Are you on the fence about the new Mac Studio? What's keeping you from pulling the trigger (aside from the price!)? Anything I didn't cover in this vid that would help you decide? Let me know!
I am hesitating between a 16" MacBookPro Max and the Mac Studio Max .... getting a portable computer as the main computer can be useful to keep everything in the same computer.
the problem with the MacBook is that you need dongles, hubs or docking stations .... and those seem to be always problematic, creating a lot of heat, not connecting devices immediately ....
I’m actually excited to sit down and work now with the Ultra. It’s ridiculous fast and smooth. Nothing to slow down my A7SIII/FX3 workflow and I have videos due every week. After a month, I’ve definitely noticed a significant difference in how quickly I can get things done now. (From a late 2019 iMac)
@@FishVisions I can’t speak from personal experience since I don’t have a Max, but my assumption is that the Ultra is overkill and the Max is pretty awesome on its own. I would just always recommend as much RAM as you can afford.
I consistently find the answers I need for my Apple/FCPX questions here on your channel. My employer just bought me a maxed out M1 Max. I was deflated when it started to lag my A7siii footage but here on your channel I found out and I suspected it was the 3rd party plug-ins. now I'm at the mercy 3rd party plug-ins. Thanks to your channel and all your help!
@@shaneyellowthunder Hmmm. Try Neat Video by itself without Color Finale. Curious how much Neat Video slows it down. I haven’t had to use Neat in a hot minute so I’m not sure if it’ll slow my Macs down considerably.
I've never had an issue with my SD card slot on my mid-2011 imac, which is still going strong. Interesting. I now need an upgrade to edit 4k footage, so looking at the base model mac studio. Great vid!
Well since Apples Cook is holding back on a new Mac (smaller) affordable Pro, the Studio looks promising. We want SPEED in exporting, edited video. We will keep watching and waiting. Good job JosephObe
I recently bought a mac Ultra Studio with the same setup as yours. I also shifted from a 2013 MacPro. So, my intention was to wait for the M2MacPro that I know is coming out in the next year... although like you, the rendering times on my 2013 MacPro was driving my crazy. It seemed like it was getting slower every year. I use with the Adobe Suite so I spend alot of time with Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition. The main thing I noticed right off the bat was my Program Monitor was able to playback in full resolution with no hiccups. So, that was actually pretty fantastic. I also spend about 20% of my job switching 3 camera livestreams via Wirecast. So it's actually very nice, taking MacUltra Studio into the field and being able to plug all of my equipment into this little powerhouse. Like you... I really really want my 3rd party pluggins to get on the M1 Bandwagon. I'm looking at you Neat Video. Overall, great purchase although I know I'm going to kick myself when the new M2 MacPro comes out and runs circles around this system.
Haha - I'm probably going to kick myself as well. Hopefully my Mac Studio is paid off by the time the Mac Pro comes around. Although I probably won't need the new Mac Pro to get my work done, I'm tempted to buy one to make channel content...
Yup, and if you have a 2019 MBP, you're gonna be just fine. I couldn't wait another minute with my 2013 Mac Pro and 2013 Retina MBP. It was time to finally upgrade!
I got mine 2 weeks ago and its been on all day literally and hasn't gotten hot at all. I edit shorts and have final cut, photoshop, and 2 othe 3rd party plugins from topaz and top all that i make beats when i take a break. Im just happy it can do everything. The only issues ive had were final cut crashing once or twice because of the 3rd plugins and in photoshop something don't work properly because its on rosetta. Its the only way to get some plugins to work. I love my studio.
Yup, that's really the only issue I've had - apps and 3rd party plug-in running on Rosetta. Forgot that Photoshop was still on Rosetta - I'm all in with Affinity Designer & Photo 🤘🏻
I really love your reviews because they are straightforward and very helpful. I have been having trouble with plugins suddenly disappearing on my M1 MacBook Pro and usually it happens at export. The export fails with no specific error code but I’ve learned to disable any plugins on my timeline and then it exports. Sometimes First Aid curiously fixes it, sometimes only reinstalling the plugin fixes it.
Another excellent video! My Mac Studio is due to arrive in a few weeks so I’m especially appreciative of the well-timed reality check. I’d much rather have lowered stability expectations than disappointment and buyer’s remorse. I do get the feeling you intentionally avoided calling out specific problematic plugins, perhaps to prevent the video from becoming dated and inaccurate (after all, many plugins are still being updated). However, I’m sure many of your viewers, myself included, would deeply appreciate knowing which plugins are causing you grief today (with the full understanding that the situation could change with an update tomorrow, and also that another user's results may be different). Can you share your plugin failure experiences? I'd love to set my plugin expectations appropriately, and perhaps avoid a few problematic, less critical plug-ins along the way. Thanks again for a killer review!
So excited for you to get your hands on this amazing Mac! Part of why I didn't share specific plug-ins is because I have so many it's hard to remember which ones specifically were having issues. Early on I was having some issues with AddMotion (which is offered through FXFactory), and I got some lag when applying my FilmConvert Nitrate plug-in to my footage to both angles of my multicam before I even started editing. I think FilmConvert is for sure still running off of Rosetta. I have one set of motionVFX plugins that are much older and still not updated for M1 (but those weren't causing any lag because I can't use them!). But I regularly use a combo of plugins from FXFactory and motionVFX and then a few on occasion from Stupid Raisins. FilmConvert Nitrate is on every video now. Appreciate your comment and thanks for watching!
@@matthewTobrien Thanks for the reply! Ha! I too suffer from plugin-itis! Way too many to be healthy. My Effects, Transitions, Generators, and Titles tabs are overloaded with stuff from FXFactory, motionVFX, Pixel Film Studios (I feel shame), and several others. Perhaps switching to Apple silicon will provide the push I need to clean out those overstuffed folders. Bummed to hear AddMotion caused you trouble. That's one of my favorites! I also love Nitrate, but haven't used it for some time (I fell down the Color Finale and Cinema Grade rabbit holes). I took a look at the FilmConvert website and was only able to find a blog post (from a year ago) announcing that Nitrate was M1 ready for Premiere -- no mention of FCP. I just emailed them to get more info, and will share their reply here. Thank again for all that you do for the FCP community!
I'm glad you're enjoying the Mac Studio! This is an excellent video and I loved hearing your perspective and story. I've owned MacBook laptops in the past. In 2015, I decided to go desktop only and built a high-end gaming/editing PC. When the new M1 chips came out, I seriously contemplated switching over to Mac because of the video editing performance (I'm a freelance video editor). I thought about getting the Mac Studio, but I have 2 M.2 NVME drives, 1 SSD and 3 10tb HD's all internal in my PC, so I would have to get a NAS to house and access all those drives which would be an additional $1000 (for one I can edit on) or $500 but I'd have to change my entire workflow of editing on the internal mac drive, then archiving onto the NAS for every video project. Instead of doing all that, I decided to upgrade my editing/gaming PC to the latest i7-12700k, a new mobo and DDR5 ram for less than $800. The timeline performance is stellar because of intel quick sync on these new chips and my render times got cut down by about 40%. It's not M1 performance but it's fast enough for me. If I went with an M1 Max Mac Studio with 2tb and 64gb ram, it would've been $3000 + $1000 for the NAS. $4000 vs $800 is a big difference. I may get a M2 MacBook Pro 14 inch when it comes out, though!
Thanks for watching, Ya! Sounds like you've got a pretty powerful setup with your custom PC and for a fraction of the cost of a similar Apple desktop. I love my 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro and hope to hang on to it for 3 or 4 years before upgrading. Probably 3 years. :)
I've been trying to pull off the just connect the MBP to the displays (i.e. Thunderbolt doc). But it's just not the same experience as a dedicated desktop. Not to mention the oddness of it sometimes forgetting what monitor goes where. Also that "one-cable-life" falls apart quickly once you want to connect more than 2 displays it seems. Don't get me wrong it's nice at times to be able to just pick it up and be able to continue working where you left off, but I constantly then feel I am hurting for screen real estate or a dedicated keyboard and mouse to feel efficient.
