Mac Studio Max 2 64 or 96 g of ram? 512 or 1 Tb of SSD?

[Eduardot]

Hello, I need help deciding whether my next Mac Studio Max 2, with 96 of Ram and 1 TB of SSD?
IS there any advantage to that configuration.
I would be running 3 - 4 monitors, and have multiple Chrome and Safari websites open simultaneously. Spotify for music. And Mail. WhatsApp, Messages, Telegram, open also.
Rigth now I have a Mac Mini M1 and Its too problematic to keep 3 monitors open at the same time, because of screen capturing.
I have been reading all the reviews posted on this forum, all are very informative, But I still need help.

 

[apostolosdt]

For your intention to use the Max for, an M-series Mini with 16GB RAM would do, except for the number of monitors, of course. Just saying. Putting it a bit more bluntly, Studios are aiming at different uses.

Under your choices, a Max M2 with 64GB RAM is more than enough. Regarding the disk, if I remember correctly, the 1TB is faster than the 512GB. Pay attention to the GPU cores, though. Perhaps you should go for the higher number of cores model.

 

[splifingate]

I use a M2-Max Studio 64GB/2TB

Have 96GB of RAM in my 5,1 but I never actually used all of it (unless I was trying to gain some artificial bragging-rights consumption by opening an outrageous amount of Soft I rarely use in conjunction).

Nothing I do on the Studio (which, IMO, is a lot) has ever tapped all of the 64GB.

2TB was my internal storage choice, as I've always easily found myself able to tap the 1TB ceiling. 512MB has always left me no room to play.

I have three 2TB TB3/USB4 attached for additional storage.

Three 4K monitors run well on the Studio.

If your budget is not a budget, get what you will, and enjoy.

If you have a budget, get as much as you can afford, and enjoy.

Nevertheless, 64/2 is a sweet-spot, and you will appreciate it

 

[datagov63]

I have the base M2 Max with 32GB RAM and the most Memory Pressure I have ever seen is 50% for less than 20 minutes in the last six months. I use external NVME SSD's and never think about wanted more than 512GB internally. Sometimes I wonder what might be different with an M4 posting single core speeds of 3800 and multicore at 30000 on Geekbench and I think maybe I would save 2 seconds on startup.

Whoopee.

 

[apostolosdt]

I have the base M2 Max with 32GB RAM [...]. I use external NVME SSD's and never think about wanted more than 512GB internally. Sometimes I wonder what might be different with an M4 [..]

I have the analogous M1; if I ever need a better one, I think I would go for the M1 Ultra. I expect when the M4 is around, prices of M1 refurb models will fall further.

 

[wdhpgx]

I went from: macpro3,1 512gb (ssd) 24gb (ram), to (as a holdover) macmini m1 256gb (ssd) 8gb (ram), to (when they were released) mac studio m1max 1tb (ssd) 32gb (ram).

By far the biggest problem I had with the mini was the small ssd. Unlike prior versions of macos, the modern versions *do not* like to have your home directory on an external drive, and also with recent macos versions vs older macos versions SO much more ends up being stored under ~/Library. With the small ssd on the mac mini, trying to find ways to store things on an external drive, in a way that was acceptable to macos, took far more time and effort than I expected.

So, my experience and point being, don't shortchange on the size of the internal drive. I got the 1tb which at least gave me growing room from the 512tb in the macpro. I wish I could have afforded to go larger.

And surprisingly, the 8gb of ram on the macmini never actually seemed to present an experience of being a problem. I was always worried about it, and watching memory pressure, and being concerned and careful about my memory usage, but nothing ever seemed to be an actual problem -- unlike my prior experiences with 8gb on an intel macbook air.

So, my experience and point there being, the memory capacity with the m-series machines seems to be a lot more capable with smaller memory sizes than in the past with intel, an so the machine probably needs less ram than we might think.

I bought my studio with 1tb and 32gb, and given my experience with it, I probably would have been just we well (if not better) served with 2tb and 16gb.

 

[Eduardot]

I have the analogous M1; if I ever need a better one, I think I would go for the M1 Ultra. I expect when the M4 is around, prices of M1 refurb models will fall further.

Why not the Mac Studio M2 Max?

 

[Eduardot]

I went from: macpro3,1 512gb (ssd) 24gb (ram), to (as a holdover) macmini m1 256gb (ssd) 8gb (ram), to (when they were released) mac studio m1max 1tb (ssd) 32gb (ram).

By far the biggest problem I had with the mini was the small ssd. Unlike prior versions of macos, the modern versions *do not* like to have your home directory on an external drive, and also with recent macos versions vs older macos versions SO much more ends up being stored under ~/Library. With the small ssd on the mac mini, trying to find ways to store things on an external drive, in a way that was acceptable to macos, took far more time and effort than I expected.

So, my experience and point being, don't shortchange on the size of the internal drive. I got the 1tb which at least gave me growing room from the 512tb in the macpro. I wish I could have afforded to go larger.

And surprisingly, the 8gb of ram on the macmini never actually seemed to present an experience of being a problem. I was always worried about it, and watching memory pressure, and being concerned and careful about my memory usage, but nothing ever seemed to be an actual problem -- unlike my prior experiences with 8gb on an intel macbook air.

