5+ Things to Know About the Next Mac Studio

[tonmischa]

See #2 in my post please. Docks/ external SSDs / enclosures etc CONSTANTLY disconnect for me on numerous Macs. Mix of M1 Max, M1, Ultra, M2 Ultra, M3 Ultra, M4 Max. They ALL suffer constant disconnects.

I'm no trying to sound disrespectful, but if this were a wide-spread problem, there would be more 1-star reviews on Amazon for all of these hubs, docks and enclosures.
I can only assume that there is something special in your setup and/or workflow, that causes this.
If you think that the MacPro is the only solution to your specific problem, I would seriously recommend talking to a IT specialist. There is likely a cheaper solution for your problem (that also has some kind of "good looks". We use a lot of Sonnet Chassis to hide the cable mess inside our racks.)
Good luck to you!

 

[Matt2012]

Well, then get to buyin' it so we can cut the wait 😉

😆 😆 😆

 

[theorist9]

But the trashcan Mac Pro was just too ahead of it's time,

I think that's giving the design team for the trashcan Mac Pro too much credit. In my view, had they actually been ahead of their time, they would've designed that Mac Pro for the next generation of GPU cards, which were single cards that consumed a lot of power and generated a lot of thermal energy.

But they did not—and, as Apple themselves acknowledged, they thus backed themselves into a "thermal corner". So I think their fundamental design flaw wasn't that they were too much ahead of their time, but rather that they weren't ahead enough.

I do know what you mean—you're thinking they were ahead of their time in that their device was something that would work with Apple Silicon. But I don't think the designers deserve credit for being ahead of their time on that basis, when they failed to be enough ahead of their time to accommodate the very next generation of GPU's.

I would also argue that the trashcan Mac Pro, as pretty and elegant as it was, was also an aesthetic design failure. The problem with that machine was that it was only elegant before you actually put it to use.

The previous Mac Pro, while larger and more ungainly than the trashcan version (but which was still a clean, attractive design), was large enough to accommodate, internally, the numerous storage and other devices that pros needed to use with that machine. Thus it looked just as clean in use as it did out-of-the-box. By contrast, the trashcan version had very little room inside, which means that all those devices now had to be attached externally, resulting in a beautiful trashcan Mac Pro surrounded by an ugly rat's nest of cables.

Thus not only was it a design failure functionally, it was also a design failure aesthetically.

And finally, it was also a design failure procedurally. Design failures can be excused when issues arise that simply could not have been anticipated. But that wasn't the case here. As soon as the box came out, many in the pro community immediately complained that it was too small. So the information was out there that their design approach was wrong—they didn't see it because they didn't sufficiently look at the needs of their users. That's why I say it was a design failure procedurally.

Apple subsequently recognized this, which is why they assembled a "Pro Workflow Team" to help guide them in the design of the 2019 Mac Pro. The purpose of that team was to identify the various pain points that working pros would encounter, but that would otherwise be missed by the Apple design engineers.

 

[Matt2012]

Well, then get to buyin' it so we can cut the wait 😉

So, I've just bit the bullet and ordered a MBP so lets see what happens....

 

[Ethosik]

I'm no trying to sound disrespectful, but if this were a wide-spread problem, there would be more 1-star reviews on Amazon for all of these hubs, docks and enclosures.
I can only assume that there is something special in your setup and/or workflow, that causes this.
If you think that the MacPro is the only solution to your specific problem, I would seriously recommend talking to a IT specialist. There is likely a cheaper solution for your problem (that also has some kind of "good looks". We use a lot of Sonnet Chassis to hide the cable mess inside our racks.)
Good luck to you!

There are literally posts on this site and on various other sites about USB disconnections. I have literally purchased over a thousand dollars in docks and hubs and enclosures. OWC, Sonnett, Satechi, Belkin, etc.

I even spoke to some of their support as well, they informed me that it is a "macOS thing".

 

[ikramerica]

I predict the entry-level M5 Studio will have a 2 TB SSD and cost $2,399, for these reasons:

1) SSD size: The entry-level Studio will have an M5 Max chip. The starting SSD size on the M5 Max MBP is 2 TB, and I don't recall an instance where Apple offered lower-spec starting options on the Max Studio than on the same-gen Max MBP. Hence the Studio should start at 2 TB as well.

