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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,195
30,136


If you've been wondering how the top-end Mac Studio compares to the highest-end MacBook Pro, look no further, because we have a real-world usage comparison that doesn't rely solely on benchmarks. Over on YouTube, MacRumors videographer Dan tested both machines with his real world workflow.


Dan has been using the M1 Max MacBook Pro to edit the MacRumors videos since it came out, and it has met and exceeded his expectations and needs. Obviously, the M1 Ultra does the same, but even for a professional video editor for a tech site, it may be a little bit too much machine for the price.

As a quick example, a standard 4K 10 minute video exported in 4 minutes and 50 seconds on the M1 Max MacBook Pro, and three minutes on the M1 Ultra Mac Studio. An hour long podcast exported in 26 minutes on the MacBook Pro, and just over 14 minutes on the M1 Ultra.

The M1 Ultra is definitely a time saver, but the M1 Max is already pretty good compared to prior Intel chips used in machines like the Mac Pro. In situations where money is no object, the M1 Ultra is a no brainer, but if budget is a concern, it's worth carefully considering the benefits you get with the M1 Ultra over the M1 Max in the MacBook Pro or the Mac Studio.

As for form factor, the Mac Studio has far more ports with up to six Thunderbolt/USB-C ports and four USB-A ports, but you do get a decent number with the MacBook Pro, plus the MacBook Pro is obviously the winner when it comes to portability. Choosing between the MacBook Pro and the Mac Studio really comes down to your form factor needs unless you require the maximum power of the M1 Ultra for your workflow.

Make sure to watch Dan's full comparison to see both machines in action and to get his thoughts on how each form factor works for a videographer's workload.

Article Link: M1 Ultra Mac Studio vs. M1 Max MacBook Pro
 

edubfromktown

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2010
705
577
East Coast, USA
I had no thought of going for anything other than the base model Max which arrived on Tuesday. It has exceeded my expectations compared to a gen 1 Mini M1 16 GB. Some things finish so quickly that my brain doesn't register that they are DONE for a few minutes haha

I also still happily use a 10th gen 13" i5 MBP for semi-heavier lifting and a couple of (sacrificial/sub-$300 Chromebooks for daily driver light/moderate duty).

Like you, never in 21 years of using Mac laptops has one been hot in my lap or ran with fans on for any length of time beyond when I was crushing I/O and processing to the max or during OS upgrades/updates occasionally. Also growing tired of benchmark obsessiveness along with battery runtime on laptops and mobile phones.

Didn't really need quite this much horsepower but figured that selling the M1 Mini (for what I paid it) made the step up to MiniMAXimus not so bad. Along with that came:

Huge performance gain (primarily with Docker development, Lightroom Classic and more mundane apps (no gaming here))
More PORTS and one's in front too :D
10 GB Ethernet
2x internal storage
2x RAM
Better multi-display support

The "always on" fan is hardly noticeable (overhead LED lights make more noise in my super quiet basement office)
 
Last edited:

wyarp

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2011
243
737
I pronounce it with a soft G and I still think this is one of the best posts I’ve ever read ?
I don’t know if it’s an American thing, but I’ve always been baffled when I come across ppl that pronounce it with a soft g, ie ‘jig.’ Partly I think because there used to be a cleaning product in the UK called ‘jif’, partly because it’s Graphics Interchange Format (hard g) and partly because it’s just obvious to pronounce it ‘gif’ with a hard g.
 

foliovision

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2008
178
78
Bratislava
How about comparison of MBP M1 Max vs Mac Studio M1 Max? while they should be even at the line, what about heat/fans/throlling?/etc —comparisons
Pointless as far as the M1 Max 16" MBP goes. It's quiet almost all the time, at least when it's open with ventilation. Fans are literally off. When they go on it's silent at 1534rpm.

Apparently the Studio makes noise, a quiet whirring something like the iMac 5K (SSD version) when at rest (iMac had 1200rpm fan, believe the Studio has 1300rpm). Unlike the iMac the Studio fans almost never gear up.

So it's silent vs almost silent. Not a very exciting comparison.
 

_z_

macrumors member
Aug 19, 2020
35
85

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johnsterdam

macrumors member
May 2, 2021
36
61
Can someone explain to me why saving 2 mins (or 10mins) in export time is a big deal? It's not like video editors export multiple times an hour (or even a day). 99% of time is spent editing. When it comes to export, does it really matter if a MacRumors (or any other) podcast or video comes out 10mins (or for that matter several hours) later?! Just seems like a meaningless benchmark. But every single review video goes (like this one) goes on endlessly about it. Is it just because it's easy to measure?

Also for the love of god please can YouTube reviewers think outside their own world? The logic seems to be 'I make review videos, so all I need to look at is how good this hardware is for making videos'. This is going to blow some people's minds but people do other things on laptops than make videos and play games.
 

Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
5,400
6,203
Seattle
I don’t know if it’s an American thing, but I’ve always been baffled when I come across ppl that pronounce it with a soft g, ie ‘jig.’ Partly I think because there used to be a cleaning product in the UK called ‘jif’, partly because it’s Graphics Interchange Format (hard g) and partly because it’s just obvious to pronounce it ‘gif’ with a hard g.
Because the person who created the GIF format used the soft-g sound "jif" and for a long time that was how most people pronounced it. That was created in the late 80's by Steve Wilhite - who died just this past week.

