Apple Studio/Mini - What bits we need

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Phil O'Keefe

If I really needed 64 GB of RAM and a fast 4 TB onboard drive and the price was only going to be $400 more to double my CPU and graphics cores at the same time, I’d drop the extra $400 and get the Ultra.

I don’t need that level of power for my workflow, but if you do, then I think spending the extra for the Ultra would be the way to go.

Sorry I misread it would actually be $4999 so $1400 more for Ultra

[protoolsuserman]

Just a quick note, I was watching linus tech tips' video on a partial teardown of the Mac box. It appears the PSU in the machine is connected to the main board by two screws.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this.

He even said it was dangerous.

Perhaps they'll improve the design in the future?

l

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally Posted by kings79

Yeah I've heard even the M1 is great. What sort of stuff have you been doing with it? Do you run video? What enclosures do your Drives live in?


Great discussion so far!

Thinking that

• PCIe Enclosure for Video Hardware and M.2/NVME drive/s - Thinking the Sonnet Echo IIId
• Enclosure for my 3.5" & 2.5" HDD's/SSD's - Thinking the OWC Thunderbay 4
• 2x TB3 to HDMI adapters (I run 3 monitor plus the Video hardware monitor)

This is interesting TB3 vs TB4

For the M1 Mac mini, I’ve mainly been testing it with old projects. I didn’t want to use it on anything new until I was sure it was stable and all the VIs and plugins were ready to go. I also knew I was going to want to get something a bit more upscale if the tests worked out, which they did, and so I bought a Mac Studio that should be arriving tomorrow.

I mainly do audio recording of bands - rock, jazz, etc. - and very little in the way of video.

I have been moving projects from external SSDs (mainly Samsung and Crucial drives in the ~550 Mbps read/write speed range that sit in Sabrent external enclosures) to the internal drive to work/experiment on, and backing up my work to the external drives.

[kings79]

This is a REALLY helpful read over at Pro Tools Expert about storage solutions around the Mac Studio/Max Laptop. "High Speed Storage Solutions For Next Gen Computers Like Apple’s Mac Studio".

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pro...%20-%208099340

[glasswing]

Originally Posted by kings79

This is a REALLY helpful read over at Pro Tools Expert about storage solutions around the Mac Studio/Max Laptop. "High Speed Storage Solutions For Next Gen Computers Like Apple’s Mac Studio".

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pro...%20-%208099340

So far my impressions have been great. Mac Studio Ultra / 2TB / 120 RAM. I'm not doing video currently so don't know about that. And I found the folks at Sonnet to be incredibly helpful - to the extreme. They can answer your questions with absolute truth. Personally I think the Mac Pro will be for very high end video stuff. I have seen very little activity with the PT System Usage meter and the Mac Activity Monitor. I haven't pushed it, but so far it totally smokes my old maxed out 5.1. I haven't updated to 2022.4 yet. And I was 'Forest Walker' in that article.

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by glasswing

So far my impressions have been great. Mac Studio Ultra / 2TB / 120 RAM. I'm not doing video currently so don't know about that. And I found the folks at Sonnet to be incredibly helpful - to the extreme. They can answer your questions with absolute truth. Personally I think the Mac Pro will be for very high end video stuff. I have seen very little activity with the PT System Usage meter and the Mac Activity Monitor. I haven't pushed it, but so far it totally smokes my old maxed out 5.1. I haven't updated to 2022.4 yet. And I was 'Forest Walker' in that article.

Please tell me Forest Walker is your real name!

The article on PT Expert says I “recommended” the Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt Dock. I’m not sure I did because I don’t have one! I suggested it was a potential option for Mac Studio owners.

[kings79]

Originally Posted by glasswing

So far my impressions have been great. Mac Studio Ultra / 2TB / 120 RAM. I'm not doing video currently so don't know about that. And I found the folks at Sonnet to be incredibly helpful - to the extreme. They can answer your questions with absolute truth. Personally I think the Mac Pro will be for very high end video stuff. I have seen very little activity with the PT System Usage meter and the Mac Activity Monitor. I haven't pushed it, but so far it totally smokes my old maxed out 5.1. I haven't updated to 2022.4 yet. And I was 'Forest Walker' in that article.

I tend to agree.

Originally Posted by Marsdy

Please tell me Forest Walker is your real name!