Thanks Matthew, I also migrated from 2013 MacPro to the same Mac Studio as you have here, its a beast on speed and grunt, agreed connectivity was an issue but sorting that out. So you kept the USB-A hub hey , good thinking. The MS could be better regarding connectivity. I've also noticed some lag or having to insert the card in the front a couple of times. Third party plugins can be an issues (especially some Pixel not optimised ).Overall I'm very happy, thanks for your great videos. Give more love to the MS, it will love you back ! haha
For the record, I’m also getting excellent performance in FCPX editing and exporting 4K footage of about 10m length in less than 10m, with my MacBook Pro (which also has an M1 Max and 64GB and 2TB) - so the form factor is not the important bit.
Didn't mean to imply that the form factor on the Mac Studio aided overall performance. For me the form factor of the Mac Studio is important in making it easier to use in an editing bay - I'd rather have something that's a permanent fixture with more ports than a notebook so I can easily connect all of my monitors and peripherals. With a MacBook in its place, I'd have to have some kind of dock for it to expand connectivity and, for me, that's too much friction.
Very thoughtful part about your emotional connection to the MacBook Pro! Thanks, man. I found your video because I've been somewhat confused that my spanking new Mac Studio has not been as smoking hot as I thought it would be? Your 2 TB SSD mention has me wondering if I messed up by getting the 512GB SSD that was the only one available at my local Apple Store? Did I screw myself? I bought an 8TB LaCie with the same purchase, thniking that file and resource transfers back and forth between the two would be 5X faster that they've been, but the 4 TB LaCie that has all my raw video footage (I teach at UCLA and my 3-hr online classes are typically about 12-15GB files) may be causing me problems. It seems impossible, but my imports and transcoding now seem to take longer than they seemed to take back when I was just throwing up funky 10-minute long videos for YT. Is it that it just takes a shit-ton of time to transcode a 12GB file shot on Zoom, no matter how fast the CPU, or is the 4TB LaCie not a thunderbolt-compatible drive? I'm lost! I have an iPad for Architects channel with 34K subs so I know there's a chance you won't see this, but if you do...any idea what I could try? Should I blow off the 4TB LaCie and run an experiment just using the 512GB internal drive on the Mac Studio as the *storage* for my original files, doing one video at a time, then delete all generated files after each project? I kneel at the temple of your wisdom, good sir )
Yeah, the 512GB SSD is definitely slower than the 2TB+ SSD. It's hard to find that info without really diving into the tech specs and researching online. What clinched it for me was an article on FCP.co that showed how exporting to an external drive was significantly slower than exporting to the internal.
@@matthewTobrien Thanks! Btw, I found out my main problem was that the LaCie 4TB drive had been accidentally reformatted as ExFat (my bad) which tied the whole thing up. but now i want to try what you did re: RAM
One trick with SD cards that’s worked for me with my 14” Macbook Pro and older macs is to insert the card quickly. For whatever reason it reads the card without fail every time.
4K is really nice and you as a content creator will appreciate the better quality of 4K on your desktop. But, to be honest, on youtube? Dont get me wrong, for a hobby I make short videos of our Beagle play park, and do that in 4K, But I do that mainly because I can. Would people notice if we all just did FullHD and not 4K? I doubt it.
@@matthewTobrien In my analytics, almost 90% use mobile devices. I havent found out which resolution people use, but my gut feeling is that even on desktop less than 10% have 4K monitor of better.
I think that's probably fair for most people's computer monitors. Mine are all 1440 and above except for one that's 1080p. But for sure most are watching on their phones.
Thank you, for this "real world" review of the "Mac Studio" for your home based business. Historically, I started using Apple desktop computers in 1997, my All-in-One systems were just like a member of my family. During the 2000's what, I call the "golden age" of Apple computers ... it was all about "fun" and more "fun" with Apple Works, iLife, iWorks, Via Voice, etc. However, by the 2010's the "fun" started to go away from Apple systems ... and they became more, just boring work stations and this has continued into the 2020's. An example in my collection is my 2010, "mac mini" (the last model with a built-in DVD super-drive): with a copy of OS X.10.6 Snow Leopard using Apple's white remote control, I can enjoy Front Row, with Rosetta 1 run OS X Power PC software, watch and record over the air TV using the Elgato EyeTV 500 system, this model has four (4) USB "A" ports , a SD card reader, audio -in port and an audio-out port (smile...smile).
@@matthewTobrien Thank you, for your reply to my post. My next desktop will be Apple's new M-2 "mac mini" pro model. While, in performance it will be "state of the art" and light years ahead of my 2010, mac mini but, I will still miss being able to use Apple's white remote control, its internal DVD super-drive, audio-in port, and SD card reader (smile...smile).
@@matthewTobrien You’re welcome Matthew😀 by the way, I have a moral dilemma on my hands… I’ve been using my 2008, 30 inch Cinema display with my new iMac studio, and the new Studio Display showed up yesterday. What to do? I’m thinking of maybe using the Studio Display with my iPad Pro?🤔
Quite the dilemma! That 30" is a beautiful display. If it's working for you in your current setup, leave it! Studio Display + iPad Pro could be awesome, especially if you really use your iPad Pro a lot. That setup wouldn't work for me personally, but I could see it being awesome for heavy iPad users!
@@matthewTobrien Thanks Matthew for your wise input. And just to be clear, you now have two workstations? Your editing bay and now your live streaming bay? Is that correct? Have a great weekend!👍
That is correct. The 2013 Mac Pro and 3 monitors for my live streaming and then the Mac Studio in my main edit bay for all of my TH-cam and client editing.
Yes! 14” MacBook is fantastic! I have the opposite problem… My 14” is docked all the time and I don’t want to disconnect it to take it anywhere… Lol. That’s why I would ❤️ to have a Mac Studio to give me back my portableness. I can’t imagine having all the stupid plug-in issues you have. It’s better for me to not have plug-ins and use work arounds so I can have a smooth editing experience. Great video Matt!! 🥳 You always do a really good job! Only one complaint this time, stop saying chop broccoli 🥦 I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it! 🤬🤬🤬 oh and I’m not happy about the hat either, but I can live with that. 😂Also, the ports? Did you say you were plugging in your iPhone to charge? 🫣OMG get another plug for that. You don’t need to plug it into your Mac Studio, do you? 📲
Haha - you leave the best comments, Rick. 🤣 Chop that broccoli! Hat stays while I grow my hair out. It's in that weird middle phase where it's unruly and awkward. The wireless charger gets powered via USB so it's easiest to plug it in to the USB hub under my desk to keep the cables organized and deliver power. I actually have my old iPhone dock still connected and on my desk so I can plug my iPhone in there and use Image Capture to snag video clips that are on my phone. Works great!
I love my Mac Studio but I'm not pushing it like you are with 4 displays. I've not run into the SD card issue even on my old ass MBP. So far every card I've inserted worked fine. Sorry to hear about your issue.
I shoot ProRes Raw on the Fx3 and Atmos ninja V. My Mac Studio destroys it and I don't allow background rendering when I edit. I have basically your setup but I have the 32 core GPU.
Beautiful! And Mac + ProRes is a dream. It plays back beautifully. And if you have large capacity storage, shooting ProRes is no problem. Great seeing you in chat over on Josh's livestream!
how did you hook up all those monitors? i have a mbp m1 max and barely 2 external monitors (3 if I include the building monitor) I have a dock station but it wont work right if I hookup everything
The top display that I use as a reference monitor while editing (using the A/V Output feature in Final Cut Pro) is connected via HDMI. The Studio Display is connected via Thunderbolt 4. The two Thunderbolt Displays (which are Thunderbolt 1) are connected using Apple's Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter to the Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Mac Studio. All four monitors work no problem. If you're trying to connect older monitors using adapters, you may run into some issues with 3rd party display adapters or docks.
Enjoyed the macbook love attachment - the human side of tech!! That being said, I have the opposite view about my macbook and mac studio. When I want to get out in the world, I want to experience it completely - not to see everyone buried with their heads down in the coffee shop...
Absolutely - same here. When I want to both work AND get out in the world, the 14" is perfect. When I really want to escape, I leave the Macs behind. Thanks for watching!
Great video really found it useful and interesting, I’ve also experienced some frame drop in FCP and had to restart or occasionally restart my m1 Mac mini.Do you wish you chose the studio ultra chip?
