Thoughts on the Mac Studio

Apple didn’t do much interesting through the twenty-teens in regards to the Mac, so the release of Mac Studio was a surprise. After watching Apple wander in the desert with the Mac Pro strategy, hanging the 2013 and 2019 Mac Pro out to dry after they released it, I was not expecting a prosumer Mac. From 1999 to 2012, the prosumer Mac was the entry level tower. And that was great, because I liked the tower configuration. And then, with the release of the 2013 Mac Pro, there was nothing. Apple has finally released something that might make the prosumer Mac users (who to this day have been buying and modding 2010/12 Mac Pros) turn their heads.

The Mac Studio is easily compared to the G4 Cube, but the cube was wedged between the iMac and PowerMac G4 where there was no room as far as pricing. The gap between the Mac Mini and Mac Pro in 2022 is huge and the Studio falls easily in the divide.

That’s three modular macs in the 2022 line. There’s been nothing like that since the Amelio line with the second generation PowerPC’s

6000-series = Mac Mini

7000-series = Mac Studio?

8000-series = Mac Studio?

9000-series = Mac Pro

So is the Studio a 7000 or 8000?

It seems it’s more like the 7000, just because the design is an extension of the desktop Mac Mini and not a tower

I had many years to think about how Apple could make a prosumer mac successful. I envisioned two possible machines, neither of them the Mac Studio:

1) An aluminum Mac Cube. Increasing the height of the Mac Mini to 7.7 inches makes a tidy cube. With the Cube format they could honour Steve by making his failed 'dream machine' a success. Third time’s a charm.

2) A mini tower Mac Pro, Actually have the engineering work they put into the 2019 Mac Pro available to a wider audience. Do this by shrinking the height, much like the beige Power Mac G3 vs. the 8600/9600

The Studio is meant to look like a bigger Mac Mini, but to me it looks like half a cube. I’m honestly not taken by the appearance in pictures. I would have to see it in person to really judge. While the Apple Store near me does not even have a Mac Pro, they will have a Mac Studio.

The M1 processor helped Apple find their way out of the desert, and it’s an amazing feat to finally build the “whole widget'' as Steve liked to say. Building your own processor is not something Apple could have done without the success of the mobile products. Now, instead of feeling like Apple is abandoning the Macintosh, it feels like there's been a long-term plan that’s falling into place. As my YouTube ‘About me’ has said, “I use a 2008 Mac Pro, waiting for Apple to do something great again to make me consider upgrading”.  This Mac Studio is worth a look.