Apple fans, start typing your angry comments now… M2 Ultra Mac Studio Review

Summary

In this detailed review of the M2 Ultra Max Studio, the narrator critiques Apple's marketing claims, particularly the misleading performance comparisons. Despite the impressive hardware of Apple's M2 Ultra, with its enhanced GPU and CPU, real-world tests fail to match the advertised performance, especially in 3D rendering and code compiling. However, the M2 Ultra excels in efficiency, with impressive power consumption and lower idle power. The high price tag is a significant concern, as it costs significantly more than comparable PC builds. Ultimately, the M2 Ultra's value is debated, especially when compared to its competitors.

Takeaways

• 😀 The M2 Ultra Max Studio features impressive hardware, but its performance claims by Apple are highly questionable, especially when compared to older models and other high-end competitors.
• 😀 Apple's marketing of the M2 Ultra, particularly their misleading use of performance graphs, has caused frustration. The comparison against outdated hardware (like a three-year-old iMac) is not a fair representation of its capabilities.
• 😀 Despite the hardware upgrades, the M2 Ultra did not show the expected performance improvements in 3D rendering benchmarks like Octane X, where real-world performance fell short of Apple's claims.
• 😀 The M2 Ultra's GPU performance, while improved, still cannot compete with the RTX 4090 in rendering tasks, with the M2 Ultra reaching just under 30% of the RTX 4090’s performance.
• 😀 Apple's power efficiency in the M2 Ultra Max Studio is impressive, with the system drawing a maximum of 331 watts under load and just 18.5 watts at idle, a clear advantage over high-performance PCs.
• 😀 The thermal performance of the M2 Ultra Max Studio is not as good as expected under heat stress tests, with the system throttling performance at higher temperatures, unlike the RTX 4090, which performs better in such conditions.
• 😀 Apple’s claims about color grading performance in DaVinci Resolve were also misleading. In real-world tests, the M2 Ultra performed slower than the M1 Ultra and did not deliver the expected 50% speedup.
• 😀 Code compilation performance did not meet Apple’s claims either, with the M2 Ultra failing to outperform the M2 Max by the claimed amount and not providing double the performance of the M1 Ultra.
• 😀 Apple’s premium pricing for the M2 Ultra Max Studio is a tough sell, especially when compared to a similarly priced PC build with a Core i9-13900K and RTX 4090, which is significantly cheaper and offers more power.
• 😀 Despite these performance issues, the M2 Ultra Max Studio is still a solid choice for those who are heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem, offering low power consumption, quiet operation, and seamless integration with Apple’s software tools.

Q & A

What is the primary issue with Apple's M2 Ultra Max Studio according to the script?

The primary issue is with Apple's misleading marketing, where they make exaggerated performance claims. The review highlights discrepancies between Apple's advertised performance and real-world results, especially in 3D rendering and other benchmark tests.

How does the M2 Ultra's performance compare to the M1 Ultra?

While the M2 Ultra offers some improvements in terms of clock speeds and GPU cores, the performance gains in real-world tests, such as 3D rendering, are not as significant as Apple's marketing suggests. In some cases, the M2 Ultra's performance is similar to or slightly better than the M1 Ultra.

What did the reviewer find suspicious about Apple's Octane X render performance claims?

The reviewer found Apple's Octane X render performance claims suspicious because the X-axis on their graph was unlabeled, and their comparison metrics seemed to suggest the M2 Ultra was three times faster than the M1 Ultra, which was not the case in the reviewer's own tests.

What were the limitations of the M2 Ultra in GPU performance as compared to an RTX 4090?

The M2 Ultra's GPU performance was significantly behind the RTX 4090, achieving only about 30% of the RTX 4090's performance in 3D rendering tests. Despite improvements in GPU cores and clock speeds, it still couldn't compete with high-end GPUs like the RTX 4090 in terms of raw rendering power.

What is the reviewer's opinion on the price of the M2 Ultra Max Studio?

The reviewer finds the price of the M2 Ultra Max Studio to be outrageously high. At $4,000 for the base model, and an additional $1,000 for the M2 Ultra configuration, it is considered excessively expensive, especially when compared to a similarly priced high-performance PC setup.

How does the M2 Ultra perform in comparison to Intel and PC hardware in terms of CPU power?

In terms of CPU performance, the M2 Ultra performs well compared to the Intel Core i9-13900K, being about 90% as fast in single-threaded tasks and similar in multi-threaded tasks. It is competitive, but not leading in this aspect compared to the latest Intel CPUs.

What does the reviewer think of Apple's marketing focus on power consumption?

The reviewer feels that Apple's focus on power efficiency should have been a key selling point, as the M2 Ultra is highly efficient, consuming only 331 watts under load, compared to much higher consumption from similar high-end CPUs and GPUs like the Core i9 and RTX 4090.

How did the M2 Ultra Max Studio perform in thermal testing?

In thermal testing, the M2 Ultra Max Studio performed well at room temperature, but it showed signs of performance throttling at higher temperatures (35°C), with the system not ramping up the fan speed sufficiently to avoid throttling. This could be a concern in warmer environments.

What improvements did the M2 Ultra Max Studio bring in terms of display and connectivity?

The M2 Ultra Max Studio features substantially improved display bandwidth, capable of supporting up to three 8K displays, which resolves previous limitations of the M1 Ultra. It also includes an upgraded Wi-Fi 6E module and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

What does the reviewer suggest about Apple's approach to benchmarks and real-world performance?

The reviewer emphasizes the importance of using a full suite of benchmarks to accurately assess real-world performance, pointing out that single benchmarks can be misleading. For example, while Apple selects benchmarks that show their product in the best light, real-world tasks can produce different results.