Wow that’s cheap. I think Samsung is a bigger player in the field but 160 is hard to pass up. Amazon has good customer service and that should work but I don’t know 100%.
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DO M2 MAX STUDIO USERS UPGRADE FROM 512GB TO 1TB OR MORE SSD?
- Thread starter hajime
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This is a P3. They have a P3+ for $177. I already have an nvme enclosure and it's through USB3 so no real benefit from faster nvme speeds. It would replace a 2 GB SATA3 and a Samsung T3 500 GB. It would be nice to not have to split up my files.
Coming from a M1 Mini 1Tb/16gb to a base model Studio Max i am not worried as i have a 2tb thunderbolt external and only will be putting applications on the internal drive.
Question to anyone, is anybody using the satachi dock with their studio?
Question to anyone, is anybody using the satachi dock with their studio?
I used a M2 Ultra 64GB RAM and 1TB drive for two weeks, which I decided to return. I did some research into forums related to disks and if you choose one 1TB or more, a different chip will be installed, allowing you to double the speed. That will not happen with 512GB, the speed will be half, compared to 1TB or more internal.
I decided to wait for the M3 release and I will purchase it with 4TB of internal storage, which consists of two 2TB internal modules. I cannot find the original post where all the technical details were provided, unfortunately.
I decided to wait for the M3 release and I will purchase it with 4TB of internal storage, which consists of two 2TB internal modules. I cannot find the original post where all the technical details were provided, unfortunately.
I'm using a Trebleet TB4 enclosure, with a Samsung EVO Pro. It maxes out the TB supported speeds, see post details.
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Coming from a M1 Mac Studio Ultra, I also gave the M2 Mac Studio Ultra a try and it was also returned. For my workflow, there was little uplift to justify the upgrade cost, after selling the M1 Mac Studio Ultra.
From my experience since Monterey there are constant issues with BlueTooth on many Macs
It depends what you need to do with it. If 128GB of memory is enough for you then I agree. I had MS M1 Ultra/128GB, sold it an dnow I have the MS M2 Ultra 192GB. And for my workflow it's very noticeable gain
In general you shoudl always get as much memory as you can afford. If you can't get much memory then at least upgrade the disk to 1TB, because it will speed up your workflow a lot. Don't forget when low on memory system will then swap to disk and the 512GB disk is half the speed of the 1TB. And the lag between switching apps etc. is quite significant
I think I'm going to go with the base model Max Studio with 512GB storage. I use my Mac primarily for Logic, but since I move between computers a lot (especially when collaborating) I write everything out to really fast externals. I also use a dedicated external just for all my plugins, for the same reason (very easy transport between machines).
In fact, on my main music production Mac I'm only using 143GB and I could probably trim it down even more, really I just use the internal storage for the actual software (which is basically just Logic and a few other things like Arturia) and the current projects I'm working on.
Speed for me would be the primary concern and it sucks that the 512GB is quite significantly slower. That being said, it's still plenty fast all things considered. For me most projects are in the 5GB range, but even if I went absolutely nuts with a bunch of takes, loads of audio tracks, didn't keep my project clean, etc and hit something like 12GB - and for some reason needed to transfer my entire project then we're talking waiting all of ~3.5 seconds, hah. Yes I could get that down to around 2 seconds with the 1TB storage, but I think I can find a way to distract myself for 1.5 seconds
Obviously use cases are different for different people, but I think for a large number of people the extra speed is only noticed when running benchmarks.
In fact, on my main music production Mac I'm only using 143GB and I could probably trim it down even more, really I just use the internal storage for the actual software (which is basically just Logic and a few other things like Arturia) and the current projects I'm working on.
