M2 vs M1 recommendation?

[Mr Rib]

Hi everyone!
Long time lurker, never been posting but I need a bit of advice / your knowledge. This might be a bit long post but bare with me, it's important stuff for me
I'm an illustrator and animator, working (if it's digial) usually with a Wacom Cintiq on 100+ layers of PS files in different dimensions (usually big) or trying not to gouge my eyes out while I wait for an animation preview in AE (even in half-res mode, sometime quarter-res mode). My AE workflow / style is pretty heavy on the dekstop and my current setup (Late 2014 iMac Retina 5K) is suffocating. I tend to upgrade my desktop every 6-7 years.

I've been waiting for a new iMac Pro but this ship has sailed, at least for foreseeable future (in my opinion it's not coming back at all seeing Apple has a 27" + desktop solution now).

I wanted to grab a Mac Studio with Apple XDR but:
1) Apple XDR kind of sucks in 2022, a lot of blooming and seeing how good QD LEDs are, XDR seems outdated. I was looking for an alternative but nothing in 30" size looks compelling. So I am hoping the mini LED rumoured display is announced at WWDC (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a 30-32" option). Assuming what is announced at WWDC is another 27" (too small for me I think), does buying an XDR make any sense right now?

2) I'm working mostly in PS/AI and AE, now picking up Toonboom Harmony. Considering Adobe CC Suite is NOT well optimised and it will never be well optimised again (I noticed they don't give a sh*t anymore, they are too focused on sucking people's wallets dry), single core performance will remain a crucial factor. I would like to be able to work for next 5 years at least without thinking about new computer.
Considering the programs I use for work, waiting out for M2 would be the best idea right? I also started questioning if I truly need a Mac Studio - M2 Macbook Pro may also be a solution, considering I'm not interested in 3D (and Studio sucks for 3D apps anyway).

Sorry for a long post, but I want to make an informed/wise choice and I kind of have to do it soon - I'm wasting my time on my desktop suffocating in apps that I'm using..

 

[DarthVader!]

but I want to make an informed/wise choice

I don't think you can make an informed choice when you're debating M1 and M2, because the M2 is not released.

I kind of have to do it soon

If speed is of the essence then you have your answer, get an M1 Max or M1 Ultra based machine. We may see Apple announce the M2 in June during WWDC or we may not. Given supply shortages, if you put an order in now for a top tier MBP or Studio, you're looking at a possible delivery date of mid to late July. I can't imagine Apple rolling out a M2 next month when they just released the M1 Ultra and studio but yet delivery dates are months away. Just my thoughts.

 

[darngooddesign]

...and I kind of have to do it soon.

Then you will be getting an M1 Mac. And even now the shipping delays are long unless you regularly check Apple Stores for available computers; the most commonly available are M1-Pros with 16GB RAM. Forget about getting a build to order M1-Max soon. If you need 32GB or 64GB RAM, put you order in now and you get it in two months. The 14" and 16" M2 MacBook Pros will realistically be out next year.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

How about the Alienware AW3423DW? Not sure how that is for graphical work though, but that QD-OLED panel is awesome and size should be good for you I believe.

And if you want speed, you'll want a Mac Studio, and in that case you either wait 1,5+ years, or you buy now. By then, Apple will likely also update their XDR.

 

[PsykX]

How about the Alienware AW3423DW? Not sure how that is for graphical work though,

Probably a great monitor but I wouldn't recommend a curved screen for graphical work.

OP, the M2 will have slightly better CPU (20%) and much better GPU (50%). If you can wait another year, M2 Pro or M2 Max could be your favorites, but honestly, if I were you I'd buy the M1 Max Mac Studio in a heartbeat.

Especially if you're in USA where there are deals already. There's never a single deal here in Canada.

 

[DarthVader!]

OP, the M2 will have slightly better CPU (20%) and much better GPU (50%).

Do you mind providing source for such a claim. AFAIK, apple is pretty tight lipped and have not leaked any specs or details. How did you come up with a 50% GPU improvement?

