Apple executives say creating Mac Studio was 'overwhelming'
Apple's Mac Studio and Studio Display executives say the new devices are borne from lessons learned in more than 20 years of previous Mac design engineering.
Apple only rarely introduces an entirely new Mac, but two executives working on the Mac Studio say that its design has its roots in Apple's work over decades. In a new interview with GQ magazine, vice president of hardware engineering Kate Bergeron traces it back to the first Mac she worked on, the 17-inch PowerBook G4.
"Way back in 2003 almost every single thing that we put in [that] was a new invention at the time," Bergeron told the publication. "Nobody made a laptop that big that you could carry at that point. They were sort of these horrible-looking seven and a half pound briefcases."
"Because of the Mac's product history," she continued, "we've been able to take those products from 20 years ago that might look pretty pedestrian to us today but were groundbreaking at the time, and then learn every single little thing that we can from them."
This applied equally to the new Studio Display, which Apple wanted to feature first-class speakers.
"You could say, 'Let's just go crank those speakers up and make them loud with lots of rich, full bass,'" said Bergeron. "If you do that in a really rigid mount, you would create a display that actually shook itself on the table."
"So our specialists on the audio team use a technology called force cancelling reverse where we actually offset the speakers," she said, "so that when they vibrate the system is amazingly stable and totally quiet."
Both Bergeron and Colleen Novielli, senior product marketing manager at Apple, told GQ that the resulting Mac Studio and Studio Display have met the company's goals. But also, they added that Apple doesn't know what users are going to make with them.
"We're able to offer this performance to our users in a way that we haven't before and really nobody has," said Novielli "Now we're just so excited to see what people are going to be able to do creatively."
Bergeron adds that she thinks the worth of the Mac Studio will become more apparent after it's been used for a time.
"I think it'll take a little bit longer for us to fully appreciate it," she said. "But when we're pulling the material together for the keynotes, and we're reflecting on the performance of the products that actually achieve what we set out for them to do, it can be quite overwhelming."
The Mac Studio has been getting strongly favorable reviews, and demand from buyers almost immediately saw shipping slip back from March to May.
Read on AppleInsider
Apple only rarely introduces an entirely new Mac, but two executives working on the Mac Studio say that its design has its roots in Apple's work over decades. In a new interview with GQ magazine, vice president of hardware engineering Kate Bergeron traces it back to the first Mac she worked on, the 17-inch PowerBook G4.
"Way back in 2003 almost every single thing that we put in [that] was a new invention at the time," Bergeron told the publication. "Nobody made a laptop that big that you could carry at that point. They were sort of these horrible-looking seven and a half pound briefcases."
"Because of the Mac's product history," she continued, "we've been able to take those products from 20 years ago that might look pretty pedestrian to us today but were groundbreaking at the time, and then learn every single little thing that we can from them."
This applied equally to the new Studio Display, which Apple wanted to feature first-class speakers.
"You could say, 'Let's just go crank those speakers up and make them loud with lots of rich, full bass,'" said Bergeron. "If you do that in a really rigid mount, you would create a display that actually shook itself on the table."
"So our specialists on the audio team use a technology called force cancelling reverse where we actually offset the speakers," she said, "so that when they vibrate the system is amazingly stable and totally quiet."
Both Bergeron and Colleen Novielli, senior product marketing manager at Apple, told GQ that the resulting Mac Studio and Studio Display have met the company's goals. But also, they added that Apple doesn't know what users are going to make with them.
"We're able to offer this performance to our users in a way that we haven't before and really nobody has," said Novielli "Now we're just so excited to see what people are going to be able to do creatively."
Bergeron adds that she thinks the worth of the Mac Studio will become more apparent after it's been used for a time.
"I think it'll take a little bit longer for us to fully appreciate it," she said. "But when we're pulling the material together for the keynotes, and we're reflecting on the performance of the products that actually achieve what we set out for them to do, it can be quite overwhelming."
The Mac Studio has been getting strongly favorable reviews, and demand from buyers almost immediately saw shipping slip back from March to May.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I seem to recall Ive or somebody gushing over the shape of the Apple Pencil or something like that. It’s some kind of joke.
Do you honestly believe "it’s the very computer people have requested for years"? because I haven't once seen anyone make mention of an xMac that uses Apple designed ARM-chip that fuses two M1 Max's with a high-speed interconnect to work as one chip, unified RAM for the CPU and GPU, or any of the other very difficult and complex features of the Mac Studio.
How about the Mac Studio Display? Where have you mentioned how easy it would be to design a 5K display for $1600 that uses an A13 SoC? It seems like the start and stop of your genius is simply to say, "make it bigger and give me more for less" as if that's how products are made. As for you pooh-poohing their work to balance good sound without vibrations, well that's what engineering is and it can be a lengthy, expensive process to get things right. As I've already mentioned, just wishing It to happen doesn't work. As for the camera, it's a known bug but since it's the same HW as other devices it should be resolved soon enough with an update.
It may "look" like a Big Mac Mini, but it's entirely different from a Mac Mini, both in the case design and inside.
Anyone who has been paying attention knows that there's an issue with the software that shipped on the Studio Display that affects the camera.
It might make some inroads with data metrics/science fields if they can get software optimized for it. They are starting from way way behind CUDA on this.
But in terms of engineering and construction it doesn't look like Apple skimped anywhere.
Looks like it can cool itself- and isn't a funky shape that no one knows what to do with- ie Cube or Trash Can Mac Pro.
hmmm slots. I couldn’t find any NUC style board with slots like that. So I looked at the Asus ProArt z690-Creator “the best workstation in the world” and that has … three slots. One that’s PCIe 4 x8/x16 and one that’s x8, and the third is PCIe x4. It’s PCIe 5.0 “Ready” but I’ve bought expensive “Ready” products before and been very disappointed by their genuine performance. So the upgradability really amounts to “I can plug shit into it.” Ports do that too. And without turning my desktop into a 300 lb doorstop. And I can just plug them into another computer/tablet/robot-overlord super easy.
Also none of these are actual SoCs either, so don’t benefit from that kind of architecture, relying more on the tried-and-true Wintel method of brute-force over finesse. At least it will double as a foot-warmer in the winter. Although not so great come summer. And oh that fan noise! How I miss it’s not so gentle roar lulling me to sleep. (Seriously, I have power tools that are measurably quieter.) Bet those creatives will miss all that free white noise and free space heating! suckers!
I checked resale values on old boards/super desktops that are super upgradable with old parts. Glad the market for all that ewaste is dirt cheap because of corporate churn. I could get a million dell servers for the cost of the Studio and I could hack it all together to be just as fast with so many slots! All in a giant second hand rack! Just have to tell my wife I can’t store her anymore. She takes up too much valuable compute space.
Anyway, gotta run and get my not-upgradable car serviced, and let in the plumber so he can work on my not easily upgradable house. iFixit gave it a 2, because while it uses highly inflated commodity parts, everything is more or less built bespoke on site by overpaid specialists (man that markup is way more than 30%!). Plus the state robs me with its permit monopoly all in the name of Safety! The fear-mongering! A man just can’t get a break these days.
but I digress…