# M1 Ultra! (2 x M1 Max)



## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

Yes, it's here. M1 Ultra has been announced at today's Apple event. Two M1 Max chips with a 2.5 TB/s interconnect called Ultra Fusion.

20 CPU cores (16 performance cores / 4 efficiency cores) (60% faster than 28-core Mac Pro)
Up to 64 GPU cores (21 TFLOPS)
Up to 128 GB unified memory (!)
32-core Neural Engine
4 ProRes encode/decode engines
7.4 GB/s SSD (up to 8 TB)

3.4x faster than the highest-spec 27" iMac, 80% faster than the 28-core Mac Pro

Going into a brand new model of desktop Mac, the Mac Studio. Sort of looks like 2 Mac Minis stacked together, 7.7" x 7.7" x 3.7" with an air intake on the bottom. Available with M1 Max and M1 Ultra.

Rear I/O: 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10 Gbit ethernet 2x USB-A, HDMI, headphone jack
Front I/O: 2 USB-C ports on the M1 Max / 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 Ultra, SDXC card slot

Starts @ $1999 with M1 Max, $3999 with M1 Ultra (ouch)

Also announced was a new 5K Retina 27" Studio Display with True Tone, and an A13 chip. 12 MP ultra-wide camera with Center Stage, and a three-mic array. 3 USB-C ports (10 Gb/s), 1 Thunderbolt port with 96W charging. The Mac Studio can support three of these displays. $1599.


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## IFM (Mar 8, 2022)

This is the one I've been waiting for!


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## Vik (Mar 8, 2022)




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## ridgero (Mar 8, 2022)

RIP Mac Pro


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

I am nail biting waiting for the price tag.


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## Virtuoso (Mar 8, 2022)

Looks awesome - the chip scalability bodes well for the next Mac Pro!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 8, 2022)

So glad I waited, and have no need or desire for PCIe cards. RIP Intel Mac Pro. Nearly double the performance of the 28-core? Yes please.


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## MarcusD (Mar 8, 2022)

More powerful than Terry Crews and his double sun Old Spice advert!


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

Why always a 27" monitor :( 
I need a larger screen than that


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## KEM (Mar 8, 2022)

LETS GO!!


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## David Kudell (Mar 8, 2022)

Incredible! I really want one of these. 

I was hoping for 256GB of RAM so I could run my whole VEP template on it, but it might be so fast I don’t even need to use VEP at all.


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## charlieclouser (Mar 8, 2022)

ATMOS AUDIO on the Display! Crazy. If the speakers are as good as the ones on the new 16 laptop then that's your next-gen NS-10's right there.... in Atmos!


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## KEM (Mar 8, 2022)

Apple came out SWINGING


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## Pier (Mar 8, 2022)

ridgero said:


> RIP Mac Pro


Apparently there's still another M1 chip in the pipeline. The 4C Jade


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## Virtuoso (Mar 8, 2022)

GeoMax said:


> Why always a 27" monitor :(
> I need a larger screen than that


Agreed - there were rumors of a larger 7k screen, so fingers crossed they will announce a Studio Display Pro/Max/Ultra - maybe along with the Mac Pro successor later in the year.


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## ridgero (Mar 8, 2022)

Getting the display


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## ridgero (Mar 8, 2022)

Virtuoso said:


> Agreed - there were rumors of a larger 7k screen, so fingers crossed they will announce a Studio Display Pro/Max/Ultra - maybe along with the Mac Pro successor later in the year.


For sure there is more


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

So...price looks about same as old Mac Pro


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## ptram (Mar 8, 2022)

Interesting on the power side. However, the most recent Apple products, starting from the Mac Pro 2019, look to me more like tasteless and overgrown clones than Apple-designed products. I expect inner neon glow coming from fans in one of the next products.

Paolo


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## YahmezTV (Mar 8, 2022)

Take my money. I’m so glad I held off on the laptop.


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## David Kudell (Mar 8, 2022)

Ok he just said the Mac Pro is still to come but that’s for another day….

To wait or not to wait…


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## charlieclouser (Mar 8, 2022)

"But there's still one more product to transition to Apple Silicon - Mac Pro... but that's for another day"


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

I was very excited until the pricing was announced. Base model M1 Max isn't binned like the MBP's, but even though there's no expensive display attached, it still starts at $1999 with 32 GB of memory and a 512 GB SSD.

