Mac Studio
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PRICE From £1,999 / $1,999 COMPANY Apple WEBSITE apple.com
The Mac Studio is Apple’s latest workstation aimed at creative professionals. Looking a bit like a Mac mini that’s hit the gym, the Mac Studio is an impressively compact PC that comes with a huge amount of
power. Remember the hugely powerful M1 Max that powered the Macbook Pro 14inch and Macbook Pro 16-inch? Well, the Mac Studio comes with one as well, offering you the kind of performance that’ll make light work of even the most intense projects.
Still not enough power? Well, the Mac Studio can also be configured to come with the brand-new M1 Ultra chip. This is essentially two M1 Max chips connected together via a low latency, high bandwidth connector, turning them into one large M1 Ultra chip, which offers double the cores, memory and bandwidth of the already uber-powerful M1 Max.
With an M1 Ultra installed, the Mac Studio is one of the most powerful machines Apple has ever built, coming close to rivalling the most expensive Mac Pro configuration, all while keeping the overall size of the machine small enough to fit on a desk. But is Apple’s latest machine really a viable purchase for most creative professionals? We tested it to find out…
FEATURES
The biggest feature of the Mac Studio is the raw power it provides, especially with the M1 Ultra. According to Apple, the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra offers 3.8 times faster CPU performance compared to the most expensive 27-inch imac. Additionally, it also offers 90% faster CPU performance than the Mac Pro with a 16core Intel Xeon processor, and up to 60% faster CPU performance than a Mac Pro with a 28-core processor.
Those claims are certainly impressive, but not only is the M1 Ultra incredibly powerful, but it’s also incredibly efficient. Again, according to Apple, the M1 Ultra offers 90% higher multi-thread performance compared to a 16-core PC chip whilst using the same amount of energy.
It can also offer faster GPU performance than the highestend PC GPU, while using 200W less. What this means in practice is that running costs are lower (especially important in these times of rising energy bills), and the M1 Ultra also runs cooler. This means it’s nearly silent in use, without the need for fans to spin up to keep it cool, and it’s also allowed Apple to make the Mac Studio so compact.
PERFORMANCE
We ran several creative apps on the Mac Studio, and they all performed exceptionally well. In Photoshop, for example,
“IT’S ONE OF THE NICEST LOOKING WORKSTATION PCS AROUND, AND ITS COMPACT SIZE REALLY IS REMARKABLE”
we loaded up high-resolution photos in a few seconds, and applying effects and filters was instantaneous. The ‘Neural Engine’ cores of the M1 Max and M1 Ultra also allow the Mac Studio to make use of the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools of Photoshop. These tools can help make what were once tedious and time-consuming tasks quick and simple, and Photoshop is a great showcase for what AI and machine learning can bring to creative workflows. So, the fact that the Mac Studio can utilise these (and do them well), is a big selling point.
The Mac Studio also coped well with us editing a complex video project in Final Cut Pro, with certain scenes incorporating multiple 8K sources. All while remaining basically silent in use, and it also rendered our 3D footage in Houdini incredibly quickly.
DESIGN
The Mac Studio’s chassis is a single aluminium design, with a square footprint of 7.7 inches and a height of 3.7 inches. It can easily be picked up in a single hand, and the size means it won’t take up much room on a desk.
Apple has also adorned the Mac Studio with a very good selection of ports: four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10GB Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port and audio jack on the back. On the front, there’s another two USB-C ports, and an SD card slot, making this a great choice for photographers. Having the SD card slot and USB-C ports at the front means they are easy to access on a desk, though the power button being at the back is a bit fiddly. There’s also Wi-fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 for wireless connections.
It’s one of the nicest looking workstation PCS around, and its compact size really is remarkable, considering what the Mac Studio is capable of.
SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
There’s a lot to love about the Mac Studio, particularly its excellent performance and compact design. If you’re after a powerful and petite workstation for doing your creative work on, you’re not going to find a better machine.
But is it a product we’d unanimously recommend to people? The answer is no. This is a niche device aimed at quite a specific audience. If you do heavy creative work and want a small workstation, this is absolutely the right product for you.
However, if you don’t need the kind of performance on offer here – and many people simply won’t – then you’d be better off buying something more affordable, such as the Mac mini. If you’re looking for something to work on while you travel, a laptop, such as the 14-inch Macbook Pro, may also be a better bet.
AUTHOR PROFILE Matt Hanson
Matt has been a technology journalist for well over a decade, writing for publications such as T3, Macformat and Creative Bloq. He’s a senior editor of Techradar, where he can be found writing about and reviewing laptops, computers, monitors and more. creativebloq.com/ author/matt-hanson
monitors supporting it. The Studio Display also has a max refresh rate of 60Hz, and while this is pretty standard, there are a growing number of monitors that support higher, such as 120Hz and above.
The webcam quality has also come under scrutiny. While we found that it was fine in brightly lit situations, many people have noticed that the quality can be quite poor. Apple has stated that this is a software issue and a fix is underway. While it’s not a deal breaker, it’s still disappointing. DESIGN
The design is reminiscent of the 24-inch imac from last year, but without the choice of colours. As you’d expect, it’s stylish and minimalist, with straight edges, and it does make us think how nice it would have been to see a 27inch imac in this design.
We had the standard screen without nano-texture, and
“IF YOU WANT TO ADJUST THE HEIGHT YOU’LL NEED TO PAY AN EXTRA £400, A PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL EXTRA COST”
especially when it’s off, you can see just how reflective the display is. Along the top of the screen are vents for keeping the Studio Display cool, and on the back are the ports. This is where the Studio Display’s minimalist design arguably goes too far, as rather than a range of inputs we’d usually see in a monitor, such as HDMI and Displayport, there’s just four USB-C ports, and only one of them is actually the input.
If you’re planning on plugging in a Macbook or a Mac, this won’t be an issue, and a nice feature is that the Studio Display will also charge your device while it’s plugged in. The other USB-C ports allow you to plug peripherals in, essentially turning the Studio Display into a USB-C hub which is handy.
But if you have a device that uses HDMI for its video output, then you’re going to need an adaptor, which isn’t included. PRICE
One of the biggest criticisms people have with Apple is the fact that there are sometimes hidden costs that usually come included in the price in rival products, and that’s true with the Studio Display. While the Studio Display does come with a stand, it only allows you to adjust the display by tilting it. You can also choose to swap the stand for a VESA mount, which is useful if you want to attach it to a wall or already have a stand, but many other monitors come with both options, which makes Apple’s forced choice between the two feel a little tight.
If you want to adjust the height of the monitor – and why wouldn’t you? – then you’ll need to pay an extra £400, a pretty substantial extra cost for something that, once again, comes with most other monitors for free.
You can also configure the Studio Display to come with a nano-texture glass, which helps eliminate glare and reflections, but it will cost an additional £250. SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
The Studio Display is an interesting product from Apple, but one we feel is a little bit of a misfire. The lack of HDR and high refresh rate support is a blow, and the limited port selection means this is a monitor that won’t be appealing to many people.
Image quality is decent, but for the full effect you’re going to want to invest in the nano-texture screen. The added AI features are nice, but inessential, and they only work with modern Apple devices.
If you’re a content creator that is fully invested in the Apple ecosystem, then we can imagine the Studio Display being a decent investment – as long as you have the cash. For other people, though, there’s better alternatives out there.