Studio experience from a non-pro

[tstafford]

Thought I would drop some quick notes about my experience with the Studio. The majority of reviews I’ve seen on-line are oriented toward content creators (speed benchmarking for things I don’t do).

The Studio is in some ways way too much machine for me but in others it’s just right. I do basic productivity stuff (e-mail, web, office) and run three displays. Current set-up: base Studio, 3 ASD, printer/scanner, Kanto YU2/sub.

My other device is a base MBP14 that I was using as a combo desktop/laptop. Became too annoyed with plugging and unplugging it. I ran with it for nearly six months before I pulled the trigger on the Studio (and third ASD which the MBP couldn’t support).

Overall I like the Studio a bunch. However not as much as the MBP which is the best machine I’ve ever owned.

Studio disappointments:

• It’s slow to wake up. My MBP would nearly instantly come alive when I used the touch ID. Woke up the ASDs very quickly as well. Studio is more like a “traditional” desktop - wakes up every time but not quickly
• It’s no faster than the MBP for my tasks. It’s using more RAM but that isn’t translating into a “snappier” experience. Nothing to complain about but just no faster than a MBP w/ a lesser chip and half the RAM

Studio positives:

• No more f’ing around with TB cables every time I want to move my laptop. My MBP is space grey and the several times a day connect/disconnect was definitely starting to scratch it around the ports
• Never touches the virtual memory - MBP uses SSD as RAM from time to time but the Studio with 32GB never has. Does this matter (I don’t know)?
• I/O - it’s tremendous to be able to plug all this stuff in to the machine. Although a lot of folks say the speakers on the ASD are good, that’s all they are - “good”. The Kanto YU2 w/ sub is a cheap-ish massive upgrade and not something I would want to plug in to the MBP every time
• Noise - I don’t hear any. I know folks do but I don’t. Could be my machine, my crap hearing or both

At the end of the day I don’t think there is a better option for what I’m trying to do. The price for the Studio is quite good IMO given the specs. But I’m not blown away like I was when I got the MBP14. Wouldn’t change anything but it’s not a complete slam dunk.

 

[lcubed]

which studio are you comparing to the 14" MBP?

my ultra/4TB/64GB with ASD wakes as quickly as my MBP
although the second display takes an additional 30 seconds to
warm up before the backlight fires up. (second display is a 30" dell from 2008)

in terms of my photo software (DXO Photolab, Topaz PAI, Affinity)
the ultra is much more snappy than my MBP.

if you have a lot of processes that need to reload when waking
that will also affect apparent wakeup speed.

 

[tstafford]

which studio are you comparing to the 14" MBP?

if you have a lot of processes that need to reload when waking
that will also affect apparent wakeup speed.

Studio base and MBP 14 base - so Max/32 gb vs. Pro/16 gb

Processes - that's interesting. I do have a lot of programs running all the time (mail, safari, amzn music, podcasts, note, imessage) on the Studio. I love having all that going all the time and the machine has zero issues.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

My Studio wakes up same as MBP 16 M1.

 

[ColdCase]

My base Studio crashes 70% of the time more or less when set to sleep, so I don't sleep it.. just shut it down when its not being used. The time waking from shutdown to working with it is noticeably quicker than either my recent MBP or MBAir.

 

[gusping]

My base Studio crashes 70% of the time more or less when set to sleep, so I don't sleep it.. just shut it down when its not being used. The time waking from shutdown to working with it is noticeably quicker than either my recent MBP or MBAir.

And you're fine with that? You are far more patient than I would be in that situation.

 

[Strider64]

My base Studio crashes 70% of the time more or less when set to sleep, so I don't sleep it.. just shut it down when its not being used. The time waking from shutdown to working with it is noticeably quicker than either my recent MBP or MBAir.

There is something wrong wit your studio as I always have my Studio Max go to sleep 😴 and it has never crashed on me.

 

[ColdCase]

My 2019 iMac Pro does the same thing. Its a Mac OS thing that I was hoping Apple would have resolved by now. I don't recall, off hand, the OS version in which this feature was introduced. MacOS doesn't seem to be happy with one of the several TB drive enclosures attached, or one of the drives. Insomnia has plagued the MacOS for some of us for years. Once you run out of patience you eventually just deal with it.

 

[Pressure]

My 2019 iMac Pro does the same thing. Its a Mac OS thing that I was hoping Apple would have resolved by now. I don't recall, off hand, the OS version in which this feature was introduced. MacOS doesn't seem to be happy with one of the several TB drive enclosures attached, or one of the drives. Insomnia has plagued the MacOS for some of us for years. Once you run out of patience you eventually just deal with it.

It's clearly something to do with your setup or installation.

