One thing I gleaned from that article: the M1 Mini is no slouch.
It isn't too far behind the Studio M1 Max according to most of those tests.
While the Studio Max isn't quite twice as fast or powerful, it's twice as expensive - for now.
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Toronto YouTuber Chris Hau has done one of the very few videos on the Mac Studio M1 Max, as distinct from the Ultra. I think that this video is really an introduction with a more detailed review to follow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpI6TJAREsY
I don't know what this is, except that I don't think that it will be a standard review. I assume that it's been commissioned by Apple. People who are familiar with Jordan Taylor Wright (Taylor Cut Films) may want to check out this video that will be released Friday morning at 11 AM EDT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQhDiTvqRAQ
I think that some of it is relevant. I was thinking of getting Studio to bring myself "up to date." But after reading this thread, I'm not so sure.
In particular, I think that sharktooth's comments are right on point for photographers who work with digital images. (Like many of us.) It's the best explanation I've seen for what I've personally been experiencing during the last several months.
Sharktooth speaks mostly to operating systems. But, one can extend the dynamic he/she describes to software and apps. High Sierra was released November 25, 2017. Guess what, cloud Photoshop will no longer run properly on that operating system! Nor will other software that Apple sells, like cloud Pages. That's less than the 5-7 year window that even sharktooth describes. Why should 3rd party software developers like Adobe support operating systems that might not even be secure?
All engineered by Apple . . . . , for Apple's benefit.
Actually, I'm running Pages on High Sierra. But, that's only because about a decade ago, I purchased I-Work, which includes on it's disk installations for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Currently, Pages is available new only through subscription.
I know this to be true, because I'm running High Sierra on my Apple system, and I was having trouble running cloud Photoshop. After a brief conversation with Adobe, I was told that my OS was out of date.
I'm writing this on a 2014 Mac mini on which I'm running Apple's current operating system (Monterey) and Pages as well as Capture One. With 8GB of RAM and a Fusion drive (solid-state boot drive, hard disk storage), this computer has its limits, but for day to day tasks and simple photo processing it's fine. I will eventually use it as a media server.
Apple doesn't sell software by subscription. The operating system is free and so is Pages. The only apps that Apple sells are Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and three inexpensive apps that can be used with them (e.g. Compressor and Motion). The price of these hasn't gone up in a decade and Apple does not charge for annual updates. I use both Final Cut and Logic, although on a much faster computer than the 2014 mini. My cost for Final Cut and Logic over time works out to a few dollars each per year. I've saved a very substantial amount of money compared to buying and maintaining competing apps such as Adobe's Premier Pro and Ableton Live.
If you had your way, there would be no hardware development in computers and precious little in software. It would compromise your ability to use your ageing machine forever. Apple's System on a Chip computers wouldn't exist, and we'd be stuck with compartmentalised x86 computer architecture indefinitely. Indeed, computers would still be limited to 4GB of RAM and come with 32-bit architecture and spinning hard drives. Computer games? Sure, if you're feeling nostalgic for Pong. Thankfully, you don't have your way.
Apple stopped supporting your computer with operating system updates five years ago. Maybe it's time to find a new use for it. If you don't need a server, Linux will give it a new lease on life. You could install GIMP and never pay Adobe another nickel. There are simple, plug and play Linux distributions such as Ubuntu. If you don't mind a bit of a challenge, and want to learn some things about computers, I'd suggest a distribution like Arch Linux.
Pages (word processing), Numbers (spreadsheet), Keynote (presentation), GarageBand (Logic light) and iMovie (Final Cut light) have been free for years. New purchasers of Mac computers have had Pages, Numbers and Keynote for free since 2013, and GarageBand and iMovie since 2014. Starting in 2017, all five apps have been free to anyone, including to people who purchased a Mac before 2013/14.
In other words, you could have installed any of these with your 2017 High Sierra operating system for nothing, and Apple does not charge for updates.