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Upgrading from old iMac - Max/Ultra?

Fried Potato

Fried Potato

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 10, 2015
130
31
Hey everyone!

I've got an old late 2014 27" Retina iMac that's definitely due for an upgrade. Since Apple no longer makes the 27" iMac, I’m considering a Mac Studio with a Studio Display. There was no mention of an M3 Studio at WWDC, so it looks like an M3 (or M4) is at least a year away, and I really don't want to wait that long. I guess there's nothing saying that the next generation Studio will come any time soon?

Now, I'm trying to decide between the M2 Max and the M2 Ultra processor. I don’t do much heavy-duty editing, so I think the Max should be enough for that. I do play games occasionally (mainly WoW, but I'd like some extra power for other potential games), so that's where I think I'd benefit from more power.

Will the difference between the M2 Max (38-core GPU) and the M2 Ultra (60-core GPU) be significant for my needs? There's is a price difference which isn't what I would call "small". Even though I can afford the Ultra, it feels a bit much for a computer that won’t be used for intense music/video processing. Does anyone know if there are any notable differences in performance for something like retail WoW?

Appreciate your help! :)
 
Consider carefully your future needs in RAM. I would suggest as much as you can afford. I run an M1 Max and the 32GB “hurt” a lot.
 
I would think the Max is probably going to be great for what you described. I play an MMO on a 13" M2 Air and it runs beautifully, way more smoothly and with better settings than my 27" iMac. Admittedly I'm not driving a 5k display when I play, since I only game on it when traveling. But it does the job very well.

Since you likely don't need the Ultra for that, the only other reasons to upgrade beyond Max would be for the improved heat sink and extra ports, but if you don't need that either, then the Max seems like an optimal choice for your needs.
 
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Reactions: Geoff777
Where I am living the Ultra is exactly twice the cost of a Max, which made it an easy decision.
The Max is way quicker in all respects than my 2017 iMac 5k, it's a joy to use.
I bought the base model but upgraded storage to 1TB - wish I'd bought more as the read / write of internal SSDs about 3x faster than the external SSD I bought to save money!

I use FCP and Logic quite a bit and it is fast, doesn't miss a beat. Obviously the Ultra will be even quicker (probably twice as fast?) but in practical terms I'm not sure I'd really notice.

Good luck with your choice and whichever you buy, I'm sure you'll be happy!
 
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