2) Pricing: As explained above, the only change we should see between the M4 and M5 Max Studios is the same change we got between the M4 and M5 Max MBP's: An upgraded SoC, with the same starting RAM but an increase from 1 to 2 TB in the starting SSD. Apple charged $400 for that change in the MBP (the same as Apple's upcharge for that SSD upgrade), and thus we should see the same increase for the Studio. Thus the M5 Max Studio should start at $1,999 + $400 = $2,399.

I don’t know. The size of the prime internal SSD on a desktop isn’t quite as important. The draw of the Mac Pro was bays/slots for additional internal storage.
If 1TB isn’t enough, 2TB isn’t likely going to be enough for those people, and you are better off spending your money on a 2+TB TB drive than on 2TB internal prime drive and a 1TB external.

 

[ikramerica]

And they made more problems.

Tell that to Apple themselves and all pro users. You are abandoning the entire market for that.

And yet, it sold a lot more than Mac Studio especially since it's the only B2B product.

Clearly, Apple killed pro markets.

Unless a Studio Extreme is coming, not with an extreme chip, but with a 3” taller chassis and slots for SSDs in the bottom 3”.

No PCI cards, but yes on storage.

Can’t see it actually happening, but it’s actually not a very difficult idea to implement. Kind of like the old Quadras that came in 700 and 900 series and had successors as mini tower and full tower.

 

[ikramerica]

There are literally posts on this site and on various other sites about USB disconnections. I have literally purchased over a thousand dollars in docks and hubs and enclosures. OWC, Sonnett, Satechi, Belkin, etc.

I even spoke to some of their support as well, they informed me that it is a "macOS thing".

I have an older CalDigit TB dock and it happens a few times a year but only the USB hub part of it.

My guess is it has to do with a security hiccup involving the USB trusted device protocal. It’s also why if you have a keyboard or mouse connected to docks/hubs they sometimes can’t be used to login to the computer after a restart because the Mac doesn’t “trust” those devices yet so you can’t use them for input.

 

[CWallace]

Well, then get to buyin' it so we can cut the wait 😉

Well Gurman just reported he does not expect to see the "MacBook Ultra" and Mac Studio until 2027 due to "chip shortages" which may imply Apple is skipping M5 for the Studio and will instead drop the M6 Max and M6 Ultra into it (as the "MacBook Ultra" is expected to use at least the M6 Max).

 

[BSDnostalgia]

The size of the prime internal SSD on a desktop isn’t quite as important. The draw of the Mac Pro was bays/slots for additional internal storage.
If 1TB isn’t enough, 2TB isn’t likely going to be enough for those people, and you are better off spending your money on a 2+TB TB drive than on 2TB internal prime drive and a 1TB external.

Well, Apple can charge whatever it wants for whatever it wants. But, unfortunately, Apple's pricing policy on SSD drives a lot of unnecessary wires on the desktop. If, for example, you just want 4TB, you can, well, you could anyway, easily pick up a 4TB SSD on Amazon, or probably, even at Costco. But, of course, cables, enclosures, power bricks, etc, not to mention the aesthetics, and even reliability and startup issues. I think it would, or, at least would have, and will, make sense for Apple to relent on the marginal price of internal SSD. For now, we are stuck both ways because of the market turmoil due to AI server farms.

 

[theorist9]

I don’t know. The size of the prime internal SSD on a desktop isn’t quite as important. The draw of the Mac Pro was bays/slots for additional internal storage.
If 1TB isn’t enough, 2TB isn’t likely going to be enough for those people, and you are better off spending your money on a 2+TB TB drive than on 2TB internal prime drive and a 1TB external.

You seem to be responding to my post as if I were arguing in favor of a certain SSD size. But I was not.

In the post to which you were responding, I was only predicting what I thought the starting price and SSD size for the M5 Max Studio will be.

 

[theorist9]

I'm no trying to sound disrespectful, but if this were a wide-spread problem, there would be more 1-star reviews on Amazon for all of these hubs, docks and enclosures.
I can only assume that there is something special in your setup and/or workflow, that causes this.
If you think that the MacPro is the only solution to your specific problem, I would seriously recommend talking to a IT specialist. There is likely a cheaper solution for your problem (that also has some kind of "good looks". We use a lot of Sonnet Chassis to hide the cable mess inside our racks.)
Good luck to you!

