Since a lot of software (and hardware drivers) are becoming M1 compatible, I was thinking about upgrading to the 20 core version.
I’m on a 2018 i7 Mini right now but I could really use a boost. I’d like to be able to use some heavy software in the middle of projects without pushing to the upper limits (like I do currently).
Plus I need better graphics for some video editing. The intel onboard isn’t really cutting it and is a source of frustration lately.
I’ve already put the order in because it’ll be 10-12 weeks for it to ship. I figure that gives me enough time to change my mind if needed.
Also gives me time to put away a little more money away and ease the 0% interest payments over the following year.
Ended up with:
20 core M1 Ultra
48 core GPU
64gb RAM
2TB HD
Hopefully that will hold me over for the next 5 years minimum
Does anyone have any recommendations for a main USB hub to use with a Mac Studio?
So, I guess either a Thunderbolt4 connection to connect to the Mac Studio or a USB-C connection, and then multiple “classic” USB-A ports that I can connect various pieces of music gear to (Blokas MidiHub, M-Audio keyboard, Eventide Space etc) .
The Mac Studio has two USB-A connections, but I am using one for a Focusrite 8i6, and the other for my Digitakt Overbridge connection.
my mac studio arrived yesterday and I am very disappointed.
the sound signature is not right at all.
the problem is that along with the almost white noise of the fans, which I do not mind at all, there is a faint but brain piercing whine at around 2khz.
lowering the fan speed just makes it more evident.
I’m gonna keep evaluating it for another few days but it might be returned. I fear this whine can only get worse.
and I am not getting another one because I’m pretty sure they all sound like this.
shame because it’s otherwise a fantastic machine.
I got the ultra / 64 cores / 128gb / 2tb
Sounds like a redux of the infamous G4 wind tunnel… but worse. I’m hoping they come up with a fix before I need to shop for a new machine.
The Studio would be my choice but it would be in close proximity, so the noise would definitely be an issue. Then again I might not hear it over my tinnitus… small favors I guess.
yeah I don’t know how they thought this was gonna sit on the desk of music producers…
mine’s not even on my desk, it’s in a rack below the desk, the high pitch metallic sound still drives me crazy, as a producer I tend to look for frequencies and once I heard it I can’t ignore it.
and from the recordings I heard online, mine’s not even that bad.
I guess I kinda deserve this, I broke by own rule: never buy first gen tech products!
yes please if you can record it that would be great!
mine sounds like the one in this video, this guy is a producer and he seems to be fine with it.
I am most certainly not.
Like I said, the humming of the fan, even at the default 1330 rpm, doesn’t bother me.
It’s the metallic high pitch noise that is most likely gonna make me return my unit.
I won’t be able to post audio until much later, but this is my setup.
Briefly, I’ve discovered a very bad and annoying whine from my thermostat, which is nearby. The Mac is extremely quiet unless I slide my M10 recorder between the top of the Mac and the monitor riser. At that point I can hear some whine but can’t tell if it’s resonance from the thermostat or the Mac itself.
(bathroom fan noises and general Chicago city sounds that make it through my double-paned windows greatly overwhelm any sound coming from the Mac, but close micing should reveal what is going on)
yeah I’ve gotta say I’m not doing mine any favours, my studio is extremely quiet, sound treated, double glazed windows, very quiet road etc
when I produce it’s not that noticeable, because music gear makes noise and that kinda muffles it, and also because of the music coming out of the speakers of course
but these days I work from home (ux design) and I spend the whole day in the studio, I like to work in silence and the albeit faint whine is not acceptable for me, not at this price point
FWIW, I used to live in the Silicon Valley suburbs. I was in San Mateo, but often traveled to Cupertino to hang with friends or grab some dinner. The whole area is the epitome of American Middle Class Suburbia: very very quiet and boring. A Tesla driving by is usually considered loud.
I mention this because Apple has no excuse for a device called “Studio” that has an annoying whine. I’ll make my recordings and analysis later today but if you hear an annoying whine I’d encourage you to ask for a replacement rather than just return. There is no excuse for this and Apple should want to know that their Studio product isn’t suitable.
