INTRODUCING“POWER”
Mac Studio
A Story About Mac Portability
For context, this post uses the term portability for referring to the ability to carry and transport a device from one location to another.
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MusicIANS, 3D artist, App Developers, Photographers, Videographers...
About Portability
Finding the ideal ‘portable creator studio’ solution
Why the Mac Studio might be the perfect powerhouse solution you can actually take with you?
I’ve always liked the idea of having access to a computer that is powerful enough to efficiently undertake the heavy processing required for accomplishing some of the high-end quality work, no matter where you are.
Well, the MacBook Pro laptop does a pretty good job at that. Wouldn’t you say? (comment if you choose)
But what if, you needed to, or simply could, gain a little more processing power and ports for connecting to your other devices and operate without a struggle?
Wouldn’t you more confidently push onwards with that video editing project you’ve been waiting to re-start?
The Square Macintosh Phase
How things have moved on, as I recall my very, very first Macintosh computer.
It all started with a humble Macintosh Plus, quickly followed by a Macintosh SE (I think) and then finally a Macintosh Colour Classic.
It was obvious that whilst these Macintosh computers were fun and intuitive to use, they weren’t quite cutting it, with regards to power, speed and reliability. And especially for the demands of a creative media business.
After this, which I’ll call the Square Macintosh Phase, it was definitely time to move on to something more professional.
But at what cost and would I have to learn new software?
illustration: brianjonesfrancis
illustration: brianjonesfrancis
Apps built with Macintosh in mind
You see, during this time, I was also introduced to my very first design related software applications. Such as, Adobe Illustrator, Aldus Freehand, Aldus Pagemaker and Quark Xpress (later, learn what apps I mostly use today).
Now imagine what it was was like drawing and designing on such a tiny screen, but also, how ‘relatively’ easy it was to carry a Macintosh Plus or Classic all-in-one computer between one location and another.
So whilst the very first commercial macs are fairly portable, their tiny built-in display leaves a lot to be desired from the professional creators point of view.
However, so fond of these macs, there are many Retro-Macintosh Enthusiast joining groups and other communities around the world, with members who sought these vintage Macintosh devices for refurbishment or adding to their collection.
Small and compact, but larger screen please!
illustration: brianjonesfrancis
illustration: brianjonesfrancis
Answering user pain points (or in some cases luxury demands), the mac desktop soon started growing larger in size, which seemed to at first contradict the previous all-in-one design pattern that focused on being compact.
And so, the release of the first colourful iMac G3s rolled out.
After all, can you imagine the size of a Macintosh Plus design with a larger display? LOL
By the way, there is a fairly comprehensive historical listing for Apple’s Mac / Macintosh computers, you can access the website here.
Now, along with the iMac G3 came the Power Mac G3 tower, so whilst we have always had the consistent option of an all-in-one solution, because of the required need for expansibility and upgrading, the tower macs have always been the de-facto choice for the professional creative studio.
Then there was the Power Mac G5...
illustration: brianjonesfrancis
Yes, upwards and onwards the Power Mac G5 was a big deal, that you couldn’t carry from one location to another in a hurry. This “monster” was built to stay fixed in the studio.
These powerful and extremely extensible “pro-macs” had gone from being dubbed as the err, grill (I think..), the ‘cheese grater,’ and then the cylindrical ‘wastebasket’. ( Any more? answers below)
Anyway, as I was saying, minus the external screen display, of all the Power Mac and Mac Pro range (I know, the model category naming gets a little confusing), the cylindrical Power Mac is the nearest to being portable.
And so whilst, the Mac Pro (cylinder) is a conveniently small computer, and is packed with more power than its predecessor the Power Mac G5.
Some might say more power than you need…
Mac Studio and Studio Display
Now finally, let’s get straight to the more juicy points with regards to why the Mac Studio and Studio Display makes for such a desirable solution for creators.
Anything to do with portability?
Today, although a MacBook Pro laptop will often suffice the needs of most creators; in the office, working remotely, constantly on the move, or living that nomadic lifestyle, however, you can be sure that most creators will miss, and prefer working on a larger display.
After all, you want to see your art and design in all its glory. Which is why you may have already hooked your MacBook to an external display. And if it is music or video you are concerned about, then you’ll certainly need more than ‘elbow room’, of which, the Mac Studio provides plenty of.
Concerned about lugging an awkwardly sized display around?