I believe the issue is not uncommon. See this thead:

Unexpected Disk ejects of external SSD

Hey. Anyone still having these unexpected Disk Eject from their external SSD drives? I recall seeing this a bit with the previous OS from users. Just wondering if Sequoia resolved this for you guys.

forums.macrumors.com

And note this post. I also think it's a power management issue, since I only get spontaneous disconnects with SSD's rather than HDD's, and SSD's draw significantly more power.

This problem is broad in scope (but not affecting every enclosure) and has existed since Big Sur. If you do searches for this, you'll find matches all over the web, including Apple's own support forums. If you do searches for this in ratings on sites like Amazon, you'll find lots of matches for all kinds of enclosures (brand) new & old.

Fans will likely soon pop in and blame cable, enclosure, firmware, settings and/or spin it like it is entirely tied to sleep and thus you need an app to prevent sleep, blah-blah-blah... but before anyone falls for any of that, I encourage them to either hook the very same enclosure through the very same cable to any older Mac (running macOS before Big Sur) or any PC and you will likely find that it is remarkably stable.... which seems to shout where the problem lies. If you don't hear that shout, searches will lead you to stories of Mac users having a perfectly stable enclosure, upgrading macOS to a version Big Sur or newer and crashing into this problem, then downgrading again and the enclosure is stable again. Only ONE variable changes in those cases.

The best remedy while waiting for Apple to debug port management/power management (which is VERY likely the cause) is to start working through enclosure after enclosure looking for one that WILL remain connected. I did this and landed on the OWC Ministack STX, which has been stable since it was attached. I have both an 8TB m.2 and a 18TB HDD installed in it. Meanwhile another enclosure has been temporarily "retired" since, awaiting the good news that Apple has finally got around to fixing this long-standing bug(s).

I can share much more on this topic but it's already posted in many threads expressing this same problem. I've thoroughly tested this to try to work through any possibilities and have concluded the problem is bugs in macOS. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer.

 

[theorist9]

Well Gurman just reported he does not expect to see the "MacBook Ultra" and Mac Studio until 2027 due to "chip shortages" which may imply Apple is skipping M5 for the Studio and will instead drop the M6 Max and M6 Ultra into it (as the "MacBook Ultra" is expected to use at least the M6 Max).

He's predicting Oct 2026 for the Mac Studio. He posted this yesterday on X:

And here's the Apple News summary of his article:

 

[Tagbert]

Nope. Retina displays arrived with the 2012 15” & 13” MacBook Pro, 3 years before the 12” MacBook.

Sorry, I meant "first to get Retina screen among the consumer line". I am aware that Retina was on the MBP earlier. Different market segment.

 

[Tagbert]

Those reports are simply not correct and have not been for a while.

Apple has stated many times the MacBook Air is their best selling Mac. It is not the MacBook Pro. And now with the Neo we have to see how that shakes out.

...

Most people that analyzed that report take the numbers to be revenue numbers, not unit sales. If true, then 51% for MBP and 39% for MBA could be true even if Apple sold more Airs than Pros.

 

[splifingate]

So, I've just bit the bullet and ordered a MBP so lets see what happens....

My prediction is that you'll enjoy using it 🙂

 

[Matt2012]

My prediction is that you'll enjoy using it 🙂

I hope so but I need a dock with 10GB - and the Caldigit TS5+ seems completely out of stock over here 🙁
Still hoping the Studio gets announced soon as it'll be 2-3 weeks before I get the MBP then have 14 days to return.

 

[Larry-K]

Killing Mac Pro sucks and they are killing their own pro markets after all.

If you feel the need for a little Xeon in your life, you can still pick up one of these overpriced dinosaurs, in excellent condition, starting at $1,249 rather than $6K, at OWC.

 

[theorist9]

If you feel the need for a little Xeon in your life, you can still pick up one of these overpriced dinosaurs, in excellent condition, starting at $1,249 rather than $6K, at OWC.

Once the price drops more I could see one of those being a great starting point for building a quiet top-end gaming PC or PC workstation. Just keep the case, power supply, fans, and heat sinks,and toss everything else.


I think that would make a great video segment for some youtuber like, e..g, Linus.

 

[theorist9]

Just gonna say, Apple computers used to look like this. Behold, the lowest possible hanging fruit for a legendary Mac Pro revival design. View attachment 2623104

Yes, the G4 Cube had a beautiful design. Yet that design would be completely non-functional for a Mac Pro, since all its ports are on the bottom!