Mac Studio: A portable PC that offers a true desktop experience

Mac Mini, the portable Mac for desktop users, has been Apple's best shot at drawing heavy users into the fold. But it somewhat failed to match the performance of Windows PCs that were built for graphics-intensive work.

Then the M1 Pro and Max-enabled MacBook Pro of 2021 arrived. It was powerful, efficient and capable of handling any graphics-intensive task thrown at it. 

But it could not provide the desktop feel that most video editors or design studios look for. 

Addressing this issue, Apple announced their new iMac line-up, which was very capable and compact on the desk. But it was not as portable as the MacBook Pro or Mac Mini. 

Somewhere among these three, there was room for a new Mac; something powerful enough to replace a studio desktop and also portable enough like a laptop. 

Apple has released Mac Studio, a portable desktop PC that can be hooked up with any display sitting at home, office or studio.

At first glance, the design language clearly screams Mac Mini; more specifically, two Mac Minis stacked on top of each other.  

While the base variant comes with an already overpowered and efficient M1 Max SoC, for the more expensive variant, two M1 Max bridged together to form M1 Ultra, the best and most efficient Apple silicone yet.

The base variant with M1 Max includes a 10-core CPU with 24 or 32-core GPU, and the M1 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio has a 20-core CPU with 48 or 64-core GPU. 

Like the CPU and GPU cores, unified memory, bandwidth and neural engines are also doubled on the M1 Ultra variant. 

A unified memory of 32 or 64 GB on M1 Max doubles to 64 or 128 GB on the M1 Ultra variant, while the bandwidth doubles from 400 GB/s to 800 GB/s. The neural engine count also doubles to 32 from M1 Max's 16.

Size and design-wise, Mac Studio actually feels like the pro version of a Mac Mini. Some people are even calling it the Mac Mini Pro. 

However, performance-wise, it is comparable to Apple's most expensive Mac, the cheese grater Mac Pro. 

In some instances, the Mac Studio even beats the more expensive 28-core Mac Pro.

he new Mac Studio is more efficient in power consumption. It can save up to 1,000 kilowatt-hours of energy every year compared to the traditional Windows-powered PCs. 

As for connectivity, since Apple aimed this Mac toward the industry-leading pros, they did not cut corners on the I/O. Both M1 Max and M1 Ultra-powered Mac Studio have four Thunderbolt 4 ports, one 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, one Power Plug, two USB-A ports, one HDMI 2.0 port, and a 3.5 mm high-impedance supported headphone jack.

To everyone's surprise and to accommodate professionals and studio creators, Apple also included a front I/O. 

On the M1 Max base variant, Apple added 2 USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front. For the M1 Ultra unit, the USB-C ports graduated to Thunderbolt 4 ports to support faster data transfer. 

Another difference between these two versions is in the cooling. An aluminium heat sink is used on the M1 Max variant, while the Ultra variant has a more efficient heat conducting and heavier copper sink, adding extra weight to the latter. 

However, Mac Studio, like every other Mac, is not ideal for gaming. The audio situation is the standard output for a PC this compact and portable.

This portability comes at the cost of needing an extra display, making it less portable. The consumer base for this Mac is creators who want to bring their projects from office desktops to home or vice versa. 

The Mac Studio can be used with any display with an HDMI port. Even though Apple recommends their newly announced Studio Display with the Mac Studio, with the help of a simple converter it can be used with even the old VGA-port displays of the early 2000s. 

With the help of the optimised and dedicated media engines, the new M1 Max and Ultra-enabled Mac Studio cuts export time by half compared to older Macs, and the GPU support is comparable to unanimously praised RTX 3090.

This combination of an efficient Apple silicone, powerful hardware, Apple's optimised software and a portable form factor makes Mac Studio a portable PC that offers a true desktop experience.

Who is this Mac Studio for?

Mac Studio is perfect for small to medium studios or independent professional creators who do audio, photo, video, or other visual content creation with GPU-demanding editing tools. 

However, for personal use the M1 Pro and Max-powered MacBook Pro of 2021 would be a better choice. 

Buying Mac Studio in Bangladesh

Mac Studio is available nationwide through independent importers and retailers like MC Solution BD, iStock BD, Custom Mac BD, etc. The price of the base variant with M1 Max starts at Tk220,000.