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Mac Studio Speculation [Merged]

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neomorpheus

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2014
251
146
Melbourne Park said:
But comparing PCs is somewhat unfair anyway. Macs have now become desktop notebooks but without screens. And when one compares an Apple notebook to a PC version, the Apple fairs pretty well. What annoys me about Apple is their lack of true customer focus. For instance they force one to guess on internal drive capacity while their drives cost 3 or 4 times the market rate. But they do not have an upgrade policy, where one could tell Apple to upgrade the internal drive for a similar price to the drive different when on buys the device. That would be simple to do ... or Apple could put a spare slot in their machines. They are no longer customer focused.
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The problem is, we are talking about tools needed to do a job.

As stated by another user, time is money and in many particular cases, the PC ends up being faster and to make it worse, cheaper.

So unless you have a very specific reason, the PC as a tool, its an option that you must have present at all times.

It sucks, but this is always a problem with Apple.
 
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innerproduct

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2021
219
348
I have been wanting a desktop mac for at least a decade now but Apple
Never seems to release one that I actually want so I go with the combo of a laptop mac and a desktop
Pc. For example, I got a m1max mbp when it was released and when the m1ultra was out I would have switched to that if the ultra gpu scaling worked well which it didn’t (we are talking gpu rendering here). So, when the m2 ultra arrived, i was skeptical and waited for benchmarks in the software relevant to me. Scaling was better and I was on the verge of buying one but then the rumors of the m3max came around (finally raytracing hw). I hoped for a m3 ultra but got a m3max due to end of year reasons (taxes). M3max is a massive improvement on m2 series so I am so happy I didn’t got fooled by apple to buy a m2ultra and that is more or less the same speed as a m3max. The m3max is great but a m3ultra or better is what I am looking for in my line of work. That would have been a great buy this summer.
Now there are no rumors of a m3ultra or m4 ultra this year but most indicators are for a refresh next year. M4ultra would probably be a reasonable good buy by then but already at release it will have a really hard time competing with PCs again since we will have nvidia 5000 series by then. also, when the fck will we get a monitor that is at least as food as the mbp screens? I’ve got the money to get an xdr monitor but the 2019 is quite long in the tooth.
 
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Harry Haller

macrumors 6502a
Oct 31, 2023
794
1,750
Any new rumors?
With the October Mac event looming ahead I was hoping to hear something.
Nothing new since the second half of '25 speculation for new Studios and Mac Pros.
 
H

Homy

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2006
2,450
2,364
Sweden
Harry Haller said:
Any new rumors?
With the October Mac event looming ahead I was hoping to hear something.
Nothing new since the second half of '25 speculation for new Studios and Mac Pros.
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Since they didn't update MS with M3 Max and it's been now 16 months with M2 Max/Ultra both slower than M3 Max in many tasks they could launch M4 Max on both laptops and Mac Studio and then wait with M4 Ultra until next year. That would be a great solution. Otherwise will people be stuck with M2 Ultra for two years but the question is if they have enough M4 Max chips since they prioritize laptops. On the other hand they don't need so many chips for Mac Studio.
 
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Chuckeee

Chuckeee

macrumors 68040
Aug 18, 2023
3,006
8,629
Southern California
Homy said:
Since they didn't update MS with M3 Max and it's been now 16 months with M2 Max/Ultra both slower than M3 Max in many tasks they could launch M4 Max on both laptops and Mac Studio and then wait with M4 Ultra until next year. That would be a great solution. Otherwise will people be stuck with M2 Ultra for two years but the question is if they have enough M4 Max chips since they prioritize laptops. On the other hand they don't need so many chips for Mac Studio.
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But Apple would prefer that consumers who are desperate for an M4 max buy a more expensive MacBook Pro than a more economical Mac Studio.

It is the same rationale for delaying M4 MacBook Air, since Apple would prefer customers buy the more expensive entry M4 MacBook Pro.
 
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Melbourne Park

macrumors 65816
Mar 5, 2012
1,034
294
Brighton_Melbourne_Victoria_Australia
Chuckeee said:
It is the same rationale for delaying M4 MacBook Air, since Apple would prefer customers buy the more expensive entry M4 MacBook Pro.
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Well, an m2 studio cost $2,200 versus $2,800 M3 Pro Max 14" MacBook. Likely sound the same speed in some multi core but overall the MacBook maybe faster, in some cases a lot faster. The $600 gets you a screen, a keyboard and a battery. IMO not more expensive. I guess the big question is whether Apple will announce in a couple of weeks an M4 Max notebook. And when buying mid 2025 a Studio Ultra ... rumours say that the M5 stackable chips will be a huge leap forward ... and then M4 Ultra buyers will have to wait several years to get an M5 of any flavour. We love desktops but the Studio is all soldered together, and doesn't support PCI extras. The Mac Pro is the remaining real desktop, and due to no PCI graphics cards, its also cobbled. Its a semi desktop IMO. I am starting to realise for real that Apple's computers are all based on some sort of iPad concept.
 
