Talk me Out of buying m1 ultra and just get m1 max

[Earpo44]

Somebody talk me off the ledge.

Story time!

I had a 16 m1 max from launch day and fell in love. That is until a 14” m1 pro 10/16/1tb WITH APPLECARE and 5 battery cycles presented itself to me for $1500.

I bought immediately. Intended to give to my wife, but she is content with her m1 mbp and lg 5k ultra fine. It wouldn’t of mattered anyways, bc I quickly fell in love with the 14” form factor. I sold the 16” on eBay and it went for $3,750, 250$ over retail and more than I had originally paid.

Then the studio presents itself. I’ve tried for 4 years to justify a monitor desk setup connected to my laptop to get the best bang for buck and prevent myself from spending the $5,000 on the iMac Pro bc I've deeply wanted a stand alone mac desktop for a VERY long time.

This is my chance!
Studio display is happening for sure. It’s the display I’ve wanted since the old thunderbolt displays. Just so happens the desktop I’ve been wanting releases right next to it!

Ok so M1 Max Mac studio. Most likely more powerful, do to thermals, than the 16” m1 max. Which was plenty powerful enough for me. But something about buying “Base” model for my dream desktop leaves me feeling sad inside ?

I know I don’t NEEEED the ultra RIGHT NOW, but it certainly wouldn’t go unused.

FYI I don’t have anything on order. My fate may simply be destined by whatever stock apple stores have on launch day

Ok thanks for reading. Feel free to cut me deep, I can handle it, I promise!
????

**been addicted to apple products since the iPod, except for the Mac line these past 4 years of trash they were putting out (besides iMac Pro, which is what I was intending to purchase once they switched to apple silicon. Looks like that’s not happening)

 

[ct2k7]

Eh.. but it if you want. It’s your money right?

 

[roland.g]

? Apple thanks you. Next.

 

[Pressure]

You haven’t really mentioned anything as to why you would need a desktop computer or what you actually use it for. Can’t you hook up the MacBook Pro to the Studio Display?

It just sounds like you have disposable income to spend.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The fact you felt the need to make this thread should be the biggest reason not to get the ultra. You made your own stop sign. Time to take heed.

 

[roland.g]

The fact you felt the need to make this thread should be the biggest reason not to get the ultra. You made your own stop sign. Time to take heed.

It's almost like he feels the need to light money on fire.

 

[TJ82]

Yeah the base model hangup is usually legit and comes with some sort of downside for reasonably heavy tasks, or after a couple of years starts to struggle with tab spam.

I went base model on the Studio anyway. Geekbench scores for M1 Max are ridiculous. I’ve never seen a base model Mac that far ahead of the game. I’ve seen guys run AAA games over 100 FPS in high settings and that is def not anything you get on a ‘base’ Mac apart from a Mac Pro which is always multiples price wise to this.

Ultra and Max Studios will look the same on your desk and feel as fast as each other for almost everything you ever do. If you ‘needed’ an Ultra, you’re getting paid for your investment in speeding up your intensive workflow by x% in the vast majority of cases.

Base model should have been a Pro really. You’re actually buying more mid range. I think they’ve went Max here because they want this thing to have a baller reputation.

 

[Earpo44]

some disposable, yes. But I’ve always been very smart about selling off my gear before the end of useful life. I sold my pretty high spec’ed i9 for $3300 a couple months after the m1 came out and before everyone else realized what was happening. I found a “used” m1 mbp (which my wife now has) for 800$! I used than until these new m1 MacBook pros came out with apple silicon.
I would do the same as always and offload the MacStudio long before the end of its useful life

 

[Earpo44]

Yeah the base model hangup is usually legit and comes with some sort of downside for reasonably heavy tasks, or after a couple of years starts to struggle with tab spam.

I went base model on the Studio anyway. Geekbench scores for M1 Max are ridiculous. I’ve never seen a base model Mac that far ahead of the game. I’ve seen guys run AAA games over 100 FPS in high settings and that is def not anything you get on a ‘base’ Mac apart from a Mac Pro which is always multiples price wise to this.

Ultra and Max Studios will look the same on your desk and feel as fast as each other for almost everything you ever do. If you ‘needed’ an Ultra, you’re getting paid for your investment in speeding up your intensive workflow by x% in the vast majority of cases.

