I know nothing about Apple silicon so I mushed around about what does what regarding DAW use and found this video interesting among what I found...

According to this guy''s test, Logic, which you'd think be the most efficient use of the processor, is abysmally the worst

My current setup is such:

All 4 usb ports configed as follows
Audio I/O > 1 port
Dual OWC Dock w/2 audio content/sample drives > 1 port
Two separate usb hubs with my peripherals/controllers using a port each

My recording drive is using the firewire port. I use it there cause I can but it also has usb, which come
to think of it might be 2.0 being from firewire era.

Two Dell 16:10 22" monitors. One uses HDMI port. One using the mini display/thunderbolt port.
Thunderbolt is a total mystery to me

As of now I learned the difference between the M2Pro and M2max. Former less expensive geared mainly
towards cpu intensive task (DAW) while the Max (more$) having much more GPU cores added on geared
towards video/graphics/3D area.

While I do dabble in the graphics arena besides DAW, an M2pro would be fine for my playing around usage in graphics.

However, as it turns out, what I'd spec out for a Mini would be about as much for the entry Studio that'd give me a Max 12 core/30 core vs Pro 12 core/19 core for the Mini.

Reading around, people say that 16gb (and what i currently have) is way plenty enough memory for the average users DAW requirement. The Studio come with 32gb.

SSD size I'm a bit unsure about. Currently have 500gb drive that came stock. It has more than enough room for all my software which includes Logic and Live with lot more room to spare. All my content is on externals. A 1tb drive might be overkill for me.

Therefore a Studio for me would be::
M2 Max 12core|30core
32gb memory
512gb drive
2 x USB-A 3.0 / 3.1/3.2 Gen 1
2 x USB-C 3.1/3.2 Gen 2........... Help!! Do these work with all my usb 3 (and maybe usb 2) drives?? Do I need some kind of adapter cables in order to use these ports on the Studio with my externals?
Are my drives HFS+ format backward compatible?

Total ( +applecare) $2018

Mini
M2Pro 12core|19core
16gb memory
512gb drive
2 x USB-A 3.0 / 3.1/3.2 Gen 1..... Add a thunderbolt hub for more usb ports from OWC approx $200

Total ( +applecare) $1898

So about only a $100+ difference

Think it's about time I move from my mini. Live 11 is pretty much useless to me on this machine and 10 functions somewhat better though ... after the 20 minutes it takes for them to open, lol.
Was also reading M silicone macs horror stories with Live.... some kinda native/rosetta/AU conflicts or something

It would seem the Studio is the best choice? What your experience with M2 chips with Logic and
Live?

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2023

I would get the silicon mini but with the ethernet port upgrade. I think that model is like 50$ more. You can nearly get two of them for the same money as 1 with 16gb Ram.

Plug it in and start using it. The ethernet upgrade is so you can connect to another machine via Audiogridder, faster internet connectivity, or if your audio interface has an ethernet port already.

Replace your mini with the much faster new one. Things will make a lot more sense of what additional steps you should take, if you even need to. USB-3c and TB3 are basically the same thing, for your purposes right now. The difference is the throughput speed, and you won't care. The stuff you are already using and going to connect will be the bottleneck long before the TB3 ports.

Right now your plan is to throw money at stuff, and that is usually not a great plan.

 

There is something going on. I have a 2012 i5 and i7 1 TB SSD and both take maybe 10-15 sec to start Live 11 with around 30 plugins on Mojave and Catalina. Just saying.

 

yea, base model Mac Studio is only reasonable Mac computer to buy, better memory bandwidth and better processor compared to Mini, better display support and 10Gbe network onboard, and I'd stress Apple's upgrade pricing is pathetic, don't support that...

well, yes and no, it's Apple's marketing bullshit they keep repeating all the time in first place, because in fact this memory is shared across graphics, storage, neural engine and all other platform controllers, so actually 16GB unified memory on Apple Silicon Mac is "less" than 16GB memory on any other computer

from storage point maybe, but would give you more headroom and higher speed, MacOS does utilize it as memory cache when needed,
unless you're software/plugin hoarder, 500Gigs should be totally enough for MacOS and daily stuff

to my knowledge, Apple Silicon can run USB at only 3.0 (3.2 gen1 as it's called nowadays) or USB 2.0 speeds,
for your needs, cheap USB 3.0 hub is probably most cost effective solution

yes, but if you'll use external SSDs, modern APFS is much better as filesystem

 

Go with Studio.

 

I'm on high sierra. Think it's because I have about 7 folders with a lot of content Live needs to scan. Then my overblown template doen''t help as well.

Edit; i deleted my folders with all the third party content from live and reverted to the basic default template. everything else is what content comes with live. took two and a half minutes before scannings stopped and could start using live. with all my other content folders added it was taking around 15 minutes. if the template i made was added to that i might as well go take in a movie, lol.

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2023

Thanks.
I have no idea what the ethernet thing is used for. I did originally use it to directly hook up the '07 macbook I got back then to our cable modem for internet before I got a wireless router (airport extreme. still using it to this day!)

Then when i got the mini, think I used firewire to migrate my stuff off the macbook to the mini. So other than connecting a computer directly to a modem, i have no idea what else its used for. I have the original komplete audio 6 i/o and that doesn't have ethernet connection

 

as you say, the base studio has 32gb so that takes care of that.