Just got the studio. Im just a novice. Have the Canopus ADVC 100 and want to use it withe the Mac and 2023 Premere to archive VHS tapes. Not getting any response from Premere. All options show grey and not able to open the options. Someone please help me. I also want to get a new video import unit and don't know what to get. I have canon dv GL 1 And Gl 2 cams.
I wish I could help with Premiere - I don't use that app. I have used an Elgato hardware product and their software to digitize VHS at a fairly low quality, and I've also used Final Cut Pro 7 years and years ago to digitize VHS. Haven't tried digitizing VHS recently, though.
Well done, bro! I've been "on the fence" but I'm thinking of upgrading my 2020 Mac Mini Intel workstation (w/ eGPU) to a Mac Studio M1 Max. I've got (4) 4K monitors and 1 SSD RAID, so I think I'll be good on ports. But... wondering if you think the newly announced Mac Mini M2 Pro might give the Mac Studio M1 Max a run for its money?
Peter! So great to see you in the comments, friend! Definitely gotta upgrade that 2020 Intel Mac mini - these M-chips are just insane by comparison. Glad to hear someone else has 4 monitors like me! Haha. The big thing right now is "when are the M2 Mac Studios gonna come out?" Personally, I think we'll be seeing them in March but you know there are no guarantees with Apple. They were going to update the M1 MacBook Pros after just a year, but it got pushed to last week (I assume because of supply chain issues). If you can hold out until March, I'd wait to get an M2 Max Mac Studio. An M2 Pro Mac mini with just a few tempting upgrades ends up - right now - being the same price as the base M1 Max Mac Studio, and if I had to choose between the two I'd take the M1 Max Mac Studio over the M2 Pro Mac mini. Another options would be to snag the M2 Pro Mac mini for now and then sell it when the M2 Max Mac Studios come out. You'd probably get most of what you paid back out of it - probably just pay a few hundred bucks to "rent" it for a few months. Plus if you ordered an M2 Pro Mac mini with _any_ customization, you wouldn't get it until late February anyway. I ordered my M2 Pro Mac mini (for livestreaming) the minute they were available and it won't be getting here until February 22nd. ☹️ Thanks for checking out my review, Peter!
Mostly in a "Wouldn't it be awesome if...?" kinda way. It's just not financially possible to acquire one currently, and I don't think making content around what a 2019 Mac Pro is capable of has the return on investment that would allow me to both recoup the cost AND earn profit long term. Perhaps that would change when the ne M-powered Mac Pros are released and the 2019 Mac Pros drop in value even more on the used market.
I just got my M-1 Ultra a few weeks ago, coming from a 2019 iMac it is simply amazing! I haven't had many issues, drop frames are a thing of the past for me. I edit fairly complex timelines stacked very high, and try to keep the number of no-native plugins to a minimum, I went from sharing a 7 minute video in about 25 minutes to 3 1/2 minutes. My only regret now is that I am unable to max this thing out, I might have to break down and start shooting 8k RAW :). Thanks for sharing
That is a great question, Davie. I'm not 100% sure. I've used Legato's USB capture device in the past, and it's been fine. Not the best quality but a great way to digitize VHS. Back in the day I used a Matrox in/out box with Final Cut Pro 7, and I was able to digitize to ProRes 422 and the quality was AMAZING. Even though the amount of data it took was ridiculous. Of course from there you could transcode to H.265 and maintain the quality but greatly reduce the data.
wonderrrrr......if one can say use their old iMac pro in target display mode with a mac studio? Im kinda tinkering with updating soon BUT i know the tower will hit soon with M chips but price point could be massive. Considering going mac studio if I can utilize my iMac pro monitor. I can say that my MacBook pro m2 smokes my iMac pro and I'm looking forward to updating on desktop soon.
Target Display Mode, unfortunately, has pretty much been abandoned by Apple. Here's a support article on how you can use it: support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592 From the article: iMac models introduced in 2011, 2012, 2013, and mid 2014: The iMac used as a display must have macOS High Sierra or earlier installed. The other Mac that you're connecting it to must have been introduced in 2019 or earlier and have macOS Catalina or earlier installed. The cable connecting the two Mac computers must be a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 cable. So if your new computer is Apple Silicon you can't use Target Display Mode with an older iMac.
Yeah, you might have to buy something. So frustrating when you have a beautiful monitor just sitting there with the iMac. I now Luke Miani figured out how to bypass those restrictions, but it was quite a bit of work and required buying some hardware that had to be installed inside the iMac I think.
I just took my 3 month old Mac Studio in for service. The ethernet input wasn't working, and the computer kept crashing while it was at rest (better than crashing while at work, but still.) Looking at 1-2 weeks out of service while it's being repaired.
Oh no! That's frustrating. I'm fortunate that I have had zero issues with my Mac Studio and 14" MacBook Pro. The only hardware issue I'm dealing with now is my old Thunderbolt Displays will, on occasion, just blink out to a black screen and I have to either disconnect/reconnect the power or disconnect/reconnect the TB cable from the back of my computer. This is happening on two of my three TB displays, and it has me tempted to just call it good with those - they're getting pretty dang old unfortunately.
Hi, does anyone use Mac Studio M1 Max to edit video 4k footage? I'm filming a documentary for my student project. My budget is tight. I'm thinking to buy a certificated refurbished Mac Studio M1 Max 64 gb ram, 1 tb SSD; is it good enough to create a 45-minute film? Also, is Dell S2721QS 27 Inch 4K UHD the most budget monitor pairing well with Mac Studio M1 Max? Any advice will be much appreciated!
The Mac Studio will CRUSH your student film. No problem. Any Dell monitor is probably good enough for just getting through your edits. It's the color grading you want to be careful with.
Is the latest version faster than the previous version? If that's what you're asking, Dylan Bates did a video showcasing his results on his channel: th-cam.com/video/ksCPd-JcL_k/w-d-xo.html But I believe it's with a 16" MacBook Pro and not a Mac Studio. I don't know that I'll be able to get out a speed comparison any time soon. :(
@@matthewTobrien i went from a 2013 mac pro like yours and upgraded my other iMac now to the other mac studio, I’m in love with them…. I do have the ultra models one is fully loaded with 8tb I’m editing internally and it’s best thing I’ve done
8TB internal is 🤘🏻Wish I could have gotten that. Editing off of internals is soooooo much better. Next MacBook Pro is going to have *at least* 4TB for sure.
@@matthewTobrien I have the 16inch and went with the 8tb also, if you can go for the 8tb, some of these projects get huge even with all the fcpx tricks to keep file sizes down….
I also purchased Mac Studio, but I am having huge problems with quality of H264 exports. Almost every video gets out horribly pixelated, even if using Compressor. Did you have anything like this? Similar to what I see on this video at 5:51 and 7:09
Those issue were a result of a combination of film grain from FilmConvert Nitrate and a title effect and transition from MotionVFX. It looks pretty much okay in my export but when TH-cam got their hands on the video and compressed it again, it went crazy. I’ve since stopped using that combo of effects on my YT vids. If you have any grain or noise in your footage uploading to YT will make it go crazy.
@@matthewTobrien Ok, thanks for the info. I've seen this effect happening horribly already using multiple internal FX, eg Aged film and exporting to H264. It will seem fine when exporting to Prores. So maybe there is something similar in H264 processing too. I even uploaded a video here of what is happening th-cam.com/video/c3-dmFRji4Y/w-d-xo.html strange is that this didn't ever happen with my intel Mac. Not sure if this is related more to FCP / Compressor or M1 Mac though...
Hard to say without a lot more testing. All I know is that noise and grain in the image - especially from effects that introduce noise and/or grain to the image - are not handled well when exported to H.264 and they're made even worse when TH-cam does its thing to your video files. Of course it would be great if it didn't, but I just avoid using those effects now.
For me the 24 core has had no issues with my 4K XF-AVC (10-bit 4-2-2) footage. If you're going to be grading 4K to 8K RAW you might want the 32 core GPU. I'm sure the extra power would help with that.