$3999 for the M1 Ultra is crazy, and that's just with 64 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD. Only the CPU is doubled, so it shouldn't be double the price.


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## JyTy (Mar 8, 2022)

This one is sick! M1 Pro more than does it for me, but I love it how they are pushing the boundaries again and again...


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## David Kudell (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> I was very excited until the pricing was announced. Base model M1 Max isn't binned like the MBP's, but still starts @ $1999 even though there's no expensive display attached. And $3999 for the M1 Ultra is crazy, and that's just with 64 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD.


It’s not expensive when you realize it smokes a 28 core Mac Pro that goes for like $25,000.


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## Virtuoso (Mar 8, 2022)

$8k fully loaded! That's a pretty expensive Mac Mini!!


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## IFM (Mar 8, 2022)

Virtuoso said:


> $8k fully loaded! That's a pretty expensive Mac Mini!!


For what it can do, it's perfect!


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

And they said that only one model remains to be transitioned to Apple Silicon, the Mac Pro. Does that mean no more high-end Mac Mini, and more importantly, no more 27" iMac?!?!?


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## marius_dm (Mar 8, 2022)

Virtuoso said:


> $8k fully loaded! That's a pretty expensive Mac Mini!!


Uhm, where do you see that, I can’t find the Studio on Apple’s site.

EDIT: Nevermind, it just showed up.


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## MarcusD (Mar 8, 2022)

Considering the price's 8K for a fully tricked out unit. That's insane performance for the price.


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## Virtuoso (Mar 8, 2022)

So we now have M1, Pro, Max and Ultra - what's beyond Ultra, Plaid? I imagine the Mac Pro will start with a 40-core CPU, 128-core GPU, 256GB RAM, 64-core Neural Engine etc. I wonder how high it scales?


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## David Kudell (Mar 8, 2022)

I just configured the current Mac Pro with the 28 core Xeon, the Radeon W6900X, 96GB RAM, and 2TB SSD - $19,999. The new Mac Studio trounces that computer handily in both CPU and GPU, and costs $6199.


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## marius_dm (Mar 8, 2022)

Help me understand, why do people want to pay $1000 extra for the Ultra with additional graphics cores if they’re not into video?


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## YahmezTV (Mar 8, 2022)

marius_dm said:


> Help me understand, why do people want to pay $1000 extra for the Ultra with additional graphics cores if they’re not into video?


128g of ram only available in ultra.


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## marius_dm (Mar 8, 2022)

YahmezTV said:


> 128g of ram only available in ultra.


What I meant was that there are two versions of the Ultra, the one with more GPU cores is $1000 extra. Both support 128gb.


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

It is quite the step up from my loaded 2014 MBP


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## Virtuoso (Mar 8, 2022)

marius_dm said:


> What I meant was that there are two versions of the Ultra, the one with more GPU cores is $1000 extra. Both support 128gb.


Well you could also say that you save $1000 if you don't need a 64 core GPU! Good to have options.


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

Is a nano screen for the $300 extra?


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## resonate (Mar 8, 2022)

charlieclouser said:


> "But there's still one more product to transition to Apple Silicon - Mac Pro... but that's for another day"


$8000?, naah let's make it - $6999


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

marius_dm said:


> Help me understand, why do people want to pay $1000 extra for the Ultra with additional graphics cores if they’re not into video?


They probably wouldn't. The 48-core GPU on the Ultra is way more than sufficient.

But if you are already spending $5-6K ($800 for 128 GB of RAM, and one of the larger SSD's), another $1000 isn't that big of a deal. These are machines that will be used for many years, it makes sense to get the absolute best you can afford, even if it may not be much use for you right now. You may decide to get into more video editing, or perhaps a future sample library technology could leverage the GPU in some way.


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

David Kudell said:


> It’s not expensive when you realize it smokes a 28 core Mac Pro that goes for like $25,000.


But it is expensive when you consider the M1 Max version is half the price. There is no difference between the machines except for there being two M1 Max chips instead of one. It should be around 1.5X the price.

And the comment saying there is only one model left to transition to Apple Silicon (the Mac Pro) *seriously* concerns me. I've been using 27" iMacs since they first came out (and was using the largest 24" ones before that for some time, too).


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## GeoMax (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> But it is expensive when you consider the M1 Max version is half the price. There is no difference between the machines except for there being two M1 Max chips instead of one. It should be around 1.5X the price.


So the M1 Max version is basically like the current loaded Mac Pro?


