KVR Audio

teilo · Post by **teilo** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:16 pm

Apple announced the Mac Studio, available with an M1 Ultra, which is an M1 Max X 2. Double the cores and, double the supported RAM (128G), and double the memory bandwidth (800GB/s).

With an M1 Max, Studio specs match the existing Macbook Pros, but with better cooling.

6 USB-C/TB4 ports, 2 USB-A ports, 10GB ethernet, XDHC card reader, HDMI, high impedance headphone jack.

Base M1 Max model with 32GB, 512GB is $1,999.
Base M1 Ultra model with 64GB, 1TB is $3,999.

This replaces both the Intel-based Mac Mini, and the 27" iMacs.

Only the Mac Pro remains on Intel, and one would be an idiot to buy it. A Mac Studio w/M1 Ultra crushes a maxed out Mac Pro on every metric except for available RAM.

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:45 pm

If this actually crushes a Mac Pro it’d be crazy as the comparable Mac Pro costs 10x!

Bombadil · Post by **Bombadil** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:50 pm

My M1 Mini is sufficient for me. However, had I not made the purchase last year, I'd go for one of the newer minis. Sorry. 'Studio.'

superscan · Post by **superscan** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:53 pm

Up to 60 percent faster CPU performance than 28-core Mac Pro.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/03/ ... o-display/

dayjob · Post by **dayjob** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 8:11 pm

looks great. really nice options. M1 Max at a good price point.or crack it out for the never buy another computer again option... and it's the "pro" mac mini everyone has wanted.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Tue Mar 08, 2022 8:13 pm

Powerful but very, very expensive (these are the 'base' prices) add a couple of T of storage and you are looking at 5000 Euro for the Ultra

If money is no object (which it probably isn't if you use this power for professional endeavours in music or graphics) and you like the 'Apple' OS etc then your probably in a happy place looking at those specs though if you 'really' need that power!

Personally happy with a PC as my tool and I can make something with more than enough power for my needs (i9 based) for a fraction of that cost and I like to buy bits and roll my own so not for me...professionally my computer only needs to run a word processor, the rest is just for fun!

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:01 am

The deal breaker on all new macs for me ATM is the SSD price-gouging. I have the bottom of the line M1 mac mini. Yes, you can use external drives, but not as a boot drive if you want to install device drivers.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:33 am

Odd to see price harped on. The latter generations give much more bang for the buck than say 2019. For less than I paid for mine I see a full Max M1. The base Ultra here costs 2/3rds of my 16,1w. 64Gb, 2Tb, 8Gb GPU cache.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:40 am

This is an interesting (though mostly speculative) article from Bloomberg 2 weeks ago.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslett ... 2-kzvdtgri

Let me also give a bit of a refresher on what to expect from the two new Mac chips described above:

The M2’s CPU will probably be a bit speedier than the M1, but the chip should retain the same eight-core architecture. Graphics may get a boost, though, from seven or eight cores to nine or 10.

The Mac Pro chips will come in two main flavors: one that doubles the M1 Max’s capabilities and one that quadruples it. Look for 20 CPU cores and 64 graphics cores on the first chip, and 40 CPU cores and 128 graphics cores on the second.

We've just seen a 20-core M1 from Apple revealed.

The author states that Apple will have a second round of new Mac unveilings in June.
...stay tuned?

elxsound · Post by **elxsound** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:06 am

I’m just about to hit 4 years on my iMac. I resisted jumping on the M1 mini and I’m glad I did. I can’t justify the Ultra but the Max should be perfect for my needs.

I’m not a fan of their pricing on memory. It’s an extra $200 to bump it up from 512 to 1 Terabyte.

I won’t be a first adopter but I’ll start hunting for the ideal monitor to pair it with before buying.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:19 am

That M1 Ultra is freakin powerful!

When the M1 came out, various pundits questioned whether Apple would be able to scale the M1 up for high end desktop use. I guess this answers that question!

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:29 am

Now if only our plugins were all native Apple Silicon.

teilo · Post by **teilo** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:41 am

jamcat wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:29 am Now if only our plugins were all native Apple Silicon.

Yeah. I wonder how we'll ever know though.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:14 am

jamcat wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:29 am Now if only our plugins were all native Apple Silicon.

Fortunately, all but one of mine (that I actually use) already are!

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:20 am

jancivil wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:33 amOdd to see price harped on. The latter generations give much more bang for the buck than say 2019.

Only if you live inside Apple's walled garden and you can't see out into the rest of the world. Just look at this thread - everyone taking Apple at their word, nobody questioning how it might stack-up in the real world, where most of Apple's claims fall well short in independent testing. Apple are the absolute kings of spin and you guys just eat it up as though they'd never, ever exaggerated anything, when the reality is that they exaggerate pretty much everything. Honestly, it's like a f**king cult, it beggars belief.