So, my experience and point there being, the memory capacity with the m-series machines seems to be a lot more capable with smaller memory sizes than in the past with intel, an so the machine probably needs less ram than we might think.

I bought my studio with 1tb and 32gb, and given my experience with it, I probably would have been just we well (if not better) served with 2tb and 16gb.

Having multiple progams opened at the same time did not affect your Studio configuration(1 TB ans 32 ram)?

 

[wdhpgx]

Having multiple progams opened at the same time did not affect your Studio configuration(1 TB ans 32 ram)?

I'm not sure I understand your question? Having multiple programs opened at the same time was never a problem on any of the 3 machines (macpro, macmini, studio). I went with the 32gb ram on the studio largely because I had been running 24gb on the intel macpro, and I felt like I didn't want to "downgrade". But in hindsight, from what I saw with 8gb on the macmini, 16gb ram on the m1 would likely have given me just as much headroom as the 24gb on the intel.

 

[djinn]

Just bought MS with 12c/64GB RAM to replace my MBP M1 Max. Went with 64GB since my ram usage was almost swapping with Xcode and VMs open.

 

[throAU]

Hello, I need help deciding whether my next Mac Studio Max 2, with 96 of Ram and 1 TB of SSD?
IS there any advantage to that configuration.
I would be running 3 - 4 monitors, and have multiple Chrome and Safari websites open simultaneously. Spotify for music. And Mail. WhatsApp, Messages, Telegram, open also.
Rigth now I have a Mac Mini M1 and Its too problematic to keep 3 monitors open at the same time, because of screen capturing.
I have been reading all the reviews posted on this forum, all are very informative, But I still need help.

I do more than that with 16 GB of RAM, including 1-2 VMs running in the background without any performance problems.

 

[apostolosdt]

Why not the Mac Studio M2 Max?

Because, at present, the Studio M2 Max doesn't offer a significant performance improvement compared to my M1 Max, at least for my purposes. Later Max versions will do and if the price increase is reasonable, of course, I would consider a Max once again.

 

[apostolosdt]

[...] By far the biggest problem I had with the mini was the small ssd. Unlike prior versions of macos, the modern versions *do not* like to have your home directory on an external drive, and also with recent macos versions vs older macos versions SO much more ends up being stored under ~/Library. With the small ssd on the mac mini, trying to find ways to store things on an external drive, in a way that was acceptable to macos, took far more time and effort than I expected. [...]

Understood. Still, right now I am using a Mini M1 base, running Sonoma from an external disk (512GB T7 Samsung); the installation of the OS was done on my Studio Max M1. No problem in swapping Macs and/or OS, at least so far.

 

[Boil]

I would wait to see what comes about at the WWDC 2024 keynote (June 10)

• M4 Pro Mac mini
• Support for four displays
• Up to 128GB RAM
• ???

 

[Eduardot]

I'm not sure I understand your question? Having multiple programs opened at the same time was never a problem on any of the 3 machines (macpro, macmini, studio). I went with the 32gb ram on the studio largely because I had been running 24gb on the intel macpro, and I felt like I didn't want to "downgrade". But in hindsight, from what I saw with 8gb on the macmini, 16gb ram on the m1 would likely have given me just as much headroom as the 24gb on the intel.

Thanks for the input. I am always running programs in the background.

 

[Eduardot]

I would wait to see what comes about at the WWDC 2024 keynote (June 10)

• M4 Pro Mac mini
• Support for four displays
• Up to 128GB RAM
• ???

That would depend on price and availability. Hoping that they do make it by that date also.

 

[colodane]

I'd go with 64GB and 1 TB.

 

[djinn]

I would wait to see what comes about at the WWDC 2024 keynote (June 10)

• M4 Pro Mac mini
• Support for four displays
• Up to 128GB RAM
• ???

I'm on the fence waiting for WWDC. I haven't received the Studio yet, gets delivered this Wed or Thur. What I'm concerned with is, new M4 releases will clobber the value (trade-in) of my MBP M1 Max. A gamble....

 

[wdhpgx]

Understood. Still, right now I am using a Mini M1 base, running Sonoma from an external disk (512GB T7 Samsung); the installation of the OS was done on my Studio Max M1. No problem in swapping Macs and/or OS, at least so far.

Ahh, at the time I got the m1 mini (big sur days), all reports seemed to be indicating that running macos itself from an external drive might no longer be an option. Googling just now, I see that's no longer the case. That certainly opens up a lot of possibilities I didn't have before.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

I've never used more than 64 GB. I’m working with AI, digital Video, VM and other stuff.

 

[djinn]

I've never used more than 64 GB. I’m working with AI, digital Video, VM and other stuff.

Nope.. can't be working with AI unless you have Apples future silicon. Fake news.

I couldn't resist... with all the buzz going around lately.

 

[Eduardot]

Guys, Thank You for the input. I will go with Mac Studio Max 2 with 64 of ram ana 1 tb ssd, and the 38 core gpu.

 

[splifingate]

I will go with Mac Studio Max 2 with 64 of ram ana 1 tb ssd, and the 38 core gpu.

Solid choice.

Enjoy!