Apple Announces M1 Ultra CPU, Mac Studio and Studio Display

[trs96]

The base model $1,999 Mac Studio destroys the base model 2019 Mac Pro in every benchmark you can throw at them. All while costing 4,000 USD less. The Studio keeps the old USB A ports, headphone jack and HDMI 2.0 port. Front USB C at 10Gb/S. Front SD card reader which was completely unexpected. It uses a fraction of the power that the MP cheese grater does. I think that MP has something like a 1.4 kilowatt PSU in it.

There's really not much to complain about here other than no PCIe expansion but you do have those 4 TH4 ports that you can also connect hubs to for more TH4. The only downside for me would be no options to run Catalina or older macOS versions that I want to keep using. That's where hackintoshes come in and solve that problem. If I were editing video all day long I'd order the M1 Max version today. Since that's not my line of work I probably won't buy one this year but possibly in a few years.

 

[pastrychef]

That's a fair opinion. Must admit I hope serialization is indeed BS.

Trying to (still) work around this in my head ...

If a Mac needed to "phone home" to check if a storage component is allowed, how would it do it? Are the people who claim it happens saying that the Firmware in itself is enough to connect to the Internet and perform a check? Because if a machine is not allowed to boot, what is the mechanism that prevents it? It would have had to boot at least once to go online and run the so-called check and get a "key".

So, given we can decide serialization may be phoney, why wasn't Luke able to simply replace his original SSD and get the Studio to boot? That surely points to where the storage problem lies and I would like to know more. Maybe he static-zapped the module?

What's more is that if that isn't the case, the firmware is the same as it was and the hardware is the same as it was. Why would a DFU work for that scenario?

Perhaps he didn't tighten the securing screw the required number of turns! Apple does pay that level of attention to detail.

I'm guessing all he firmware, etc exists on the same SSD. That's why a secondary Mac is needed for a DFU restore. That's also why I question whether these systems can boot at all without working SSD and I'm guessing booting from external drive is not possible without working internal SSD.

 

[pastrychef]

I can sympathise wth your sentiments.

I think the real issue is actually the expected life of the machine. These are expensive and we might reasonably expect them to last for a very long time, upgrade or no upgrade.

True "throw away" iPhones, designed for just a 2-year contract, can cost way over $1000, easily, and the base model Studio is only a few hundred more.

Presently the higher quality SSDs are usually guaranteed for 5-years. The cheaper ones for 3.

Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way because content-creators will happily change their machines before 5-years is up? This isn't the new "Green" world at all, is it?

I think many people underestimate the longevity of SSDs.

If iStat Menus is to be believed, the Western Digital SN750 in my desktop still has 100% of life and it has been in use since July 2021 and the system stays on 24/7.

My HP EX920 has been in use even longer (approx 3 years?) and I use it as a scratch disk which means it has seen pretty heavy usage at times...

 

[pastrychef]

The base model $1,999 Mac Studio destroys the base model 2019 Mac Pro in every benchmark you can throw at them. All while costing 4,000 USD less. The Studio keeps the old USB A ports, headphone jack and HDMI 2.0 port. Front USB C at 10Gb/S. Front SD card reader which was completely unexpected. There's really not much to complain about here other than no PCIe expansion but you do have those 4 TH4 ports that you can also connect hubs to for more TH4. The only downside for me would be no options to run Catalina or older macOS versions that I want to keep using. That's where hackintoshes come in and solve that problem. If I were editing video all day long I'd order the M1 Max version today. Since that's not my line of work I probably won't buy one this year but possibly in a few years.

Without drivers for anything, PCI-e slots would be useless in Apple Silicon Macs.

 

[trs96]

Without drivers for anything, PCI-e slots would be useless in Apple Silicon Macs.

Yes, I was comparing it to the '19 Mac Pro that does still have that option to install all kinds of third party hardware via PCIe.

 

[trs96]

Over 7TB of music and movies ? Or is there something else this is used for ?

 

[pastrychef]

View attachment 544956

Over 7TB of music and movies ? Or is there something else this is used for ?

Lol

It was originally just for music and movies, but I had to use it temporarily for my emulation stuff as I am still cleaning up my HP ProDesk 400 G6 Batocera build. Organizing all the different consoles, artwork, etc., takes time.

 

[tedyun]

The base model $1,999 Mac Studio destroys the base model 2019 Mac Pro in every benchmark you can throw at them. All while costing 4,000 USD less.

This.

I think we're in the early days of figuring out what Apple's roadmap is for the AppleSi and what they will be capable of doing. With the iPhones, in the early days, it seemed that with each successive one it would make everyone want to upgrade immediately. I think things finally stabilized by iPhone 6 or so and in fact I know people still happily using the iPhone 6 and 7

 

[pastrychef]

This.

I think we're in the early days of figuring out what Apple's roadmap is for the AppleSi and what they will be capable of doing. With the iPhones, in the early days, it seemed that with each successive one it would make everyone want to upgrade immediately. I think things finally stabilized by iPhone 6 or so and in fact I know people still happily using the iPhone 6 and 7

I have been upgrading iPhones about 2-2.5 years because I am still able to trade in for decent value. If not for the trade ins, I'd probably use them longer.

 

[tedyun]

View attachment 544956

Over 7TB of music and movies ? Or is there something else this is used for ?

With me, I'm into photography, then video recording and audio recording live concerts.

With my photos, the RAW files take up around 3.5 MB each, and it is not uncommon to have a session where I take anywhere from 300 - 1,000 shots. And not only that, but I keep a triple backup of all my photos.

With video and audio, the raw footage and recordings take up a lot of space, especially after processing. Then I used to trade or torrent recordings with other tapers too. In fact one of my latest projects is that I met a taper here in the Bay Area who recorded tons of concerts starting in the 1980's, starting with cassette tapes. So I've been helping him digitize those so that they are forever preserved.

Call me a digital hoarder!