Find out which peripherals or cables cause these problems and replace them.

 

[Sharky II]

Sleep problems are usually caused by attached USB/external devices

 

[theluggage]

• It’s no faster than the MBP for my tasks. It’s using more RAM but that isn’t translating into a “snappier” experience. Nothing to complain about but just no faster than a MBP w/ a lesser chip and half the RAM

I think that’s an important point - going from the entry-level M1 Pro in the 14” to the M1 Max in the Studio is mainly about adding “more of the same” CPU (+2) and GPU (+10) cores, and an extra media processor, which won’t help a workflow that doesn’t involve heavy GPU use, multi-threaded processing or video encoding/decoding. Like it or not the higher-end Apple Silicon SoCs are somewhat geared towards “pro” content creation. It’s not like the Intel days when laptops used all-round slower processors than laptops.

There is a “gap” in the range for a Mx Pro Mini/Studio for people who want the extra RAM, display support and ports without the super-sized GPU of the Max. I don’t think it will be filled anytime soon - at least until the M2, M2 Pro/Max/Ultra are all being rolled out across the Studio/Mini range and the M1 range is out if the picture. At the moment, the faster cores and RAM in M2 vs. M1 mean the regular M2 is too close in performance to the low-end M1 Pro and a M2 Pro would beat the M1 Max on anything that didn’t max out the threads.

 

[tstafford]

There is a “gap” in the range for a Mx Pro Mini/Studio for people who want the extra RAM, display support and ports without the super-sized GPU of the Max. I don’t think it will be filled anytime soon

Exactly.

Unfortunately I had to pay for processor capabilities that I don't utilize in order to get RAM, I/O and display support that I do. But it's okay as the Studio has performed well and isn't ridiculously pricey.

 

[gusping]

I think that’s an important point - going from the entry-level M1 Pro in the 14” to the M1 Max in the Studio is mainly about adding “more of the same” CPU (+2) and GPU (+10) cores, and an extra media processor, which won’t help a workflow that doesn’t involve heavy GPU use, multi-threaded processing or video encoding/decoding. Like it or not the higher-end Apple Silicon SoCs are somewhat geared towards “pro” content creation. It’s not like the Intel days when laptops used all-round slower processors than laptops.

There is a “gap” in the range for a Mx Pro Mini/Studio for people who want the extra RAM, display support and ports without the super-sized GPU of the Max. I don’t think it will be filled anytime soon - at least until the M2, M2 Pro/Max/Ultra are all being rolled out across the Studio/Mini range and the M1 range is out if the picture. At the moment, the faster cores and RAM in M2 vs. M1 mean the regular M2 is too close in performance to the low-end M1 Pro and a M2 Pro would beat the M1 Max on anything that didn’t max out the threads.

The extra ports and display ports are the main attraction to me. An M2 Pro mini would be perfect, but who knows if and when that is coming. And the price of the Studio will almost certainly go up £300+ in the UK when the new MBPs come out, so I'm very very tempted to just bite the bullet and order the base M1 Max model.

 

[lcubed]

And the price of the Studio will almost certainly go up £300+ in the UK when the new MBPs come out, so I'm very very tempted to just bite the bullet and order the base M1 Max model.

why would the price of the studio be tied to the MBP release?

in the past for rapidly fluctuating currencies, apple tied it to the dollar (thinking of turkey last year)

 

[gusping]

why would the price of the studio be tied to the MBP release?

in the past for rapidly fluctuating currencies, apple tied it to the dollar (thinking of turkey last year)

Here in Europe Apple increased the price of all iPads this week including those it did not update (iPad mini, iPad Air, etc). They will almost certainly do the same for Macs they don't update alongside the next press release.

 

[lcubed]

and how did you arrive at 300 pounds?

(i would expect a much larger increase in the UK (a non-EU nation) since the pound is doing some interesting gyrations)

 

[gusping]

and how did you arrive at 300 pounds?

(i would expect a much larger increase in the UK (a non-EU nation) since the pound is doing some interesting gyrations)

Actually, if they follow similar increases to the iPad price rises, it should be £200-250. The increase was virtually the same for the Euro Area.

 

[ColdCase]

It's clearly something to do with your setup or installation.

Find out which peripherals or cables cause these problems and replace them.

It is not a specific device or peripheral or cable but the number of big Seagate drives attached. I don't know what I don't know but OS versions 10.11.6 and earlier doesn't seem to have the issue. The drives seem to shut down but perhaps the OS is not aware of it. It may just be timing that bumps into an OS bug.

I could switch to all WD drives, not sure if there is a limit there, but it is not a bother now that startup is about as quick as waking from sleep.