Mac Studio Is Perfect for the Content Creator Workflow

Speaker 1: The Mac studio is here and it's geared toward a very specific demographic. And it's right in the name studio, apple is designed the machine from the inside out to cater to creators like me and their workspaces. Along with the Mac studio, apple released their new 5k, 27 inch studio display. Now some of you may be angry that apple released two [00:00:30] products instead of just an updated iMac pro, but I'm not. I think that this combo gives you more flexibility and may even help you save money, depending on your setup. As a content creator and professional video editor. I was curious to see how the new studio and studio display would fit into my current setup and workflow, especially since this is Apple's least expensive pro desktop. Now that the iMac pro is gone today, I'm gonna walk you through my take on both devices, [00:01:00] my thought process, whether or not I would consider them and how they relate to my day to day workflow. Speaker 1: Now, in order for me to explain my thought process, I need to give you some background on who I am and my current workstation. So I've been professionally video editing for nearly a decade. Now I started in TV development where I edited sizzle reels, which are basically trailers for TV shows that [00:01:30] production companies wanna sell. Then after that, I headed over to America's got talent, where I edited a bunch of digital content. And then before I came over to CNET for the last three years, I was on YouTube editing, nearly all of my videos. And here we go. Speaker 1: As you can see behind me, I'm a final cut, 10 editor. And I know some of you are laughing. A lot of people don't take me seriously for it, but I think it's incredibly fast and efficient for my workflow. I've edited on most of the editing softwares from [00:02:00] premier to avid to de Vici resolve and this one in best and fastest final cut. 10 only works on Mac OS. So when the Mac studio was announced, it instantly caught my eye. Let me tell you about my current setup and to do that. Let's head over to my place and check it out. First and foremost, I will always prioritize my at-home editing station because it's where I edit the most. And I've built an ideal workplace. I've got my standing desk, my ergonomic chair, and on the desk, I've got my 20, 21 14 inch MacBook [00:02:30] pro with the M one pro chip it's connected to a 27 inch LG ultra fine 5k monitor. Speaker 1: I've got some nice speakers that way I can blast my edits and easily mixed projects. And I'm using a Thunderbolt three doc to connect all of my device, to my laptop through a single cable. All right, back to the office. I decided to go with the 14 inch when it came out in late 2021, because at the time it felt like my best option. An Intel powered Mac pro desktop would've [00:03:00] been overkill for my editing needs not to mention way too expensive for my budget, but had the Mac studio come out alongside the new MacBook pros. I probably would've opted to go for that instead. Here's why my M one pro 14 inch costs about $2,500. And that's with one terabyte upgraded storage, the base model of the Mac studio, which has the more powerful M one max chip starts at $2,000. And would've cost another $200 for the same one terabyte upgrade. Speaker 1: [00:03:30] So $2,200, that's a big difference. And so the fact that I already own a great 5k display keyboard and mouse means I will wouldn't need to buy anything else to make it work. It would've been an easy decision to grab the Mac studio for my home office and I'd use my older 20 16, 16 inch MacBook pro, which I already owned at the time as an on-the-go editing system. Now, obviously, if you don't already have a monitor and the peripherals, then the Mac studio may not be as good a deal as it would be [00:04:00] for me. But if laying out the money for a monitor, isn't a deal breaker. There's the studio display, which starts at $1,600 and some other less expensive monitors. All of which I'll get into in just a bit. It is instantly obvious that the max studio was created for pros just by these ports that we have in the front ports are baby. Speaker 1: So we've got two us CS in the front for the ultra model, their Thunderbolt fours and an SD card reader. Now having these in the front while it [00:04:30] seems so simple is such a beautiful luxury to have when you're running around the house shooting content, and you just want to quickly upload footage to the computer. I have that with my Thunderbolt four doc at home, and now you got that here with this. You could also charge your devices with the ports in the front or connect a hard drive to easily transfer footage. Apple is finally giving us form over function. We saw it with the MacBook pros this fall, and we're seeing it here again. Now that Johnny ive, their former chief design officer is gone. [00:05:00] We're gonna, these ports, Speaker 2: True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation. Speaker 1: You know what? I just want easy access. Speaking of ports on the back, we've got four Thunderbolt, four ports, and those are gonna be more than enough for connecting monitors and hard drives. This device kind of acts like my Thunderbolt doc that I have at home. It allows me to connect everything. I need my speakers, my monitor, my hard drives right in the [00:05:30] back, and it keeps it nice and clean on my desk with less wires. I also love the minimal size of this thing. This is like small enough for me to put in my carryon Lu edge and believe it or not. I have traveled with desktop computers in the past. I used to have a 5k