 

[Mr Rib]

How about the Alienware AW3423DW?

Yep, I've seen it, it's AMAZING screen but as PsykX said, curved screen is not the best idea if you draw with flat canvas / surface in mind and also caring about stuff like perspective, vanishing points, etc It will f*ck with perception.
Also, Apple uses 218 PPI which is more than welcome in my field of work. 300 PPI is the goal though as 300 DPI is the print standard (and above for art/gallery). Alienware is at 109 PPI.
Lastly, Apple screens are pretty color consistent throughout their products. Even without calibration, my 5K Retina is very close color-wise to my iPhone XS screen - which is an awesome feature, a lot of my work's biggest exposure are iphones in social media. That simplifies the workflow. So yeah, an Apple monitor would be great, but not that crap they released along with the studio..that's not a > STUDIO < display. It's enthusiast display if anything.

 

[Bodhitree]

I think you’d be very happy with a current Mac Studio, just make sure to get enough ram.

 

[PsykX]

Do you mind providing source for such a claim. AFAIK, apple is pretty tight lipped and have not leaked any specs or details. How did you come up with a 50% GPU improvement?

Based on the processor found in the iPhone 13 Pro and rumors here posted by Macrumors corroborated my claims. The way the GPU is going to be better is basically the same strategy as in iPhone 13 Pro : more GPU cores.

If I remember well the exact numbers should be 18% better CPU and 55% better GPU.

 

[theorist9]

Do you mind providing source for such a claim. AFAIK, apple is pretty tight lipped and have not leaked any specs or details. How did you come up with a 50% GPU improvement?

Here's an analysis from Macworld. They predict ~ < +10% SC, +20% MC, and +30% GPU.

A prediction of +10% SC is in line with others I've seen. Haven't paid attention to the others.

"Performance limitations will vary wildly depending on the task or benchmark at hand, and factors like SSD performance and cooling always play a role. But in general terms, we think it’s reasonable to expect approximately 20 percent better CPU performance (and less than 10 percent on a single core), while the addition of extra cores will bring GPU performance up about 30 percent. These improvements will be accompanied by improved machine learning and video encoding performance, too."

How much of a speed boost will the M2 chip bring to the 2022 Macs?

We don't need to wait for benchmarks to get a good picture of how Apple's next Mac processor will perform.

www.macworld.com

 

[Bodhitree]

The thing is, a 20-30% speedup is hardly noticeable when tasks take a few seconds (big photoshop files) or are near instant (most other tasks). A few seconds minus a second is generally still a few seconds.

Normally only a 100-150% speedup is really felt on those scales, and then you’re talking about what happens when you upgrade your system after 4-5 years. Then you suddenly feel everything is nippier.

 

[Mr Rib]

The thing is, a 20-30% speedup is hardly noticeable when tasks take a few seconds (big photoshop files) or are near instant (most other tasks). A few seconds minus a second is generally still a few seconds.

Normally only a 100-150% speedup is really felt on those scales, and then you’re talking about what happens when you upgrade your system after 4-5 years. Then you suddenly feel everything is nippier.

There’s the case of AE in which it makes a huge difference. If preview is available instantly or in let’s say 1 second, you feel the freedom to tinker with things. If it’s 2-3 sec, it feels very limiting. With my Late 2014 iMac 5K, sometimes I experience render times of 7+ sec per frame which drives me crazy. And some of these plugins dont allow you to preview at half or quarter res as the render looks way different from what the frame actually looks like in full res.

In PS, the problem starts with very high res stuff or a lot of layers. It may even suffocate to the degree that you can’t really draw - it has a lag of 2-3 sec to show what you’re actually doing. So yeah seconds do matter.

 

[satcomer]

I always wait for what I call the battle testers for new stuff! I always wait for reviews from multiple sources before buying! This way I can understand its pitfalls and well the strengths!

 

[theorist9]

The thing is, a 20-30% speedup is hardly noticeable when tasks take a few seconds (big photoshop files) or are near instant (most other tasks). A few seconds minus a second is generally still a few seconds.

