Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Just opt for MacBook Pro 16-inch. These are not your typical laptops with shortcomings that are expected with the notebook form factor from years of past. Apple Silicon has raised the bar so much that these units are now desktops on the go. They are zippy as hell. They can operate for long hours like it's nothing. They are built like tanks. Trust me, you won't miss a desktop.
Laptops don’t have the ports that us desktop users need. In fact the Mac Studio is completely filled up now. All ports used. I would get the Mac Pro for more ports but the $3,000 additional cost for almost no gain isn’t worth it.
 
So now…. M4 Max…. coming in 2025. Or is it 2026? Or 2027? 28?

Waiting
Waiting
Waiting
You do realize that, if Apple were to launch the M4 Studio in March 2025, it would be exactly three years after the launch of the M1 Studio, with the M2 Studio in between?

So Apple will have refreshed the Studio, on average, every 18 months since launch.

So I gather you’re really just complaining about the Mini. Why didn’t it get M3? That’s a good question. I’ll guess it’s because Apple will keep it on the same cadence as the other desktops going forward. It had a special role in the Apple Silicon transition, as both the first Apple-silicon Mac (the 2020 Developer Transition Kit) and the last Intel Mac, but that is over now. So the Mini won’t refresh until the Studio and Pro do.

Or, coming from a 27" iMac, maybe you’re just unhappy about its demise. There are literally tens of thousands of comments about this. I wish people would complain about something that Apple might actually feel the heat about. Because whining about the 27" iMac when the Studio Display exists and you can put it on top of a Mini or a Studio just isn’t productive.

Can we start complaining about the display lineup? I mean, come on, they have killed the iMac/iMac Pro and they are asking us to buy into the Mini/Studio, but all they’re offering us to go with them is a 5K panel that will soon be ten years old, or a five year old Pro Display that is due for a refresh. Can we get a 30" Retina 5760x3240 display with ProMotion?

I can think of about nineteen other possible displays I’d love to see!
 
Last edited:
Apple studio ultra is still the king for many workflows. Mac Studio and Mac Pro will always be treated differently given that Ultra is desktop level chip. Apple may not decide to have ultra every Mx version. My M1 Max is still going strong, I will probably upgrade to M6 or so, unless Apple comes with M4 ultra with 256 GB unified memory.
Not when the M3 Max is better than it in many GPU workloads.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: StumpJumper
Laptops don’t have the ports that us desktop users need. In fact the Mac Studio is completely filled up now. All ports used. I would get the Mac Pro for more ports but the $3,000 additional cost for almost no gain isn’t worth it.
Whoah! What do you do for a living?
 
Just my two cents: I feel the M3 was more like a M2.5. Not enough to really make an upgrade from 2 to 3. But the M4 has a lot more going for it - built in ray tracing cores is a plus. I want an updated Mac Mini for my casual games.
 
I have never experienced so many problems with trying to buy an appropriately updated Apple Desktop
in 35 years.

I finally decide to trash my ancient iMac and buy a new desktop but seems Apple is incapable of launching new models on a semi yearly or even 3-4 year basis.

What gives?
What are these “many problems”?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Contact_Feanor
I feel like y'all just want to buy the new and best and shiny stuff with the newest generation chips.

But if you need a desktop, the current M2 minis and studios are still a good choice. Sure, it sucks if you buy one and two months later Apple announces a new one that is 5% faster.

But if you wait, you'll have to continue using your old Mac that is a lot slower, and you don't know for how long.
I ain't buying a new computer that doesn't support AV1 hardware decoding.
 
Worked out very well for me. Upgraded from an iMac 2020 to Dual Studio Displays with a 14” M3 MBP.

Originally, I was planning on replacing the docked M3 MBP with a M3 Mac Studio Max or Ultra when it came out, but as it turns out, the docked MBP works like a dream. There’s absolutely no need for me to introduce a dedicated desktop. It’s a paradigm shift, for me and presumably many others, hence Apple not feeling urgent to upgrade. Those that need a desktop machine today are reasonably suited with the M2 Studio, and for those more patient, of course an M4 Studio will come out in near future.
 
Why not go with a Mac mini over the studio? Would have saved you $1,000-$1,500. The cost of a higher end iMac.
While I can appreciate the idea, Im a long time Mac user (1985) and know all the ins/out of BTO, Refrub, etc. I did every permutation, for my studio needs I needed a combo of processor/memory/ports and getting a THB4 hub for the top BTO mini at the time was only 200-300 off the Mac Studio. Not to mention the new aspect of M1 architecture about how much ram is need in the new world, and the limited immediate information for music creators. And above all that, I still had the added cost of the ASD (nano/VESA) that made the price soar.