The article on PT Expert says I “recommended” the Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt Dock. I’m not sure I did because I don’t have one! I suggested it was a potential option for Mac Studio owners.

That's actually what I'm looking at. I'm a Re-Recording Mixer/Dialogue Editor/Sound Designer so I don't need loads and loads of super fast drives. I just need 1 fast one to run my sessions off and a reasonably fast one to stream video from.

Once I've done some proper testing I will update my findings with the gear I chose to buy and how it's working.

[jimmygu33]

Hey folks, hope it's ok to post this here. I do TV post on a 2010 cheesegrater mac PT Ultimate HDX system, and decided the Mac Studio w M1 Max was what I have been waiting for so I took the plunge. It was supposed to arrive in June, but I just got an email saying it will be here in a week, so I need to get my act together as far as peripherals and storage solutions. Here's what I have and what I'm thinking of transitioning to. Any advice would be appreciated.


HDX PCI-e card > Thunderbolt HD Native
192 I/O > no change
Audio Drive: Sonnet Dual 2.5" SSD RAID (4TB) > need solution for this
2 SATA HDDs for Time Machine & SFX library > OWC USB-C Dock
Blackmagic Mini Monitor PCI-e (for TV monitor)> MS HDMI port


I am trying to avoid using a PCI-e expansion chassis, but could do that if it makes more sense. I really don't like the fan noise from my HDX card, and I'm thinking the MS will be so powerful that the glorified dongle HD Native will be just fine to interface with my 192. I see that Sonnet offers some thunderbolt SSD RAID solutions but I'm unclear whether there's a device I could just pop my existing SSDs into or if I need new SSDs of a smaller form factor. I'm thinking of just running my client TV as a 3rd monitor via the HDMI port and dragging my PT video there when needed, which isn't often, as most of my clients are remote.


Anyway, thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have!


Jimmy

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by jimmygu33

Hey folks, hope it's ok to post this here. I do TV post on a 2010 cheesegrater mac PT Ultimate HDX system, and decided the Mac Studio w M1 Max was what I have been waiting for so I took the plunge. It was supposed to arrive in June, but I just got an email saying it will be here in a week, so I need to get my act together as far as peripherals and storage solutions. Here's what I have and what I'm thinking of transitioning to. Any advice would be appreciated.


HDX PCI-e card > Thunderbolt HD Native
192 I/O > no change
Audio Drive: Sonnet Dual 2.5" SSD RAID (4TB) > need solution for this
2 SATA HDDs for Time Machine & SFX library > OWC USB-C Dock
Blackmagic Mini Monitor PCI-e (for TV monitor)> MS HDMI port


I am trying to avoid using a PCI-e expansion chassis, but could do that if it makes more sense. I really don't like the fan noise from my HDX card, and I'm thinking the MS will be so powerful that the glorified dongle HD Native will be just fine to interface with my 192. I see that Sonnet offers some thunderbolt SSD RAID solutions but I'm unclear whether there's a device I could just pop my existing SSDs into or if I need new SSDs of a smaller form factor. I'm thinking of just running my client TV as a 3rd monitor via the HDMI port and dragging my PT video there when needed, which isn't often, as most of my clients are remote.


Anyway, thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have!


Jimmy

I think you'll be just fine HD Native. It can do so much more than HDX1.

There are definitely enclosures you can use with your 2.5" SSD's. I use a USB3.1 box. The "OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual Mini", quite a mouthful. Personally I haven't felt Thunderbolt is necessary given the price difference. m.2 NVME disks are becoming much more common so if you have to buy something you might want to look at those to help future proof your setup. They are faster but run hotter than what you have now. As they talk about in that article above.

I'd suggest trying out the HDMI output. You might get by just fine. Lots of folks seem to do it. I prefer using an Aja but I'm unclear on the M1 compatibility for those at the moment.

[Eric Lambert]

My studio in Chicago uses an OWC Mercury Elite 2-drive chassis for its 2.5" SSDs and it's been solid. In my LA studio I have a similar OWC 4-drive TB4 chassis which has also been great. Prior to that I used the same 2-drive chassis that's in Chicago. None have ever been an issue.

In large sessions, I'm happy to know that I have the data throughput of TB4 so that there's no chance for bottlenecks (even if there wouldn't have been with USB3 either, but peace of mind counts for something), and also because the new Mac Studio Ultras have so many individual TB4 ports.

Also, I use HD Native and feel completely happy with it.