WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.520 Are my expectations too high? 00:00:10.520 --> 00:00:15.320 Has my view of Apple and their products shifted? 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:21.360 Cause everyone's noticing something. 00:00:22.360 --> 00:00:26.360 I feel like he's gotten so much more cynical about Apple since he started working here. 00:00:26.360 --> 00:00:27.360 I really think so. 00:00:36.360 --> 00:00:38.360 Have I changed? Or has Apple? 00:00:44.360 --> 00:00:49.360 Look at the settings page. It's just insane how small the buttons are. 00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:57.280 People who sit near me at the office note that I moan a lot, sometimes about things 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.920 that are trivial and sometimes about things that are not. 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.680 In my recent videos, I spent a lot of time complaining about the input cable placement 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:11.020 on two otherwise beautifully designed displays, I've complained about the iPhone SE's aged 00:01:11.020 --> 00:01:17.360 form factor and increased price, and I've questioned why the latest iPads need an M1, 00:01:17.360 --> 00:01:20.360 though that's been answered in its own annoying way. 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:23.360 Oh, and then there are all the policy choices. 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:30.360 The scrappy underdog days of Apple are long over, and what we're left with is such a big 00:01:30.360 --> 00:01:36.360 and powerful company. Decisions they make impact billions of people, and so with power that 00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:39.360 immense, they basically become a political institution. 00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:44.360 That means people are rightly frustrated about things like developer relations, repair restrictions, 00:01:44.360 --> 00:01:46.360 heck, even updates. 00:01:47.360 --> 00:01:53.360 I don't view having a little bit of skepticism as a bad thing. In tech journalism, one has 00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:57.360 to be a curmudgeon. Wisbang marketers are very good at conjuring up excitement for their 00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:01.360 latest products, and it's very easy to be swept up in it all. 00:02:02.360 --> 00:02:07.360 I know this, and I try very hard not to be. But I don't know, sometimes I worry that 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:12.360 my healthy skepticism might transform into malignant cynicism, and who wants to watch 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.360 that guy? Wouldn't you rather watch someone who's ecstatic about what they're covering? 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:23.360 And yet, here I am with a brand new, kitted out Mac Studio, yet I have more criticism 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.360 than I was expecting, which is why I haven't done a video on it yet. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.360 We ordered a fully rammed up M1 Ultra model alongside a base M1 Macs model for Anthony 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:36.360 to compare both sides of the performance spectrum, which you can check out over at LTT. 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:41.360 That M1 Ultra model, however, because it was custom, took months to arrive. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:48.360 So, when I sat behind this M1 Macs model and did some of my own testing, I realized that 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:51.360 it performs just as well as an equivalent MacBook Pro. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:56.360 The M1 Macs is amazing in a laptop, but on a desktop, the expectations are a little different. 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.360 You're plugged into a wall, and the enclosure is bigger so you can cool more. 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:02.360 Efficiency isn't as beneficial. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:07.360 I mean, I should concede that this hardware efficiency is actually really beneficial 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.360 out here in the beach. I mean, we're running this off battery. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.360 So, it couldn't really wax poetic about the performance, so what else is there to talk about? 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:20.360 The Mac Studio takes on the form of a much taller Mac Mini. 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:26.360 It's a nice, if not dated design, and in a funny irony, Apple now has the hardware efficiency 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:29.360 to do the radical designs they did in the past. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.360 And yet, this is what we got. 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:37.360 Something based on a computer that was always meant to be cheap, which this is not. 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:42.360 And then there's the framing that Apple launched the Mac Studio with. 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:48.360 On the website and in the presentation, they compared the Mac Studio to a fully-specced iMac 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:55.360 and a mid-range Mac Pro. And yes, when you price out an M1 Mac's Apple Studio with a display keyboard and mouse, 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:02.360 it comes out to the exact same price as a fully-equipped 2020 iMac at $3,900. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:08.360 The M1 Ultra model, on the other hand, looks less like a Mac Pro and more like a successor 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:14.360 to the long-discontinued iMac Pro because, look, both come out to $6,000. 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:20.360 So where's the mid-range desktop? You can get an M1 in a Mac Mini, or iMac, 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:24.360 or you can get an M1 Mac's, or Ultra for that matter, in this. 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:28.360 The M1 Pro, which is a good balance, isn't available. 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:33.360 If you need more CPU power, you have to jump up to the M1 Mac's then, 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.360 and that might have more GPU power than you otherwise need 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.360 to say nothing of the jump to the M1 Ultra. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.360 So my response to the Mac Studio is that it's a decent but confused computer, 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.360 offering only a smattering of value for a select group of professionals 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:51.360 who are probably still better off waiting for the apps they rely on 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.360 to better support Apple's new architecture. If you buy a fully-specced 2020 iMac, you don't have to feel bad. 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:01.360 See, I really had high expectations for the Mac Studio, 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:05.360 and while others were really enthusiastic about it, I, for some reason, was unimpressed. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.360 I think they wanted to make a 27-inch iMac, but for some reason they couldn't. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.360 So we were left with these in their compromises. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:19.360 There's that cynicism again. I think I need to take some time to appreciate some of the great things Apple has done, 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.360 much of which during the pandemic. I love that the iPhone 13 Mini exists. 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:27.360 No one else makes a phone this capable and this small. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.360 I still love how personal and colorful the iMac is, making it a statement piece for the home. 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:35.360 I love the silent performance of the MacBook Air. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.360 I love their trackpads. I love their overall build quality and reliability. 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:42.360 I love seeing the return and inclusion of important I.O. 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.360 And I do like that Apple listens. I'll be very stubbornly. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:48.360 I mean, we did get the Mac Pro in 2019. 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:52.360 We avoided a bad user interface design in Safari last year, 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:55.360 and we can now repair devices at home. 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.360 I'm not gonna list the caveats. I'm not gonna list the caveats. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:10.360 I'm not gonna list the caveats. We are gonna begin the transition from the PowerPC to Intel processors. 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:14.360 Architecture transitions are hard and really annoying. 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:18.360 Apple's going through their third. There's bound to be growing pains. 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:22.360 In more powerful and demanding applications like the ones the Mac Studio is designed for, 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:27.360 they are amplified and harder to fix. So criticism can sound and feel cynical. 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:35.360 But I still have hope. As the hardware engineers slip into their iterative update cadence, 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:40.360 the hard work they've put into chip efficiency will be taken advantage by developers. 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:45.360 And the designers will be able to express themselves better. They've already done it with the iMac and the MacBook Pro. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:52.360 We just need a little bit of patience. I also have hope that as real political institutions recognize the power Apple has, 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.360 they'll create binding policies that will help the tech industry flourish with innovation 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.360 like it did in the more competitive days. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.360 Criticism and cynicism aren't the same thing, 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:05.360 but too much criticism can be a bad thing, 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:08.360 because you can forget to recognize really great accomplishments. 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:14.360 I, at the very least, want to remain balanced, enthused and excited for what's to come. 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:19.360 Now, on the other hand, I won't be changing my tune about Facebook or Uber. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.360 They don't even get me started on those. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.360 Thanks for listening to this therapy, I mean, Mac Address. 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:32.360 Now, if you like the Mac Studio, give this video a like. And if you're excited about what's to come, then you must subscribe. 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.360 Now, I'm curious in the comments where the weirdest place you've set up a desktop computer is, 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:38.360 because this is great.