Let me tell you, there are conveniently sized holdalls or transport bags, that will snuggly accommodate most LCD monitors.
The Portable Mac Studio?
Now this leads me to wonder, why would anyone want to be able to design on a smartphone? (replies below)
Of course portability and size matters, this is why the Mac Studio (providing you have access to a monitor), so far, seems to be the best mac workstation format for Professional designers, Photographers, 3d Artist, Videographers and App Developers. It is also perfectly suited for remote work and nomadic lifestyles.
(What do you think?)
Your Creative Studio in a Box
It’s small, it’s powerful, and comes with a cutting-edge built in camera, but, that’s not all…
Why would I buy the Mac Studio?
Why would I buy this computer? The answer is simple really.
It’s because it is small and powerful, gives you confidence for taking on more demanding projects no matter where your are.
Built with the latest technology for its time, the Mac Studio provides confidence and the convenience of portability dictated by todays remote and mobile working digital creators.
Connect more external devices
Fortunately, the Mac Studio will allow you to connect if you really need to, up to 5 third party displays through the HDMI or Thunderbolt 4 ports, compared to that of the MacBook Pro.
Todays Creators
Musician and Producer
For starters, musicians and producers can now confidently work on the most complex compositions with hundreds of tracks, plug-ins, and virtual instruments, all played in real time.
3D Artist and Animator
Meanwhile 3D artists can work with more extreme geometry, edit and render massive environments, run complex particle simulations in a fraction of the time.
App Developer
As for App developers, well, you can now more readily build new versions of code with incredible speed, and run more automated integration and testing than before.
Photographer and Illustrator
Now, with the subject of photography, Photographers can sort through thousands of images with speed and precision, composite massive images with hundreds of layers, and export final images for publish in a flash.
Videographer
Finally, but by far from last, Videographers can edit multi-camera projects and more streams of 8K video than ever before, add more colour corrections to projects while maintaining fluid playback, and encode video for final delivery faster than ever.
You might want to check out some of the specs.
Mac Studio in short
Besides having more ports for connecting your other devices, the Mac Studio is the ideal solution for users who have outgrown their current main computer workstation, require better security with faster and more efficient data processing.
This includes creators who work in media, graphics and audio, plus of any other data computation intensive projects.
Basic Mac Studio Specs
Mac Studio M1 Max
Ports
- 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports
- 2 USB-A ports
- 10Gb ethernet
- HDMI 2.0
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
Memory
32GB
32GB unified memory
Configurable to:
64GB
Mac Studio M1 Ultra
Ports
- 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports
- 2 USB-A ports
- 10Gb ethernet
- HDMI 2.0
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
Memory
64GB
64GB unified memory
Configurable to:
128GB
Studio Display
Camera
- 12MP Ultra Wide camera with 122° field of view
- ƒ/2.4 aperture
- Center Stage
Compatibility:
Mac Studio (2022)
16-inch MacBook Pro (2019 or later)
14-inch MacBook Pro (2021)
13-inch MacBook Pro (2016 or later)
15-inch MacBook Pro (2016 or later)
MacBook Air (2018 or later)
Mac mini (2018 or later)
Mac Pro (2019 or later)
24-inch iMac (2021)
27-inch iMac (2017 or later)
21.5-inch iMac (2017 or later)
iMac Pro (2017)
Studio Display is compatible with the following iPad models running iPadOS 15.4 or later:2
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation or later)
iPad Pro 11-inch
iPad Air (5th generation)
Very Useful Links
RETRO MAC COMMUNITY
Low End Mac - Facebook Group
Low End Mac is an English-language user-to-user support group for those using Apple Macs and authorised Mac clones. There is no official definition of “low end” or “vintage” or “classic” – we like to call them all “ageing” Macs.
Our goal as a group is to help you get the most out of your ageing Mac, whether from the earliest days, the PowerPC era, or the 2006-and-beyond Intel era.
Although discussion of iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, etc. has always been allowed here, we do have separate groups that focus on iPod/iPhone/iPad and Newton devices.
Our online LEM Swap groups in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia (and its neighbours) are linked in the “Recommended by the Admins” section.
Most of all, be excellent to each other.
We want to remain one of the most helpful Mac groups on Facebook.
#mactips
MacTips: macOS Batch File Handling
Batch Rename Items: select a number of files and and use mouse right click to access the menu. Select Rename Items…
Batch Compress Items: select a number of files and and use mouse right click to access the menu. Select Compress Items…
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