Fully loaded Mac Studio costs just $7999, more powerful than similarly priced Mac Pro

Comments

• Reply 1 of 15

  indieshack Posts: 328member

  March 8, 2022 9:09PM

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  
• Reply 2 of 15

  sflocal Posts: 6,093member

  March 8, 2022 9:15PM

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  
• Reply 3 of 15

  crowley Posts: 10,453member

  March 8, 2022 9:25PM

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  
• Reply 4 of 15

  rob53 Posts: 3,251member

  March 9, 2022 1:22AM

  crowley said:

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  Call it what you want but comments like indie's aren't worth spit.
  
  As for the fully loaded Studio for $7999, that's actually an amazing price for what you're getting. Sflocal is correct, try and build a desktop using Intel, AMD or ARM and you'll have to spend several times this amount. Try and build one that fits into 219 cubic inches and you'll never do it. The cooling system would take twice that amount of space and it still wouldn't be able to cool an over-clocked CPU. It also wouldn't be able to process anything at the speed of the M1 Ultra. Professionals don't have to wait for a Mac Pro replacement, it's already here. Just add external storage arrays (a nice NVMe RAID over Thunderbolt 3) and a 10Gb network switch with access to your servers and you won't have a second to nap because almost everything is happening real time.

  
• Reply 5 of 15

  cia Posts: 252member

  March 9, 2022 3:26AM

  rob53 said:

  crowley said:

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  Call it what you want but comments like indie's aren't worth spit.
  
  As for the fully loaded Studio for $7999, that's actually an amazing price for what you're getting. Sflocal is correct, try and build a desktop using Intel, AMD or ARM and you'll have to spend several times this amount. Try and build one that fits into 219 cubic inches and you'll never do it. The cooling system would take twice that amount of space and it still wouldn't be able to cool an over-clocked CPU. It also wouldn't be able to process anything at the speed of the M1 Ultra. Professionals don't have to wait for a Mac Pro replacement, it's already here. Just add external storage arrays (a nice NVMe RAID over Thunderbolt 3) and a 10Gb network switch with access to your servers and you won't have a second to nap because almost everything is happening real time.

  It's still very expensive for a lot of people.

  
• Reply 6 of 15

  radarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator

  March 9, 2022 4:08AM

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Let’s see, a Tesla Model Y costs around $53k.  So imagine a banner headline that reads,
  
  New Tesla Model Y, costs just $7999
  
  Yeah, that would be meaningful in my view. 

  
• Reply 7 of 15

  opinion Posts: 103member

  March 9, 2022 5:19AM

  My god, is this from Apple? It’s the ugliest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Where are you heading Apple?
• Reply 8 of 15

  Fidonet127 Posts: 507member

  March 9, 2022 5:34AM

  Apple updated the SE and iPad Air which are the consumer stuff and complain about a pro computer being expensive? The Studio beats the Mac Pro and is cheaper. Yes this is more expensive than many can afford, however this is for Pros and Apple neglected that area for a long time. Let the pros have their computers. They have done the ROI calculations and can write it off. 

  
• Reply 9 of 15

  NoWhere_NoOne Posts: 20member

  March 9, 2022 5:35AM

  I cant find it stated anywhere - but I assume the SSD is NVMe???

  
• Reply 10 of 15

  Detnator Posts: 287member

  March 9, 2022 6:52AM

  cia said:

  rob53 said:

  crowley said:

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  Call it what you want but comments like indie's aren't worth spit.
  
  As for the fully loaded Studio for $7999, that's actually an amazing price for what you're getting. Sflocal is correct, try and build a desktop using Intel, AMD or ARM and you'll have to spend several times this amount. Try and build one that fits into 219 cubic inches and you'll never do it. The cooling system would take twice that amount of space and it still wouldn't be able to cool an over-clocked CPU. It also wouldn't be able to process anything at the speed of the M1 Ultra. Professionals don't have to wait for a Mac Pro replacement, it's already here. Just add external storage arrays (a nice NVMe RAID over Thunderbolt 3) and a 10Gb network switch with access to your servers and you won't have a second to nap because almost everything is happening real time.

  It's still very expensive for a lot of people.

  It's not intended for most people. Not even remotely.

  
• Reply 11 of 15

  OutdoorAppDeveloper Posts: 1,293member

  March 9, 2022 6:53PM

  Plus a minimum of $1600 for the matching screen and you have a computer that is over $10,000 with tax included. This to replace a 27" iMac that fully loaded is around $4000.
• Reply 12 of 15

  martinxyz Posts: 98member

  March 9, 2022 10:48PM

  Detnator said:

  cia said:

  rob53 said:

  crowley said:

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  Call it what you want but comments like indie's aren't worth spit.
  
  As for the fully loaded Studio for $7999, that's actually an amazing price for what you're getting. Sflocal is correct, try and build a desktop using Intel, AMD or ARM and you'll have to spend several times this amount. Try and build one that fits into 219 cubic inches and you'll never do it. The cooling system would take twice that amount of space and it still wouldn't be able to cool an over-clocked CPU. It also wouldn't be able to process anything at the speed of the M1 Ultra. Professionals don't have to wait for a Mac Pro replacement, it's already here. Just add external storage arrays (a nice NVMe RAID over Thunderbolt 3) and a 10Gb network switch with access to your servers and you won't have a second to nap because almost everything is happening real time.

  It's still very expensive for a lot of people.

  It's not intended for most people. Not even remotely.

  Exactly. It has 10Gb ethernet and it has the word "Studio" in its name. That's where it's destined.

  
• Reply 13 of 15

  srgnick Posts: 3member

  March 23, 2022 5:00PM

  The problem with this "more powerful" claim is, as with anything relating to computing, it depends on the workload.

  Another thing to consider is that giant leaps in graphics tech happen every few years.