Normally only a 100-150% speedup is really felt on those scales, and then you’re talking about what happens when you upgrade your system after 4-5 years. Then you suddenly feel everything is nippier.

There’s the case of AE in which it makes a huge difference. If preview is available instantly or in let’s say 1 second, you feel the freedom to tinker with things. If it’s 2-3 sec, it feels very limiting. With my Late 2014 iMac 5K, sometimes I experience render times of 7+ sec per frame which drives me crazy. And some of these plugins dont allow you to preview at half or quarter res as the render looks way different from what the frame actually looks like in full res.

In PS, the problem starts with very high res stuff or a lot of layers. It may even suffocate to the degree that you can’t really draw - it has a lag of 2-3 sec to show what you’re actually doing. So yeah seconds do matter.

Both good points. I think the difference is in whether it's a single long task, or a short repetitive task where you are directly interacting with the machine. For a single long task, the difference between, say, 120 s and 100 s probably isn't that bothersome. But for interactive tasks, where you want to quickly perform a succession of operations, I'm wondering if a 20% difference (between, say, repeatedly waiting 1 s vs 1.2 s for the machine to respond) is more noticeable. I don't know the answer to that; I'd need to set up some sort of a test bed where I can adjust the delay and see how it feels to me.

Note also these are averages. As it actually plays out, the range of speed differences could be, say, ~0% to ~40%. In that case, if your workflow requires repeated instances of the latter, the difference may be a bigger deal.

The last point I'll mention is that I often don't find a new, faster machine actually feels faster than the machine it replaced. That's because software also becomes more complex with time, eating up any speed gains in the machine itself. Indeed, I recall one instance where I replaced a 2008 MBP that had an older version of Word with a 2011 MBP that had a newer version of Word, and Word actually ran faster on the old machine! And that's why I've *never* had a computer that I felt was as fast as I'd like it to be, even for office-type tasks—I'm *always* waiting for the machine.

Part of the problem here is that most of the software I use is single-threaded, and single-threaded speeds stopped going up quickly once they abandoned the clock speed race. Instead, over the past decade, most of the improvement in processing power has been due to increases in the number of cores. So the people that have been feeling the most significant benefit from improved tech are those that use multi-core apps. That's why AS's big bump in ST speed is a welcome development.

 

[wonderings]

My work machine is a 2014 5K iMac that was maxed out. Great machine, still serves me well. I recently bought an M1 Max MacBook Pro for home use and to tackle some jobs that are a little slow on the iMac. Man the M1 Max is impressive (I am sure the M1 Pro is as well). It is a HUGE difference and noticeable in everyday. I am using Adobe CC - Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and huge huge huge speed improvements here, and really there should be when comparing to a 2014 computer. These 3 apps have M1 releases so they are optimized for the M1 chip, can't speak for other apps in the CC but the 3 I use run amazing. As others have said, the M2 is not out, but you can bet it will be faster and better then the M1, they need to give reasons for people to keep upgrading. So yes you could wait and get an even better computer whenever it releases and after a long wait. Took about 2 and a half months to get my M1 Max, hear things are slower now then they were. You will not be disappointed with an M1 computer, and the batteries on the MacBook Pro are amazing. I will rarely get down to 50% in a 10 hour day (that is not using it for the full 10 hours, but still using all 3 apps regularly as well as a Windows 11 VM).

 

[Bodhitree]

The last point I'll mention is that I often don't find a new, faster machine actually feels faster than the machine it replaced. That's because software also becomes more complex with time, eating up any speed gains in the machine itself. Indeed, I recall one instance where I replaced a 2008 MBP that had an older version of Word with a 2011 MBP that had a newer version of Word, and Word actually ran faster on the old machine! And that's why I've *never* had a computer that I felt was as fast as I'd like it to be, even for office-type tasks—I'm *always* waiting for the machine.

