It’s possible that the Mac Pro sells with multiple more powerful configurations over time. Just need to see how useful it’s added features are versus smaller studio Mac.
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Three Unreleased Mac Models Appear in Apple's Find My Configuration File
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Why exactly is either product dead in the water? Especially the Studio which was released in *gasp* 2022!!!
It’s the fact it’s still selling with M1 Max/Ultra after January 27 2023 product introductions. As this year goes forward sales got to slow down without an update to SoC’s.
MKBHD posted a clip the other day: “Apple’s Older M1 Might Be TOO Good” saying he’s still using an M1 Max MBP even though he could easily upgrade to the M2 Max, he just doesn’t see the need.
I’ve had my M1 Ultra Studio for a year now and I feel the same way, I honestly can’t imagine what more I could need anytime soon. I bought it for film work and it will more than satisfy my working needs for several years, I’m confident.
Someone buying a Max when an Ultra is available clearly isn’t on the bleeding edge of performance, so let go of the FOMO and if you need something today, get it!
It’s not like these are Intel machines that have lost all resale value, if you use it for 6 months and then a newer model comes out, just sell yours for most of what you paid and buy the new one. Right now is a fine time to buy as retailer discounts are more plentiful, the new models whenever they arrive will be back up to full MSRP.
Heck you could even buy a used M1 Max to tide you over, already depreciated and probably sell it for about what you paid, whenever an M2 or M3 Max option is available.
Just my 2¢
I’ve had my M1 Ultra Studio for a year now and I feel the same way, I honestly can’t imagine what more I could need anytime soon. I bought it for film work and it will more than satisfy my working needs for several years, I’m confident.
Someone buying a Max when an Ultra is available clearly isn’t on the bleeding edge of performance, so let go of the FOMO and if you need something today, get it!
It’s not like these are Intel machines that have lost all resale value, if you use it for 6 months and then a newer model comes out, just sell yours for most of what you paid and buy the new one. Right now is a fine time to buy as retailer discounts are more plentiful, the new models whenever they arrive will be back up to full MSRP.
Heck you could even buy a used M1 Max to tide you over, already depreciated and probably sell it for about what you paid, whenever an M2 or M3 Max option is available.
Just my 2¢
I wouldn’t say dead but seeing the M2 processors in other Macs already leaves it in a weird position. At least the configurations with M1 Max.
As someone who was sitting on fence to replace my MacPro 5,1 dual hex core, RX480, 48GB RAM, blah, blah running Big SUr via OCLP as my daily I was hoping we might see the firming up of the M3 variants of the studio. Depending on which rumour you believe this will or will not happen or might never happen.
As such I assessed what I actually do now on my mac and decided a Mini M2Pro with "only" 16GB Ram would suit me 'now'. I went M2Pro base model as wanted the extra TB ports and it was 'only' Aus$300 more than regular Mini with 16GB RAM. In doing so saved Aus$2000 over base Studio (which admittedly has more RAM, more ports etc) but not twice as good for my needs, and arguable noy twice the machine anyway. And in two yrs time can do it again and have probably lost less in depreciation than if had of gone down the studio route.
This machine is fast enough to do 99% of everything I do - and I suspect for most of what others do too - but the biggest bonus is zero noise, unexpected TBH as I didnt consider the MacPro to be noisy - unless it was working of course, as secondary bonus for me is massive difference in power at idle M2Pro is 7w, depending on config (more RAM, fast CPU etc increases base) this is at least 125w, then full load 100w vs well over 250w (perhaps closer to 300w in my config).
The incremental increases in AS right now means unless you buy at top end you really wont see much difference day to day, in actual fact the MacPro 5,1 isnt appreciably any slower day to day than the 14 year newer MacMini
So to my point, buy now if you need/want a new machine - there will always be a faster one coming. I bought a G5 Tower single 1.8 as that was a sweet spot then two weeks after delivery the Dual 1.8 appeared at exactly same price point - no 30 day return policy then from what I remember as I even tried to plead my case with Apple but got no where. If the M2 15" Air appears that, depending on price, might be a nice machine too to replace my M1 13" Air which replaced my 2012 i7 Quad 15" MacBook Pro as I really miss the screen size - M2 to M3 not an issue for my use case of this Air. As always YMMV
As such I assessed what I actually do now on my mac and decided a Mini M2Pro with "only" 16GB Ram would suit me 'now'. I went M2Pro base model as wanted the extra TB ports and it was 'only' Aus$300 more than regular Mini with 16GB RAM. In doing so saved Aus$2000 over base Studio (which admittedly has more RAM, more ports etc) but not twice as good for my needs, and arguable noy twice the machine anyway. And in two yrs time can do it again and have probably lost less in depreciation than if had of gone down the studio route.