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## samphony (Mar 8, 2022)

For the composer crowd this id plenty of power!!!!


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## SupremeFist (Mar 8, 2022)

Do I _need _a Mac Studio to continue my periodic issuance of pensive solo piano music? 

No. But also, _yes. _

(This will definitely be my next when my i7 Mini feels old but I'm surprised how ugly I find it. Something off with the proportions.)


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## KerrySmith (Mar 8, 2022)

I want to order the full monty right away.... but I'm going to wait for some real-world testing and reviews to see: how noise and heat management fare, how durable its power supply/management is, how the video adapts to older displays, and how well "128 GB" of RAM is utilized in Kontakt-heavy sessions with the AS architecture. This would also be a great time for OWC or someone to intro a TB4 box with a PCI-e slot, 4x NVME slots and an internal USC-A/C connection to stick you iLok in.


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## ALittleNightMusic (Mar 8, 2022)

Is the RAM user upgradable?


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## samphony (Mar 8, 2022)

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Is the RAM user upgradable?


No


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## samphony (Mar 8, 2022)

I’ll go for the ultra with 128 gb ram and the 48core gpu and 2-4 tb internal ssd as it’s a desktop mac. My MacBook Pro m1max with 8tb ssd is great for mobile work.


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

SupremeFist said:


> Do I _need _a Mac Studio to continue my periodic issuance of pensive solo piano music?
> 
> No. But also, _yes. _
> 
> (This will definitely be my next when my i7 Mini feels old but I'm surprised how ugly I find it. Something off with the proportions.)


Yeah, I agree. a 6" cube would have the same internal volume and would have looked much better IMO. Basically a mini G4 cube.

Or slightly wider and deeper but not as tall. 9" x 9" x 2.7" is also equal volume.

It just looks too tall compared to its width and depth. Either embrace the symmetry of a cube, or give it a slightly bigger footprint but shorter.


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## mscp (Mar 8, 2022)

David Kudell said:


> It’s not expensive when you realize it smokes a 28 core Mac Pro that goes for like $25,000.


28-core mac doesn't cost 25k. It's a bit less than half of that. You must be adding a combination of stuff not available in the Mac Studio. Nevertheless, great little box that will certainly address the small studio/suite crowd.

I've always told people Mac Pros are overkill for music studios. The Mac Studio M1 Max will probably be enough as well CPU-wise. I'm shelling out for an Ultra though for the 128gb ram though. I just need to figure out how I'm going to bring all my NVMEs to TB3/4 connectivity and drop my PC altogether.


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## IFM (Mar 8, 2022)

I wonder how important it is to have the singular large internal drive and put everything (projects/samples) on it or just get enough for the system and keep running everything else on the external SSD's.


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## David Kudell (Mar 8, 2022)

mscp said:


> 28-core mac doesn't cost 25k. It's a bit less than half of that. You must be adding a combination of stuff not available in the Mac Studio. Nevertheless, great little box that will certainly address the small studio/suite crowd.
> 
> I've always told people Mac Pros are overkill for music studios. The Mac Studio M1 Max will probably be enough as well CPU-wise. I'm shelling out for an Ultra though for the 128gb ram though. I just need to figure out how I'm going to bring all my NVMEs to TB3/4 connectivity and drop my PC altogether.


I priced it out and it's $19,999 for the 28 core, 96GB of RAM, 6900X GPU, and only 2TB of storage. The Mac Studio is $6199 for the same specs (with even more RAM actually - 128GB).


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## KEM (Mar 8, 2022)

@Pier my Apple fanboyism just reached a new level


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## SirKen (Mar 8, 2022)

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Is the RAM user upgradable?


The whole point of the ARM CPUs are to embed the RAM into the CPU for performance gains (dumbing it down a bit here but you get the point). 

It is unlikely to see any one of these ARM CPUs supporting RAM upgrades at any point in the future.


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## mscp (Mar 8, 2022)

David Kudell said:


> I priced it out and it's $19,999 for the 28 core, 96GB of RAM, 6900X GPU, and only 2TB of storage. The Mac Studio is $6199 for the same specs (with even more RAM actually - 128GB).


That's not because of Intel though. It's the third-party Apple tax (GPU/Storage/RAM). If you don't go with Apple for storage/Ram/gpu, you can build one for way cheaper.


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## BassClef (Mar 8, 2022)

IFM said:


> I wonder how important it is to have the singular large internal drive and put everything (projects/samples) on it or just get enough for the system and keep running everything else on the external SSD's.