I think that was one of the successes of Apple Silicon and Big Sur, they made the vast majority of common use cases of the OS so fast that everything felt smooth and there was a minimum of waiting. It’s not just the single-threaded speed but tuning the OS.

In a way, we want all software to be tuned in that fashion and not be profligate with cycles or watts. It should do what needs to be done, whereas sometimes Office feels like a big lumbering behemoth that is spending vast amounts of processing power in very inefficient ways.

 

[Mr Rib]

My work machine is a 2014 5K iMac that was maxed out. Great machine, still serves me well. I recently bought an M1 Max MacBook Pro for home use and to tackle some jobs that are a little slow on the iMac. Man the M1 Max is impressive (I am sure the M1 Pro is as well). It is a HUGE difference and noticeable in everyday. I am using Adobe CC - Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and huge huge huge speed improvements here, and really there should be when comparing to a 2014 computer. These 3 apps have M1 releases so they are optimized for the M1 chip, can't speak for other apps in the CC but the 3 I use run amazing. As others have said, the M2 is not out, but you can bet it will be faster and better then the M1, they need to give reasons for people to keep upgrading. So yes you could wait and get an even better computer whenever it releases and after a long wait. Took about 2 and a half months to get my M1 Max, hear things are slower now then they were. You will not be disappointed with an M1 computer, and the batteries on the MacBook Pro are amazing. I will rarely get down to 50% in a 10 hour day (that is not using it for the full 10 hours, but still using all 3 apps regularly as well as a Windows 11 VM).

I started to dig deeper and found that M1 Max Macbook Pro is actually performing faster in some cases than base model M1 Studio Max in Adobe CC... I've seen some alarming brush stroke delay on the laptop vs Studio desktop though.. but this has to be some optimization problem (it was a brush in the RAW Edit mode, not the regular brush tool for painting / drawing). So now I'm torn between M1 Max Macbook Pro 16", M1 Max Studio and sitting out or a while to get a M2.
I DEFINITELY need a display but if it's not 120 Hz Mini LED I'm not giving anyone my money. It's 2022, not 2018.

 

[theorist9]

I started to dig deeper and found that M1 Max Macbook Pro is actually performing faster in some cases than base model M1 Studio Max in Adobe CC... I've seen some alarming brush stroke delay on the laptop vs Studio desktop though.. but this has to be some optimization problem (it was a brush in the RAW Edit mode, not the regular brush tool for painting / drawing). So now I'm torn between M1 Max Macbook Pro 16", M1 Max Studio and sitting out or a while to get a M2.
I DEFINITELY need a display but if it's not 120 Hz Mini LED I'm not giving anyone my money. It's 2022, not 2018.

What's the diff. in config. between the M1 Max MBP and the M1 Max Studio (if the MBP has more RAM, that might make a diff. for some operations), and were the tests performed by the same person and for identical tasks?

 

[theorist9]

I think that was one of the successes of Apple Silicon and Big Sur, they made the vast majority of common use cases of the OS so fast that everything felt smooth and there was a minimum of waiting. It’s not just the single-threaded speed but tuning the OS.

In a way, we want all software to be tuned in that fashion and not be profligate with cycles or watts. It should do what needs to be done, whereas sometimes Office feels like a big lumbering behemoth that is spending vast amounts of processing power in very inefficient ways.

Except I'm when I'm waiting for my computer to complete a task, I'm not typically waiting for the OS, I'm waiting for the app I'm using. And the apps need to be tuned by the app devs, which wouldn't be Apple unless they're Apple apps (Apple may assist with the optimization of important 3rd-party apps, as they reportedly did by collaborating with Adobe, but there's not the careful hardware-software co-tuning with 3rd-party apps that there was for Apple's own software). Indeed some 3rd-party apps I use, like Mathematica, are reportedly much slower on AS (for Mathematica, it's probably b/c on Intel it makes use of highly-optimized math libraries, and the libraries available for AS aren't yet as optimized).

Bottom line: I spend most of my time in 3rd-party apps, and while some of them may be better tuned to run on AS than Intel, others are not. It's a mixed bag.

