Mac Studio: Why Graphic Designer and FX Editors Love It
July 28, 2022
Apple’s Mac laptops and desktops have long been fan favorites for creatives. Video and FX editors, graphic designers, animators, and more marvel at the power and performance that have come standard in these machines over the years.
This year though, Apple released a new Mac desktop seemingly aimed at creatives; the Mac Studio. Apple’s Mac Studio is a stunning, potent, and small desktop for creative experts who get head-down in design and editing. The machine itself looks very similar to Mac Mini’s, only slightly taller, making it easily portable but so much more powerful. It is smaller than a Mac Pro and features Apple’s M1 Chip, and has plenty of ports, with PCMag calling it “the most powerful Apple Silicon Mac we’ve seen.”
For those designers and editors dying to give the Mac Studio a try, eTech has a bulk inventory of Mac Studios for rent. Because of the compact design of the machines, they can easily be shipped while still packing the power to compete with bigger desktop stations. This allows you and your team the opportunity to take the new machines on a spin, without the cost or commitment of buying them outright – perfect for teams working on short-term design and editing projects.
Let’s take a look though at some of the reasons graphic designers and FX editors love the new Mac Studio so much, in case you need some more convincing. (Specs, and Processing and Performance info available here.)
Performance
Although they appear to be identical, Apple offers two different versions of the Studio. The M1 Max SoC from the Apple Silicon MacBook Pro, available in variants with two efficiency cores, eight performance cores, either 24 or 32 GPU cores, and either 32 or 64 GB of RAM, is included in the entry-level studio. The M1 Ultra has four efficiency cores, 16 performance cores, a 48- or 64-core GPU, and 64 or 128 GB of RAM.
According to Apple, with the M1 Max chip, the Mac Studio is 50% faster than the Mac Pro and 2.5 times faster than the 27-inch iMac. If you upgrade to the M1 Ultra chip processor, the computer is 90 percent faster than the Mac Pro and 3.8 times faster than the fastest 27-inch iMac in terms of CPU performance. Apple claims no other machine in the world can play back 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, but the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra can.
Display
Apple also has released the Mac Studio display to go along with the Mac Studio, and it features a lot of qualities that creatives will love.
Creatives will find the Apple Studio Display’s reference modes and P3 wide color gamut compatibility to be helpful features. However, it also offers distinctive features that any Mac user may appreciate, such as a fantastic (for a monitor) six-speaker audio system and a 12MP ultrawide camera that works with Apple’s Center Stage function thanks to an inbuilt A13 Bionic chip. The 27-inch display offers 5K with 5,120-by-2,880-pixels (218 PPI).
The display has stunning color accuracy, great contrast, and a respectable brightness of 600 nits. Additionally, the nine reference modes on the Apple Studio Display are almost identical to the 11 on the somewhat more expensive Apple Pro Display XDR. Creatives will benefit from the calibration and fine-tuning capabilities offered by these settings. Although some people will prefer to eliminate True Tone technology to acquire precise colors, it is also quite good.
Design
It’s clear the Mac Studio was designed for creatives. Two USB-C connectors (or two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 Ultra chip type) and an SD card slot are located on the front of the device. Four Thunderbolt 4 ports total, which is more than enough to connect numerous monitors and disks.
One CNET reviewer says, “As someone who is constantly running back and forth between shooting footage and throwing it onto my computer, the luxury of having an SD card slot right in the front is an instant win.”
Made for Creatives
If you desire power, the Apple Mac Studio with the M1 chips deliver it in spades, boosting the sophisticated desktop computer with genuinely outstanding processing and graphics.
Overall, it’s clear that Apple had creatives in mind when building the Mac Studio. With top-level performance, an awesome display option, and creative-friendly design with its portability and ports, this machine is perfect for graphic designers and FX editors.
eTech rentals has all the technology gear your team needs and can get it shipped out fast. Whether you’re a team of designers and editors needing a powerful editing machine like the Mac Studio, or in need of some added bandwidth with 5G hotspots to cover your team, we have you covered. Reach out today and we are happy to discuss how we can help!
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