Good question. I currently have all large data files (music, photos, videos, VI libraries) on external SSDs and they are plenty fast enough now. A later upgrade for me to Thunderbolt 4 NVMe drives would be the next logical upgrade. So... I'll likely just get a 2TB internal in my new Mac Studio.


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## BassClef (Mar 8, 2022)

David Kudell said:


> I priced it out and it's $19,999 for the 28 core, 96GB of RAM, 6900X GPU, and only 2TB of storage. The Mac Studio is $6199 for the same specs (with even more RAM actually - 128GB).


Sold!!!


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## SupremeFist (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Yeah, I agree. a 6" cube would have the same internal volume and would have looked much better IMO. Basically a mini G4 cube.


Yeah, I guess that's the price of getting rid of Jony Ive. You get back usable keyboards on your laptops but your enclosures look meh.


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## IFM (Mar 8, 2022)

BassClef said:


> Good question. I currently have all large data files (music, photos, videos, VI libraries) on external SSDs and they are plenty fast enough now. A later upgrade for me to Thunderbolt 4 NVMe drives would be the next logical upgrade. So... I'll likely just get a 2TB internal in my new Mac Studio.


That's what I was thinking about too.


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## davidson (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> But it is expensive when you consider the M1 Max version is half the price. There is no difference between the machines except for there being two M1 Max chips instead of one. It should be around 1.5X the price.


It's also got 2x the ram and 2x the internal drive size. Also, it's not just two m1 max chips combined, it's the architecture apple have used to combined them and the bandwidth and speed increases that brings. For example, it's 8 x the performance (so they say) of the original m1 but it only has 4x as many performance cores, so its not linear.


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> I was very excited until the pricing was announced. Base model M1 Max isn't binned like the MBP's, but even though there's no expensive display attached, it still starts at $1999 with 32 GB of memory and a 512 GB SSD.
> 
> $3999 for the M1 Ultra is crazy, and that's just with 64 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD. Only the CPU is doubled, so it shouldn't be double the price.





David Kudell said:


> It’s not expensive when you realize it smokes a 28 core Mac Pro that goes for like $25,000.


AND it's twice as high. What more could you want???

A Big Mac-mini


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

David Kudell said:


> I just configured the current Mac Pro with the 28 core Xeon, the Radeon W6900X, 96GB RAM, and 2TB SSD - $19,999. The new Mac Studio trounces that computer handily in both CPU and GPU, and costs $6199.


Well, if you want to go for the cheapo model ...


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## jneebz (Mar 8, 2022)

Holy…..crap. Finally Apple hits the sweet spot for media composers! Goodbye tax refund…


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

marius_dm said:


> Help me understand, why do people want to pay $1000 extra for the Ultra with additional graphics cores if they’re not into video?


80% of audio is video. That's why Kontakt has been unresizable for ages.


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Is the RAM user upgradable?


Yes, but you have to stick your finger in the USB port.


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## colony nofi (Mar 8, 2022)

GeoMax said:


> Why always a 27" monitor :(
> I need a larger screen than that


Dell 5k2k 40” is an absolute composers dream. 
Will work wonderfully with this new mac


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## samphony (Mar 8, 2022)

IFM said:


> I wonder how important it is to have the singular large internal drive and put everything (projects/samples) on it or just get enough for the system and keep running everything else on the external SSD's.


For my 16” m1max i went for the 8tb internal ssd but for a desktop machine like this I’ll go for 2-4tb internal because I still have a black magic dock and several nvme external drives which deliver plenty of performance for sample streaming.


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## Jett Hitt (Mar 8, 2022)

I just can't quite grasp adding $2200 to the price to add 64GB of RAM. I have 160GB of RAM spread over a couple of machines that I already own--machines that only need a VEP license. Sure, I'd get 10 more cores, but do I really need them? I suspect that the onboard 64GB will do most of what I need unless I start playing with mic options in the Berlin Mains. Do I really need to lay out all that extra cash for 10 cores and 64GB of RAM?


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## KerrySmith (Mar 8, 2022)

and for what it's worth, if you want 128 GB of memory, you probably won't receive it before the end of May at this point. 









Mac Studio and Studio Display shipping estimates slipping into May hours after launch


Pre-orders for the Mac Studio and Studio Display are open just hours after Apple's spring event and shipping estimates are already into May.