 

[Mr Rib]

What's the diff. in config. between the M1 Max MBP and the M1 Max Studio (if the MBP has more RAM, that might make a diff. for some operations), and were the tests performed by the same person and for identical tasks?

Yeah, the guy actually recorded it. Maybe I (and him) missed something when he wa setting the brush up..
RAW Photo editing in Photoshop section of

The benchmarks MBP vs Studio Max with same spec being either the same or in some cases (write speeds for instance) MBP having an edge seems to be a recurring story in different videos..(that's pretty weird - I was expecting Studio to have an edge since the heat disippation is much easier). My main focus though is real life application, how Apps behave, in particular Adobe CC apps. I don't care about other stuff - for me it's a tool and it's supposed to deliver. I wouldn't mind getting a Windows PC but Mac OS is waaay faster/better when you know how to use it..

 

[theorist9]

Yeah, the guy actually recorded it. Maybe I (and him) missed something when he wa setting the brush up..
RAW Photo editing in Photoshop section of

The benchmarks MBP vs Studio Max with same spec being either the same or in some cases (write speeds for instance) MBP having an edge seems to be a recurring story in different videos..(that's pretty weird - I was expecting Studio to have an edge since the heat disippation is much easier). My main focus though is real life application, how Apps behave, in particular Adobe CC apps. I don't care about other stuff - for me it's a tool and it's supposed to deliver. I wouldn't mind getting a Windows PC but Mac OS is waaay faster/better when you know how to use it..

OK, the MBP has 64 GB RAM, and the Studio has 32 GB RAM, so it's not a direct comparison. If you do some searching online, you can find tests showing the effect of increasing RAM on the time it takes to complete various tasks in Photoshop.

Just for illustration, here's a test with Diglloyd's Photoshop Huge test on a 2015 iMac. For that, RAM makes a big difference. You'll of course want to instead find one done on the AS model you are considering, and for the kinds of tasks you do.

RAM Configurations In Late '15 27-Inch iMac 5K Tested

Just hours after Apple announced its updated iMac lineup, Rocket Yard confirmed that the new Late 2015 27-inch Retina 5K model supports up to 64GB of memory.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Captain_Mac]

Well yes the M2 series will improve single core speeds. However, you have lot's of things to consider:

• M2 will come probably at WWDC, if you want to buy an M1 machine just wait for M2 in my opinion. It will have other advantages, such as better efficiency cores and more OS features over time as Apple tends to separate them over chip generations. However, it might not have the GPU power you need and probably won't be available with more than 16GB memory, so you might be limited. Supposedly a new MacBook Air and a new Mac mini are coming. And maybe a 13' Pro.
• The next thing to consider is whether you need it right now or can wait for a year. If you need it right now, you can always consider the MacBook Pro with M1 Pro / Max. You can get them with up to 64GB memory with M1 Max and 32GB with M1 Pro. And they have more GPU power. They do come with a mini-LED display with is amazing (you won't get anything better with a 27' or 32' display, as they will be based on the same tech), which is also 120Hz and the external displays are rumoured to be 60Hz. But you said 27' is too small for you so I thing this may not matter to you. If you can wait another year or so, M2 Pro / Max based ones will come in 2023 by the looks of it, and you'll get the benefits of a newer chip generation I mentioned above. They are also supposedly coming with 2 more efficiency cores and better ones, so more battery life hopefully.
• M1 Max / Ultra Mac studio bring you the power of the SoCs without display, keyboard etc attached. It doesn't solve your display dilemma, but allows you to substitute them independently latter on. I believe differences between the MBP and Mac Studio with exactly the same configurations are negligible. Newer generation chips coming in 2023 probably.
• However, if you wait for 2023, Mark Gurman says Apple is still developing an iMac Pro and it's coming next year... It would also allow you to see the displays Apple announces. Right now we are only talking based on rumours, and they might not come to fruition.
• There is a huge shortage right now, so you are always depending on whether you want a stock config or a custom one. Stock configs might be available at a store near you, but custom ones from Apple are taking up to 3 months right now, so end of July - beggining of August. At that time maybe M2 machines will be out?
• There will always be something better around the corner, and predicted improvements will be Wifi6E support, HDMI 2.1,... If you need anything the Macs currently don't support, you have no option other than wait... My advice is buy when you need it, as much as you can afford (of course adjusted to your needs) and then enjoy as much as you can for the longest you can.
• Adobe updates and optimisations for Apple silicon will apply to the current systems and subsequent ones, assuming they don't depend on hardware support for something.