This machine is fast enough to do 99% of everything I do - and I suspect for most of what others do too - but the biggest bonus is zero noise, unexpected TBH as I didnt consider the MacPro to be noisy - unless it was working of course, as secondary bonus for me is massive difference in power at idle M2Pro is 7w, depending on config (more RAM, fast CPU etc increases base) this is at least 125w, then full load 100w vs well over 250w (perhaps closer to 300w in my config).
The incremental increases in AS right now means unless you buy at top end you really wont see much difference day to day, in actual fact the MacPro 5,1 isnt appreciably any slower day to day than the 14 year newer MacMini
So to my point, buy now if you need/want a new machine - there will always be a faster one coming. I bought a G5 Tower single 1.8 as that was a sweet spot then two weeks after delivery the Dual 1.8 appeared at exactly same price point - no 30 day return policy then from what I remember as I even tried to plead my case with Apple but got no where. If the M2 15" Air appears that, depending on price, might be a nice machine too to replace my M1 13" Air which replaced my 2012 i7 Quad 15" MacBook Pro as I really miss the screen size - M2 to M3 not an issue for my use case of this Air. As always YMMV
If the assumption that these are stationary Macs is true, it makes sense to me that one of them would be a new iMac but that doesn't seem like a product they would introduce at WWDC.
I'm in the same boat as a lot of you who are saying that what you have on your desk right now is more than enough though. Like every time I think about a M2 Pro mini I force myself to name ONE THING that the M1 Mini isn't doing for me and the best I've come up with is "Well, WoW frame rates could be better?"
I'm in the same boat as a lot of you who are saying that what you have on your desk right now is more than enough though. Like every time I think about a M2 Pro mini I force myself to name ONE THING that the M1 Mini isn't doing for me and the best I've come up with is "Well, WoW frame rates could be better?"
agreed that I wouldn’t expect iMacs shown in WWDC keynote. this Find My update I don’t think has any inherent connection with WWDC other than being somewhat close in timing.
I would imagine if the iMacs got a spec bump to M2 but no major design changes otherwise, that could easily happen via press release / marketing videos anytime between now and June.
I would imagine if the iMacs got a spec bump to M2 but no major design changes otherwise, that could easily happen via press release / marketing videos anytime between now and June.
We can just all relax, since even if they do drop new machines it won't be anything with M3. This means no Mac Pro as well - unless it's something completely different and what they managed to keep close to their chest (what are the chances of that these days..). I don't think there's a huge enthusiastic crowd waiting for the current M1 machines to be replaced with M2 - if someone is happy with what M1 offers, there really is no significant benefit to upgrading to M2. And people (pros) who find M1 lacking due to weak GPU / M silicon being a closed platform, they will have the same reasons to find it lacking in case of M2 and M3 for that matter. So yeah even if new Macs are coming it's only interested for someone who has no M1 and desperately needs a new Mac.
How many knew what would be announced Jan 17 2023 in advance? Actually Apple has been quite successful against leaks. Just look at how little is known compared to IPhones and iOS. It why certain people keep saying I hear nothing so it’s obviously coming not now. Maybe later.
In terms of M3 its just pure logic - the sales are terrible, what are they going to do with all these M2 machines on the shelves? Even if they had the M3 ready for release, they wouldn't. Unless there was some huge competition breathing on their neck and they had to hurry, but there isn't.
What could drop is a revolutionary Mac Pro with different philosophy than other M silicon devices but I just don't believe that's happening under Cook's watch. I would be veeery happy to be proven wrong though, I'd buy that.
