Mac mini vs. Mac Studio

[Citysnaps]

I'll just say that after working with the Mac Studio for the last week it's been awesome to have PS, LR and GarageBand all up and running with no lag whatsoever.

Which configuration do you have? And is there anything about it that you don't like or annoys/bugs you?

 

[MEJHarrison]

I'll just say that after working with the Mac Studio for the last week it's been awesome to have PS, LR and GarageBand all up and running with no lag whatsoever.

I'm ready to order. Have been since Friday. I'm just too on the fence on 1GB vs. 2GB. I keep going back and forth on the extra $400. Do I get too much space now to prepare for the future, or do I just get external storage when the time comes? I'd like to get some external storage for backups anyway.

I need to hop off the fence and just order the damn thing!

 

[Eric]

Which configuration do you have? And is there anything about it that you don't like or annoys/bugs you?

The base configuration because if I wanted the 1TB hard drive I would've had to wait but it hasn't really been a problem because I have so much external storage.


It's hard to find anything to complain about with this system as it's exceeding my expectations, as you probably know I live in Adobe LR and like to run other high powered apps at the same time which has so far proven not to be an issue at all.

A couple of things that are less than adequate are the sound, you'll need speakers, frankly my iPhone puts out more or at least it seems that way. The other is the onboard card reader is super slow compared to my older iMac for some reason (using the same card for both) but neither of these things are deal breakers for me, more trivial than anything.

 

[Clix Pix]

The card reader situation is easy to resolve: just buy a decent external card reader, which is going to be significantly faster and more up to date than one included in any computer. I've always used external card readers, never bothered with those included in computers or printers.

 

[Eric]

The card reader situation is easy to resolve: just buy a decent external card reader, which is going to be significantly faster and more up to date than one included in any computer. I've always used external card readers, never bothered with those included in computers or printers.

Yeah that's what I'll probably end up doing.

 

[MEJHarrison]

...I have so much external storage.

How do you like that? Is it quick? I'm thinking of going with external storage, but I didn't know if I'd notice a difference or not. It will probably be photo libraries, so I'm thinking I won't even notice. But if I will, I'd rather just go for internal storage.

 

[Eric]

How do you like that? Is it quick? I'm thinking of going with external storage, but I didn't know if I'd notice a difference or not. It will probably be photo libraries, so I'm thinking I won't even notice. But if I will, I'd rather just go for internal storage.

For me it's a must because of the amount of photos I have and it's worked out great on both my old iMac and the new one alike. When one starts getting close to capacity I just add another, usually one from Costco.

 

[Clix Pix]

I absolutely survive because of external drives to retain most of the images I shoot and other files that I don't need to have right on the computer at all times. This makes a huge difference! Having external drives adds flexibility, too, for shuffling things around as needed and yet everything is still right there, ready for quick access if need be. I do not keep my external drives plugged in; I only plug them in when I'm ready to add something, retrieve something or make some changes.

 

[Yoused]

I was putting my pictures on the Time Capsule, which was very handy until the '07 Westell dsl modem bought the farm. I got a replacement from the ISP, but it naturally has wifi built in, so the TC has become kind of an orphan.

And, of course, my roommate got into my pictures and decided they needed cute, descriptive names, which pissed me off no end. Plus, somehow he managed to get a raw ":" into one of the names, so that file is no longer accessible and cannot be renamed or even deleted.

 

[mr_roboto]

The card reader situation is easy to resolve: just buy a decent external card reader, which is going to be significantly faster and more up to date than one included in any computer. I've always used external card readers, never bothered with those included in computers or printers.

The Gensys Logic GL9755A card reader chip they've been putting in Apple Silicon Macs with a SD reader seems like it has decent specs, but it hasn't been living up to those specs in practice. The problem is that while the GL9755A supports Gen 1 (2.5 Gbps) and Gen 2 (5.0 Gbps) PCIe speeds, for some reason in M1 systems the PCIe link frequently only negotiates the Gen 1 link speed even though both ends should be capable of Gen 2.

The theoretical limit of UHS-II is 312 MB/s. PCIe Gen 1 is 250 MB/s max per lane, actually less in practice. This is a significant limit, there's a reason why the GL9755A uses Gen2x1.

It's not clear what's going on here and whether Apple can fix it with something like a firmware update.

 

[Clix Pix]

Well, whenever I finally do get around to buying a new M1 14" or 16" MBP or the Mac Studio, the SD slot will remain unused. I have a Sony dual CFExpress Type A / SD card reader since the A1 uses the CFE cards and/or SD cards and my other cameras all use SD cards.

