Review: Mac Studio and the M1 Ultra for video editors - part 1 33
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Tom Fuller

I realise it’s normalising performance between machines but I reckon the raid or external SSD is going to be a massive massive bottleneck to full speed… it’d be better to export to the internal disk on the Mac Studio to see how fast it can really spit out files.

JOHN SPIROU

It doesn’t matter yout workflow, you make tests for speed here…sonyou have to put all footage in the main ssd. I will get 8tb disk exactly for getting this speed.

Dan Hopkins

Thanks for the review! I’m curious if you ended up running any comparisons with BRAW, or H265 media as your source. Even more curious, have you tested the M1 Max next to the Ultra in GPU intensive tasks such as NR / Neat Video fps playback and Speedwarp? I great test for Speedwarp is to do a Render in Place to ProRes 422 HQ and watch the fps indicator on the render bar.

Dan Hopkins

Thanks! The more reviews I see, the more I want to cancel my Ultra PreOrder and just keep the M1 Max MacBook. I am really hoping the extra CPU cores get utilized in Premiere / After Effects, and even more hope the double GPU core count is actually utilized in Resolve. Otherwise I don’t think the price is worth it. Also just hoping that software isn’t optimized quite yet.

Dan Lalonde

U

Last edited 2 years ago by Dan Lalonde
Robert Marsh

Why does no-one seem to use Final Cut Pro X and ProRes RAW or RAW HQ. I just want to see some export times in a pure ProRes workflow between the Max and Ultra. Apple hasn’t even shown it. That is literally the only thing I care about with this machine.

Last edited 2 years ago by Robert Marsh
Adam

Alternative monitor suggestions for macs which are almost as bright as the apple versions? 27” or bigger preferred thunderbolt etc hdr would be nice too

Daniel

Thanks for the timely review! Can’t wait for my Ultra to arrive next month. Would love to see some numbers directly comparing the Mac Studio Ultra to the Intel Macs most of us are probably upgrading from.

PS, Born In The USA?

Last edited 2 years ago by Daniel
Daniel

Also can I ask, how does your WD My Passport SSD perform on the Studio’s Thunderbolt ports? I’ve heard that M1 Macs have slower performance with USB disks than Intel Macs. Hoping this isn’t as much of an issue on the Studio…

vder

can u test 10 min 1080p h264 mp4 export for m1 vs m1 max vs m1 ultra vs pc(intel 12thgen plus nvidia)

JOHN SPIROU

Every test for speed , has to be with footage on the main hard disk, inside the machine. And of course apps are not yet optimized for new ultra cpu.

Marc Sandlhauser

Not sure of your reasoning here, Scott…? (but I really appreciate your testing!) I have a 4TB SSD in my M1 Max MacBook Pro. I would ALWAYS choose putting my footage there (if I have room–depending on the projects I have going on). Most external SSDs have 2080MB/s read speeds. I just tested my MacBook Pro and it’s 3289 MB/s Write and 6354 MB/s Read. So…why WOULDN’T you use the internal if it’s (likely) going to net you smoother playback (which, in my opinion is much better than shaving seconds or a couple minutes off of render times).

Russ

Any information on whether the machine is compatible with an external PCIe expansion chasis? I’ve read several places it won’t be compatible with external graphics processors, but I’m hoping for video and audio i/o boards.

Thank you for the review and looking forward to any tests you do.

Justin Schultz

What I’d really love to know is how these chips effect .mogrt playback or renders on sequences in Premiere.

cosal6564itio

why didnt you post 1080p h264 results, where is handbrake results?

Leo

What about just scrubbing H265 files on the Premiere timeline. This is the most important thing for me and where my current setup struggles the most.

David friedman

Just FYI since you mentioned it… the iMac Pro has 4 thunderbolt 3 ports across 2 busses.

Rob Crain

I love the article, Scott!!! Best one for the Studio so far! I especially like the test of converting a 1 minute red raw clip in the MacBook max max and with the ultra! Do you have a MacBook Pro 13 or air or mini m1 that you can test the same test on for comparison? I have the MacBook Pro 13″ and would really love to know how it compares in this test. Thanks!!!!

Rob Crain

I tried what I think is the same kind of clip that I downloaded from red.com. and I just rendered 1 minute of it. It took about 14 minutes with my m1 13″ MacBook Pro. So that means the ULTRA is 6.5x faster if I tested right!!

Chad

Can you post Handbrake HEVC VideoToolbox encoding speeds between M1 Ultra and M1 Max or Pro with latest Handbrake?

Last edited 1 year ago by Chad
Daniel Missirlian

Do you have that 8K RED clip available to download? I’d like to compare the transcode to my current machine.

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The blog post provides an in-depth review of the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra chip, focusing on its performance for video editing tasks. The author shares their experience with the machine, highlighting its compact design, connectivity options, and power efficiency. The detailed benchmark tests comparing the Mac Studio with the M1 Max MacBook Pro showcase the impressive rendering and exporting speeds, particularly in software like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere Pro.

The inclusion of insights about the Studio Display adds value to the review, discussing its audio capabilities, display features, and overall utility for video editing workflows. The comprehensive analysis, along with real-world testing, makes this review a valuable resource for professionals considering the Mac Studio for their editing needs.

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