Hi, I have tried several M1, M2 and M2 Pro Mini but I cannot find one without issues such as wifi, bluetooth and audio. Somebody mentioned that the Mini line-up has a design fault since the wifi module is close to another component which causes interference. How is the Mac Studio product line-up? Do they have the issues I mentioned?
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Any issue with the Mac Studio product line-up?
- Thread starter hajime
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I've had a Studio M1 Max for about six months. No noticeable problems with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
I have no M series Macs, but every single Mac I have owned remembers external display setups.
There's always the chance of incompatibility of third party devices with some current or future MacOS version. Apple only tests their own peripherals for each software update. They have no interest or obligation to test other products. The responsibility for a software or firmware initial design and a later fix is the other vendor's.
I don't own a Mac Studio, but was considering it at one point. From my research, and what I have been following on the forum and elsewhere, here are some potential issues for the Studio:
1. Fan noise - not what you typically would hear with most fan noise, but like a whistle or tone. Not all people hear it on their machines. Another thing that is weird is that some people can hear the noise, and some people cannot on the same machine, so I wonder if it is maybe a frequency that most people's ears cannot register. Not sure. This didn't bother me, as I have a lot of hearing loss from my time in the military.
2. 10G Ethernet issue - this isn't just on the Studio, but a lot of Macs. I have seen two issues reported lately, and it seems to only affect the 10G Ethernet port on Macs from the last few years. One being that AirPlay doesn't always work from the device with the 10G Ethernet. The other is that some people were finding that the 10G Ethernet was dropping the link speed of their connection to 100Mbps when connected to a 1000Gbps network.
3. GPU scaling - as the number of GPU cores goes up, the scaling gets dramatically worse. I have seen it reported that this was a problem with all the M1 chips, a design flaw that was missed during the development, and it might be the reason why there wasn't an Mac Pro already with the original rumors of up to 128 GPU Cores as this would have really shined a light on the design flaw. The issue was reportedly corrected, or at least reduced for the M2 and up chips.
There might be some others that I cannot remember or didn't see.
Another thing you might want to consider is the HW differences between the Mac Minis and the Studio, as there are some improvements over the Studio on the M2 Mac Mini.
I don't use Bluetooth on my two Mac Minis, M1 and M2 Pro, but I use Wifi on both of them, and haven't noticed an issue. Maybe I am just lucky or you are really unlucky.
Another thing, if you otherwise like everything about your Mac Minis, but are having Wifi and Bluetooth issues, why not just use Ethernet or some other networking solution, and a USB Bluetooth adapter?
Maybe just replacing one of these things might help the other.
1. Fan noise - not what you typically would hear with most fan noise, but like a whistle or tone. Not all people hear it on their machines. Another thing that is weird is that some people can hear the noise, and some people cannot on the same machine, so I wonder if it is maybe a frequency that most people's ears cannot register. Not sure. This didn't bother me, as I have a lot of hearing loss from my time in the military.
2. 10G Ethernet issue - this isn't just on the Studio, but a lot of Macs. I have seen two issues reported lately, and it seems to only affect the 10G Ethernet port on Macs from the last few years. One being that AirPlay doesn't always work from the device with the 10G Ethernet. The other is that some people were finding that the 10G Ethernet was dropping the link speed of their connection to 100Mbps when connected to a 1000Gbps network.
3. GPU scaling - as the number of GPU cores goes up, the scaling gets dramatically worse. I have seen it reported that this was a problem with all the M1 chips, a design flaw that was missed during the development, and it might be the reason why there wasn't an Mac Pro already with the original rumors of up to 128 GPU Cores as this would have really shined a light on the design flaw. The issue was reportedly corrected, or at least reduced for the M2 and up chips.
There might be some others that I cannot remember or didn't see.
Another thing you might want to consider is the HW differences between the Mac Minis and the Studio, as there are some improvements over the Studio on the M2 Mac Mini.
I know this isn't what you are asking in the thread, but I am curious, have you ruled out your equipment you are using with your Mac Minis?
I don't use Bluetooth on my two Mac Minis, M1 and M2 Pro, but I use Wifi on both of them, and haven't noticed an issue. Maybe I am just lucky or you are really unlucky.
Another thing, if you otherwise like everything about your Mac Minis, but are having Wifi and Bluetooth issues, why not just use Ethernet or some other networking solution, and a USB Bluetooth adapter?
Maybe just replacing one of these things might help the other.
