Mac Studio review roundup: Incredible speed, that not everybody needs

The first reviews of Apple's Mac Studio are starting to appear, with the new machine getting praised for its speed, on top of questions about who it's for.

First announced at the Apple event on March 8, the Mac Studio starts at $1,999 - although certain configurations are already available for up to $400 less. The first ones should arrive with customers on March 18, although one arrived early.

Just ahead of the official delivery date, the first reviews of the Mac Studio have been released. Coming from a mix of technology and news journalists, YouTubers, and professionals, the reviews consistently show up the same points.

The Six Colors review says the Mac Studio "fills a very specific ecological niche to perfection." Apple went with function over form by offering ports in the front of the device and plenty of ports in the back. While those who are satisfied by the M1 will never need this computer, people who have been waiting for an option between the Mac mini and Mac Pro finally have one.

Wired describes the Mac Studio as "a near-perfect middle ground" for those seeking a desktop for creative work. The reviewer is surprised by the number of ports and is happy that there is no need for dongles to attach accessories. And, the performance of the Mac Studio leaves them asking what the point of the Mac Pro is.

There are plenty of port options for the Mac Studio

Engadget praises Apple for finally offering a desktop that can go toe-to-toe with PC workstations under $5,000. The headphone jack placement in the back isn't ideal, and the Magic Keyboard and Mouse leave a lot to be desired. However, they say if you want a powerful Mac desktop and are fine with the lack of upgradability, the Mac Studio will serve you well for years.

Tom's Guide calls the Mac Studio "expensive for what you get, especially at the high end." It is a great Mac for creatives, families, and students since it has more power than the Mac mini for less money than the Mac Pro.

YouTube producer iPhonedo put a maxed-out Mac Studio with M1 Ultra to the test. Scrubbing through RAW 8K video produced no noticeable lag and the fans were never audible during use. He passed an 85GB ProRES video file through Compressor and what took the M1 Max MacBook Pro four and a half hours took the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra only two and a half hours.

Early reviews of the Studio Display were also released early Thursday. Many praised the quality display, though the price is still high depending on your needs.

The Mac Studio fills a gap in Apple's desktop lineup. It also raises the question, though, of how to decide which desktop Mac to buy.

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28 Comments

hmurchison 23 Years · 11824 comments

About 2 years ago

'The new Macs are so fast you wouldn't know what to do to strain them"

The Mac press

Me. "Let me encode some AV1 8k footage on this. How fast can you compress HEVC 10 bit to mkv?"

The computers are fast but lets not ac like there aren't workflows for the jimmys and joes that won't stress
the constraints of the Mac Studio bandwidth.

Wesley Hilliard 4 Years · 263 comments

hmurchison said:

"Let me encode some AV1 8k footage on this. How fast can you compress HEVC 10 bit to mkv?"

iPhonedo does exactly this in the video and we mention the test in our roundup. :)

sconosciuto 4 Years · 295 comments

Tom's Guide calls the Mac Studio "expensive for what you get, especially at the high end."
Sufferers of ADS* just can't help themselves. "Macs are too expensive, squawk! Apple tax, squawk!"

*Apple Derangement Syndrome

mikethemartian 18 Years · 1493 comments

hmurchison said:

'The new Macs are so fast you wouldn't know what to do to strain them"

The Mac press

Me. "Let me encode some AV1 8k footage on this. How fast can you compress HEVC 10 bit to mkv?"

The computers are fast but lets not ac like there aren't workflows for the jimmys and joes that won't stress
the constraints of the Mac Studio bandwidth.

I bet I could crash it in a few minutes with one of the 3D electromagnetic simulations I have tried to run in the past. 128GB of main memory is a drop in the bucket for those simulations.