 

[Citysnaps]

What are these things called SD cards and readers? Just kidding, and poking a little fun!

It is nice, though, air-dropping a wad of image files into a LR folder on my Mac. I may be back if the next gen RX1R is ever released and pretty neat.

 

[Nycturne]

I am reliant on external storage as well, but for me it's been a NAS. Useful little appliance.

 

[Cmaier]

I am reliant on external storage as well, but for me it's been a NAS. Useful little appliance.

Me too. I use a big synology NAS.

 

[Roller]

I’ve been very satisfied with my Mac Studio Ultra. Tomorrow I’ll get to see how it compares to the Max at work. It came in a couple months early.

 

[throAU]

My iMac needs replacing, as it's old, and it's time. I'm not sure what the differences are between the mini, studio. I don't have a laptop nor do I need one, so the Mac Book Pro is not something I'm considering.

Would I be better off with the studio? My thinking is that the studio will last longer being more powerful. My iMac is 10 years old, so getting a decade out of my next purchase would be ideal.

Any red flags or items to be concerned about with the Studio?

If you're getting by with a 10 year old iMac, clearly performance is not a major concern; buy the mini for 1/4 the price and upgrade it in 5 years instead of 10 to something likely 2x the performance of the current studio at that point in time for half the price - with a refreshed warranty.

 

[fischersd]

+1 on the NAS front - had a Synology DS2413+ when I lived in Onterrible. Likely going to pull the trigger on that again soon - but likely not the same scale. . Drives are bigger now...hmm....but 4k Atmos files are bigger. I should do the math on what it would take to replace the 2500+ 1080p movie library I had with 4k.

Edit: Oh, and on-topic. Still waiting for a mini that supports HDMI 2.1 with 120Hz refresh for 4k. Ludicrous that we're still waiting for Apple to do that. *sigh*

 

[Cmaier]

+1 on the NAS front - had a Synology DS2413+ when I lived in Onterrible. Likely going to pull the trigger on that again soon - but likely not the same scale. . Drives are bigger now...hmm....but 4k Atmos files are bigger. I should do the math on what it would take to replace the 2500+ 1080p movie library I had with 4k.

Edit: Oh, and on-topic. Still waiting for a mini that supports HDMI 2.1 with 120Hz refresh for 4k. Ludicrous that we're still waiting for Apple to do that. *sigh*

I have two ds3612’s and a ds2419. Note that there is a big controversy with the ds2422 - it doesn’t fully support drives not on its hardware compatibility list, and with one exception the only drives on its list are drives sold by synology. SMART functionality is disabled if the drive isn’t on the list. There is a workaround (ssh into the box and edit a file), but it’s not very clean and needs to be repeated if the software updates (and that loophole may be closed someday).

The good news is that these things last forever (as evidence by the 2012-vintage ds3612’s that still work), but as tech changes (e.g. high capacity hard drives have their mount holes in the wrong place for the sleds in those old boxes, and DSM 7 is not supported on them - though I don’t run that on my 2019 box either), makes me nervous about synology’s high capacity boxes in the future.

 

[fischersd]

I have two ds3612’s and a ds2419. Note that there is a big controversy with the ds2422 - it doesn’t fully support drives not on its hardware compatibility list, and with one exception the only drives on its list are drives sold by synology. SMART functionality is disabled if the drive isn’t on the list. There is a workaround (ssh into the box and edit a file), but it’s not very clean and needs to be repeated if the software updates (and that loophole may be closed someday).

The good news is that these things last forever (as evidence by the 2012-vintage ds3612’s that still work), but as tech changes (e.g. high capacity hard drives have their mount holes in the wrong place for the sleds in those old boxes, and DSM 7 is not supported on them - though I don’t run that on my 2019 box either), makes me nervous about synology’s high capacity boxes in the future.

Yeah - there were a couple reviews on Amazon on the 2422 that made it clear that Synology is playing some games. Not in a hurry for the NAS - need the Mac Mini first...and that's a waiting game. It'll give me the time to see what Synology is up to and look at alternatives. Never had any issues with the 2413, but if they're going to be pulling some proprietary marketing BS, then I'll make sure they don't get my business.

 

[Eric]

Any of you guys using your NAS for LightRoom Catalog files? Basically, I would like to be able to open the catalog from any computer/device in the house and have all edits synced.