Well I ordered mine during the Apple Event as soon as they were up on the website so I got mine the day they came out. Very lucky. Same for the 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I knew if I didn't get them the same day as the event I'd be waiting a long time to get one.
great clip, also just sub'd to your channel - thank you! question: do you get the red "T" ("missing content") screen from plug ins much less on the Mac studio? you talked about crashes from unoptimized 3rd party plugs but the motionmvx plugs are def optimized right? cheers!!
I do get it on occasion. It hasn't happened too recently, but admittedly I haven't been editing a ton in the last month. Most of motionVFX's new and newer plug-ins are M1 compatible, but I think some of their older ones still need updating. I think I have a couple that I bought a long time ago that I'm waiting for updates.
Young people always talking about the high price of Apple products. Thing is my original $ 2,500.00 128K 1984 Macintosh when adjusted for inflation in todays (August 2022) dollars would cost now cost me $ 7,129.72. So please quit complaining about the cost of Apple products, and purchase the best tools for the job you are doing.
Acknowledging that they're expensive isn't tantamount to complaining. Although, absolutely, I hear a lot of folks grumble about "the Apple Tax", and it's important to think of a Mac as investment not an expensive. A tool that's going to ultimately earn you (especially if you're a freelancer or own your own business) significant ROI. Mine have always been well worth it.
Center monitor is the Apple Studio Display. On either side of that are Apple Thunderbolt Displays. Above the Studio Display is a 27” Dell 1080p monitor for A/V Output in FCP.
Matthew, have you noticed issues with plugins that claim to be M1 ready? I have a problem where I get the red screen with a yellow exclamation mark. If I leave Final Cut Pro open overnight and come to edit the following day, all of the titles and effects in the project will give the red screen when playing back or in an exported. Restarting Final Cut Pro resolves the issues. Any thoughts?
Yes, I have had that happen a few times with some of my plug-ins, and I usually restart FCP when it happens and then am good to go. It has happed a few times with FilmConvert Nitrate mainly, but not recently. A few apps still crash, but I'm so focused on restarting that I never bother to check the dialogue box that says whatever plug-in is not responding. I need to pay better attention to that!
I just had FCP crash today, but didn't look at the report to see what exactly caused it. And it's easy to miss the plug-in crash dialogue box FCP puts up when a plug-in legit crashes. It often gets lost behind my FCP window, and I only find it if I hit Mission Control.
I’m a bit out of my depth but I’ll say this anyway, does scaling affect editing performance with non Mac monitors? Those reviews with mac monitors seem to have no issues at editing stage skipped frames lags etc. for anyone know about this? Has anyone tested Mac display vs non Mac display with the Mac studio scaling the resolution?
This is an excellent question, and I'd love to know the answer as well. I haven't tested this, but I'd love to see some content about it. Great question!
@@matthewTobrien I’m looking to buy a Mac studio (base) or a mini so I feel like I’ve watched most of the videos reviewing performance. I’ve seen only one video where a guy buys a 1440 monitor and replaces his 4k monitor to get it closer to native Mac ppi as he noticed issues. I might be wrong but if you look at the reviews where they gush over performance when editing, vs those who might have some disappointment ( not taking about exporting that seems to be good for both ) their displays are all ( from I can tell ) apple. I’d do the test but I don’t have the Mac yet or the display lol. All it would take is to find a friend with the Mac monitor , and edit the same file to test for lag etc during playback, scrubbing etc . it’s almost as if the value of the Mac display might not be in its lack of other specs but it’s resolution Like I said I don’t really know what I’m talking about but if I’m dropping the money on apple silicon and I need a Mac display to get the most out of it , it changes the value proposition a bit for me. Cheers.
I’m hoping to partner up with a brand like CalDigit to get one to use and make content about 😋 Already did a spot for Anker but the docking station was for displays not drives/docks, etc.
@@matthewTobrien hopefully you get it! I think the element hub 4 is a perfect partner for the studio. Have one myself for my mini and everything is connected to that except an external drive
Main Monitor | 27" Apple Studio Display with VESA mount Right Monitor | 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display with VESA mount Left Monitor | 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display with VESA mount Top/Preview Monitor | Dell Ultrasharp P2719H 27" IPS 1080p Monitor | geni.us/hAyI
Hi Matthew, have you come across what appears to be a major issue with a 4K screen and the new Mac M1? I saw a video on here (th-cam.com/video/kpX561_XM20/w-d-xo.html) that made me cancel my 4K monitor order. As i understand it, If you scale it other then native 4K Apple (or 1920), which makes text appear super tiny at 4k or super biog on the screen at 1080 (neither is good for 'real life use' ), Apple UI will upscale your 3840x2160 screen to 6016x3384 and then cut that down so ur UI 3360x1890.it will tax your GPU like crazy and take up huge amounts of processing power as it has scale up and down 60hz every second. Basically apple UI doesn't fit with UHD screens, only with 5K and 6K and or 1/2 those resolutions with out upscaling and downscaling and chewing up your macs peformance...
I have heard about this but didn’t dive in. I assume I don’t experience this with my Studio Display and Thunderbolt Displays. I’m gonna check out that video to learn more…
Are you on the fence about the new Mac Studio? What's keeping you from pulling the trigger (aside from the price!)? Anything I didn't cover in this vid that would help you decide? Let me know!
I am hesitating between a 16" MacBookPro Max and the Mac Studio Max .... getting a portable computer as the main computer can be useful to keep everything in the same computer.
the problem with the MacBook is that you need dongles, hubs or docking stations .... and those seem to be always problematic, creating a lot of heat, not connecting devices immediately ....
@@blaspayri I second that! I have a 14" Pro and notice all my hubs and drives are super hot. The graphics processor crashes often as well.
@@ChrisFloyd actually, I have the MacBook 16" and it works quite well ... but I am hesitating now on what docking hub to buy
Its probably not the MAC I can capture in iMovie so its Premere that is the problem. About to go to Final Cut
I’m actually excited to sit down and work now with the Ultra. It’s ridiculous fast and smooth. Nothing to slow down my A7SIII/FX3 workflow and I have videos due every week. After a month, I’ve definitely noticed a significant difference in how quickly I can get things done now. (From a late 2019 iMac)
It's pretty remarkable, isn't it? And you were on a great machine with the 2019 iMac! Apple silicon is a BEAST, though.
I kinda have the same workflow, would the m1max be fine with that kinda flow too? Obviously the ultra would be better, but is it needed to upgrade?
@@FishVisions I can’t speak from personal experience since I don’t have a Max, but my assumption is that the Ultra is overkill and the Max is pretty awesome on its own. I would just always recommend as much RAM as you can afford.
Lucky us indeed! I second the sentiment of getting a larger SSD. You've really personified the MacBook Pro - your little baby! Great 4 month round up!
Thanks, friend! 4TB or more on the next one!
Amazing breakdown Matthew. And your B-roll is always so on point!
Thanks, Dylan. Appreciate you coming by to check it out!
I consistently find the answers I need for my Apple/FCPX questions here on your channel. My employer just bought me a maxed out M1 Max. I was deflated when it started to lag my A7siii footage but here on your channel I found out and I suspected it was the 3rd party plug-ins. now I'm at the mercy 3rd party plug-ins. Thanks to your channel and all your help!
Which 3rd party plug-ins are you using most? Curious which ones might be causing some lag/choppiness for you...
@@matthewTobrien everything ran fine until I laid down Color Finale. Adding Neat Video to it made it worse.
@@shaneyellowthunder Hmmm. Try Neat Video by itself without Color Finale. Curious how much Neat Video slows it down. I haven’t had to use Neat in a hot minute so I’m not sure if it’ll slow my Macs down considerably.
I've never had an issue with my SD card slot on my mid-2011 imac, which is still going strong. Interesting. I now need an upgrade to edit 4k footage, so looking at the base model mac studio. Great vid!
You'd love the Mac Studio! Mine has allowed me to be so much more productive and efficient compared to my 2013 Mac Pro. Love it!
