basically a Brio).

I agree that the Mac Studio is incredibly fast.

 

[Killerbob]

I did a complete reinstall. macOS was obviously installed at delivery, and I ran the upgrade before anything. I logged on using my Apple ID, and then started installing all newly downloaded applications. I connect to my network via the built-in Ethernet, and to my Qnap NAS via the 10GbE Ethernet in my Sonnet Echo Express PCIe box (which connects via TB3).

With a new KeyChain, and the Library in my user folder completely refreshed, I am sure there is no unnecessary junk on my Mac - this should get done at least every two/three macOS versions. Especially when moving to Apple Silicon.

I checked with the "Sillicon" app, and most of my applications are Universal, and only 64 of my apps are Intel64 ones: a few Adobe apps, Nikon apps, the CamRanger software, Canon Scan Utility, Divvy, the LG software for my monitors, Epic Game Launcher, Focal, Fresco, Google Earth Pro, LaunchPad Manager, the Logitech software for the Brio, MacPAR, Messenger, MS Teams, MindManager, OBS, Origin, Plex, all Qnap software, Skype, Steam, Tor, Unison, and WhatsApp.

New challenge: I installed Parallels and of course Windows 11 (ARM). Now I can't activate Windows. My key for Windows 11 Pro is not valid, and I can't get it working just right...

 

[southerndoc]

This is why I did a clean install on my Mac mini M1 (moving form an Intel iMac). Didn't feel the need to do it for moving to a Mac Studio last week. Nearly all of my apps on the Mac mini M1 are Apple Silicon-native.

Luckily my music moved over. When I did the clean install, I created an all music playlist and simply used the download option to download everything. I subscribe to Apple Music and iTunes Match (or whatever it's called). 99.9% of the music in my library is available for download, and the .1% that isn't I probably haven't listened to in 10 years.

 

[pastrychef]

- When the Mac Studio falls asleep, it disconnects my network drives mounted on the desktop - I still have to sort that one out.

I use an app called AutoMounter. It automatically re-mounts network shares on wake and reboots. It's available on the Mac App Store.

 

[Killerbob]

In that I am mouting the shares via TB3, and my external drives are a bit hit'n'miss when the Mac Studio falls asleep, I have actually changed it to not go to sleep. The monitors go out after 10 min., but I am leaving the Mac Studio stay awake.

Using TB3 to connect to the NAS is just so much faster than 10GbE...

 

[pastrychef]

In that I am mouting the shares via TB3, and my external drives are a bit hit'n'miss when the Mac Studio falls asleep, I have actually changed it to not go to sleep. The monitors go out after 10 min., but I am leaving the Mac Studio stay awake.

Using TB3 to connect to the NAS is just so much faster than 10GbE...

If it's connected via Thunderbolt, it's a DAS. NAS = network attached storage.

 

[Killerbob]

lol - true, but my NAS/DAS (I guess) is connected in all sorts of ways... 1G LAN, 10GbE direct to one Mac Pro, TB3 to another Mac Pro, and TB3 to a Mac Studio - hence it is a NAS/DAS. The point actually being that my 2019 Mac Pro and my Mac Studio connects a heck of a lot faster using TB3, than my 2013 Mac Pro using 10GbE.

 

[Moonlight]

This is why I did a clean install on my Mac mini M1 (moving form an Intel iMac). Didn't feel the need to do it for moving to a Mac Studio last week. Nearly all of my apps on the Mac mini M1 are Apple Silicon-native.

Luckily my music moved over. When I did the clean install, I created an all music playlist and simply used the download option to download everything. I subscribe to Apple Music and iTunes Match (or whatever it's called). 99.9% of the music in my library is available for download, and the .1% that isn't I probably haven't listened to in 10 years.

Whatever makes you happy, but just as a counterpoint. I used migration assistant from my 2011 Mac Mini to a Mac Studio Max and had zero issues.

 

[Killerbob]

Whatever makes you happy, but just as a counterpoint. I used migration assistant from my 2011 Mac Mini to a Mac Studio Max and had zero issues.

That may be, and you probably wouldn't have any issues, but you wouldn't take advantage of the new M1 CPUs either...

You would still have to uninstall a bunch of applications and install the Apple Silicon versions, to take advantage of the new architecture. Very few applications will do this upgrade on their own... Microsoft and Adobe for instance STRONGLY recommend reinstalling their suites. Same goes for all the smaller utilities.

 

[Moonlight]

That may be, and you probably wouldn't have any issues, but you wouldn't take advantage of the new M1 CPUs either...

You would still have to uninstall a bunch of applications and install the Apple Silicon versions, to take advantage of the new architecture. Very few applications will do this upgrade on their own... Microsoft and Adobe for instance STRONGLY recommend reinstalling their suites. Same goes for all the smaller utilities.

Yes, I did do that. 100% agree! But it was very easy to upgrade all of them after I migrated.

 

[Killerbob]

Yes, I did do that. 100% agree! But it was very easy to upgrade all of them after I migrated.

Good - a bunch of folks forget that and then they complain their new shiny toy is not as fast and stable as they thought it would be.

Download the "Silicon" app from DigiDNA and it will tell you what Intel 32/64 apps you will have on your Mac. I have 319 applications, and 65 of these are (obviously) using Rosetta to run - and that is a mix of Adobe, a few Microsoft things, smaller utilities supporting hardware, and so forth...