My gripe is not about meeting a price point as much as they (IMO intentionally) left a big hole in the product line that forced (many of) us to be "up-sold".
 
Last edited:
While I can appreciate the idea, Im a long time Mac user (1985) and know all the ins/out of BTO, Refrub, etc. I did every permutation, for my studio needs I needed a combo of processor/memory/ports and getting a THB4 hub for the top BTO mini at the time was only 200-300 off the Mac Studio. Not to mention the new aspect of M1 architecture about how much ram is need in the new world, and the limited immediate information for music creators. And above all that, I still had the added cost of the ASD (nano/VESA) that made the price soar.

My gripe is not about meeting a price point as much as they (IMO intentionally) left a big hole in the product line that forced (many of) us to be "up-sold".
I hear that. All good points. Sounds like Apple knows how to run a business. Not to sound like a pain, but they want to upsell everyone.
 
I have never experienced so many problems with trying to buy an appropriately updated Apple Desktop
in 35 years.

I finally decide to trash my ancient iMac and buy a new desktop but seems Apple is incapable of launching new models on a semi yearly or even 3-4 year basis.

What gives?
Well if you were a Mac Pro user you’d be familiar with this behaviour… you just need to look at the last decade of Mac Pro updates to see where the thinking is at…

I’m fine with Apple not releasing a new Ultra Studio each year… That’s an expensive machine it should have a suitably long shelf life….

As for a bigger iMac… as I see it apple are screwed either way on this one… If they released a new iMac with a Pro or Max chipset then they would have to put a decent screen in it, maybe not an XDR… but it would need to be OLED and probably 120Hz… and then 32” at least right… sounds very XDR like though, so if it isn’t it’ll be slammed for being less of a thing … they can call it the iMac Pro if they want but it ain’t going to be cheap and it’ll never have the Ultra chip inside if they want to keep it super thin etc… victim of there own design architecture… maybe you could see a 27” iMac based on the Studio monitor with a Pro chipset… same screen so it could sit alongside… I could see that… but then what is it, they’d get panned for releasing that by most folks and probably rightly so…
 
  • Like
Reactions: kkclstuff
You do realize that, if Apple were to launch the M4 Studio in March 2025, it would be exactly three years after the launch of the M1 Studio, with the M2 Studio in between?

So Apple will have refreshed the Studio, on average, every 18 months since launch.
If that came to be then what…

People would be upset that they waited 20 months for an M4 Studio and in just 7 more months the M5 with brand spanking new 2nm technology will be released in Oct 2025 MacBook Pros and their Mac Studio will be outdated again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bob_DM
Discontinuing the 27" iMac is one of the few actually eco-friendly things Apple has done. What doesn't make sense from an environmental standpoint?
That I have a perfectly functional 27” screen in my old iMac that cannot be used as a screen once the computer inside it is obsolete in a few years. If they had added a HDMI input it would make sense. Or they would have allowed for easier aftermarket upgrades and repairs.

Don’t fool yourself. Apples actions only make sense from a profit standpoint. They will only do something environmental friendly if it benefits the profit margin.
 
it is a good machine, no doubt, but i would like to play Baldurs Gate 3, which would benefit from a M3 or M4 Chip
Buy a Windows PC for gaming. You don’t have to do anything else on it so don’t worry about security having your banking info or something like that. Just for gaming. Gaming on a Mac is something you do just because you can, not because it works well or it’s easy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chuckeee
Buy a Windows PC for gaming. You don’t have to do anything else on it so don’t worry about security having your banking info or something like that. Just for gaming. Gaming on a Mac is something you do just because you can, not because it works well or it’s easy.
Depends entirely on the game. BG3, for example, runs wonderfully on my iMac, it is in fact “easy” and “works well”.
 
those must be the ones with neural engine. GPU workloads on M3 max still can’t match the M2 Ultra by a large margin.
Nope, Blender doesn't use the neural engine and my blender work is much much MUCH better on my M3 Max.
 
Laptops don’t have the ports that us desktop users need. In fact the Mac Studio is completely filled up now. All ports used. I would get the Mac Pro for more ports but the $3,000 additional cost for almost no gain isn’t worth it.
I have a MAc Studio M2 Max, and had to put a Caldigit TS4 dock, because it does not have the ports I need. Wonderfull machine though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chuckeee
The M3 24” iMac should be plenty enough for most people. And if you have an iPad, it can serve as a second display. And I’m sure that for the tiny minority that requires something larger than 24”, if the M2 Max is too slow then they can wait for the M4 end or this year
 
  • Like
Reactions: AF_APPLETALK
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.