At the end of the day, I believe whichever choice you make will get you a much better / faster machine than what you currently have. And there's always the option of selling it next year if you believe the newer machine is better suited for your needs. They hold resale value incredibly well.
Hopefully I helped a bit and was able to explain myself clearly

 

[Mr Rib]

Well yes the M2 series will improve single core speeds. However, you have lot's of things to consider:

• M2 will come probably at WWDC, if you want to buy an M1 machine just wait for M2 in my opinion. It will have other advantages, such as better efficiency cores and more OS features over time as Apple tends to separate them over chip generations. However, it might not have the GPU power you need and probably won't be available with more than 16GB memory, so you might be limited. Supposedly a new MacBook Air and a new Mac mini are coming. And maybe a 13' Pro.
• The next thing to consider is whether you need it right now or can wait for a year. If you need it right now, you can always consider the MacBook Pro with M1 Pro / Max. You can get them with up to 64GB memory with M1 Max and 32GB with M1 Pro. And they have more GPU power. They do come with a mini-LED display with is amazing (you won't get anything better with a 27' or 32' display, as they will be based on the same tech), which is also 120Hz and the external displays are rumoured to be 60Hz. But you said 27' is too small for you so I thing this may not matter to you. If you can wait another year or so, M2 Pro / Max based ones will come in 2023 by the looks of it, and you'll get the benefits of a newer chip generation I mentioned above. They are also supposedly coming with 2 more efficiency cores and better ones, so more battery life hopefully.
• M1 Max / Ultra Mac studio bring you the power of the SoCs without display, keyboard etc attached. It doesn't solve your display dilemma, but allows you to substitute them independently latter on. I believe differences between the MBP and Mac Studio with exactly the same configurations are negligible. Newer generation chips coming in 2023 probably.
• However, if you wait for 2023, Mark Gurman says Apple is still developing an iMac Pro and it's coming next year... It would also allow you to see the displays Apple announces. Right now we are only talking based on rumours, and they might not come to fruition.
• There is a huge shortage right now, so you are always depending on whether you want a stock config or a custom one. Stock configs might be available at a store near you, but custom ones from Apple are taking up to 3 months right now, so end of July - beggining of August. At that time maybe M2 machines will be out?
• There will always be something better around the corner, and predicted improvements will be Wifi6E support, HDMI 2.1,... If you need anything the Macs currently don't support, you have no option other than wait... My advice is buy when you need it, as much as you can afford (of course adjusted to your needs) and then enjoy as much as you can for the longest you can.
• Adobe updates and optimisations for Apple silicon will apply to the current systems and subsequent ones, assuming they don't depend on hardware support for something.

At the end of the day, I believe whichever choice you make will get you a much better / faster machine than what you currently have. And there's always the option of selling it next year if you believe the newer machine is better suited for your needs. They hold resale value incredibly well.
Hopefully I helped a bit and was able to explain myself clearly