I really want to use a mac studio, because specs wise it’s perfect for me
but I fear that I’ll have to wait 2-3 months for a replacement only to get a unit with the exact same issue. lots of users on macrumors have reported this…
I am not ready to build my hopes up and get disappointed again
I dread the thought of waiting for months without knowing if the replacement will be good
I did some tests this afternoon and I strongly suspect my Mac has no whine. I had some whine coming from my monitors and a lot coming from the thermostat, but the Mac itself doesn’t seem to whine. Unfortunately, I can’t easily move the Mac away from the thermostat, so any audio recording will include the thermostat’s whine.
If I was in your place, I’d ask the Apple Store if an immediate replacement can be provided. If so, I’d do the trade in. If it takes weeks to months, I’d ask for my money back and then wait for a refurb Mac Studio to be available.
The reasons for this are:
The Mac Studio is an incredibly powerful machine. I’ve built a lot of PCs in the past, and I really don’t have the time to do a custom build at the level of the Studio, and I’m pretty sure it would be difficult to match the power of the bigger M1s and stay within budget.
In the two decades I’ve been buying Macs, the absolutely most reliable Macs have been the official Apple Refurbs. Not refurbs from your local shop, or some big retailer, but Apple themselves. Accept no substitutes. My hypothesis is that Apple lets their QC standards slide a bit when launching new products. Late in the product cycle, things are usually very good and reliable. Refurbs seem to pass a more stringent set of QC tests. Empirically, I have never had a problem with a refurb Mac. In addition to quality, you save a few (but not many) bucks with a refurb. The main downside is that you have less choice in terms of configuration and you have to wait until the product has been available long enough for people to return a few and apple to refurb and QC them. Given the slow release of the more powerful Studios it may be some time before they appear on the refurb store. There are none right now.
Summary:
I’m pretty sure my Mac Studio doesn’t whine, but it’s difficult to prove given how my office is currently setup.
Regardless, I don’t think any whine is acceptable in a product called Studio from Apple. Be gentle but firm with Apple on this.
I think I’ll just return mine and ask for a refund, no replacement.
I would be in constant fear of it developing this issue at some point, lots of users have reported hearing it after a few months. That’s not the life I want to live haha
so my 2019 intel macbook pro 13" is unable to handle work stuff anymore and it’s really funny watching all these videos about a “whine” while my mac fans spin so hard I have to wear headphones while my room becomes literally an airport.
made the decision and ordered a studio with the ultra spec, hopefully future proofing myself for at least 8 years of work, music making or any other task.
really excited to see M1 on mac in action, should be stellar jump from intel, hope that virtualization is on par.
sucks that I have to wait for it as it seems that the ultras are not available almost anywhere in stock.
I bought a Mac Studio with a 512GB SSD last year. I understood that the internal drive is not user serviceable in any way and that it is not possible to boot from an external SSD. I took the gamble that there would be some way to use an external SSD, and had some success for the first few months.
My first attempt was to move (copy, actually) my entire home directory to the SSD and update my account to point there. This is the OSX version of editing /etc/passwd. That worked until I rebooted at which point the machine hard crashed if I attempted to log in to that account. Fortunately, I was able to get into recovery mode, create a new account and start from there.
My next attempt was to create a link farm from my home directory - on the Apple internal SSD. This worked for everything by ~/Pictures and ~/Desktop, oddly it did work for ~/Music. Last week, the 12.6.2 update broke this: now my ~/Documents folder appears blank within Finder. If I navigate to the SSD and open the folder that ~/Documents points to, that is blank as well. I have had iCloud document sync turned off since the beginning and verified that it is still off.
So I called Apple today to ask about upgrade options. After going through several layers of support and sales, the best I could get was to either sell the machine myself or give it back to Apple for e-waste recycling. No option to upgrade the internal SSD or do any kind of exchange.
To put things in perspective, if I were to buy a new Mac Studio with the same config as my current system, it costs USD$600 to upgrade from 512GB to 2TB. A Samsung T7 2TB SSD goes for a little over USD$150. There is also a roughly three week long wait for a new machine.
I could understand these policies if I was dealing with a tiny boutique shop, but I expect more from Apple.
Most likely I’ll be sending the machine to eBay and buying a new one. I hate that I have to do this, but I’m too heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem to be able to leave. The otherwise excellence of the machine makes this experience all the more painful.