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Fomalhaut

macrumors 68000
Oct 6, 2020
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1,717
Melbourne Park said:
Well, an m2 studio cost $2,200 versus $2,800 M3 Pro Max 14" MacBook. Likely sound the same speed in some multi core but overall the MacBook maybe faster, in some cases a lot faster. The $600 gets you a screen, a keyboard and a battery. IMO not more expensive. I guess the big question is whether Apple will announce in a couple of weeks an M4 Max notebook. And when buying mid 2025 a Studio Ultra ... rumours say that the M5 stackable chips will be a huge leap forward ... and then M4 Ultra buyers will have to wait several years to get an M5 of any flavour. We love desktops but the Studio is all soldered together, and doesn't support PCI extras. The Mac Pro is the remaining real desktop, and due to no PCI graphics cards, its also cobbled. Its a semi desktop IMO. I am starting to realise for real that Apple's computers are all based on some sort of iPad concept.
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“Desktop” just means a machine that typically sits on your desk without a built in screen and keyboard. It no longer implies any modularity or ability to change components. That is a concept that disappeared a long time ago for Apple, and is heading in that direction for some Windows machines.

The Mac Mini and Studio are definitely desktop machines by the modern definition.
 
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Melbourne Park

macrumors 65816
Mar 5, 2012
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Brighton_Melbourne_Victoria_Australia
Yeh ... and funnily enough, a MacBook can operate a seperate screen and a keyboard and a mouse. Logically then, has it become a portable desktop? I am getting confused ...

As far as "modular" goes - OK. But where does that leave PCs? Modular desktops doesn't sound right to me ... I am getting confused.

And I guess, Thunderbolt 5 would make non modular computers semi modular. So the next Thunderbolt 5 Studio would be a semi modular desktop, and a T-5 MacBook a semi modular portable, and a new small Mac mini with Thunderbolt 5 a semi portable semi modular desktop. Ah now things seem crystal clear. Almost ...
 
K

krell100

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2007
463
723
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne Park said:
As far as "modular" goes - OK. But where does that leave PCs? Modular desktops doesn't sound right to me ... I am getting confused.
Click to expand...

All it means is that you can update and customise your PC over time if you have changing needs. So for example let's say you need more graphics power then you buy a high end graphics card and install it. Same with storage, RAM.. even processor.

This isn't possible on any Mac. What you buy is what you have for the life of that computer, be it desktop or laptop.

This isn't a critisism of Macs, their SOC provides other advantages so it's a question of what you need and what you wish to do with it.
 
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neomorpheus

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2014
251
146
Apple hated what we all did with the Mac Pro 4.1 and 5.1 so they will never, ever release an upgradable computer.

Only if by some kind of miracle, The Woz returns and take command of Apple or at the very least, someone like him.

Meanwhile, they know they have a lot of us by the short ones and will buy whatever they offer us.

Example, right now, is highway robbery the asking price of the Mac Studio.
Same MSRP from 2 years ago, same specs

But we will buy it.
 
M

Melbourne Park

macrumors 65816
Mar 5, 2012
1,034
294
Brighton_Melbourne_Victoria_Australia
neomorpheus said:
...

Example, right now, is highway robbery the asking price of the Mac Studio.
Same MSRP from 2 years ago, same specs

But we will buy it.
Click to expand...
It might be smarter to buy a new version Mac Mini. I wonder how much RAM it might take? Apple provides 14 days to return it as well, so a prospective Studio Buyer should try one.

Why reward Apple for not dropping prices on 2022 tech gear? And M2 will likely not support Apple's AI software, which will likely become part of many productivity applications?
 
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krell100

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2007
463
723
Melbourne, Australia
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mr_roboto

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2020
853
1,860
Melbourne Park said:
And M2 will likely not support Apple's AI software, which will likely become part of many productivity applications?
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Why would you think either of these things?

Apple's already announced that M1 can run Apple Intelligence. The main constraint for using it on-device instead of being forced to Private Compute Cloud is RAM, but the minimum Mac Studio RAM config is 32GiB, which is way more than enough.

As for the other idea, IMO, there's not going to be much productivity software which absolutely relies on "AI" for core functionality. Especially not the currently overhyped stuff like LLMs. They just don't work that well, and are not going to be as essential to the future of computing as you're being led to believe.
 
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