I've had a Studio for a few months and no problems so far. The WiFi connection remains stable with no dropouts. As for Bluetooth, I have a magic mouse, magic keyboard, Airpods Pro 2 and Sony Dualshock 4 controller connected via BT and all of them work flawlessly. I work with 2 external monitors, both 4K, with no issues. The machine is incredibly fast and silent under heavy workflows. Best Mac I've ever owned.
I've had a Studio Max since its release and never had any issues with display setup, wifi or Bluetooth. I've also never heard a fan kick in on this thing. Ever. It's by far the best Mac I've ever owned.
I bought a Mac studio M1 Max in april 2022. No issues so far. The flickering of my Dell U3223qe display was solved by choosing another color profile. I never had noise problems or Wifi/Bluetooth dropouts. I am happy with this machine.
Those of you who reported that there is no issue with the displays on the Studio, are your displays the same model, bought at the same or almost the same time and connected via HDMI? There are threads on the forum about the Mac forgetting settings if they displays are of the same model bought at the same or almost the same time.
If Apple is going to announce a Mac Studio with M2 Max/Ultra, probably they will also slow down the SSD to make people to upgrade.
If Apple is going to announce a Mac Studio with M2 Max/Ultra, probably they will also slow down the SSD to make people to upgrade.
I have always used my computers as media centers. Music, videos, net radios. ham radios etc. I am configuring the Studio in steps to get were I had my last PC. The one deficiency this studio has is in it's sound. It is OK to be sure but is could be a whole lot better. One of the reasons why I always used ASUS ROG motherboards was for their audio chipsets. Plus I used the ASUS Essence sound card the best money can buy. With the Studio you do not have that option. but there is several work arounds. FiiO makes a series of DAC/Amps which have audio resolution beyond anything even a golden ear can hear. ASUS has fantastic external DAC/Amps with the Essence audio chip set.
We are talking about analog here the digital signal is different My Yamaha AVR handles all of that 7.1 surround, Atmos, Dolby Digital etc. The best companion a Mac Mini, or a Mac studio can have is a Denon, or Yamaha AVR.
My monitors have not been directly plugged into my PC's since the VGA days. With an AVR it handles all of the sound and video. I have the Mac Studio and the little Lenovo PC plugged into my Yamaha via HDMI it handles both the sound and video.
No; AVR's have multiple HDMI ports. Depending on the model you can also have multiple HDMI outputs. You just run the HDMI port from the computer to the AVR. I have 6 ports on my Yamaha, others have even more. You simple plug your computer's HDMI cable into one of the HDMI I/O ports. From the AVR you run the output cable to the monitors. In the onscreen settings on the AVR you rename the HDMI position to match the computer plugged in. To switch between computers you use the AVR's remote or it's control App on your smartphone. All of these AVR's have Bluetooth, Wifi, AirPlay, Ethernet. Most have voice control from Alexa, Google assistant. and Siri from an Apple device. The one thing you do not have is multiple screen with the same computer, screen in screen yes but not 2 or more monitors. The way around this is if you monitor has more than one input, Thunderbolt, Displayport, or HDMI. For an Apple the easiest way to you this is a Thunderbolt daisy chain, with Displayport, and HDMI you either get an AVR with more than one HDMI output or purchase and HDMI splitter. I don't presently have a multi screen setup. So you plug your Mac's into one of the the HDMI ports and the Monitor into one of the HDMI outputs and you are good to go. I have the Mac Studio, Lenovo micro PC, Apple TV 4K, and a Amazon Firestick plugged in to the HDMI ports. The Mac Studio, and the Apple TV 4K can also connect to the Yamaha via WiFi. What you get for this is a Dolby surround system, Atmos, etc. AVR's also have GPU's of their own. I favor Yamaha 1st and Denon 2nd.
This is the Yamaha RX-A4A Aventage. It has AirPlay2, voice control via Google Home assistant, Alexa, and through you computer/iPhone/iPad Siri. Bluetooth, etc. This AVR can do 8K
Note you can plug in 3 monitors and 7 HDMI devices. Note the Ethernet port these AVR's have their own internet connection.
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Some M2 Mini users found that there are interference from the HDMI and possibly USB-C ports to cause wifi, 10G ethernet and bluethooth issues. Apple replaced some of their motherboards and antenna. So there is no such problem with the M2 Max Studio?
No issues on mine so far. I’m using HDMI for my main monitor and a thunderbolt hub for 2 other monitors and I’m also using Ethernet + WiFi. Only Bluetooth device I’ve used are the AirPods with no issues either.
I feel bad that some users have to wrap their adapter like a fried chicken to shield it. For example:
discussions.apple.com
Wifi dropping in 2016 15" MacBook Pro whe… - Apple Community