New "Mac Studio" from Apple

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by Carl Lie

All this makes me wonder what the new mac pro will be like (if there is to be one).

C

The end of the Apple "Peek Performance" event gave a teaser about the Mac Pro transition to Apple Silicon. The presenter simply said something to the effect that this leaves one more Mac to be released with Apple Silicon...but that is for another day. So that would be a strong suggestion that one is coming.

Obviously it will need to be even faster than the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra, able to have more CPU cores, GPU Cores, RAM, etc. My opinion (for what it is worth) is that Apple will leverage the secret connector on the M1 Max processors and the super high speed bus used to connect two M1 Max processors to make the M1 Ultra to link more than two processors together. We'll see what Apple has up its sleeve with the Mac Pro. It is exciting, but probably out of may budget range.

[Michael Carnes]

Originally Posted by Carl Lie

All this makes me wonder what the new mac pro will be like (if there is to be one).
C

There will be one. They teased it in the announcement yesterday. I'd guess we'll see it at WWDC this summer. It will be a beast, with a price tag to match. But a nicely-kitted 7,1 Mac Pro costs quite a few $$$, so no one should be surprised.

[Armando]

Looks like an awesome machine for all the native DAW and video/graphics users out there. As for the DSP users I’m sure the next Mac Pro w/Apple Silicon will be worth the wait. Can’t see spending $4K+ on Studio and atleast another $1K+ on a TB to PCIe chassis. That takes you into Mac Pro $$ territory and those chassis’ make too much noise to have nearby.

[Carl Lie]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

The end of the Apple "Peek Performance" event gave a teaser about the Mac Pro transition to Apple Silicon. The presenter simply said something to the effect that this leaves one more Mac to be released with Apple Silicon...but that is for another day. So that would be a strong suggestion that one is coming.

Obviously it will need to be even faster than the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra, able to have more CPU cores, GPU Cores, RAM, etc. My opinion (for what it is worth) is that Apple will leverage the secret connector on the M1 Max processors and the super high speed bus used to connect two M1 Max processors to make the M1 Ultra to link more than two processors together. We'll see what Apple has up its sleeve with the Mac Pro. It is exciting, but probably out of may budget range.

Might be worth the wait if it has the PCIe slots for HDx. Exciting times for sure!

C

[gives]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

As a 2013-era Trashcan owner, this new Mac is exciting. Small, powerful and with a (believe it or not) *fair* price tag. Shipping soon.

The question for ProTools users is: how soon will we be able to use these? It will undoubtedly ship with Monterey, which is one wrinkle, but it also employs a version of the M1 chip, which is, potentially, another issue.

I'm certain we'll see people diving in from Day 1, trying PT and all their plugins. As an owner of a Mac that's quite long in the tooth, I'd love to be one of those people. But I won't be. Not right away. So I'll be watching for those reports.

Still, it's VERY exciting news. Finally filling the gap between the Mini and the desktop MacPros, which are insanely priced.

What're your thoughts about this new machine?

Yes, Hopefully we will know soon from Avid if they have Monterey up and running. The only thing that is bugging me is why they only put one Ethernet port on it? For me with my Atmos room, I need to have my IP addresses separate with MTRX and Internet., but maybe there is a workaround. I do have an ethernet hub which works great. DAD MOM is also ethernet.

Any ideas or thoughts you may have are welcome as I have a Late 2013 Mac Pro as well-:)

G

[gives]

Originally Posted by friendlybunny

I purchased one as well. I’ve been on an intel laptop on Catalina for the past couple of years. I’m not looking forward to the migration, but hoping Monterrey compatibility is coming soon.

This computer looks amazing.

I hear it is.

[gives]

Originally Posted by thebeatless

I ordered an ultra, but now I’m seeing the leaked geekbench results. Multi core looks great, but in my experience single core is way more important for what we do. Do you guys think that the two physical cpu’s will give better “single core”performance with pro tools than a single CPU in real use? Or… will we get the same old spike in the middle of the cpu meter? My current windows machine gets basically the same geekbench single core score. It’s really great, but I want this new computer to be a beast and a step up in power with the added bonus of iMessage!! Not just more of the same while using less energy. On my i9 iMac a few plugins with oversampling will cause constant cpu errors. I really hope that won’t be the case!!!

If ProTools goes completely native I wonder what that would do with single vs Multi-Core. In the past I have agree with this premise that you are stating here. Exciting times if it all moves ahead with Avid. Maybe a reason for the delay in new updates this year.

G

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by Carl Lie

All this makes me wonder what the new mac pro will be like (if there is to be one).

C

I would think that there will be a new expandable Mac Pro with ARM architecture at some point this year. It will be super expensive as is the 2019 mac Pro. There are still use cases for machines with multiple pcie slots, huge amounts of RAM, etc. Pro Tools probably NOT being one of those. The Mac Studio is the new ultimate PT machine IMO.

[Eric Lambert]

This move to M1 Native is reminiscent of the PowerPC to Intel migration, though this time around Rosetta seems more adept at making the aged code *feel* native. That's the good news. And I'm trying to be patient, but I know that some plugins will get lost in the mix, as they did with PowerPC-->Intel. Remember the wrappers? I'd rather not find out about them in the midst of a session, so looking to the reports of others before I switch. I remember lists that showed which plugins had made the Intel updates and which had not -- hoping someone might be as ambitious this time, too.

[Eric Lambert]

Yes, I think the newer MacPro(s) will continue to be priced for a smaller population of the industry, and, as an HD Native user, the Studio appears to fall perfectly into the space I require. Similarly-equipped MacPros will be several thousands more $$, just as the current crop are.