Well since Apples Cook is holding back on a new Mac (smaller) affordable Pro, the Studio looks promising. We want SPEED in exporting, edited video. We will keep watching and waiting. Good job JosephObe
Watching and waiting seems to be the default state for most Apple fans. Haha
I recently bought a mac Ultra Studio with the same setup as yours. I also shifted from a 2013 MacPro. So, my intention was to wait for the M2MacPro that I know is coming out in the next year... although like you, the rendering times on my 2013 MacPro was driving my crazy. It seemed like it was getting slower every year. I use with the Adobe Suite so I spend alot of time with Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition. The main thing I noticed right off the bat was my Program Monitor was able to playback in full resolution with no hiccups. So, that was actually pretty fantastic. I also spend about 20% of my job switching 3 camera livestreams via Wirecast. So it's actually very nice, taking MacUltra Studio into the field and being able to plug all of my equipment into this little powerhouse. Like you... I really really want my 3rd party pluggins to get on the M1 Bandwagon. I'm looking at you Neat Video. Overall, great purchase although I know I'm going to kick myself when the new M2 MacPro comes out and runs circles around this system.
Haha - I'm probably going to kick myself as well. Hopefully my Mac Studio is paid off by the time the Mac Pro comes around. Although I probably won't need the new Mac Pro to get my work done, I'm tempted to buy one to make channel content...
The plug in compatability is exactly why I'm going to keep my 2019 MBP for a while yet. It'll be the M3 generation before it's all running well.
Yup, and if you have a 2019 MBP, you're gonna be just fine. I couldn't wait another minute with my 2013 Mac Pro and 2013 Retina MBP. It was time to finally upgrade!
I got mine 2 weeks ago and its been on all day literally and hasn't gotten hot at all. I edit shorts and have final cut, photoshop, and 2 othe 3rd party plugins from topaz and top all that i make beats when i take a break. Im just happy it can do everything. The only issues ive had were final cut crashing once or twice because of the 3rd plugins and in photoshop something don't work properly because its on rosetta. Its the only way to get some plugins to work. I love my studio.
Yup, that's really the only issue I've had - apps and 3rd party plug-in running on Rosetta. Forgot that Photoshop was still on Rosetta - I'm all in with Affinity Designer & Photo 🤘🏻
And yeah, I meant 10.6.2 and 10.6.3 😩 - always double-check that you have the correct version numbers!
you had me running to mac update screen.!
Haha - I was thinking of 10.5.4 - so many versions!
I really love your reviews because they are straightforward and very helpful. I have been having trouble with plugins suddenly disappearing on my M1 MacBook Pro and usually it happens at export. The export fails with no specific error code but I’ve learned to disable any plugins on my timeline and then it exports. Sometimes First Aid curiously fixes it, sometimes only reinstalling the plugin fixes it.
Appreciate the kind words!
Another excellent video! My Mac Studio is due to arrive in a few weeks so I’m especially appreciative of the well-timed reality check. I’d much rather have lowered stability expectations than disappointment and buyer’s remorse. I do get the feeling you intentionally avoided calling out specific problematic plugins, perhaps to prevent the video from becoming dated and inaccurate (after all, many plugins are still being updated). However, I’m sure many of your viewers, myself included, would deeply appreciate knowing which plugins are causing you grief today (with the full understanding that the situation could change with an update tomorrow, and also that another user's results may be different). Can you share your plugin failure experiences? I'd love to set my plugin expectations appropriately, and perhaps avoid a few problematic, less critical plug-ins along the way. Thanks again for a killer review!
So excited for you to get your hands on this amazing Mac!
Part of why I didn't share specific plug-ins is because I have so many it's hard to remember which ones specifically were having issues. Early on I was having some issues with AddMotion (which is offered through FXFactory), and I got some lag when applying my FilmConvert Nitrate plug-in to my footage to both angles of my multicam before I even started editing. I think FilmConvert is for sure still running off of Rosetta. I have one set of motionVFX plugins that are much older and still not updated for M1 (but those weren't causing any lag because I can't use them!).
But I regularly use a combo of plugins from FXFactory and motionVFX and then a few on occasion from Stupid Raisins. FilmConvert Nitrate is on every video now.
Appreciate your comment and thanks for watching!
@@matthewTobrien Thanks for the reply!
Ha! I too suffer from plugin-itis! Way too many to be healthy. My Effects, Transitions, Generators, and Titles tabs are overloaded with stuff from FXFactory, motionVFX, Pixel Film Studios (I feel shame), and several others. Perhaps switching to Apple silicon will provide the push I need to clean out those overstuffed folders.
Bummed to hear AddMotion caused you trouble. That's one of my favorites!
I also love Nitrate, but haven't used it for some time (I fell down the Color Finale and Cinema Grade rabbit holes). I took a look at the FilmConvert website and was only able to find a blog post (from a year ago) announcing that Nitrate was M1 ready for Premiere -- no mention of FCP. I just emailed them to get more info, and will share their reply here.
Thank again for all that you do for the FCP community!
My pleasure, Taz! AddMotion has been fine lately, though. Have had no issues on my last few videos. Let me know what FilmConvert says!
@@matthewTobrien @@matthewTobrienas expected @@matthewTobrien:)
I'm finally looking into getting the M1 Ultra Studio to replace my 2020 iMac. I'll miss Bootcamp for when I need Windows.
Yup, RIP Bootcamp... But you'll love the Mac Studio. These things rip, man.
I'm glad you're enjoying the Mac Studio! This is an excellent video and I loved hearing your perspective and story.
I've owned MacBook laptops in the past. In 2015, I decided to go desktop only and built a high-end gaming/editing PC. When the new M1 chips came out, I seriously contemplated switching over to Mac because of the video editing performance (I'm a freelance video editor). I thought about getting the Mac Studio, but I have 2 M.2 NVME drives, 1 SSD and 3 10tb HD's all internal in my PC, so I would have to get a NAS to house and access all those drives which would be an additional $1000 (for one I can edit on) or $500 but I'd have to change my entire workflow of editing on the internal mac drive, then archiving onto the NAS for every video project. Instead of doing all that, I decided to upgrade my editing/gaming PC to the latest i7-12700k, a new mobo and DDR5 ram for less than $800. The timeline performance is stellar because of intel quick sync on these new chips and my render times got cut down by about 40%. It's not M1 performance but it's fast enough for me. If I went with an M1 Max Mac Studio with 2tb and 64gb ram, it would've been $3000 + $1000 for the NAS. $4000 vs $800 is a big difference.
I may get a M2 MacBook Pro 14 inch when it comes out, though!
Thanks for watching, Ya! Sounds like you've got a pretty powerful setup with your custom PC and for a fraction of the cost of a similar Apple desktop. I love my 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro and hope to hang on to it for 3 or 4 years before upgrading. Probably 3 years. :)
@@matthewTobrien Awesome dude! Enjoy it. 😎
Can’t one just turn a PC into a NAS via software and save the money of having to buy a new NAS?
I've been trying to pull off the just connect the MBP to the displays (i.e. Thunderbolt doc). But it's just not the same experience as a dedicated desktop. Not to mention the oddness of it sometimes forgetting what monitor goes where. Also that "one-cable-life" falls apart quickly once you want to connect more than 2 displays it seems.
Don't get me wrong it's nice at times to be able to just pick it up and be able to continue working where you left off, but I constantly then feel I am hurting for screen real estate or a dedicated keyboard and mouse to feel efficient.
Yeah, I much prefer a desktop than trying to using my MacBook as a desktop.
Thanks Matthew, I also migrated from 2013 MacPro to the same Mac Studio as you have here, its a beast on speed and grunt, agreed connectivity was an issue but sorting that out.
So you kept the USB-A hub hey , good thinking. The MS could be better regarding connectivity. I've also noticed some lag or having to insert the card in the front a couple of times. Third party plugins can be an issues (especially some Pixel not optimised ).Overall I'm very happy, thanks for your great videos. Give more love to the MS, it will love you back ! haha
I'll continue to love it - hoping that it keeps on loving me right back!
For the record, I’m also getting excellent performance in FCPX editing and exporting 4K footage of about 10m length in less than 10m, with my MacBook Pro (which also has an M1 Max and 64GB and 2TB) - so the form factor is not the important bit.
