What configuration for Mac Studio?

[jondrew]

Don't get annoyed, I'm sure this has been kicked about, but I have some specific questions.

I have a circa 2013 iMac which has served me well, but it's getting very slow for certain things. I've been going back and forth between a mini and the new Mac Studio. Things I do a lot on my desktop:

Adobe creative studio (definitely not a power user, but Photoshop, Premier, Lightroom and Illustrator
Fusion 360 3D designer (again, novice level type stuff)
Standard Microsoft Office Suite

I'm thinking the base Mac Studio will be a huge improvement over my iMac. I'm not sure the 32-core GPU or 64 Gb upgrades will make a ton of difference to me. I might go for the 1 TB SSD, but I'm not sure that's even something I need. I've got all my files on external drives and any rendering or other stuff like that can be done on the internal 500GB drive.

I do not do a lot of concurrent processing, unless you consider watching TV while I'm working concurrent processing.

And if after reading what my uses are, you think I could even go with a mini, I'm all ears. Trying to keep the cost down and not really worrying about future proofing at this point.

Thanks!

 

[JaredJenkinsDesign]

Do you need a new computer ASAP or are you willing to wait a few more months? I think a M2 or M2 Pro could be a good option for your needs.

The M1 Max in the base Mac Studio is overkill for those Adobe Creative programs (especially if you're not a power user) and Microsoft Office. I'm not familiar with Fusion 360 3D Designer but I saw this YouTube video here

and it seemed like the M1 Mac Mini was good enough for entry level stuff which you stated in your post. That's why I wonder if a M2 or M2 Pro chip could be an option.

 

[Shazaam!]

I chose the base Mac Studio over the Mini mainly for the better cooling, additional memory and ports. I added the 2TB storage to take advantage of the extreme speed of the internal SSD and the reduced wear (extended life) that the larger capacity drive offers. Just my two cents.

 

[Chancha]

The mini may suffice, but obviously it has a few less ports so if you need them, having them directly on the Studio is a lot less headache against hubs / docks.

The Studio's thermal headroom is there but I don't think you will ever reach to a point of seeing the difference of it vs the mini. The M1 Max like said above is overkill for non-pro Adobe users, but then it has a few other advantages over the M1 namely in memory bandwidth and media engine which you may find useful down the road.

Amount of RAM: what was the amount you have installed in your iMac and what has been your RAM pressure like? You can have a clear picture of how much you need by looking at your current usage; the Apple Silicon uses unified memory so it is kind of like an iGPU where the internal memory is shared for GPU as well. The base Studio having 32GB is enough for almost everybody, and if someone needs 64GB he probably already knew it anyway. But if you go for the mini then its base 8GB is indeed a potential problem even for casual users.

For now since the M2 mini is imminent but hasn't happened yet, if I were you I would go find a deal for base Mac Studio somewhere 3rd party, it will be a sound investment. Don't bother with BTO SSD and RAM as you already noted you probably don't need them, and with BTO you almost must get it directly from Apple at full price.

 

[designerdave72]

I upgraded in November to a Studio Max 10/32, 1TB with 64gb of RAM and ASD from a full spec 2014 iMac which started showing its age last year but only because of the heavy Creative Suite work that I do. 32gb is definitely no enough. So far, no regrets and it breezes through what I need. Budget was on the list especially with the choice of monitor but the investment is worth it in the long run. Waiting for the newest spec is always a gamble but if you need it, you need it. I know I did. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[theluggage]

Adobe creative studio (definitely not a power user, but Photoshop, Premier, Lightroom and Illustrator
Fusion 360 3D designer (again, novice level type stuff)
Standard Microsoft Office Suite

"Pro" apps are tricky - they'll pretty much all run and do the basics in 8GB while having "power users" struggling with "only" 64GB so it's hugely dependent on what you are doing. Worth considering how much RAM you have in your existing iMac & then opening Activity Monitor and looking at what the "memory pressure" (not "RAM used" - MacOS will tend to use as much RAM as it can find) is doing when the machine is running slowly. Quite likely, its still in the green and your old Mac is just plain slow. Also, look at CPU usage - if your workflow isn't lighting up all 4 cores then moving to a 10 core M1 Max/Pro won't help much.