  
  

  With a Mac Pro (or equivalent PC workstation), you get the ability to extend the life of your machine and upgrade your graphics if / when that happens, and even with Intel based Mac Minis, you could do that with eGPUs...but now that discreet gfx is not a thing anymore on ARM based MacOS, you're stuck with the graphics you get at the time of purchase, and if your needs change down the line, you're essentially forced to get a new machine.
  
  That is going to be the sticking point, for me, and if you're truly doing an honest to goodness cost assessment, the lifespan of the machine and future modular upgradeability has to be factored in.
  
  Another factor should also be repairability.  The Mac Studios don't even have user replaceable power supplies, like the Intel Minis did.  
  
  That's absolutely insane, especially if you're getting the maxed out model.  
  
  A PSU is a $150 part, and while it is rare, they can die, and having a $150 part be the absolute death of a $8000 computer is just mind bogglingly stupid.
  
  

  edited March 2022
• Reply 14 of 15

  Detnator Posts: 287member

  March 23, 2022 9:43PM

  srgnick said:

  The problem with this "more powerful" claim is, as with anything relating to computing, it depends on the workload.

  Another thing to consider is that giant leaps in graphics tech happen every few years.

  
  

  With a Mac Pro (or equivalent PC workstation), you get the ability to extend the life of your machine and upgrade your graphics if / when that happens, and even with Intel based Mac Minis, you could do that with eGPUs...but now that discreet gfx is not a thing anymore on ARM based MacOS, you're stuck with the graphics you get at the time of purchase, and if your needs change down the line, you're essentially forced to get a new machine.
  
  That is going to be the sticking point, for me, and if you're truly doing an honest to goodness cost assessment, the lifespan of the machine and future modular upgradeability has to be factored in.
  
  Another factor should also be repairability.  The Mac Studios don't even have user replaceable power supplies, like the Intel Minis did.  
  
  That's absolutely insane, especially if you're getting the maxed out model.  
  
  A PSU is a $150 part, and while it is rare, they can die, and having a $150 part be the absolute death of a $8000 computer is just mind bogglingly stupid.
  
  

  Umm... yeah... no.  What's mind bogglingly stupid is buying an $8000 Mac and not spending another $60 per year on it for AppleCare+, which covers everything that could possibly go wrong with it, indefinitely (including accidents). For anyone who thinks they shouldn't have to pay an extra $60 per year for the value that comes with that, shouldn't be buying a Mac in the first place. Apple products are not for you.
  
  Regarding the lack of upgradeability.  As has been said thousands of times before on this forum and elsewhere, the vast majority of Apple users do not want to be bothered with upgrading their Macs. It's just not a big enough use case. The few people who do, are not Apple's target market, and the rest of Apple's customers are grateful that Apple will not compromise all the other benefits that come with packaging everything into the chip, etc., for the sake of the tinkerers.  One of the primary reasons for the extraordinary performance of these machines, compared with Intel machines, is that packaging.
  
  If you want to upgrade your Mac, here's what you do:  
  

  • Step 1: Back it up.
  • Step 2: Reset it back to factory settings.
  • Step 3: Sell it on eBay, etc. for a very good price (Macs hold their value), or trade it in to Apple, for likely not as good a price, but still reasonable and zero effort.
  • Step 4: Buy a new one with the specs you want, using the money you made from the sale, plus the money you would have spent on the upgrade.
  • Step 5: Run the Migration Assistant during set up of the new Mac to have the new Mac be a perfect mirror of your previous one.
  • Step 6: Get back to work.

  
  That's the process. That's how you upgrade a Mac. Just because the process is different (to upgrading a PC by pulling one part at a time out and putting replacement parts in) doesn't invalidate said process. In fact the reverse is true. Macs are not PCs. PCs are a collection of parts that more or less work together. Macs are complete optimized black box units that work extremely well (including the OS) because of all the integration.
  
  Most Mac users prefer Macs BECAUSE of those points, not despite them.  For anyone who disagrees -- who considers those points to be negatives rather than positives -- then the question is: "If it defies your particular needs, preferences, desires, etc., then why do you want a Mac?"
  
  
  

  edited March 2022
• Reply 15 of 15

  mattinoz Posts: 2,316member

  March 23, 2022 10:33PM

  cia said:

  rob53 said:

  crowley said:

  sflocal said:

  indieshack said:

  Only with Apple could we see a banner headline “…Costs just $7999”
  

  Okay Einstein.  Price an Intel-equivalent and get back to us.

  
  

  This is the problem with trolls like you.  You do zero research on the competition yet pretend you know what you're talking about.

  It's a joke, tight pants.

  Call it what you want but comments like indie's aren't worth spit.
  
  As for the fully loaded Studio for $7999, that's actually an amazing price for what you're getting. Sflocal is correct, try and build a desktop using Intel, AMD or ARM and you'll have to spend several times this amount. Try and build one that fits into 219 cubic inches and you'll never do it. The cooling system would take twice that amount of space and it still wouldn't be able to cool an over-clocked CPU. It also wouldn't be able to process anything at the speed of the M1 Ultra. Professionals don't have to wait for a Mac Pro replacement, it's already here. Just add external storage arrays (a nice NVMe RAID over Thunderbolt 3) and a 10Gb network switch with access to your servers and you won't have a second to nap because almost everything is happening real time.

  It's still very expensive for a lot of people.

  Sure but very overpowered for most of those people as well. I'm sure most people who have value add work that would demand such a beast also have billings to pay for it or at least potential revenue they can risk the pay back on. 
  
  Still, drop storage back to 2Tb and GPU cores back to 48 and that price drops to 2/3s or you need the space but your apps won't get value from the ultra a fully loaded Max is $4,999. 
  
  these are pro machines you buy what gets the invoices paid.