Didn't mean to imply that the form factor on the Mac Studio aided overall performance. For me the form factor of the Mac Studio is important in making it easier to use in an editing bay - I'd rather have something that's a permanent fixture with more ports than a notebook so I can easily connect all of my monitors and peripherals. With a MacBook in its place, I'd have to have some kind of dock for it to expand connectivity and, for me, that's too much friction.
Very thoughtful part about your emotional connection to the MacBook Pro! Thanks, man. I found your video because I've been somewhat confused that my spanking new Mac Studio has not been as smoking hot as I thought it would be? Your 2 TB SSD mention has me wondering if I messed up by getting the 512GB SSD that was the only one available at my local Apple Store? Did I screw myself? I bought an 8TB LaCie with the same purchase, thniking that file and resource transfers back and forth between the two would be 5X faster that they've been, but the 4 TB LaCie that has all my raw video footage (I teach at UCLA and my 3-hr online classes are typically about 12-15GB files) may be causing me problems. It seems impossible, but my imports and transcoding now seem to take longer than they seemed to take back when I was just throwing up funky 10-minute long videos for YT. Is it that it just takes a shit-ton of time to transcode a 12GB file shot on Zoom, no matter how fast the CPU, or is the 4TB LaCie not a thunderbolt-compatible drive? I'm lost! I have an iPad for Architects channel with 34K subs so I know there's a chance you won't see this, but if you do...any idea what I could try? Should I blow off the 4TB LaCie and run an experiment just using the 512GB internal drive on the Mac Studio as the *storage* for my original files, doing one video at a time, then delete all generated files after each project? I kneel at the temple of your wisdom, good sir )
Yeah, the 512GB SSD is definitely slower than the 2TB+ SSD. It's hard to find that info without really diving into the tech specs and researching online. What clinched it for me was an article on FCP.co that showed how exporting to an external drive was significantly slower than exporting to the internal.
@@matthewTobrien Thanks! Btw, I found out my main problem was that the LaCie 4TB drive had been accidentally reformatted as ExFat (my bad) which tied the whole thing up. but now i want to try what you did re: RAM
@@iPadForArchitects That explains it!
Again, another great piece of content! Thanks m8 for keeping it objective & honest 🤙🤙
You're welcome, Ryan! Thanks for watching, dude!
One trick with SD cards that’s worked for me with my 14” Macbook Pro and older macs is to insert the card quickly. For whatever reason it reads the card without fail every time.
Good to know!
4K is really nice and you as a content creator will appreciate the better quality of 4K on your desktop.
But, to be honest, on youtube? Dont get me wrong, for a hobby I make short videos of our Beagle play park, and do that in 4K, But I do that mainly because I can.
Would people notice if we all just did FullHD and not 4K? I doubt it.
It's certainly possible. It makes me sleep better to think that it does matter 🤣😴
@@matthewTobrien In my analytics, almost 90% use mobile devices.
I havent found out which resolution people use, but my gut feeling is that even on desktop less than 10% have 4K monitor of better.
I think that's probably fair for most people's computer monitors. Mine are all 1440 and above except for one that's 1080p. But for sure most are watching on their phones.
Thank you, for this "real world" review of the "Mac Studio" for your home based business. Historically, I started using Apple desktop computers in 1997, my All-in-One systems were just like a member of my family. During the 2000's what, I call the "golden age" of Apple computers ... it was all about "fun" and more "fun" with Apple Works, iLife, iWorks, Via Voice, etc. However, by the 2010's the "fun" started to go away from Apple systems ... and they became more, just boring work stations and this has continued into the 2020's. An example in my collection is my 2010, "mac mini" (the last model with a built-in DVD super-drive): with a copy of OS X.10.6 Snow Leopard using Apple's white remote control, I can enjoy Front Row, with Rosetta 1 run OS X Power PC software, watch and record over the air TV using the Elgato EyeTV 500 system, this model has four (4) USB "A" ports , a SD card reader, audio -in port and an audio-out port (smile...smile).
You're welcome! Thanks for the kind comment. Good point about Front Row - that was a really cool feature in OS X.
@@matthewTobrien Thank you, for your reply to my post. My next desktop will be Apple's new M-2 "mac mini" pro model. While, in performance it will be "state of the art" and light years ahead of my 2010, mac mini but, I will still miss being able to use Apple's white remote control, its internal DVD super-drive, audio-in port, and SD card reader (smile...smile).
Another great video Matthew. Lots of good insights to think about🤔
Thanks Steven!
@@matthewTobrien You’re welcome Matthew😀 by the way, I have a moral dilemma on my hands… I’ve been using my 2008, 30 inch Cinema display with my new iMac studio, and the new Studio Display showed up yesterday. What to do? I’m thinking of maybe using the Studio Display with my iPad Pro?🤔
Quite the dilemma! That 30" is a beautiful display. If it's working for you in your current setup, leave it! Studio Display + iPad Pro could be awesome, especially if you really use your iPad Pro a lot. That setup wouldn't work for me personally, but I could see it being awesome for heavy iPad users!
@@matthewTobrien Thanks Matthew for your wise input. And just to be clear, you now have two workstations? Your editing bay and now your live streaming bay? Is that correct? Have a great weekend!👍
That is correct. The 2013 Mac Pro and 3 monitors for my live streaming and then the Mac Studio in my main edit bay for all of my TH-cam and client editing.
Let me know if you want some raw formats to test out. Loved the video sir!
Ooooooh. That’s not a bad idea… 🤔
@@matthewTobrien I’ll hit you up later
Yes! 14” MacBook is fantastic! I have the opposite problem… My 14” is docked all the time and I don’t want to disconnect it to take it anywhere… Lol. That’s why I would ❤️ to have a Mac Studio to give me back my portableness. I can’t imagine having all the stupid plug-in issues you have. It’s better for me to not have plug-ins and use work arounds so I can have a smooth editing experience. Great video Matt!! 🥳 You always do a really good job! Only one complaint this time, stop saying chop broccoli 🥦 I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it! 🤬🤬🤬 oh and I’m not happy about the hat either, but I can live with that. 😂Also, the ports? Did you say you were plugging in your iPhone to charge? 🫣OMG get another plug for that. You don’t need to plug it into your Mac Studio, do you? 📲
Haha - you leave the best comments, Rick. 🤣 Chop that broccoli! Hat stays while I grow my hair out. It's in that weird middle phase where it's unruly and awkward. The wireless charger gets powered via USB so it's easiest to plug it in to the USB hub under my desk to keep the cables organized and deliver power.
I actually have my old iPhone dock still connected and on my desk so I can plug my iPhone in there and use Image Capture to snag video clips that are on my phone. Works great!
@@matthewTobrien You win! "Chop Broccoli" is your catch phrase, I will allow it....please put it on some merch 🔪🥦🥦🥦😇
I love my Mac Studio but I'm not pushing it like you are with 4 displays. I've not run into the SD card issue even on my old ass MBP. So far every card I've inserted worked fine. Sorry to hear about your issue.
Good to know!
I shoot ProRes Raw on the Fx3 and Atmos ninja V. My Mac Studio destroys it and I don't allow background rendering when I edit. I have basically your setup but I have the 32 core GPU.
Beautiful! And Mac + ProRes is a dream. It plays back beautifully. And if you have large capacity storage, shooting ProRes is no problem. Great seeing you in chat over on Josh's livestream!
how did you hook up all those monitors? i have a mbp m1 max and barely 2 external monitors (3 if I include the building monitor)
I have a dock station but it wont work right if I hookup everything
The top display that I use as a reference monitor while editing (using the A/V Output feature in Final Cut Pro) is connected via HDMI. The Studio Display is connected via Thunderbolt 4. The two Thunderbolt Displays (which are Thunderbolt 1) are connected using Apple's Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter to the Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Mac Studio. All four monitors work no problem.
If you're trying to connect older monitors using adapters, you may run into some issues with 3rd party display adapters or docks.
Enjoyed the macbook love attachment - the human side of tech!! That being said, I have the opposite view about my macbook and mac studio. When I want to get out in the world, I want to experience it completely - not to see everyone buried with their heads down in the coffee shop...
Absolutely - same here. When I want to both work AND get out in the world, the 14" is perfect. When I really want to escape, I leave the Macs behind. Thanks for watching!