9to5mac.com


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## ALittleNightMusic (Mar 8, 2022)

Curious how folks value the M1 Ultra vs. Max for music production - seems like the Max Mac Studio is already almost 3x faster than my i9 iMac...which is already quite a beast for Logic / Cubase orchestral tracks / big templates.

Also in terms of 64GB vs. 128GB RAM, I have read the M1 Macs are more efficient or something in their RAM utilization? So 128GB with an Intel Mac may not necessarily be any better than 64GB with an M1? Or is 128GB even necessary with the throughput of the TB3 ports now and SSD drives?


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## Vik (Mar 8, 2022)

Jett Hitt said:


> I just can't quite grasp adding $2200 to the price to add 64GB of RAM.


The only way they can offer you 64gb RAM now is to let you buy a system which contains two M1 Max cards with 64gb each. As the Apple Silicon computers continue to evolve, we'll probably be able to get a system with the power of one single M1 Mac, but with 128gb RAM.


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## will_m (Mar 8, 2022)

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Also in terms of 64GB vs. 128GB RAM, I have read the M1 Macs are more efficient or something in their RAM utilization? So 128GB with an Intel Mac may not necessarily be any better than 64GB with an M1?


If you're talking things like Kontakt usage then memory capacity is still needed, 64GB on an M1 will not be the same as 128GB on a non M1 Mac. You will literally be able to load half as many samples into RAM.


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Curious how folks value the M1 Ultra vs. Max for music production - seems like the Max Mac Studio is already almost 3x faster than my i9 iMac...which is already quite a beast for Logic / Cubase orchestral tracks / big templates.
> 
> Also in terms of 64GB vs. 128GB RAM, I have read the M1 Macs are more efficient or something in their RAM utilization? So 128GB with an Intel Mac may not necessarily be any better than 64GB with an M1? Or is 128GB even necessary with the throughput of the TB3 ports now and SSD drives?


Others may have more quantified info, but the M1 is also using the fast internal drive for swap. Although so far Logic shows zero disk activity for my 32 Gb MBP with about 70 tracks *** oops, _voices_ of Opus.


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## Flyo (Mar 8, 2022)

aeliron said:


> Others may have more quantified info, but the M1 is also using the fast internal drive for swap. Although so far Logic shows zero disk activity for my 32 Gb MBP with about 70 tracks of Opus.


Wos, you can run up to 70 opus tracks with a 32gb ram macbbok pro pro or max? 14' or 16' inch?


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

Flyo said:


> Wos, you can run up to 70 opus tracks with a 32gb ram macbbok pro pro or max? 14' or 16' inch?


Sorry, my post may be pretty misleading.

It's a 16", but no crazy ensemble parts all at once.

So ... although I may have many tracks in "on" state, not all those tracks are playing at once. Let me run a test and see ...

*Edit:*

Tried a quick stress test with 44 Opus tracks, including 2 2-voice tracks and 4 orchestrator instances (with about 38 voices total), so around 80 voices at once, and Ozone. Rosetta mode.

Some glitches if an instrument track is selected; none otherwise. Maybe a bit better in low latency mode. However, some cores def reaching for the 100.

*Edit 2:* Found an older project with 93 voices at once, and ... Huh. Found that *disabling the few Kontakt instruments* markedly reduces glitches, even when a VI is selected, and even when you see a 100% spike in the meter. M1 MODE NOW!

Again, others here have much better info than this!


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## Soundbed (Mar 8, 2022)

aeliron said:


> Sorry, my post may be pretty misleading.
> 
> It's a 16", but no crazy ensemble parts all at once.
> 
> ...


We all need to start talking about voice counts more than tracks, imho.


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## Soundbed (Mar 8, 2022)

Between the time I had the 1TB / 64GB in my cart and the time I decided to order it, the estimated shipping time moved one week later. 😲


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

Soundbed said:


> We all need to start talking about voice counts more than tracks, imho.


Yep, sorry. Updated post.


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## Soundbed (Mar 8, 2022)

aeliron said:


> Yep, sorry. Updated post.


Didn’t mean to sound accusatory. Myself included. I’ve got a script for a new Apple Silicon video drafted, where I am planning to mention this too. Track count loses its meaning when a “track” has 24 or 32 voices at a time.


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

Soundbed said:


> Didn’t mean to sound accusatory. Myself included. I’ve got a script for a new Apple Silicon video drafted, where I am planning to mention this too. Track count loses its meaning when a “track” has 24 or 32 voices at a time.


