In contrast: Mac Studio versus Mac Professional

The Mac Studio fills a brand new slot in Apple’s Mac lineup between the Mac mini and the Mac Professional. Whereas it is technically in between these gadgets within the lineup, it really outperforms the Mac Professional throughout quite a lot of metrics.

To see how the Mac Studio can ship extra energy for much less cash, here is a comparability of the 2 machines so far as CPU, graphics capabilities, and different concerns.

The Mac Professional is a modular machine, whereas Apple’s M-series Macs are usually not.

The Mac Studio is out there in a number of configurations, identical to the Mac Professional.

Apple’s baseline Mac Studio is supplied with an M1 Max chipset that has a 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine. The best-tier Mac Studio sports activities an M1 Extremely chip with a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine.

Apple’s baseline Mac Professional comes with a 3.5GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W processor with Turbo Increase as much as 4.0GHz. The highest-line Mac Professional is configured with a 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W processor with Turbo Increase as much as 4.4GHz.

In Geekbench 5 testing, the bottom mannequin Mac Professional achieved a single-core rating of 1,015, whereas the top-tier Mac Professional had a single-core rating of 1,152.

Whereas there aren’t at the moment benchmarks for a Mac Studio with an M1 Max, comparable 16-inch MacBook Professional testing discovered that the chip netted a single-core rating of 1,769. A Mac Studio with an M1 Extremely bought a single-core rating of 1,793.

The variations grow to be extra obvious in multi-core scoring. The bottom mannequin Mac Professional had a multi-core rating of 7993, whereas the 28-core Mac Professional had a rating of 19951.

Comparably, a MacBook Professional with M1 Max had a multi-core rating of 12308, whereas the Mac Studio with an M1 Extremely had a multi-core rating of 24,055.

In different phrases, the highest Mac Studio mannequin accessible far outperforms the highest Mac Professional in single-core and multi-core testing — and for lots much less cash and energy consumption.

Apple’s Mac Studio is not user-configurable.

Apple’s M-series chips are geared up with what the corporate calls Unified Reminiscence, which is embedded on the chip. Apple says the Unified Reminiscence expertise permits for varied components on a chip to entry saved with no need that data to be saved in particular reminiscence swimming pools.

The M1 Max will be configured with both 32GB or 64GB of Unified Reminiscence. If you happen to improve to an M1 Extremely chip, you’ll be able to add as much as 128GB of Unified Reminiscence to the Mac Studio.

Apple’s Mac Professional begin with 32GB of DDR4 ECC reminiscence. The bottom mannequin runs at 2,666MHz, whereas all different choices on the Mac Professional use 2,933MHz RAM modules.

The Mac Professional will be configured with much more reminiscence, if want be. Customers can add as much as 1.5TB of DDR4 ECC reminiscence to the Mac Professional, although that improve will value $25,000.

The Mac Professional has a variety of GPU choices accessible.

Drawing a comparability between the Mac Studio and Mac Professional so far as graphics functionality is a bit more durable since, as of writing, there are no Geekbench 5 Metallic benchmarks for the latest Mac mannequin.

An M1 Max with a 32-core GPU on the MacBook Professional, nonetheless, achieved a Geekbench Metallic rating of 58950.

Comparably, the lowest-tier Mac Professional now comes with an AMD Radeon Professional W5500X, which scored a 41874 in the identical take a look at.

Prospects can configure the Mac Professional with a variety of graphics card choices, together with the Radeon Professional W6900X. Moreover, the Mac Professional will be geared up with a pair of Radeon Professional W6900X choices.

Apple’s M1 Extremely hasn’t been put to the Geekbench 5 Metallic take a look at but, however in Apple’s personal testing, the chip achieved higher graphics efficiency than the “highest-end discrete GPU” whereas utilizing so much much less energy.

The Mac Studio’s Media Engine outperforms the Afterburner card by a protracted shot.

The Mac Professional will be configured with an Afterburner card for $2,000, which Apple guarantees will pace up workflows involving video. The Afterburner card is a PCI-E primarily based accelerator that may deal with video codecs like ProRes and ProRes RAW.

Apple’s M-series chips include an equal known as the Media Engine, which is an on-silicon aspect that enhances efficiency for video and media work.

On the M1 Max, the Media Engine permits for concurrently streaming of a minimum of seven streams of 8K ProRes content material. For an M1 Max, the Media Engine permits the chip to run as much as 18 streams of 8K ProRes video.

As Apple famous when it launched the MacBook Professional, the M1 Max can deal with extra streams than a 28-core Mac Professional with an Afterburner card. The M1 Extremely can deal with extra simultaneous streams than some other chip available on the market.

The Mac Professional is extremely modular and configurable.

In relation to onboard storage, each the Mac Studio and the Mac Professional provide the identical vary of SSD choices: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB.

As talked about earlier, the Mac Studio tops out at 128GB of reminiscence, whereas the Mac Professional will be configured with as much as 1.5TB. The Mac Studio’s reminiscence just isn’t user-upgradable, nonetheless, whereas the Mac Professional’s reminiscence is.

Talking of user-upgradeable, the Mac Professional’s fundamental draw is the truth that it may be configured with further PCI Categorical or MPX Module playing cards. The Mac Studio, like different M-series Macs, does not assist this degree of modularity.

Relying on the graphics card put in, the Mac Professional can run as much as 12 shows, six 5K shows, or six Professional Show XDRs. The M1 Extremely can run as much as 4 Professional Show XDRs or 6K shows, with a fifth show at as much as 4K.

The Mac Studio can be so much smaller than the Mac Professional, with a type issue akin to a beefed-up Mac mini. That could possibly be a boon for customers with smaller areas to work with.

Apple’s Mac Studio comes with a variety of ports, together with 4 Thunderbolt 4 and two USB-C ports on the Max Max mannequin or six Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 Extremely mannequin. It additionally comes with two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, 10Gb Ethernet and an SDXC card slot.

The Mac Professional will be configured with as much as 12 Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C ports, relying on the particular configuration. It additionally comes with a pair of USB3 ports and twin 10Gb Ethernet ports. PCI Categorical growth playing cards can add further I/O to the machine.

Within the field, the Mac Professional comes with a keyboard and mouse. The Mac Studio, nonetheless, doesn’t.

The Mac Studio delivers numerous bang for the buck, together with a strong I/O.

There is a stark distinction in pricing between the 2 Mac fashions. The Mac Studio begins at $1,999, whereas the Mac Professional begins at $5,999.

On the Mac Studio, probably the most you will pay for a completely loaded model is $7,999. That features the M1 Extremely, 128GB of Unified Reminiscence, and an 8TB SSD.

The highest Mac Professional configuration will value upward of $45,000 — although this does embrace 1.5TB of DDR4 reminiscence. If you happen to go together with a “extra practical” reminiscence configuration, comparable to 192GB, you will be paying within the vary of $25,000.

This Mac Professional configuration additionally consists of the two.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W processor with Turbo Increase as much as 4.4GHz, an Afterburner card, and an 8TB exhausting drive.

The Mac Studio delivers much more efficiency than even the top-tier Mac Professional — and all for lots much less cash.

Due to that, it is exhausting to suggest the Mac Professional besides in very particular use instances. If you happen to completely want an Intel-based machine or you’ll be able to’t do and not using a Mac that has some degree of configuration, then the Mac Professional shall be your most suitable option.

For {most professional} customers, the Mac Studio has sufficient energy to deal with nearly any efficiency or graphics want. Actually, it outclasses the Mac Professional in a number of duties.

After all, the Mac Professional can be technically an ageing system — and a refresh geared up with an Apple Silicon chip is simply over the horizon.