iMac, and I literally would put it in its box and travel around with it because I didn't have a laptop at the time. So I would take my projects on the, go with this huge box. Speaker 1: Now with this, I could see myself putting this in my luggage, [00:06:00] my carry on and taking it on the go. And then all I need is a portable monitor, bring my keyboard of mouse. And then you're gonna see me at the Delta lounge editing on this thing. Let's talk power. Ultimately the only people who should consider the Mac studio should be people who are running intensive software. If you don't need power, but still want an apple desktop. I say, check out the Mac mini or the 24 inch iMac. Now I'm not what you would call a power user. Most of the sizzle reels I've edited use ripped 10 P footage plus [00:06:30] some multi-layered graphics. And my tech videos are shot in 4k, two camera angles at most and have some simple graphics. Both of these workflows run just fine on my N one pro 14 inch using final cut and playing the cut at better quality with that said the Mac studio would speed up my workflow, a ton, taking a look at C's benchmarks. Speaker 1: Even the max studio's base level M one max would outperform my current and more expensive 14 inch laptop. On top of that, the Mac studio has an intricate [00:07:00] cooling system, which takes up the top half of its internals because of that. The M one max actually performs slightly better in the Mac studio than on the MacBook pro. I spent a few days editing on this Mac studio, which has the M one max chip. And the speed boost was obvious editing UN rendered footage and graphics was more snappy than my MacBook pro. And I was surprised by how much faster and seamless the cut played over intensive graphics. I didn't even need to render my cut before playback [00:07:30] exporting cuts was also significantly faster for my workflow. I don't see the need for power beyond the one. Max. I won't be coming close to editing the 18 streams of eight K video, which apple says the M one ultra can handle. The base model would be just fine for me. Now, let's talk about this guy, the studio display, when it was first announced, I was very excited. Speaker 3: This is Mac studio and studio display, but Speaker 1: Since then, my excitement has [00:08:00] kind of faded. First off, it goes for $1,600, which is significantly less than Apple's pro XDR display, which starts at $5,000 and another $1,000 for the stand. So thank you apple for releasing a monitor with a more realistic price for the average consumer, but even at six, $1,500, I don't think the studio display offers enough value, especially when you compare it to other monitors on the market. Yes, the studio display includes a stand, which [00:08:30] is a great start. Can't believe I'm saying that, but it doesn't have height adjustment by default and using it. The screen felt too low and I found myself Crain my, my neck and having bad posture. I'd have to use a shelf to prop this screen up, to feel more comfortable. Speaker 1: Personally, I would swap out the stand for the visa amount, which comes at no extra cost and I'd attach it to a monitor arm. There is the option to get a stand with height adjustment, like on the pro XDR, but that costs an extra [00:09:00] $400. If you're not getting it, initially, apple can replace that later on all that said there are other monitors that offer nearly the same visual quality as the studio display at a fraction, the cost and believe it or not with height adjustment, go figure. As far as 5k goes, I love my 27 inch LG ultra fine, which is $1,300. And also comes in a 24 inch model for $800. The main differences here are that the LG monitor is made of [00:09:30] plastic and its peak brightness is 500 nits versus the 600 NS of the studio display. There are also lots of other 4k monitors, which would work just fine for me personally, including the Dell ultra sharp, which is about $600. And it's almost the same specs, just a lower resolution and a peak brightness of 320 knits. And you may be saying, but Justin, the studio display has great speakers and that's true for a monitor. It has a six speaker system, which apple says Speaker 4: These are [00:10:00] by far the highest fidelity speakers we've ever created for the Mac. Speaker 1: The speakers sound great, but as a video creator, I'm nitpicky, I prefer much better sound quality in my edit bay, and I'd still opt to use my professional speakers. If you're not at editing with video, then these speakers will probably be fine for your audio needs. If you are a pro user, the M one ultra max studio may be a great option, but if your workflow is similar to mine, you probably don't need anything stronger [00:10:30] than the base model M one max model. If you already have an editing laptop, but you're looking for your next upgrade, this could be a great option for you. Keep your older laptop as an on the go machine. And when necessary you can edit in low res proxy files, which is super easy to create on final 10, at least then off res thoses on your Mac studio. When you get home personally, I'm happy with my current 14 inch MacBook pro and I don't need a Mac studio in edit to it just yet, but I kind of really [00:11:00] want one. If I didn't already have the 14 inch, I'd go for the Mac studio at home and have a less expensive MacBook pro or MacBook air for travel and proxy editing. If you wanna learn more, check out our full review of the Mac studio with the link down in the description and for more content like this, be sure to hit that subscribe button. If you enjoyed the video, give it a like I'm Justin and I'll take you later.