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Interested in powerful computer for media creation.

P

pctechtv

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 3, 2013
56
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Hi friends, I am interested in getting a computer for work with Adobe CC and other render intensive applications. I see that the Mac Studio is only offering the M2 CPU. While the Mac Book Pro is offering the M4. I am assuming that the M4 is a better CPU (more powerful). I am also used to desktops being able to offer the most power. Could someone explain to me what is the most powerful option out of the two?

I am also aware that GPU power is also important for the type of work I describe, like CPU power. So, anything you could tell me about the computer differences in that department is welcome.

Basically, I want to know what the best computer for high-performance media creation and rendering is related to concepts like video editing.

Thanks
 
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M2 Studio will overall be faster. That being said, the Studio will likely be updated to the M4 at WWDC at the latest, so if you can wait, you will get a markedly faster machine for the same price. You will also get a few extra perks, and support for the machine for a couple of years longer, which is likely also worth it.
 
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
M2 Studio will overall be faster. That being said, the Studio will likely be updated to the M4 at WWDC at the latest, so if you can wait, you will get a markedly faster machine for the same price. You will also get a few extra perks, and support for the machine for a couple of years longer, which is likely also worth it.
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Thanks so much for the reply. That sounds like good advice.
 
I couldn't wait, so I got an M4 Mac Mini Pro/64GB/1TB.
I am a lifelong PC user, I Like it a LOT!
Was getting tired of my ol' PC station, and did not want to deal with the crap windoze11 thing.
So I swapped evils...

I am also a life long photographer, and use Adobe Photoshop, and LRC.

Just got Stable Diffusion working on ComfyUI, it is kind of amazing...
 
buggz said:
I couldn't wait, so I got an M4 Mac Mini Pro/64GB/1TB.
I am a lifelong PC user, I Like it a LOT!
Was getting tired of my ol' PC station, and did not want to deal with the crap windoze11 thing.
So I swapped evils...

I am also a life long photographer, and use Adobe Photoshop, and LRC.

Just got Stable Diffusion working on ComfyUI, it is kind of amazing...
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the reply. So I guess you are saying the M4 is worth waiting for. It sounds like a good idea.
 
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pctechtv said:
Hi, thanks for the reply. So I guess you are saying the M4 is worth waiting for. It sounds like a good idea.
Click to expand...
Though I did get the M4 Mac Mini Pro 64GB/1TB, which I like a lot.
I still want a M4 Studio Max with more memory.
 
If your need is now and you are using the machine to earn, then I would go M4 Pro Mac mini now, and when the M4 Max/Ultra Mac Studio drops at WWDC 2025 (rumored) pick one of those up...?
 
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I was in the exact same position. I use the entire Adobe CC suite and used a maxed out Mac Pro Trashcan for 10 years. though the last 3 it was struggling.
I was at first intending to go with a 16" Macbook Pro. But the more recent M chips have more efficiency and less performance cores. Also the Studio has a LOT more cores than any of the laptops, even if it is M2. When you get the Ultra version of the Studio it not only doubles the number of cores, it makes the front USB C ports into TB4 ports and the NIC is upgraded to 10GB capability.
It also bears pointing out that the chip in the Studio has prores encode/decode on chip. I'm not sure the M4 has these?
 
Calaveras said:
I was in the exact same position. I use the entire Adobe CC suite and used a maxed out Mac Pro Trashcan for 10 years. though the last 3 it was struggling.
I was at first intending to go with a 16" Macbook Pro. But the more recent M chips have more efficiency and less performance cores. Also the Studio has a LOT more cores than any of the laptops, even if it is M2. When you get the Ultra version of the Studio it not only doubles the number of cores, it makes the front USB C ports into TB4 ports and the NIC is upgraded to 10GB capability.
It also bears pointing out that the chip in the Studio has prores encode/decode on chip. I'm not sure the M4 has these?
Click to expand...
The base M4 and indeed M2 and M3 had hardware ProRes decode and encode engine in them. Was only the M1 Gen that lacked ProRes in base.
Is why I have a studio as wanted the ProRes hardware and there was no M1 Mini with a Pro so there was no mini with ProRes.

The Max however in the Studio has two such decoder/encode engines.

Also the Max version of the Studio also has 10Gbe, doesn’t require the Ultra.

As such my wondershare video converter will actually use both at the same time to convert video, two at a time.
 
mcnallym said:
The base M4 and indeed M2 and M3 had hardware ProRes decode and encode engine in them. Was only the M1 Gen that lacked ProRes in base.
Is why I have a studio as wanted the ProRes hardware and there was no M1 Mini with a Pro so there was no mini with ProRes.

The Max however in the Studio has two such decoder/encode engines.

Also the Max version of the Studio also has 10Gbe, doesn’t require the Ultra.

As such my wondershare video converter will actually use both at the same time to convert video, two at a time.
Click to expand...
yeah not sure where I got the impression that only the Ultra had 10GB.
 
I have both a Mac Studio M2 Ultra and 16" M4 Max MBP. While there's nothing wrong with the M2 Ultra Mac Studio and in many, but not all, cases it is faster than a M4 Max I'd personally wait for the new one if you can since it should be out soon.
 
Adobe CC doesn’t have any render intensive applications. Moreover, they are all single threaded and don’t benefit much from anything other than higher clocks. Photoshop will run the same on a M1 Mac mini as it will on a M2 Mac Studio Ultra.
 
buggz said:
Just got Stable Diffusion working on ComfyUI, it is kind of amazing...
Click to expand...
A lot of people these days say that ComfyUI is very slow on Macs, even with Max and Ultra chips, but you come from the PC and your experience seems to be good. Can you elaborate a bit more about the experience of ComfyUI on your Mac?
 
Shrug, it works for me.
I have only played with it a couple of times.
I don't have anything to compare it too, since this the first time I have played with this kind of stuff.
Sorry I can't provide the information you ask, this is all I have.
 
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