I ‘ve had the Mac Studio for 5 days and here are my thoughts:

[powerslave65]

1. Performance has been unreal. In the past I have always felt good but also a little like, “Is this all there is?” with a new Mac. The MacBook Pro M1 Max changed all that and I finally felt like “wow this is more like it!” From the epic battery life to the blazing performance and of course the fantastic display it has been an absolute joy to work on. Enter the Mac Studio Ultra. This computer is from another planet where they must build super computers that allow time travel. In the next two months I will literally double the money I make thanks to lower render times, faster editing with zero lag, and fewer crashes since there is so much more processor headroom.
2. Ports on a Mac Studio Ultra paired with my 2 LG 4k TB monitors is really something to cheer. This set up has netted me 6 TB 4 ports, 4 TB 3 ports, 6 USB C ports, 2 USB 3 ports, 1 ethernet port, 1 SD card slot, and one HDMI port. I will never use all these but I certainly won’t run out of ports!
3. Storage I did skimp on by getting the base model Ultra. But I had a 4 TB SSD hanging around so no big deal.
4. Aesthetics are kinda invisible on this. It’s an unassuming curved silver aluminum box that really has no effect on me good or bad. I am happy to see Apple moving away from desk art you can see and back to inside the box art you can experience and interface with. At a constant 1300 rpm The fan does make a little noise (I measured 29 db) which I am sure will be tweaked with updates or a third party fan app could do the trick if you chose. Like all Mac minis etc the speaker sound on this has a 70’s pocket am radio vibe. If that’s your thing then you will be pleased but if you care about sound I recommend getting speakers or if you are like me use the ones you already have scattered about!
5. To me the value proposition is really in favor of buying the Mac Studio. If you are a creative professional that isn’t leaving the Mac anytime soon and you have been in business long enough to collect nice peripherals to go with the Mac Studio and maybe even some newer Mac stuff to trade or sell to bring the cost down even further, getting this computer is like getting a top of the line loaded Mac Pro that is smaller, way faster, cheaper, quieter, and more energy efficient by a long shot. Even though the Studio has no slots I would skip the Mac Pro and use the extra 10 grand or so to buy yourself something nice like a new motorcycle or even a trip somewhere. If you are a workaholic but 2 more Mac Studios! Oh and don’t forget the other 10 grand a month you will make from being more productive.

 

[smoghat]

Yeah I totally agree. Also I had an OWC TB 4 hub and an OWC TB dock with my MBP and now I need either. The extra ports make a big difference!

My only gripe is my Apple touch keyboard and mouse take a while to connect sometimes when I reboot. Otherwise it is the best Mac I ever had.

 

[th0masp]

Glad to read its working out for you.

However in the past Apple has had that tendency to prioritize silent operation over reasonable temperatures, leading to hardware issues down the line. Unless it's known that they have done a U-turn on that I would be cautious with running lower fan speed than they themselves picked.

 

[MacsRgr8]

My only gripe is my Apple touch keyboard and mouse take a while to connect sometimes when I reboot. Otherwise it is the best Mac I ever had.

FWIW, I have that same issue with an M1 iMac.
Takes about 5 seconds orso after the login screen comes on before I can type username and password.

 

[B.A.T]

FWIW, I have that same issue with an M1 iMac.
Takes about 5 seconds orso after the login screen comes on before I can type username and password.

I believe that is a built in feature designed to make the Apple Watch your next purchase 🤣

 

[BanditoB]

I am not experiencing any delay with connecting the Apple keyboard for the Mac Studio, but I do experience a 5-6 second delay for the mouse to connect, which seems like a long time when you’re moving the mouse around to see if the cursor starts following.

 

[swandy]

Love your idea (and conspiracy theory LOL) but even with the Watch there is still several second delay while my M1 iMac "finds" the watch (with me yelling "IT'S ON MY FREAKING WRIST!!!)

 

[swandy]

FWIW, I have that same issue with an M1 iMac.
Takes about 5 seconds orso after the login screen comes on before I can type username and password.

I believe that is a built in feature designed to make the Apple Watch your next purchase 🤣

Love your idea (and conspiracy theory LOL) but even with the Watch there is still several second delay while my M1 iMac "finds" the watch (with me yelling "IT'S ON MY FREAKING WRIST!!!)

 

[KPOM]

Glad to read its working out for you.