What could drop is a revolutionary Mac Pro with different philosophy than other M silicon devices but I just don't believe that's happening under Cook's watch. I would be veeery happy to be proven wrong though, I'd buy that.
That’s a misleading view tied to China Covid policy ending mid Dec 2022 effecting delayed production lines and parts utilized, wait for May 4th financials from Apple.
I will never pretend to know like a number of so-called insiders. All they do is guess work, and once in a while they pick the right horse.
However, I think that Apple is having a tough time engineering for replaceable RAM and GPUs with their Apple Silicon, and this is why I don’t think there will be a new Mac Pro in 2023. They might show what they have thus far, but it will not be for sale until 2024 at the earliest.
The new Macs listed could be M2x Mac Studios - that would make sense. If Apple wants to keep the Mac Studio hype going, they should update it this year. They don’t have to, the Mac Studio is only a year old, and still a great computer compared to everything else. The Mac Mini comes close, but a Mac Studio it isn’t - ports, RAM, cooling, all gives the Mac Studio the advantage.
I also have a 2019 Mac Pro, not the maxed version, but with the 3.2GHz CPU, 16 cores, 192GBs of RAM and 2 x Radeon Pro GPUs, and the ONLY thing the Mac Pro is faster at is video work. In everything else, the Mac Studio beats it hands down...
Sure, the Mac Pro is the expandable Mac, but how often have I actually done that? Sure, the Mac Pro has a few more ports, but I have a CalDigit TB4 hub, so who cares.
Finally, if you want a Mac Mini, get a Mac Mini. If you want a Mac Studio, get a Mac Studio. And if you want to wait for a Mac Pro, or the next upgraded Mac Studio, then wait. It’s your money, and no Apple’s fault they do not have exactly what you want…
However, I think that Apple is having a tough time engineering for replaceable RAM and GPUs with their Apple Silicon, and this is why I don’t think there will be a new Mac Pro in 2023. They might show what they have thus far, but it will not be for sale until 2024 at the earliest.
The new Macs listed could be M2x Mac Studios - that would make sense. If Apple wants to keep the Mac Studio hype going, they should update it this year. They don’t have to, the Mac Studio is only a year old, and still a great computer compared to everything else. The Mac Mini comes close, but a Mac Studio it isn’t - ports, RAM, cooling, all gives the Mac Studio the advantage.
I also have a 2019 Mac Pro, not the maxed version, but with the 3.2GHz CPU, 16 cores, 192GBs of RAM and 2 x Radeon Pro GPUs, and the ONLY thing the Mac Pro is faster at is video work. In everything else, the Mac Studio beats it hands down...
Sure, the Mac Pro is the expandable Mac, but how often have I actually done that? Sure, the Mac Pro has a few more ports, but I have a CalDigit TB4 hub, so who cares.
Finally, if you want a Mac Mini, get a Mac Mini. If you want a Mac Studio, get a Mac Studio. And if you want to wait for a Mac Pro, or the next upgraded Mac Studio, then wait. It’s your money, and no Apple’s fault they do not have exactly what you want…
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I agree, with the exception of people waiting for a Mac Pro - they should have been more transparent with this segment of the market after not keeping their promise. One could argue Mac Studio was the quasi-Mac Pro, just not the one they promised and now they need to pivot to make a true Mac Pro (or forsake the pro segment entirely, focusing on fast/reliable machines for simple video edition - these are also "pro" applications after all).
The longer I think about it, the more I feel simply giving us PCI ports with one for 3rd party GPU would be enough to rectify current situation (assuming the GPU connected via PCI would work seamlessly with M silicon). It would not be an ideal situation but what is in life..that would be enough for me to buy it.
Apple has never been transparent in a long time. Developing a computer is akin to developing a new product particularly for a different platform (AS ARM). If the hardware candidate is not ideal, then change this and that until it satisfies what its product goals were. Performance seems an obvious variable to tackle as this threads discussion attests to. Just a whole lot of reasons we have no knowledge of how it will be received, and hopefully it design allows for less cost for most to find it entirely useful and not some product designed to sell for years without updates again. Yes I think since the 2003-2012 period, and perhaps the current 2019 intel model, people are looking for something that can see a series of updates, not a redesign for the next few years.