I figure if I offloaded all the misc files on my system drive that have nothing to do with any software, my software now and in future probably doesn't/wouldn't tip over 250gb. So 512 would do me but of course you get nervous thinking its better to have more even if you don''t use it.

yeah, I have backups of all my content so i can reformat my drives to APFS then copy everything back over. or can a drive be reformatted wwithout destroying the files already on it now?

Still confused though. The Studio has 4 usb ports. Will they accept standard usb3 cable or just two of the ports will and the other two takes a different connector altogether?
Last time I had to sort out how to connect stuff to a mac as over 10 years ago. Everything seems totally new and is gonna give me headaches, lol. All I know is usb ports is what to hook drives up with. Thunderbolt? Haven't a clue what hooks up to that business except that if i got a mini I think i probably need a TB hub to provide more usb ports.

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2023

no, reformatting wipes all data

two USB-C ports are in the front,
two USB-A ports are on the back, as well as four Thunderbolt type-C ports on the back (and they can operate as USB ports too),
all those ports can operate as USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, shape of the connector just defines what cable you need, but functionally it's practically same

 

I don't have Macs, but just wanted to say what a great video. As a big time geek/techie I watched it entirely. Hats off

 

Thanks for your help tzzsmk.

I have it stuck in my head that recording music, in my case, involves lots of external devices (controllers/drives) that its all about how many usb ports. Being that the Mini's now only have two, I assumed if I did get a Mini I'd need to add one of those thunderbolt hubs in order to get more usb ports.

But no it seems. I know those two usb ports pictured above is the standard usb connector, but the two in front are not so how do I deal with those. I was looking around and found there are adapters for that... that's great. Now I basically have the equivalent of the 4 usb ports on my 2012 mini I have all my shit hooked up to.

But then what's up with this thunderbolt business. Then I found these adapters that have say, 4 standard female usb slots on them, that plugs into a thunderbolt port. So am I to understand that its that simple to also use a thunderbolt port to plug in my usb 2/3 devices, other than or together with, the 'regular' usb ports on the Studio?

I guess with an M2Pro Mini, having only 2 usb ports shouldn't be an issue regarding lots of peripherals used for DAWs then? If I was only looking for extra usb ports and a simple inexpensive usb 2/3 to thunderbolt adapter works, did I erroneously think I would need a $2-300 thunderbolt hub added to the cost of a Mini in my OP?

Not that I'd go with a Mini as it'd be as/bit more expensive than same spec'd Studio

 

you don't need Thunderbolt adapter if you just need USB hub (sure, the bandwidth is always shared within the hub, but it's usually not a problem),

very cost effective option can also be "USB-C to USB-B" cable (search it online, you'll find either older USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 variants, at various lengths - shorter is usually more reliable):



eventually with a cheap USB 3.0 hub where you just replace its older cable with aforementioned USB-C to USB-B 3.0 cable

 

frankly it really depends what needs you have, I do use M1 MacMini (16GB/2TB) and it does what I need, so maybe base higher model of M2 Pro 10-core MacMini (16GB/512GB) might suffice...
but again, Apple's pricing is fairly smart, base model MacStudio would give you twice the RAM (and faster/bandwidth), 2 more performance cores, twice the video encoders/decoders, and better connectivity overall

 

I''m familar with that large 'blue' connector as some of my devices use it except with a regular male usb 3 on the other end.

 

Yeah. The $1299 Mini might be perfectly suitable for my purposes. I also don't want to find it doesn't meet expectations because that's the point when getting a new computer. This would be the bottom spec 'inexpensive' option for me. Going to up to a higher spec Mini brings me to where I might as well go right to the bottom Studio. So I need to decide which one.

 

if you're not in a hurry, maybe wait for M3 models, not sure though if Apple/TSMC/whoever can sustain production yields so far with M3 MacBooks

 

i do prefer the mini/studio form. rumors have m3 mini or studio not til 3rd quarter '24 or so. Was also seeing some thing about the studio will discontinue. At my age don't know if I should wait. Given I've been getting my moneys worth out of the 2012 mini for over 10 years my next mac might be my last, lol.

the power of these computers for audio are seemingly already ridiculous overkill so waiting for an M3 to give another thousand plugin instances and tracks that I'll never need may not matter anymore

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2023

ah that's up to you really,
in theory, there isn't much more to offer for audio workflows, Apple Silicon architecture itself will most likely evolve scaling up more cores and maybe bit more efficiency - both rather useless feats for desktop audio workstation,
maybe, just maybe, you might want to look for a good deal on used M1/M2 MacMini (16GB/512GB at least) which should be better value and still noticeably outperform 2012 MacMini in every way,
that said, this whole Apple Silicon thingy is not yet flawless, companies like Audio Ease (Altiverb, Indoor...) don't yet offer native Apple Silicon versions for their plugins, so despite M1 released 3 years ago, I still consider it a transition phase/stage, especially for folks like you who are used to functional 2012 Macs like MacMini, iMac or MacPro

 

Right. According to that video I posted in my OP the M1Pro gave same or better performance than the M2Pro in DAW applications. I could keep an eye on the Apple refurbished store. I see right now they have an M1 Max/10 core/512ssd Studio for $1500

 

well, 10-core M2 Pro has only 6 performance cores (and 4 efficiency), but 10-core M1 Max has 8 performance cores (and 2 efficiency),
most recent DAWs can utilize workloads across all cores, but having more high-performance cores is still better in aforementioned context