Base model should have been a Pro really. You’re actually buying more mid range. I think they’ve went Max here because they want this thing to have a baller reputation.

Excellent thoughts! I am certainly leaning towards the “base” offering. A LOT of machine power for that price. Davinci absolutely RIPS on the mbp Max chip. Fusion and color page really benefit nicely on 10bit 422 footage

 

[now i see it]

For many many apps, there comes a point where adding more cores (cpus) doesn’t gain anything.
Likely for 95% of what you do, you’ll never utilize the 20 cpu cores that the Ultra has.
The Ultra has the same single core performance as the entry model Studio and the same performance for any app needing “just” 10 cores.

Now if you were into rendering your 3D models or animations, then the Ultra would definitely be the ticket. It will render 3D stuff 2X faster than the less expensive models.
But if 3D modeling and rendering was your main thing, a mini render farm built from dirt cheap PCs in your basement would be more powerful and cheaper.

 

[Earpo44]

For many many apps, there comes a point where adding more cores (cpus) doesn’t gain anything.
Likely for 95% of what you do, you’ll never utilize the 20 cpu cores that the Ultra has.
The Ultra has the same single core performance as the entry model Studio and the same performance for any app needing “just” 10 cores.

Now if you were into rendering your 3D models or animations, then the Ultra would definitely be the ticket. It will render 3D stuff 2X faster than the less expensive models.
But if 3D modeling and rendering was your main thing, a mini render farm built from dirt cheap PCs in your basement would be more powerful and cheaper.

Yeah you are absolutely right. I don't work in 3d, just really enjoy fast speeds during video editing/coloring/graphics. Once things start to get slow it really hinders my creativity and flow.
Looks like the M1 Max will be the right choice for me..Unless YouTube reviewers just happen to run some davinci tests and ultra is significantly better

 

[F-Train]

Excellent thoughts! I am certainly leaning towards the “base” offering. A LOT of machine power for that price. Davinci absolutely RIPS on the mbp Max chip. Fusion and color page really benefit nicely on 10bit 422 footage

If amateur use of DaVinci Resolve is your most intensive use it's hard to see what you'd get from the M1 Ultra chip.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Yeah you are absolutely right. I don't work in 3d, just really enjoy fast speeds during video editing/coloring/graphics. Once things start to get slow it really hinders my creativity and flow.
Looks like the M1 Max will be the right choice for me..Unless YouTube reviewers just happen to run some davinci tests and ultra is significantly better

Look, the Ultra is going to kill it for encoding etc. Are you making money with your work or is it a hobby? Can you sell or trade in some other toys to justify an additional 2k? Your questions and answers are there.

 

[Earpo]

Look, the Ultra is going to kill it for encoding etc. Are you making money with your work or is it a hobby? Can you sell or trade in some other toys to justify an additional 2k? Your questions and answers are there.

Yea I freelance, but have steady decent paying clientele. As mentioned, it will get put to use, but most certainly not necessary. But speed always increases my time spent in "flow". Once things start to slow down I start to lose momentum

(sorry was wondering why my profile pic changed, I was logged into my wrong account)

 

[ascender]

I've had similar thoughts, even thought I don't need the power. I do a bit of everything, so the base model Max is all I'll ever need really, even with 32GB RAM. But then you look at the Ultra, with 64GB of RAM and think, maybe, why don't I just go for that.

But....

Its TWICE the price of the Max which is already an incredibly powerful computer. With the Ultra, we're now getting into proper "pro" territory where only a very specific set of use-cases will ever need it. Or those minutes saved with faster render times translate in to money saved daily.

You could buy an extra Studio Display with that $2K and still have money left over.

 

[niteflyr]

You can look at it this way. The Mac mini is the "base model" headless desktop. Studio Max is clearly an upgrade. I've never bought a base model anything before either. The only thing I opted for in my base model Studio Max order, was a larger SSD. This thing is going to run circles around my highly upgraded 2017 iMac.

 

[PianoPro]

Somebody talk me off the ledge.

...

I know I don’t NEEEED the ultra RIGHT NOW, but it certainly wouldn’t go unused.

