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Which Mac Studio for video editing?

K

kingnimrod

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
64
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I've been waiting for the new Studio for a while, and today's announcement is a bit confusing. The most expensive Mac is not always the best Mac for the job, in my experience, so for years I was using iMacs based on their After Effects benchmark scores.

So, looking at the machines announced today, I'm trying to get a handle on what will be best for my purposes - heavy After Effects use, a fair amount of editing in Premiere, lots of photoshop, and some audio production. I don't want to overspend if I'm not going to enjoy significantly better performance between specs.

what do you think?
 
I should add that most of my big after effects projects are multi-screen, giant screen videos for big corporate conferences.
 
I am in the same boat as you. Returned an MBP16 M4Max in January in anticipation of an M4 Ultra Studio. Disappointed to read today that we are getting a M3 Ultra Studio. We will need to wait a couple of weeks until the performance reports are released to provide guidance.

Don

BTW. You can improve video editing performance by 86ing Premier Pro and going to Davinci Resolve Studio.
 
The M3 Ultra spec sheet says it has 4 video encoding engines, so if you produce a lot of video that will likely be the fastest you can get.
 
I’m locked into the Adobe ecosystem unless there is some sort of facility to dynamically link AE files that I’m not aware of.
 
kingnimrod said:
I've been waiting for the new Studio for a while, and today's announcement is a bit confusing. The most expensive Mac is not always the best Mac for the job, in my experience, so for years I was using iMacs based on their After Effects benchmark scores.

So, looking at the machines announced today, I'm trying to get a handle on what will be best for my purposes - heavy After Effects use, a fair amount of editing in Premiere, lots of photoshop, and some audio production. I don't want to overspend if I'm not going to enjoy significantly better performance between specs.

what do you think?
Click to expand...
as a video editor myself, I would recommend the base configuration. You are not going to mix 3 4k streams with a lot of effects and transitions and color presets, your work is rather more straightforward simple background job for video conferences, so a base would be just fine. Of course, if budget allows, higher configurations are also welcome
 
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StoneJack said:
as a video editor myself, I would recommend the base configuration. You are not going to mix 3 4k streams with a lot of effects and transitions and color presets, your work is rather more straightforward simple background job for video conferences, so a base would be just fine. Of course, if budget allows, higher configurations are also welcome
Click to expand...
actually, my niche is the over-the-top spectacle opening videos for these 200 foot wide x 20 foot tall screens with lots of 4k footage and effects hitting the screen. The iMacs have performed beyond my expectations in these tasks but it's time for an upgrade.
 
kingnimrod said:
actually, my niche is the over-the-top spectacle opening videos for these 200 foot wide x 20 foot tall screens with lots of 4k footage and effects hitting the screen. The iMacs have performed beyond my expectations in these tasks but it's time for an upgrade.
Click to expand...
then go for the best option :) can't wait to see your opening videos fly
 
Either of them will be a good choice.

Personally, I would go with the M4 Max with as much RAM and storage as you can afford. You're likely to get more performance per $ with more RAM than you are with the near double-the-cost of the more powerful M3 Ultra.

Of course, it depends on HOW you use After Affects. If you're using a lot of filters/transitions/plug-ins, then you may actually benefit more from the Ultra.
 
I ordered the M4 Max 16 core with 128gb RAM - after seeing several demonstrations of workflows that are close to mine, it doesn't look like the M3 Ultra is going to justify the added expense. I'm still around $6,000 with the Studio Monitor added, so it's not like I'm getting away cheaply, but it is inline with what I've done for the past 10 years - finding the sweet spot with a prosumer machine. It would be nice to see Adobe try to optimize their products for Apple, but I won't hold my breath for that
 
kingnimrod said:
I ordered the M4 Max 16 core with 128gb RAM - after seeing several demonstrations of workflows that are close to mine, it doesn't look like the M3 Ultra is going to justify the added expense. I'm still around $6,000 with the Studio Monitor added, so it's not like I'm getting away cheaply, but it is inline with what I've done for the past 10 years - finding the sweet spot with a prosumer machine. It would be nice to see Adobe try to optimize their products for Apple, but I won't hold my breath for that
Click to expand...

I'm still struggling with the option between the M4Max 16/40 128 GB 2TB vs. the M3Ultra 28/60 96GB 2TB as the price difference is just $300.

Where the Ultra loses it barely loses to the point of not really being something that would turn up in actual use, but where it wins, it clearly wins. Throw in the TB5 front ports, and vastly superior media engine/higher memory bandwidth, superior cooling build, and it's a very tight choice that's causing some decision paralysis for me.
 
ekwipt said:
I'm a bit late to the thread but
Jeff Greenberg @Provideocoalition did a great write up, and it's hard to fault what he's already said

https://www.provideocoalition.com/t...o-buying-a-mac-with-apple-silicon-march-2025/

MacStudio M4 Max @ $2,899
• M4 Max 14 Cores
• 64GB RAM
• 1TB SSD
• Four Thunderbolt 5 ports

Then get a Thunderbolt 5 Hub and a Thunderbolt 5 drive for editing, or possibly get a NAS or DAS for backups
Click to expand...
I like this set up A LOT! But I can get by with 48GB of RAM and a 512 SSD which brings the price down to $2,499.
 
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I ended up buying the M4 Max 16 core, 128gb RAM, 2 TB drive, and a Studio display to replace the 27" iMac screen leaving my desk. I ended up having to switch over rapidly this past week and so far everything is smooth. The surprising thing is how fast the iMac still is considering I've had it over 5 years. After looking at reviews and benchmarks, it seems that for my work the M4 Max is the best machine to buy right now.
 
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ekwipt said:
I'm a bit late to the thread but
Jeff Greenberg @Provideocoalition did a great write up, and it's hard to fault what he's already said

https://www.provideocoalition.com/t...o-buying-a-mac-with-apple-silicon-march-2025/

MacStudio M4 Max @ $2,899
• M4 Max 14 Cores
• 64GB RAM
• 1TB SSD
• Four Thunderbolt 5 ports

Then get a Thunderbolt 5 Hub and a Thunderbolt 5 drive for editing, or possibly get a NAS or DAS for backups
Click to expand...

Got the same spec, although I increased the CPU to the 16/40/16 M4 Max.
Not sure why, but why not?! lol
 
I can buy a new

Apple Mac Studio MQH73LL/A (Mid 2023) Desktop ComputerApple M2 Max 12-Core CPU; 32GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 30-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine​


For $1270 if I sign up for their credit card

I could spend roughly the same amount for Macmini m4 .

Your thoughts?
 
Joseph Murphy said:
I can buy a new

Apple Mac Studio MQH73LL/A (Mid 2023) Desktop ComputerApple M2 Max 12-Core CPU; 32GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 30-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine​


For $1270 if I sign up for their credit card

I could spend roughly the same amount for Macmini m4 .

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Mac mini M4 Pro 12/16/16 w/24 gb ram 512gb drive (default specs of binned version) $1299 vs.
Mac Studio M2 Max 12/30/16 w/32 gb ram 512gb drive .... $1270 .... for about the same price.

You only care about the graphic cores - 16 vs 30 - if you're working editing videos. Are you? Then your choice is clear - the Mac Studio M2. If you need more memory - go for the Mac Studio M2.

The M4 Pro chip is faster than the M2 Max.

Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) vs M2 Max: performance comparison

We compared 12-core Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) (4.52 GHz) against M2 Max (3.5 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.
nanoreview.net nanoreview.net

If you're a software developer, the M4 Pro might be better as it's faster. 24gb is plenty.

The M4 Pro supports 3 monitors, the M2 Max supports 4 monitors.
 
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