Great video really found it useful and interesting, I’ve also experienced some frame drop in FCP and had to restart or occasionally restart my m1 Mac mini.Do you wish you chose the studio ultra chip?
Nope! Happy with the M1 Max. Just need those plug-in makers to get optimized for M1!
Just got the studio. Im just a novice. Have the Canopus ADVC 100 and want to use it withe the Mac and 2023 Premere to archive VHS tapes. Not getting any response from Premere. All options show grey and not able to open the options. Someone please help me. I also want to get a new video import unit and don't know what to get. I have canon dv GL 1 And Gl 2 cams.
I wish I could help with Premiere - I don't use that app. I have used an Elgato hardware product and their software to digitize VHS at a fairly low quality, and I've also used Final Cut Pro 7 years and years ago to digitize VHS. Haven't tried digitizing VHS recently, though.
"Chopping that broccoli." Best line. BTW, I love my Mac Studio.
Haha - glad you like it! 🔪🥦
Well done, bro! I've been "on the fence" but I'm thinking of upgrading my 2020 Mac Mini Intel workstation (w/ eGPU) to a Mac Studio M1 Max. I've got (4) 4K monitors and 1 SSD RAID, so I think I'll be good on ports. But... wondering if you think the newly announced Mac Mini M2 Pro might give the Mac Studio M1 Max a run for its money?
Peter! So great to see you in the comments, friend! Definitely gotta upgrade that 2020 Intel Mac mini - these M-chips are just insane by comparison. Glad to hear someone else has 4 monitors like me! Haha. The big thing right now is "when are the M2 Mac Studios gonna come out?" Personally, I think we'll be seeing them in March but you know there are no guarantees with Apple. They were going to update the M1 MacBook Pros after just a year, but it got pushed to last week (I assume because of supply chain issues). If you can hold out until March, I'd wait to get an M2 Max Mac Studio. An M2 Pro Mac mini with just a few tempting upgrades ends up - right now - being the same price as the base M1 Max Mac Studio, and if I had to choose between the two I'd take the M1 Max Mac Studio over the M2 Pro Mac mini.
Another options would be to snag the M2 Pro Mac mini for now and then sell it when the M2 Max Mac Studios come out. You'd probably get most of what you paid back out of it - probably just pay a few hundred bucks to "rent" it for a few months.
Plus if you ordered an M2 Pro Mac mini with _any_ customization, you wouldn't get it until late February anyway. I ordered my M2 Pro Mac mini (for livestreaming) the minute they were available and it won't be getting here until February 22nd. ☹️
Thanks for checking out my review, Peter!
Have you considered getting the Intel Mac Pro 2019 and maybe comparing that experience?
Mostly in a "Wouldn't it be awesome if...?" kinda way. It's just not financially possible to acquire one currently, and I don't think making content around what a 2019 Mac Pro is capable of has the return on investment that would allow me to both recoup the cost AND earn profit long term. Perhaps that would change when the ne M-powered Mac Pros are released and the 2019 Mac Pros drop in value even more on the used market.
I just got my M-1 Ultra a few weeks ago, coming from a 2019 iMac it is simply amazing! I haven't had many issues, drop frames are a thing of the past for me. I edit fairly complex timelines stacked very high, and try to keep the number of no-native plugins to a minimum, I went from sharing a 7 minute video in about 25 minutes to 3 1/2 minutes. My only regret now is that I am unable to max this thing out, I might have to break down and start shooting 8k RAW :). Thanks for sharing
Your welcome, Michael! Quite the improvement on your export times!
I love the Mac Studio
It's pretty great, right?
@@matthewTobrien Yes, I edited some clips of BM 12k and the workflow it's great
@@alainescorp Love it. 12K! 🤯
What is the best unit for importing VHS videos into 2023 Premere with Mac Studio
That is a great question, Davie. I'm not 100% sure. I've used Legato's USB capture device in the past, and it's been fine. Not the best quality but a great way to digitize VHS. Back in the day I used a Matrox in/out box with Final Cut Pro 7, and I was able to digitize to ProRes 422 and the quality was AMAZING. Even though the amount of data it took was ridiculous. Of course from there you could transcode to H.265 and maintain the quality but greatly reduce the data.
wonderrrrr......if one can say use their old iMac pro in target display mode with a mac studio? Im kinda tinkering with updating soon BUT i know the tower will hit soon with M chips but price point could be massive. Considering going mac studio if I can utilize my iMac pro monitor. I can say that my MacBook pro m2 smokes my iMac pro and I'm looking forward to updating on desktop soon.
Target Display Mode, unfortunately, has pretty much been abandoned by Apple. Here's a support article on how you can use it: support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592
From the article:
iMac models introduced in 2011, 2012, 2013, and mid 2014:
The iMac used as a display must have macOS High Sierra or earlier installed.
The other Mac that you're connecting it to must have been introduced in 2019 or earlier and have macOS Catalina or earlier installed.
The cable connecting the two Mac computers must be a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 cable.
So if your new computer is Apple Silicon you can't use Target Display Mode with an older iMac.
@@matthewTobrien niiice. Welp. Guess I’ll just get a new monitor. I’ll read this link and see what the heyyy is going on. Thank ya sir!
Yeah, you might have to buy something. So frustrating when you have a beautiful monitor just sitting there with the iMac. I now Luke Miani figured out how to bypass those restrictions, but it was quite a bit of work and required buying some hardware that had to be installed inside the iMac I think.
I just took my 3 month old Mac Studio in for service. The ethernet input wasn't working, and the computer kept crashing while it was at rest (better than crashing while at work, but still.) Looking at 1-2 weeks out of service while it's being repaired.
Oh no! That's frustrating. I'm fortunate that I have had zero issues with my Mac Studio and 14" MacBook Pro. The only hardware issue I'm dealing with now is my old Thunderbolt Displays will, on occasion, just blink out to a black screen and I have to either disconnect/reconnect the power or disconnect/reconnect the TB cable from the back of my computer. This is happening on two of my three TB displays, and it has me tempted to just call it good with those - they're getting pretty dang old unfortunately.
@@matthewTobrien Landfill, sadly.
Say it ain’t so! 🥺
Great content! Thanks
Thanks, Daniel!
Hi, does anyone use Mac Studio M1 Max to edit video 4k footage? I'm filming a documentary for my student project. My budget is tight. I'm thinking to buy a certificated refurbished Mac Studio M1 Max 64 gb ram, 1 tb SSD; is it good enough to create a 45-minute film? Also, is Dell S2721QS 27 Inch 4K UHD the most budget monitor pairing well with Mac Studio M1 Max? Any advice will be much appreciated!
The Mac Studio will CRUSH your student film. No problem. Any Dell monitor is probably good enough for just getting through your edits. It's the color grading you want to be careful with.
Question:
Is the latest releases of Final Cut, Motion and Compressor faster on the Mac Studio now? If so, how much? Can you make a video maybe ;) ?
Is the latest version faster than the previous version? If that's what you're asking, Dylan Bates did a video showcasing his results on his channel: th-cam.com/video/ksCPd-JcL_k/w-d-xo.html
But I believe it's with a 16" MacBook Pro and not a Mac Studio. I don't know that I'll be able to get out a speed comparison any time soon. :(
Only price
Yhanks for the video! You got some great content using fcpx! Have you tried ProRes RAW HQ from a ninja v on your setup with the mac studio? Cheers
I haven't! I can record ProRes RAW with either of my cameras + the NinjaV so I haven't bothered. Would love to try it out though!
May I ask what you have in the iPad that looks like a sound mixer?
Absolutely! It's the Behringer app for iPad, and it controls my Behringer XAir XR18 sound mixer.
I am in love with mine…. Just got a second one….
Daaaang! They're multiplying! So glad you're happy with yours - what did you upgrade from?
@@matthewTobrien i went from a 2013 mac pro like yours and upgraded my other iMac now to the other mac studio, I’m in love with them…. I do have the ultra models one is fully loaded with 8tb I’m editing internally and it’s best thing I’ve done
8TB internal is 🤘🏻Wish I could have gotten that. Editing off of internals is soooooo much better. Next MacBook Pro is going to have *at least* 4TB for sure.