If you can painlessly afford the Ultra, then I say buy it. I have NEVER regretted spending too much on a computer. I have regretted spending too little. Three or four years after buying my current 2010 single 6-core Mac Pro , I deeply regretted not buying the dual 6-core when my tasks and software changed. That's a good comparison to the M1 Max vs M1 Ultra (dual M1 Max). Software always gets hungrier for compute resources over time and who knows what new things you will be using this Mac to do 5 years from now, so why not give yourself more headroom for the future?

This doesn't sound like a business decision for you (I'd think about it very differently if it was), and it sounds like you can comfortably afford it. You say you've wanted something like it for a very long time, so it seems like you are just having an emotional struggle feeling like it's a lot to spend on a computer that you don't really have to have, right? If that's the case I say go for what makes you happy. When you look back 5 years (or 10 years) from now are you really going to care that you spent an extra $400 (or $200) a year on it?

 

[Earpo]

I've had similar thoughts, even thought I don't need the power. I do a bit of everything, so the base model Max is all I'll ever need really, even with 32GB RAM. But then you look at the Ultra, with 64GB of RAM and think, maybe, why don't I just go for that.

But....

Its TWICE the price of the Max which is already an incredibly powerful computer. With the Ultra, we're now getting into proper "pro" territory where only a very specific set of use-cases will ever need it. Or those minutes saved with faster render times translate in to money saved daily.

You could buy an extra Studio Display with that $2K and still have money left over.

Thank you for this!
Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm going with the M1 Max. You nailed my thought process on the head. When I looked at double the ram and double the fast SSD storage too, I was like damn. It is literally a DOUBLE EVERYTHING choice haha. I just feel that the ultra will hold more resale value. Would had to see a pretty cheap M2 mini start to creep on the studio after only a year, kind of like the iPad Air m1 has done to the iPad Pro

 

[Earpo]

You can look at it this way. The Mac mini is the "base model" headless desktop. Studio Max is clearly an upgrade. I've never bought a base model anything before either. The only thing I opted for in my base model Studio Max order, was a larger SSD. This thing is going to run circles around my highly upgraded 2017 iMac.

Yea I'm about 92% sure I'm going base config. Glad to hear I'm not the only "non-base" buyer hahahah
Mac has been un-trustworthy in their base configs the last few years. I mean you had to go up from "base" 13 laptop to the 16" just to get a decent computer for an expensive price tag compared to windows. This is just all such new territory. Apple actually giving us a lot of bang for buck here

 

[F-Train]

I think that one factor in these decisions is how long one keeps a computer. Invariably, "future proofing" starts to become a rationale, explicit or implicit, for spending more money.

Based on my own history, I know that I'll buy a new computer about four years from now. As it is, I'm buying a Mac Studio a little more than three years after buying a 2018 Mac mini. I don't need an M1 Ultra at the moment. I know that four years from now there'll be "the next best thing", the Mac Studio of 2026. It kinda follows that maybe I should get an M1 Max and pass on the Ultra

 

[Boil]

I am contemplating an upgraded base Max model (see sig)...

But I also thinking about waiting for a headless desktop Mac that includes ray tracing hardware (but not a Mac Pro, because those will be too expensive for me right now)...

Hoping we will see ray tracing hardware show up with the M2-series, debuting in the 2022 ASi Mac Pro...?

 

[troop231]

I opted for the 32 core GPU M1 Max and 64GB RAM. Fusion 360 CAD modeling sucks with complex geometries and patterned features on my late 15" 2013 rMBP, so I bet this will be a great machine upgrade.

 

[Absrnd]

Sure we could talk you out of it...but..
You make it clear you have the "disposable" income to buy the Ultra, and you buy Mac stuff wisely, and sell the older mac stuff stuff wisely.

I would say buy the Ultra, and it will keep better value when it comes time to sell.

And most importantly you will be giggling behind your screen because of how blazingly fast it all will work

 

[sonicthehedgefrog]

If you're in the US, buy the base Ultra from the Apple education store ( https://www.apple.com/us-edu/store ) and save $400.

 

[Earpo]

I opted for the 32 core GPU M1 Max and 64GB RAM. Fusion 360 CAD modeling sucks with complex geometries and patterned features on my late 15" 2013 rMBP, so I bet this will be a great machine upgrade.

I'm excited for you!!!! That should be an amazing upgrade in efficiency!!