M2 Max Studio or M3 iMac

[Pyrotechnic]

This may sound like an obvious choice but I am trying to convince myself of a decision, so looking for some views.

I currently own a Late 2013 27" iMac which is now 10 years old. Its served me well over those years and is starting to slow a little. Ive been stuck on Catalina as its no longer supported and was really hoping to see a new 27" iMac. However, as we all know, that's not materialised.

So my question is, do I change tact, do I order a 24" iMac with a M3 chip or do I buy a M2 Max Studio and a Display. Having looked at the M3 iMac, I would have to notch the RAM to 16GB at least as 8 is just not ideal, which in turn makes there iMac around £2200, which is just overt the price of the M2 Max Studio. Yes, I would have to buy a display, either Apples own or an alternative.

I use my Mac mainly for photos and would like to get into a little video editing at some point, but I am not what I would class as a heavy user, but at the same time I do like to have the better kit where I can.

Any advice, pointers that would help my decision would be welcome.

 

[Bigwaff]

M3 iMac with as much storage and RAM you can afford. You can always attach external display if you want. Coming from a retina iMac, you might appreciate the retina M3 iMac display. To achieve similar with Studio and external display will cost double at least.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Thanks for the quick reply. Not sure I would attach an external display as I am sure the 24" iMac screen is something I would probably get used to, plus I wouldn't have the room to add a second display. I would find it strange having a 24 inch iMac driving a 27" screen.

Doubling the ram from 8Gb to 16Gb on the iMac is £200 a jump, the Studio comes with 32Gb as standard.

 

[Bigwaff]

Doubling the ram from 8Gb to 16Gb on the iMac is £200 a jump, the Studio comes with 32Gb as standard.

Yes .. but you then need to purchase a display if you want a retina experience. If you don’t care about retina experience then you have lots of less expensive display options.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Display aside, I am guessing the M2 Max is better than the M3 in terms of performance. I must admit I have not really looked into this before as I was hoping for a new 27" in the line up. This is when I then began looking to see if the Studio, which is where Apple want us to go was a worth me looking into., I know it would probably far exceed my workflows not being a pro.

 

[Martin29]

My advice (and it is what I’ve done)

Go for the Mac Studio. I paired mine with two 32 inch Benq monitors, but given your space limitations, one is great.

Apart from power, connectivity etc, buying separate now means that in future you won’t need to replace both elements of your setup just because you want to upgrade one.

The Studio is an incredible device and you won’t regret it

 

[Velin]

Watch the Apple refurbished store. Pick up a base model M2 Max studio for several hundred dollars off, or go for one with more RAM. They are like new, there is no slightly used marketplace better than Apple refurbished. They even come with a one-year warranty.

Then, get an OLED 4k display. Your new studio will drive any OLED monitor beautifully. It will be a killer setup.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Im no expert when it comes to chips, but would the M2 Max Chip in a studio be better that the M3 in the new iMac. Obviously there are more cores and memory in the studio which suggests it would be, however, looking at some benchmarking, suggests different?

I appreciate all the advice, so thank you.

 

[bobcomer]

Im no expert when it comes to chips, but would the M2 Max Chip in a studio be better that the M3 in the new iMac. Obviously there are more cores and memory in the studio which suggests it would be, however, looking at some benchmarking, suggests different?

I appreciate all the advice, so thank you.

The M2 Max would be better at multitasking and anything that needs a GPU, but the M3 iMac would probably beat the M2 Max in single tasking. (but not by a huge amount.)

I don't like the Studio at all, but I'd probably go with it, but the iMac wouldn't be a bad choice either. It all depends on if you want the iMac's monitor, and it's going to be better than any 24" or 27" separate monitor unless you spend a lot of money on it. If they just would have released an M3 Pro iMac! I'd probably have bought one instead of a new Windows PC this week.

 

[Geoff777]

I have a similar dilemma. Studio with 1TB storage and Studio display (bog standard) is about 70% more (where I live) than an M3 iMac with 24GB ram and 1TB storage. That's a big difference.
However I'm not sure I could get used to the drop from 27" to 24" - doesn't sound like much but looking at the iMacs in stores they just look little!
Another option I'm thinking about is hooking my M2 MacBook Air up to a Studio Display but it's only got 8GB ram and 512 Gb storage, so am not sure whether it will be enough for raw photo editing and video work (lightweight amateur!).

 

[picpicmac]

but would the M2 Max Chip in a studio be better that the M3 in the new iMac

As others have noted, single core and multi-core will come up with different answers.

Could you do just as well with a Mac Mini? Mac Mini M2Pro is less expensive than the Studio.

And if you can wait a couple of months, there likely will be M3 Pro put inside a Mini (as well as an M3 Max inside a Studio.)

 

[MacDevil7334]

OP have you considered a Mac Mini plus Studio Display as a solution? Sounds like you might not need the full power of a Mac Studio, and getting a mini would still prevent you from having to replace your monitor in the future when you next upgrade your computer. Configuring a mini with a M2 Pro chip could be a good middle ground solution between an iMac and the base Mac Studio.

For your original question, the M2 Max will beat the base M3 in multicore and GPU performance quite handily. The M3 is slightly faster on single core tasks. But I think the M2 Max studio will last you longer, especially since it comes with more RAM too.

 

[DLary]

Is it possible to use a 2013 iMac as a monitor with the Target Display Mode?

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Thanks for the tips and advice so far. I need to have a good think on what to do now. I have never been in doubt on my previous purchases, this is the first time.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

For your original question, the M2 Max will beat the base M3 in multicore and GPU performance quite handily. The M3 is slightly faster on single core tasks. But I think the M2 Max studio will last you longer, especially since it comes with more RAM too.

That did cross my mind. I would have to spend an additional £400 to upgrade the RAM from 8Gb to 24Gb on the iMac, when the studio comes with 32Gb as standard. This would be, as the iMac would be, a considerable jump from my 2013 iMac.