A healthy spec bump that may or may not be released

Apple Mac Studio M2 Max $????.00 – M2 Ultra $????.00 minimum per processor type

The Apple Mac Studio with M1 Max and M1 Ultra was announced over a year ago on March 8, 2022

It is a real possibility the Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra could be announced in March of 2023, a year later. Or it could be announced later in 2023.

However, leaker Mark Gurman said in paywalled comments to his February 5, 2023 newsletter:

“I wouldn’t anticipate the introduction of a Mac Studio in the near future. The upcoming Mac Pro is very similar in functionality to the Mac Studio — and adds the M2 Ultra chip rather than the M1 Ultra. So it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to offer an M2 Ultra Mac Studio and M2 Ultra Mac Pro at the same time. It’s more likely that Apple either never updates the Mac Studio or holds off until the M3 or M4 generation. At that point, the company may be able to better differentiate the Mac Studio from the Mac Pro.“

Frankly, this reasoning seems absurd to me but time will tell. If true, the new Mac Pro M2 Ultra must be pretty lackluster if it would have little added value over a Mac Studio M2 Ultra… Personally, I think the strongest possibility is the Mac Studio remains in the lineup and will be upgraded to the M3 Max/Ultra in late 2023 or in 2024 sometime when the M3 Extreme kinks get worked out for the Mac Pro.

For me, none of this is a problem. The Mac Studio M1 Max & M1 Ultra remain current and extremely good choices, and personally I have no intention of upgrading my M1 Ultra until M3 or M4 Ultra.

At any rate, if the Mac Studio does get upgraded to M2 Max/M2 Ultra, it is highly likely there will be no redesign, like the recent 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro M2 Pro & M2 Max upgrade. The Mac Studio M2 Max & M2 Ultra will have the same basics as the M1 Series. This is fine with me, I love the Mac Studio M1 Max & M1 Ultra.

I think it is safe to say, that like the recent 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros there will be upgrades to HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3. and of course the M2 Max and M2 Ultra processors.

Hopefully the prices will remain the same. I think it would be unrealistic to expect a price decrease, especially with a similarly outfitted Mac mini M2 Pro already in the same price ballpark as the Mac Studio M1 Max. Any likely price movement will be up not down. Hopefully it will remain the same though. We’ll see…

Information you need to properly digest web sites & especially YouTube.
Updated frequently – Apple Technology YouTube Critique

CPU Performance Benchmarks

This is fairly easy to predict since we know what the core counts are for the M2 Max, and we have actual benchmarks. The M2 Ultra is of course two M2 Maxs and we also know the scaling as core counts increase is improved over M1 Series. See Apple M2 Processor Series for actual benchmarks.

GPU Performance Benchmarks

This is fairly easy to predict since we know what the core counts are for the M2 Max, and we have actual benchmarks. The M2 Ultra is of course two M2 Maxs and we also know the scaling as core counts increase is improved over M1 Series. See Apple M2 Processor Series for actual benchmarks.

SSD Performance Benchmarks

I think it’s safe to say Apple now has a trend of using a single NAND chip for its 512GB SSDs. So smart money says stay away from 512GB SSDs. Otherwise you can expect Mac Studio M2 Max & M2 Ultra 1TB and larger SSDs to have the same stellar performance M1 Series have now.

DAW Performance Benchmarks

Check software compatibilities

The strongest likelihood is the Mac Studio M2 Max & M2 Ultra will have macOS Ventura on it.

It should go without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway. M Series has been out since November 2020. I think it’s crazy that any DAW or plugin should have issues or still be running on Rosetta emulation, but not everyone listens to me. Do your homework!

Furthermore, in my opinion any major software company that markets to Apple users and hasn’t updated their software to include Apple silicon compatibility deserves to lose your business. It’s been over 2 years, and at this point it’s a real screw you. They obviously don’t care about their customers and should be replaced by a company that cares more about their customers.

macOS 13 Ventura: Compatibility Guide

My personal experience with Ventura has been very good. Everything I use runs natively on M Series and is compatible with Ventura. But don’t listen to me, do your homework!

The Mac Studio has what it takes to get through the next 5+ years of your music & video productions

This is why you buy Apple. Realistically with the cost of computers these days, a 1-3 year refresh cycle is not practical for most people. Unlike the majority if not all PC systems, Apple computers are built to last and Apple silicon is state of the art enough to start you at the head of the pack.

Keep coming back

What I am going to do over time is share configuration and electronic music/video recording pertinent information. More soon.

Thanks!
-Yehuda

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