However in the past Apple has had that tendency to prioritize silent operation over reasonable temperatures, leading to hardware issues down the line. Unless it's known that they have done a U-turn on that I would be cautious with running lower fan speed than they themselves picked.

Have you seen the massive heat sink? Apple has done a 180 in recent years. Not only do the Apple Silicon chips run cooler than the Intel chips, but Apple has made the cooling systems more robust in every “Pro” Mac.

 

[MacsRgr8]

FWIW, I have that same issue with an M1 iMac.
Takes about 5 seconds orso after the login screen comes on before I can type username and password.

I believe that is a built in feature designed to make the Apple Watch your next purchase 🤣

Lol, yeah.
But too bad unlock with Apple Watch only works from sleep, not (re)boot. 😉

 

[startergo]

Right, but if you need Windows for some reason buy an intel Mac mini, while you still can...

 

[Fumblerooskie]

The delay in keyboard mouse connection happens on my 2013 Mac Pro too. Seems like it started with one of the Monterey updates.

 

[th0masp]

Have you seen the massive heat sink? Apple has done a 180 in recent years. Not only do the Apple Silicon chips run cooler than the Intel chips, but Apple has made the cooling systems more robust in every “Pro” Mac.

It'll still need the fan to move hot air away from the heatsink and out of the case though. My Trashcan has a pretty large heatsink as well - doesn't stop it from getting rather toasty. It may not be thicker but I think mine's longer.

At any rate before reducing the fan speed I'd recommend testing with some heavy workloads in prolonged tasks to see how warm it gets with default settings.

 

[BotchQue]

At a constant 1300 rpm The fan does make a little noise (I measured 29 db) which I am sure will be tweaked with updates or a third party fan app could do the trick if you chose.

I wasn't aware the fan was always on; does anyone know, is this true for the Studio M1 Max? I've been using a MBP with the M1 Pro chip for several months and have yet to hear the fan at all!
(then again, if you're "doubling your income with the faster rendering time", you're pushing your system a lot more than I ever will)

 

[macca24]

I wasn't aware the fan was always on; does anyone know, is this true for the Studio M1 Max? I've been using a MBP with the M1 Pro chip for several months and have yet to hear the fan at all!
(then again, if you're "doubling your income with the faster rendering time", you're pushing your system a lot more than I ever will)

Yes the fans are on all the time, mine are very quiet though.

 

[swamyg1]

Which ultra do you have?

 

[m1maverick]

Which ultra do you have?

He got the base model.

 

[m1maverick]

Glad to read its working out for you.

However in the past Apple has had that tendency to prioritize silent operation over reasonable temperatures, leading to hardware issues down the line. Unless it's known that they have done a U-turn on that I would be cautious with running lower fan speed than they themselves picked.

All of the reviews I've read and watched have shown the fans increase only slightly from idle even under sustained heavy load. Sustained defined as lengthy tasks which tax the CPUs and / or GPUs for 30 minutes to an hour. I haven't seen any where the system was used at full capability for lengths over an hour or two.

From what I can tell this system looks like it has cooling under control.

 

[macmyworld]

FWIW, I have that same issue with an M1 iMac.
Takes about 5 seconds orso after the login screen comes on before I can type username and password.

I believe that is a built in feature designed to make the Apple Watch your next purchase 🤣

This! Not only this, sometimes when waking up from sleep it can't find the keyboard yet it shows it as connected in bluetooth. Bluetooth has been quite flaky so far.

But -- this is the price of being an early adapter. The display has been good so far.

 

[SRQrws]

I've had the base Studio for a couple of days and am quite pleased so far. I don't find the fan noise to be disturbing at all. They run all the time, but are only audible to me when my office is dead quiet, which is rare. The noise reminds me of the iMac Pro I had a few years ago. Very soothing white noise. Regarding the comments here about keyboard/mouse connection lag upon start up, every Mac I've had with a wireless keyboard/mouse has had this. It takes about 3-4 seconds after boot up to be able to type in a password or move the cursor. I assume that's just the time it takes to fully establish the Bluetooth connection. I've not had any Bluetooth dropouts. My Studio Display is set to arrive in four days (I ordered yesterday). Apple's lead time was out to late April but I was able to get it quickly from Best Buy.

 

[powerslave65]

He got the base model.

Base M1 Ultra

 

[edubfromktown]

Got my Base Max on Tuesday. It has exceeded my expectations compared to my 1-year old M1 Mini 16 GB (that I just sold for what I paid for it).

Always on fan is hardly audible in my very quiet basement office.