I have one of the Sonnet Echo Express III PCIe expansion box connected to my Mac Studio via TB. Works great and gives me 3 PCIe slots for anything really - except, of course, GPUs, as AS does not work with external GPUs.
Nah. I did consider getting a Mac Studio but didnt pull the trigger and I'm happy with the decision (though, the biggest factor was I didn't find a new monitor I'd want). I would like to be able to buy a workstation and use it for 7+ years without thinking about an upgrade and squeeze it dry - and with my workflow it's realistic. It just needs to be a proper equipment, Mac Studio isn't.
I’ve been holding off on upgrading from my M1 MBP to something with a lot more memory, and each time I think about it seriously, there’s always a great new MBP there waiting for me. I’m sure whether I pull the trigger now or in the fall or even later, I’ll be super happy with what I get. And at the same time, I’m still amazed at what this M1 MBP can do after almost 3 years. I was hoping to go 5 years, though. I’ve had the 2010 MBP, the 2015 MBP, and now the 2020 MBP. For what I do day to day, though, I just need more memory and a little bit of a larger screen. It’s exiting to see what’s out there, and how much better it could be.
2021 14” M1 Pro 16GB Ram 1TB SSD is $1999. 512GB SSD is $1599. Not the lowest of deals as they keep coming and going. Look around Memorial Day. Shown above is the usual BB vs Amazon.
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I'm currently using the 2020 M1 MBP 16GB/2TB, and although it'd be nice to have more space, I definitely could use at least 32GB of memory, maybe even just future proof myself and do the 96GB/4TB M2 Max MBP. I'm used to being able to really push my computers hard for at least 5 years. I'm finding myself working around what now seem to be limits in the M1 MBP, even just using a few Web Browsers, an RSS Reader, Mail, Photos... Nothing crazy, but maybe 10-15 apps. I'm sure the right deal will present itself whenever I'm ready*
*being ready could be today, tomorrow, next week, Summer, End of Year Bonus, etc... 🤣 #jokes
That model allows 32GB Ram its just you would need to specifically look for that custom config at more dealers. Try using
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on that subject, the best deal for a high performance Apple Silicon machine I've seen yet is this closeout M1 Max MBP 14" with 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, top spec 32-core GPU, for $2899 at B&H.
the lowest priced Mac Studio with those same exact specs is $3049 at Adorama, and doesn't come with an onboard battery backup, touch ID sensor, Liquid Retina XDR display, webcam, stereo speakers, or integrated touchpad and backlit keyboard
I'm tempted to snag one myself, but since my work doesn't require much mobility right now, I think I'm going to hang onto my Mojave-compatible early 2019 8-core i9 32GB Vega 16 MBP 15" as my backup Intel Mac and portable companion to M1 Ultra Studio. I also got that on B&H closeout in 2020, and I'm looking forward to cashing in my Applecare plan soon for a fresh new battery, SSD, keyboard, and touchpad since they all have to be replaced together to fix my broken speakers, oh darn.
PS - since you mentioned wanting more SSD storage, they also have an 8TB upgrade of that 14" MBP for $3999, or a 16" MBP with 4TB SSD and 24-core GPU for $3,499. The base GPU sounds fine for your needs. Or pre-owned for $3143...
the lowest priced Mac Studio with those same exact specs is $3049 at Adorama, and doesn't come with an onboard battery backup, touch ID sensor, Liquid Retina XDR display, webcam, stereo speakers, or integrated touchpad and backlit keyboard
I'm tempted to snag one myself, but since my work doesn't require much mobility right now, I think I'm going to hang onto my Mojave-compatible early 2019 8-core i9 32GB Vega 16 MBP 15" as my backup Intel Mac and portable companion to M1 Ultra Studio. I also got that on B&H closeout in 2020, and I'm looking forward to cashing in my Applecare plan soon for a fresh new battery, SSD, keyboard, and touchpad since they all have to be replaced together to fix my broken speakers, oh darn.
PS - since you mentioned wanting more SSD storage, they also have an 8TB upgrade of that 14" MBP for $3999, or a 16" MBP with 4TB SSD and 24-core GPU for $3,499. The base GPU sounds fine for your needs. Or pre-owned for $3143...
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