Speed for me would be the primary concern and it sucks that the 512GB is quite significantly slower. That being said, it's still plenty fast all things considered. For me most projects are in the 5GB range, but even if I went absolutely nuts with a bunch of takes, loads of audio tracks, didn't keep my project clean, etc and hit something like 12GB - and for some reason needed to transfer my entire project then we're talking waiting all of ~3.5 seconds, hah. Yes I could get that down to around 2 seconds with the 1TB storage, but I think I can find a way to distract myself for 1.5 seconds
Obviously use cases are different for different people, but I think for a large number of people the extra speed is only noticed when running benchmarks.
Is it better to just use the internal SSD for programs and keep all media(pictures, videos...) on an external SSD?
I personally store all media on my TrueNAS Scale, to avoid any surprises of losing precious pictures, etc. Sure, there is still a risk of losing data but having a personal NAS is way cheaper than online storage, IMO.
You should definitely upgrade to 1TB, it will double the read/write performance and also will reduce substantially the wear.
So is the stock 32 gb ram enough in real world usage ?
I’d be surfing the web and emailing , like a mini but I prefer the built in sd card of the studio
Nvm , if I can get it over time I’ll get a 38 / 64/ 2tb , total overkill but yolo 😂
I’d be surfing the web and emailing , like a mini but I prefer the built in sd card of the studio
Nvm , if I can get it over time I’ll get a 38 / 64/ 2tb , total overkill but yolo 😂
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For professional work - you have to size your application and the best way to do this is to order one, try it out and exchange it for more if you need it. For casual use, 32 GB should be fine.
that would obviously be better for longevity, but IMO it's not worth the price premium. Get more memory instead
one of my friend asking me 1tb m2 ultra base model [64gb] or 2tb m2 ultra model?
he's concerned if he loads n-raw footage may max out the internal space quickly [from nikon z9] and he shoots a lot of photos.
or would it be easier to use external portable ssd like T7 and work with files off that [roughly 1000MB/s] not thunderbolt by all means
you should never edit of a system drive. I would get the 1TB and that's BTW what I did, I bought M2 Ultra 192GB/76GPU/1TB
"Slower" is such a subjective term.
For my Max Studio I just bought the base with 512gb drive. Added Samsung 2TB NmME and Acasis enclosure for under $250. It is as fast as the 1TB Apple drive while working externally.
Just ordered the base Ultra with the upgraded 1TB drive and 64gb ram, though. Not because of the drive, but the ram is 64gb and ready to be delivered tomorrow from my local Apple Store.
For my Max Studio I just bought the base with 512gb drive. Added Samsung 2TB NmME and Acasis enclosure for under $250. It is as fast as the 1TB Apple drive while working externally.
Just ordered the base Ultra with the upgraded 1TB drive and 64gb ram, though. Not because of the drive, but the ram is 64gb and ready to be delivered tomorrow from my local Apple Store.
I still prefer the internal 1 TB Apple SSD. (not the 512 GB which is slower). It has twice the speed of the Acasis Samsung 980 Pro combo and it boots a lot faster when I choose it as startup drive. I also have sometimes beachball spinning with the Acasis and there are problems when I use the 4th thunderbolt port of my Mac Studio. My next Mac Studio will have at least 2 TB internal.
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How often do you reboot your Studio?
I agree that the Apple internal is really, really fast, but if you leave it up and running all the time, then reboot time is a non-issue. For me, I only reboot for operating system updates. I test out my software on a spare M1 mini and then upgrade my Studio if there are no problems. So USB-C external is enough for me. I don't have a workflow that would benefit from TB though I wouldn't mind trying it just to optimize performance as a want; not a need.
I do have 1 TB internal on my MacBook Pro. I do not need it but it's nice to have for some cases where I don't care to carry an external drive.
I put the Acasis upon my Mac to keep it cool. However when I boot from the acasis and I put the computer to sleep it becomes hot. After changing the startup drive I often get a spinning beachball for a couple of minutes. I also have the impression that a Samsung T7 is more stable than the Acasis thunderbolt. It even boots faster although the speed of the Ssd is not as good as the Acasis.