In the decades since, new people coming into the web without knowing the background of the format, saw the name spelled and started pronouncing it with a hard-g. The "gi" combination can be pronounced with a hard=g as in "give" but can be pronounced with a soft-g as in "giant". In any case, the hard-g seems to have overtaken the original pronunciation.

BTW besides that cleaning product, there is also a well-known brand of peanut butter in the US called "Jif".
 

docbop

macrumors regular
Sep 9, 2008
224
207
Los Angeles, CA


If you've been wondering how the top-end Mac Studio compares to the highest-end MacBook Pro, look no further, because we have a real-world usage comparison that doesn't rely solely on benchmarks. Over on YouTube, MacRumors videographer Dan tested both machines with his real world workflow.


Dan has been using the M1 Max MacBook Pro to edit the MacRumors videos since it came out, and it has met and exceeded his expectations and needs. Obviously, the M1 Ultra does the same, but even for a professional video editor for a tech site, it may be a little bit too much machine for the price.

As a quick example, a standard 4K 10 minute video exported in 4 minutes and 50 seconds on the M1 Max MacBook Pro, and three minutes on the M1 Ultra Mac Studio. An hour long podcast exported in 26 minutes on the MacBook Pro, and just over 14 minutes on the M1 Ultra.

The M1 Ultra is definitely a time saver, but the M1 Max is already pretty good compared to prior Intel chips used in machines like the Mac Pro. In situations where money is no object, the M1 Ultra is a no brainer, but if budget is a concern, it's worth carefully considering the benefits you get with the M1 Ultra over the M1 Max in the MacBook Pro or the Mac Studio.

As for form factor, the Mac Studio has far more ports with up to six Thunderbolt/USB-C ports and four USB-A ports, but you do get a decent number with the MacBook Pro, plus the MacBook Pro is obviously the winner when it comes to portability. Choosing between the MacBook Pro and the Mac Studio really comes down to your form factor needs unless you require the maximum power of the M1 Ultra for your workflow.

Make sure to watch Dan's full comparison to see both machines in action and to get his thoughts on how each form factor works for a videographer's workload.

Article Link: M1 Ultra Mac Studio vs. M1 Max MacBook Pro
For most Mac owners the Mac Studio is overkill especially they like to think they need that much power or that their life is so important the extra couple minutes would ruin their day. If someone is really doing serious workstation level work then you want a dedicated work computer with no other apps or anything installed or running on it. So buy a Mac Studio and a small Mac laptop. Then you can the laptop with all your non-actual work apps and etc installed on it email, office apps, music, whatever. That way your can do your real work and not steal CPU cycle for non-work. Start a big render going and grab you little laptop and go to that meeting, catch up on emails and such. People doing serious workstation class work have dedicated computers to do that work.
 

RalfTheDog

macrumors 68020
Feb 23, 2010
2,115
1,869
Lagrange Point
Because the person who created the GIF format used the soft-g sound "jif" and for a long time that was how most people pronounced it. That was created in the late 80's by Steve Wilhite - who died just this past week.

In the decades since, new people coming into the web without knowing the background of the format, saw the name spelled and started pronouncing it with a hard-g. The "gi" combination can be pronounced with a hard=g as in "give" but can be pronounced with a soft-g as in "giant". In any case, the hard-g seems to have overtaken the original pronunciation.

BTW besides that cleaning product, there is also a well-known brand of peanut butter in the US called "Jif".
Wait, that is peanut butter? I was wondering why it was so bad at cleaning windows. (The bugs loved it.)
 

ikramerica

macrumors 68000
Apr 10, 2009
1,540
1,826
I had no thought of going for anything other than the base model Max which arrived on Tuesday. It has exceeded my expectations compared to a gen 1 Mini M1 16 GB. Some things finish so quickly that my brain doesn't register that they are DONE for a few minutes haha

I also still happily use a 10th gen 13" i5 MBP for semi-heavier lifting and a couple of (sacrificial/sub-$300 Chromebooks for daily driver light/moderate duty).

Like you, never in 21 years of using Mac laptops has one been hot in my lap or ran with fans on for any length of time beyond when I was crushing I/O and processing to the max or during OS upgrades/updates occasionally. Also growing tired of benchmark obsessiveness along with battery runtime on laptops and mobile phones.

Didn't really need quite this much horsepower but figured that selling the M1 Mini (for what I paid it) made the step up to MiniMAXimus not so bad. Along with that came:

Huge performance gain (primarily with Docker development, Lightroom Classic and more mundane apps (no gaming here)
More PORTS and one's in front too :D
10 GB Ethernet
2x internal storage
2x RAM
Better multi-display support

The "always on" fan is hardly noticeable (my overhead LED lights make more noise in my super quiet basement office)
I do not believe you. Sorry

Had a 2 hr zoom meeting with my core i7 MBP yesterday on the desk on battery most of the way. Fans were quite loud by the end. For a zoom meeting. With no other programs running.

Intel MBPs get hot.

Which is why I love my M1 Pro 16”. It’s a paradigm shift of what a laptop can be.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G3
Jul 22, 2002
9,795
7,699
Also for the love of god please can YouTube reviewers think outside their own world? The logic seems to be 'I make review videos, so all I need to look at is how good this hardware is for making videos'. This is going to blow some people's minds but people do other things on laptops than make videos and play games.
There are other things, but few that are as widely understood as potentially system stressing as editing videos and playing games. Anything else I can think of goes more and more into the “fewer people do this” area. And, seeing as how folks on YouTube want MORE clicks, it becomes obvious.
 
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