Review: Mac Studio and Studio Display

The design of the Mac Studio and its Display

The Studio Display is not included with the Mac Studio, so it is an item that must be purchased separately. Both fit perfectly well on a 80 x 54 x 74 cm desk.

When it comes to connection ports, the Mac Studio is incredibly versatile, connecting up to five displays. It has six Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports; two located in the front and four in the back.

Additionally, it has an ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI, an SD card slot and, something that I personally liked is that they also included the 3.5 mm auxiliary port. This means that you can practically connect even your Oxxo headphones if necessary.

In terms of connections, I believe that the Mac Studio is very successful taking into account, in addition, that an external dock could be added to each of the Thunderbolt ports, expanding up to 32 connections.

On the other hand, the Studio display is, from my perspective, one of the most aesthetic that the brand has developed. The screen is 5K and measures 27 inches. It has an anti-glare coating, three USB-C ports and one Thunderbolt port, but the nicest thing about the display is the height-adjustable tilt stand. It is very light and easy to move.

However, one thing they did not get right is that the power cable cannot be removed, which makes it more complicated to manipulate and move. Also, it does not have a 120Hz refresh rate.

But something that must be mentioned is that it does not only work as a display; It also comes with a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera and six speakers. Considering the price of the display and taking advantage of the fact that it has a camera included, I would have thought that it can be unlocked using Face ID, but this is not the case.

On the other hand, although I do not recommend the display speakers for those who are dedicated to audio design or film editing, they are more than enough for the user who uses other design programs and wants to listen to music, watch videos or edit very simple audio.

Mac Studio Performance

This is the most powerful computer Apple has ever created. It’s 3.8x faster than the best iMac on the market, powered by the Intel Core i9 chip. On the other hand, it’s 60% faster than the 28-core Mac Pro with Intel Xeon W.

Basically, this computer can run 18 video streams in 8k ProRes 422 at the same time; something that no other PC had been able to achieve.

Just to boot up, from the moment you click the power button to the start page loading, it took 19.7 seconds, while on the 2020 M1 chip Mac Mini with 16GB memory it took 40.3 seconds.

One of the tests carried out was to copy a project from Final Cut Pro 96.3 GB to a flash hard drive. On the same 2020 M1-chip Mac Mini it took 37 minutes, 45 seconds, while on the Mac Studio it took 4 minutes, 43 seconds. This saving of time seemed to me something never seen before.

On the other hand, exporting a 3.22 GB H.264 edited video in Final Cut Pro was tested on both computers. The Mac Mini took six minutes and 10 seconds, while in the Mac Studio, by the time I turned on the stopwatch, the export was complete. I estimate it took less than two seconds.

A 3:45 minute song was also bounced in .wav 24 bits 44.1khz at Pro Tools to convert a 64-track mix to a stereo track. On a 2020 iMac 5k with 8-core 3.8 GHZ Intel Core i7 processor, this process took 38 seconds to complete. On the Mac Studio it only took 1.7 seconds.

On the other hand, it is important to mention that, being a new processor, there are many plugins and applications that are not yet available. If you consider buying this Mac, we recommend that you first check the compatibility of your plugins and the apps you need, or in any case, that you consider an additional expense for those that are compatible.

For which users is the Mac Studio and its Display recommended?

Due to the power of this computer, it is designed for completely professional use. Its features allow audio engineers and designers, filmmakers, photographers, color correctors, designers and people who require editing programs with very heavy projects to work in the most fluid way. If you only need to write documents or make Excel tables, this computer is not for you. It is for people who demand very complex graphic processing.

Additionally, I’d recommend this Mac if you like Apple’s operating system, but with reservations, as resource compatibility must be considered.

A great plus of this computer, for audio engineers, or if it is required to be installed in a recording studio, is that it is extremely professional without making the least bit of noise.

However, if you prefer the ease of customizing your computer, I don’t recommend it. These computers are not designed to exchange their internal parts and improve them in the future, so if you consider that it may be obsolete for your needs in a short time, I do not recommend paying its price.

On the other hand, I don’t recommend it for gamers either; this Mac just isn’t designed to run video games. It is much more focused on creating creative products. I also do not recommend it if you are not interested in Apple applications, which are different from Windows.

Is it worth buying the Mac Studio and its display?

This model of Mac Studio has a price of 183,999 pesos, without the display. This is basically the approximate cost of a 2022 Mitsubishi Mirage dealership. Taking into account the additional expenses it requires with the display, the computer could cost the same as a mid-range car.

On the other hand, the Studio Display with base and adjustable tilt has a cost of 59,999 pesosa price that I do not consider reasonable or competitive, considering that there are displays that you can connect to the Mac Studio that would offer almost the same at a much lower price, as is the case of a Samsung Smart Monitor M8, whose price ranges between 14,800 pesos or an LG Ultrafine 5k IPS, which is approximately 12,300 pesos.

Personally, I would suggest that if the Mac Studio isn’t going to see extreme, rough use, such as in some university, recording, design, or editing studio, I don’t recommend it. The cost seems too high for the average user.

If a user requires it for home and personal use, I suggest going for the cheaper version of Mac Studio, with the M1 Max chip, which starts at $51,999 pesos and is sure to deliver similarly great results.