The video someone linked above pretty much answers your question for Fusion 3D - doesn't sound like it will benefit much from the extra CPU/GPU cores of a Max - and generally if anything runs usably on a 2013 Mac it will likely fly on a M1 Mini (but definitely get the 16GB/512GB version if you're planning to do more than 'personal productivity').

You might want to think about what screen you want - a 4k or 5k display will place extra demands on the GPU especially if you're using scaled mode on a 4k to get the same physical UI size you're used to - which means everything is rendered internally as 5k and then downsampled to 4k. There were some reports of Blender struggling at that resolution (although that's probably more demanding than Fusion and a M1 native version has appeared since). If you wanted to run more than one 4k or 5k display then I'd probably advise going for the Studio.

The M1 Max Studio also offers more ports - including 2 more independent TB4 ports if you want to attach fast storage (and some USB-A 3.1g1 USB-C 3.1G2 ports too - although as far as I can tell they all running off a single internal buss so they won't all give full speed simultaneously). Also the SSD modules are socketed - and although Apple don't allow upgrades they can be replaced like-for-like if they fail.

The other consideration is to think about whether a M2 MacBook Air/13" Pro or a 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro would do the job - unless you're going to spring for the Studio Ultra, Apple Silicon has pretty much removed any major performance gain from having a desktop over a laptop and currently the M2 MacBook is a generation ahead of a M1 Mini. A M2 is going to out-perform a M1 and challenge a M1 Pro/Max on single CPU/GPU core tasks, and given Apple's history with desktop Macs I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a M2 Mini.

 

[Evil Lair]

From your description it sounds like your hunch is the correct one, a base model-ish Mac Studio. 16GB of ram really isn't enough to be running Creative Suite apps so the mini is out. 32 should be plenty since I've been using a 32GB system for very heavy Psd work for many years though it will end up VM swapping occasionally. If your budget is stretching for the Studio I would strongly consider a refurbished model (I just got a refurb Ultra myself) which could be cheaper, or higher specced depending on how much you go.

 

[tstafford]

My two cents - it's noteworthy that you have been using a 2013 iMac. Suggests to me that you are willing to hold on to a machine for a long time. It's not hard to justify spending extra $$$ if you are amortizing over nearly a decade. I'd vote for a base Studio from the refurb store ($1800). I love mine.

 

[jondrew]

Hi, thanks for all the input. My 2013 is a 3.5 Ghz quad i7 with 8Gb of ram with an NVIDIA GTX with 4 GB of memory. So even the base model will be a huge improvement. I think the only decision I need to make is if I want bigger than the 500GB SSD drive. And I'm thinking not. That should be plenty of memory for onboard processing and storage can be outside.

 

[Feek]

I had a similar decision to make when I got mine. My previous iMac had a 1Tb SSD, my old MB had a 256Gb SSD. When I replaced the MB with an M1 MBA I went up to 512Gb and when I replaced the iMac with my Mac Studio, I went up to 2Tb.
My logic is always to get more storage than you think you're going to need. I did keep some stuff on external drives when I had the iMac but now it's nice to just have that all onboard with no concerns about space.

Obviously everyone is different but I think it's a shame to get a Studio with anything less than a 1Tb SSD.

 

[tstafford]

Obviously everyone is different but I think it's a shame to get a Studio with anything less than a 1Tb SSD.

Totally depends on use case. Currently using 81.5 GB of the hard drive on my Studio and 84 GB on my MBP14. I aggressively use cloud storage. I'm 100% confident that internal SSD space will never be an issue for me on either machine.

 

[jondrew]

Anyway, got the base model. So far so good. Got some words about the Studio Display and the old Thunderbolt 27" displays. That's for another thread.

 

[tstafford]

Anyway, got the base model. So far so good. Got some words about the Studio Display and the old Thunderbolt 27" displays. That's for another thread.

Congrats. Such a good machine.

Interested to hear your thoughts on the displays.