First: Some history
I’ve used a lot of Macs over the years. I remember old PowerPC Macs, which performed well against Intel PCs, but experienced some heat issues under heavy loads. I made the transition to Intel in the mid-2000s and have an Intel-based Mac Pro that replaces my identical looking PowerMac G5. That served me well for years because it was upgradeable, but eventually that machine no longer supported the latest versions of macOS, so I reluctantly bought an iMac in 2019. has a chip I9 3.6GHZ 8-CORE INTEL CORE I9 and 8GB of memory. Like many Apple computers from the past few years, it’s not really modular except for expandable memory. It’s fine for photography work, but not really versatile.
The problem was that Apple had a big hole in its lineup. The next big leap was the Mac Pro, which was originally the horrible trash Mac Pro (in my opinion) and when Apple was lucky to get rid of it, they replaced it with another Intel-based Mac Pro (the Mac Pro). cheese grater) in 2019. That’s too much. money for me, so I sit on the iMac hoping for better days.
Things got better with the release of the new Apple Silicon Mac Book laptop. Last year, I bought the 16″ model with the M1 Max chip and loved it. I kept wondering when the desktop Mac would come out. I was expecting a 27″ iMac, but instead, we have something much better: Mac Studio . It comes in two versions, very fast and very fast x 2. I chose very fast, as reviewers seem to say that the M1 Max is more than enough for a landscape photographer. Another motivation is that I hate that my laptop is faster than my desktop and I really want to work on a bigger screen.
What I bought
It’s still expensive. My choice is Studio with 64 GB ram, I chose to spend $200 more for 10 core CPU system with 32 core GPU and 16 core neural engine. I upgraded the hard drive to 2 TB to accommodate the iMac I was about to get rid of.
It has a total value of $4,798 plus tax, but includes Studio Monitor (more on that later).
Set it
Two boxes from Apple arrived on the 18th, the release date. The boxes have been improved. As I scrolled through new products with the box cutter, Apple fooled me. there is a pull tab and each box is opened easily without tools. It’s a very “Apple” experience.
With typical Apple whimsy, the backs of the boxes show the back of the products. I didn’t even notice it until I moved the boxes to the garage.
I just sold my iMac, but made 2 Time Machine backups of it before it departed. When I plug in Mac Studio and Studio Display, the new Mac Studio goes through the usual process with the machine asking if I have a backup. (Aesthetically speaking, I should say I’ve never seen a Mac boot up so quickly. It’s ready to go in less than 5 seconds.) I wonder if the boot process takes longer than when the machine was. Mac is fully loaded or not. It’s not. Studio was really Fast in this important first test. The Time Machine transfer took about an hour and a half, faster than I thought.
After the usual and multiple logins to iCloud, I was ready to edit some photos. My usual workflow is DXO PureRAW to Photoshop, switch to Topaz Sharpen AI, then switch to other special editors like Luminar AI when needed,
DXO PureRAW is not the original of the M1, but they did do some tricks to speed things up. It seems to be about 25% faster on Mac Studio. Photoshop was a letdown until I realized my Time Machine backup had seriously moved the Intel version of PS over to the new Mac. I uninstalled and reinstalled it, and the Apple Silicon version was born. Is it fast? I will tell. From a Mac that just started up, Photoshop appeared in about 2 seconds. OH. Editing inside Photoshop is quick, too. I had impressive effects applied in near real time. I’m used to waiting for a render. I use Lightroom primarily for assembling panoramas; that’s also really fast. A 9-image panorama is previewed in about 6 seconds (usually takes 20-30 seconds) and the actual assembly takes about a minute.
I use and like Adobe Bridge, but it hasn’t been upgraded to Apple Silicon yet. It still runs significantly faster, and it can build a visual catalog on a networked drive faster than before.
Luminar Neo and Luminar AI from Skylum built for Apple Silicon and both are faster than my iMac. They’re not as fast as my Adobe products, but rendering times seem to have improved by about 10-15%. It could be a combination of their universal code, more ram in this Mac than my old one, and the speed of the processor. I hope when the Luminar code is tightened, it will be even faster.
The Topaz the app I use, Topaz Sharpen AI is very fast. I use Sharpen AI the most. Using my last Mac, the sharpness preview can take 30-45 seconds. Now it’s about 5 seconds. In fact, the rendering is only about 15 seconds. It usually takes 1-2 minutes.
Apple Studio Monitor
I’m so glad I bought the monitor. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of newer monitors, like HDR and local dimming, but it looks fine. It looks similar to the display in my 27″ iMac. The built-in speakers are fine, but not as good as the pair of Audio Engine A 2+ mini monitors I have on my desk. However, the Studio Display Speakers sound good. or coming from such a slim display, definitely the best speaker built into a monitor I’ve heard.If you have good speakers in your workspace, don’t use these built-in Apple speakers as a excuse to buy this monitor.
Webcams are terrible, as has been widely reported. Viewing my FaceTime calls for some reason doesn’t match the quality on my iPhone or iPad. The footage looks like an old VHS tape. Poor resolution, mushy face. Apple has signaled that it will be improved in the firmware. I hope so too.
synthetic
Will Mac Studio and Studio Display make me a better photographer? Not quite. However, the increased speed of things is inspiring and encouraging me to try new things and techniques. I can get things done faster and having little things like the prepaid SD card slot is really appreciated, plus all the enhanced ports.
I’m so glad I bought Mac Studio. I think Apple is long overdue, but I still welcome that. The speed boost is obvious, and as a busy photographer, it seemed the hardware was a perfect fit for my workflow. It might be a bit overkill and isn’t significantly faster than my M1 Max laptop, but the larger screen and collection of Thunderbolt, USB A and USB C ports on the computer and more on the desktop. Studio Display is really a big deal. An SD card reader on the front is also nice. Photographers will cheer.
If I did more videos I would think about the Ultra, but I have no complaints about the Mac Studio I have configured and I think most photographers will find it a solid upgrade and Incredible speed improvements to their workflow. After many years, some of my Windows friends get jealous and ask questions.