Hi and thanks for taking your time to reply, this is an awesome response!
I guess my problem boils down to the fact that it's simply not the best time to go shopping for a new setup and I kind of have to considering the projects I'm involved in. I started seriously considering a 16" Macbook Pro with M1 Max - and simply use my Wacom Cintiq 27" QHD as a monitor for now. The issue with this solution - correct me if I'm wrong - is that if a display comes out with 6k (or 7k) resolution, if it was a 120 Hz screen, it will need HDMI 2.1 as TB just won't cut it for uncompressed signal. So in fact if I wanted a new, cutting edge monitor when it comes out (I definitely need one), I'd need to sell the MBP to get a desktop / new laptop that will support this new hypothetical screen. I know it's all in the realm of rumours for now, but I do believe we'll see a 6-7k 120 Hz mini LED display soon. Considering 218 PPI Apple consistently uses over different screens and that the rumoured screen might be 7k, It would be 34" which I'd happily get. 6k @ 32" works for me as well. I found a good deal for current XDR but I think spending around 4k eu on it is not a good idea. It's a bit outdated considering QD LED and mini LED development.
Shopping for new tools is never easy, this time around it's super hard

 

[theorist9]

Hi and thanks for taking your time to reply, this is an awesome response!
I guess my problem boils down to the fact that it's simply not the best time to go shopping for a new setup and I kind of have to considering the projects I'm involved in. I started seriously considering a 16" Macbook Pro with M1 Max - and simply use my Wacom Cintiq 27" QHD as a monitor for now. The issue with this solution - correct me if I'm wrong - is that if a display comes out with 6k (or 7k) resolution, if it was a 120 Hz screen, it will need HDMI 2.1 as TB just won't cut it for uncompressed signal. So in fact if I wanted a new, cutting edge monitor when it comes out (I definitely need one), I'd need to sell the MBP to get a desktop / new laptop that will support this new hypothetical screen. I know it's all in the realm of rumours for now, but I do believe we'll see a 6-7k 120 Hz mini LED display soon. Considering 218 PPI Apple consistently uses over different screens and that the rumoured screen might be 7k, It would be 34" which I'd happily get. 6k @ 32" works for me as well. I found a good deal for current XDR but I think spending around 4k eu on it is not a good idea. It's a bit outdated considering QD LED and mini LED development.
Shopping for new tools is never easy, this time around it's super hard

It's going to have to be compressed either way. You'd need 79 Gb/s for 6k at 120 Hz uncompressed, and neither TB4 (~39 Gb/s) nor HDMI 2.1 (<48 Gb/s) are going to manage that. It would just need to be somewhat more compressed with TB4, but then you'd need to research whether the difference between the two would be visually perceptible. See: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mode2-0.2344297/?post=31087545#post-31087545

 

[theluggage]

Considering the programs I use for work, waiting out for M2 would be the best idea right? I also started questioning if I truly need a Mac Studio - M2 Macbook Pro may also be a solution, considering I'm not interested in 3D (and Studio sucks for 3D apps anyway).

Even if you accept the rumours/leaks about M2 specs, we don’t really know what machines will be launched or when, and the delivery times for new machines aren’t likely to get better anytime soon. It is quite possible that nothing will be released at WWDC - my bet would be a “preview” of the Mac Pro to be released in Q4 - although we’re getting to the point where it could be prudent to wait, just in case.

I don’t think I’d buy a regular M1 machine at the moment if you’re worried abou obsolescence - those are all over 1 year old now and will likely be outclassed by M2 machines. I’d also be wary of M1 Pro MBPs - especially the cheaper 8 core version - since the M2 could offer better bangs-per-buck, if not beat them.

Hopefully, the M1 Max isn’t going to be challenged until Pro/Max versions of the M2 appear - and I wouldn’t expect the 14/16” MBPs to be replaced until Q4, or a new Studio for another year or so.

Also remember that the Pro/Max support more ports, more external displays and more RAM - and although the regular M2 could change that, my guess is that it will have similar limitations to the M1.

Display wise, how about getting a relatively inexpensive 3rd party 4k display to get you going that could be relegated to being a second screen if/when a new XDR comes out, or you give up waiting and buy the old XDR or a Studio Display? Alternatively, if you ever need portability, it’s worth considering a 14 or 16” MBP ‘Max’ over the studio, which could remove the need for a new display on Day 1 - of course, those are like hens teeth at the moment, too.

Finally, though, remember anything you buy today should be a big jump ahead of a 2014 iMac, and anything you buy anytime will likely be superseded 18 months later…