Ordered Mac Studio

[pigoo3]

Hey Ashwin. Looks like it's been about 5-6 weeks since you got your Mac Studio.

Any words of wisdom...tips...Pros/Cons...or comparisons to your old Intel Mac-Mini?

I've seen a lot of You Tube video reviews from the professionals out there (who many times exaggerate or over-dramatize things).

Just curious...(from a "Dreamer" who would like to get a Mac Studio...but will probably end up with a Mac-Mini)!

Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The Pros

• The performance improvement from my 6-core Mac Mini is just mind-blowing. Under the heaviest load of my workflow, the Mac Mini would spin its fans up to 4k and the CPU temps would hover around 95-98 degC before coming back down. The Mac Studio hasn't surpassed 45 degC yet. The normal operating temp is around 35 degC and the fans are barely audible.
• For simple things like writing documents, browsing the web while actively listening to music the system is about 88-92% idle and only operating on the efficiency cores.
• M1 native support for almost all of the apps I use is great.
• Rosetta2 is freaking amazing at running X86-based applications at almost native speed.

The Cons

• No reliable VM option to run Windows for a couple of work-related things. I have to use my MBP for that. If Windows is a requirement for you, the M1 based Macs are no-go, not just the Mac Studio.
• A couple of goofy macOS bugs that seem to only exist on this machine and not my MBP or Mac Mini, all running the same version of Monterrey. Nothing that I can't workaround, but it's just annoying to have to.

Overall this was a solid upgrade for me from my Mac Mini.

 

[pigoo3]

Nice...thanks for all the details!

I've watched a lot of You Tube video comparisons of the Mac Studio vs. various Intel Mac's. Like you said...mind-blowing performance...while using less power (watts)...while running cooler...and making much less fan noise (if any most of the time).

I have a 2011 MacBook Air next to me with the fans probably running at maximum (making a lot of fan noise). I bet your Intel Mac-Mini was the same way. Fan noise gets irritating after a while.

Nice you confirmed that Rosetta 2 works great. That's usually a very big concern of folks with an investment in Intel-based apps for Mac's.

I hear ya on the VM option for Windows. I have to believe Parallels, VMWare, or someone else has got to be working on a solution! If not...these companies might as well layoff all their employees...lock the doors...and post all company assets on Craig's List! Lol

Thanks much for the update!

Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The vast majority of app developers have gotten their apps working in native M1 mode since that's a fairly easy thing to do without trying to leverage it beyond what they were doing in the x86 days. Those who haven't done it mean that they are tying into very specific things within the CPU/GPU that they will have to re-do.

For example, all the hype recently in the gaming world has been about Unreal Engine 5 which is quite a leap forward on all front in game development. The preview release of the software is being used by people to play around with it and on x86 based machines it works great. On the M1 based Macs, it is a complete disaster.

On the other hand, Blender added support for the M1 and works just as well.

Rosetta2 will get any app that works predominantly with the APIs and not try to leverage any hardware functionality working beautifully. The moment you go deeper than that, Rosetta2. will struggle.

Parallels has a version of their software that works, but it's the Windows (ARM preview) and Linux with no real support that's the issue. VMWare is farther behind but might get their version out in the Summer.