@@matthewTobrien I have the 16inch and went with the 8tb also, if you can go for the 8tb, some of these projects get huge even with all the fcpx tricks to keep file sizes down….
Very, very true. The 8TB was waaaaay beyond what I could spend and by spend I mean "put it on a credit card."
I also purchased Mac Studio, but I am having huge problems with quality of H264 exports. Almost every video gets out horribly pixelated, even if using Compressor. Did you have anything like this? Similar to what I see on this video at 5:51 and 7:09
Those issue were a result of a combination of film grain from FilmConvert Nitrate and a title effect and transition from MotionVFX. It looks pretty much okay in my export but when TH-cam got their hands on the video and compressed it again, it went crazy. I’ve since stopped using that combo of effects on my YT vids. If you have any grain or noise in your footage uploading to YT will make it go crazy.
@@matthewTobrien Ok, thanks for the info. I've seen this effect happening horribly already using multiple internal FX, eg Aged film and exporting to H264. It will seem fine when exporting to Prores. So maybe there is something similar in H264 processing too. I even uploaded a video here of what is happening th-cam.com/video/c3-dmFRji4Y/w-d-xo.html strange is that this didn't ever happen with my intel Mac. Not sure if this is related more to FCP / Compressor or M1 Mac though...
Hard to say without a lot more testing. All I know is that noise and grain in the image - especially from effects that introduce noise and/or grain to the image - are not handled well when exported to H.264 and they're made even worse when TH-cam does its thing to your video files. Of course it would be great if it didn't, but I just avoid using those effects now.
Would you suggest going for the 32 core GPU version or is the 24 Core version smooth enough in playback and handling color grading? Thanks so much!
For me the 24 core has had no issues with my 4K XF-AVC (10-bit 4-2-2) footage. If you're going to be grading 4K to 8K RAW you might want the 32 core GPU. I'm sure the extra power would help with that.
@@matthewTobrien I usually shoot 10bit Log and grade a bit.
@@matthewTobrien Thank you!
Great timing! About to get one for work!
How long did it take to get delivered? Asking cause I had to wait 2 months for the MBP 14’
Thanks!
Well I ordered mine during the Apple Event as soon as they were up on the website so I got mine the day they came out. Very lucky. Same for the 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I knew if I didn't get them the same day as the event I'd be waiting a long time to get one.
@@matthewTobrien mmm good stuff, well done. thanks!
great video. may I ask which title pack your are using?
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how is a 64gb of RAM and 2TB SSD a base model?
I started with the base model CPU/GPU config but upgraded the unified memory and SSD. But I didn’t upgrade the CPU/GPU. Sorry for any confusion.
great clip, also just sub'd to your channel - thank you! question: do you get the red "T" ("missing content") screen from plug ins much less on the Mac studio? you talked about crashes from unoptimized 3rd party plugs but the motionmvx plugs are def optimized right? cheers!!
I do get it on occasion. It hasn't happened too recently, but admittedly I haven't been editing a ton in the last month. Most of motionVFX's new and newer plug-ins are M1 compatible, but I think some of their older ones still need updating. I think I have a couple that I bought a long time ago that I'm waiting for updates.
@@matthewTobrien Thank so much!!
Delicious!
You know it!
Young people always talking about the high price of Apple products. Thing is my original $ 2,500.00 128K 1984 Macintosh when adjusted for inflation in todays (August 2022) dollars would cost now cost me $ 7,129.72. So please quit complaining about the cost of Apple products, and purchase the best tools for the job you are doing.
Acknowledging that they're expensive isn't tantamount to complaining. Although, absolutely, I hear a lot of folks grumble about "the Apple Tax", and it's important to think of a Mac as investment not an expensive. A tool that's going to ultimately earn you (especially if you're a freelancer or own your own business) significant ROI. Mine have always been well worth it.
The second child always knows that they are the second child. They can work harder, smarter, but it won't matter. They are second.
What monitors You connect to MS?
Center monitor is the Apple Studio Display. On either side of that are Apple Thunderbolt Displays. Above the Studio Display is a 27” Dell 1080p monitor for A/V Output in FCP.
Matthew, have you noticed issues with plugins that claim to be M1 ready? I have a problem where I get the red screen with a yellow exclamation mark. If I leave Final Cut Pro open overnight and come to edit the following day, all of the titles and effects in the project will give the red screen when playing back or in an exported. Restarting Final Cut Pro resolves the issues. Any thoughts?
Yes, I have had that happen a few times with some of my plug-ins, and I usually restart FCP when it happens and then am good to go. It has happed a few times with FilmConvert Nitrate mainly, but not recently. A few apps still crash, but I'm so focused on restarting that I never bother to check the dialogue box that says whatever plug-in is not responding. I need to pay better attention to that!
@@matthewTobrien I have not had any plugins actually crash FCP, yet.
I just had FCP crash today, but didn't look at the report to see what exactly caused it. And it's easy to miss the plug-in crash dialogue box FCP puts up when a plug-in legit crashes. It often gets lost behind my FCP window, and I only find it if I hit Mission Control.
I’ve had the red screen once on my Mac mini m1
I’m a bit out of my depth but I’ll say this anyway, does scaling affect editing performance with non Mac monitors? Those reviews with mac monitors seem to have no issues at editing stage skipped frames lags etc. for anyone know about this? Has anyone tested Mac display vs non Mac display with the Mac studio scaling the resolution?
This is an excellent question, and I'd love to know the answer as well. I haven't tested this, but I'd love to see some content about it. Great question!
@@matthewTobrien I’m looking to buy a Mac studio (base) or a mini so I feel like I’ve watched most of the videos reviewing performance. I’ve seen only one video where a guy buys a 1440 monitor and replaces his 4k monitor to get it closer to native Mac ppi as he noticed issues.
I might be wrong but if you look at the reviews where they gush over performance when editing, vs those who might have some disappointment ( not taking about exporting that seems to be good for both ) their displays are all ( from I can tell ) apple.
I’d do the test but I don’t have the Mac yet or the display lol. All it would take is to find a friend with the Mac monitor , and edit the same file to test for lag etc during playback, scrubbing etc . it’s almost as if the value of the Mac display might not be in its lack of other specs but it’s resolution
Like I said I don’t really know what I’m talking about but if I’m dropping the money on apple silicon and I need a Mac display to get the most out of it , it changes the value proposition a bit for me.
Cheers.
Still waiting for this review. ...Because I have a 4k monitor
@@joraphpictures th-cam.com/video/kpX561_XM20/w-d-xo.html maybe ?
Interesting....
why not get a caldigit thunderbolt 4 dock?
I’m hoping to partner up with a brand like CalDigit to get one to use and make content about 😋 Already did a spot for Anker but the docking station was for displays not drives/docks, etc.
@@matthewTobrien hopefully you get it! I think the element hub 4 is a perfect partner for the studio. Have one myself for my mini and everything is connected to that except an external drive
Good to know! I've got that one on my list of ones to consider buying.
@@matthewTobrien i pre-ordered it before and got a good discount. Super worth it!
Yesssssssss.
what monitors do you use
Main Monitor | 27" Apple Studio Display with VESA mount
Right Monitor | 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display with VESA mount
Left Monitor | 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display with VESA mount
Top/Preview Monitor | Dell Ultrasharp P2719H 27" IPS 1080p Monitor | geni.us/hAyI
Hi Matthew, have you come across what appears to be a major issue with a 4K screen and the new Mac M1? I saw a video on here (th-cam.com/video/kpX561_XM20/w-d-xo.html) that made me cancel my 4K monitor order. As i understand it, If you scale it other then native 4K Apple (or 1920), which makes text appear super tiny at 4k or super biog on the screen at 1080 (neither is good for 'real life use' ), Apple UI will upscale your 3840x2160 screen to 6016x3384 and then cut that down so ur UI 3360x1890.it will tax your GPU like crazy and take up huge amounts of processing power as it has scale up and down 60hz every second. Basically apple UI doesn't fit with UHD screens, only with 5K and 6K and or 1/2 those resolutions with out upscaling and downscaling and chewing up your macs peformance...
I have heard about this but didn’t dive in. I assume I don’t experience this with my Studio Display and Thunderbolt Displays. I’m gonna check out that video to learn more…