Yeah, and I'm in Rosetta to avoid the hanging notes in the Orchestrator. I've read around here that M1 mode is better.


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## aeliron (Mar 8, 2022)

Soundbed said:


> Didn’t mean to sound accusatory. Myself included. I’ve got a script for a new Apple Silicon video drafted, where I am planning to mention this too. Track count loses its meaning when a “track” has 24 or 32 voices at a time.


AND looking forward to that video!


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## emilio_n (Mar 8, 2022)

Got it! Finally, I can retire my old friend iMac.
I got the Ultra with 128GB of RAM but I just got 2TB of storage (I want 8TB but the price is crazy!

I am the happiest poor man now!

Time to ask about suggestions for a good TB4 external storage solution. (Hopefully expandable and fast to put all the Syncron libraries there)
Any suggestions?


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## Justin L. Franks (Mar 8, 2022)

emilio_n said:


> Got it! Finally, I can retire my old friend iMac.
> I got the Ultra with 128GB of RAM but I just got 2TB of storage (I want 8TB but the price is crazy!
> 
> I am the happiest poor man now!
> ...


Not much yet in the TB4 department. But there is the TB3 OWC Express 4M2. Four NVMe slots, $249 or $349 with RAID support via OWC's SoftRAID software.


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## emilio_n (Mar 8, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Not much yet in the TB4 department. But there is the TB3 OWC Express 4M2. Four NVMe slots, $249 or $349 with RAID support via OWC's SoftRAID software.


This is the one that I am looking for. The only downside is that I need to put all the 4 M.2 slots to get the max speed. 4tb M.2 are still very expensive! I know I can buy a smaller SSD m.2 but I will need to replace it sooner than later.


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## IvanP (Mar 9, 2022)

wow...really tempting...

Since we would need to use external TB4 external storage solution, can anybody share how much noise does an SSD Dock does? 

Never used one as I've always used silent desktop computers, and I'd be worried if it would add significant noise to the studio


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## IFM (Mar 9, 2022)

KerrySmith said:


> and for what it's worth, if you want 128 GB of memory, you probably won't receive it before the end of May at this point.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you don't need the two TB4 ports on the front you can configure a Max machine into a nice Ultra with 48 GPU, 128GB Ram, and a 2TB SSD for the end of March/Early April


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## Vik (Mar 9, 2022)

ridgero said:


> RIP Mac Pro


Probably no RIP yet. They'll most likely make a high end Mac with plenty of room to install more storage, and with more power than the newest model.

I hope they also are working on a model where one can add more processor power, a la what they did with combining two M1 Max cards to one M1 Ultra card.

Also – they may want to wait with a totally new Mac Pro until they are on the not yet released M2-series. M2 Ultra? Once the current, new Macs are proven to work as expected the orchestral heavyweighters, is stable with Kontakt and the other players, all DAWs (hello, Avid) are AS ready, and all copy protection solutions (hello, iLok) work, the current new models should already be brilliant for VI users.


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## aeliron (Mar 9, 2022)

emilio_n said:


> Got it! Finally, I can retire my old friend iMac.
> I got the Ultra with 128GB of RAM but I just got 2TB of storage (I want 8TB but the price is crazy!
> 
> I am the happiest poor man now!


REAL artists sleep in tents under bridges, hugging their computers!


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## rnb_2 (Mar 9, 2022)

emilio_n said:


> Got it! Finally, I can retire my old friend iMac.
> I got the Ultra with 128GB of RAM but I just got 2TB of storage (I want 8TB but the price is crazy!
> 
> I am the happiest poor man now!
> ...


I just found this Sonnet combo dock/SSD enclosure last night - since it's only 2 NVMe connections, you get 1500MB/s from a single drive, ~3000MB/s with two in RAID.


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## Flyo (Mar 9, 2022)

rnb_2 said:


> I just found this Sonnet combo dock/SSD enclosure last night - since it's only 2 NVMe connections, you get 1500MB/s from a single drive, ~3000MB/s with two in RAID.


This could be a great option to the OWC (x4 nvme) enclosure


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## synthetic (Mar 14, 2022)

Anyone using the GSPEED Shuttle 4? Looks like a good solution for Mac Studio. 4 drive bays with Thunderbolt 4 and hardware RAID. The 24GB model is $2k.


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## Tonus (Jul 8, 2022)

I too would be interested to know which of the enclosures mentioned above were silent/whisper quiet...


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