M2 Max and M2 Ultra Studio; M2 Ultra Mac Pro announced today

[mikehalloran]

Thanks for the link— looks pretty good. In this case, USB 4 is the key. The numbers you get are great but there’s no reason to believe they will be better connected to a Studio. That pipe is still 4 lanes and that’s not changing till TB5/USB 4.2.

Although TB 3/4 is based on USB 4, it is still USB. The big difference here is that Intel licenses and certifies Thunderbolt while USB 4 can use cheaper components. As long as it doesn’t have that USB sleep issue, settle for ‘great’ *

‘TB3 or TB4 compatible’ is a nonsense marketing term used when there’s a USB-C port. Just means that it works when plugged into the port, nothing else.

*Igor Stravinsky once sent Billy Rose a piece to be used in a production. Rose wrote saying that it was great but could be fantastic if he was allowed to re-orchestrate it. Stravinsky cabled back, "CONTENT WITH GREAT”.
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[James Steele]

I bought an enclosure a while back that was USB4 and if some recall, I was having issues with it not reliably connecting when I started up my Mac Studio. Oddly enough I solved it by daisy chaining it off my UA TB3 Satellite OCTO. I think it solved it because the drive gets power just a second or two earlier than the Mac Studio supplies it and so it's "ready" when the Mac Studio "looks for it." Never once has it failed to mount on start up. Still, not a good solution, but we're creative people here and as most of us know, keeping a DAW running requires creative solutions to these issues.

Also, happy that I got myself a cool monitor stand today for my secondary monitor. The good thing about this one is the monitor can swivel, so I can swivel it one way when facing front and mixing, and then swivel it for a better angle when I'm facing to my right playing (or playing as well as a guitar player can) my Komplete Kontrol keyboard.

https://a.co/d/7DWbTC0

Also, have a better keyboard stand coming tomorrow. I was using a stand that was meant for setting a mixer on top of and it wasn't what I would call sturdy or inspiring confidence. This stand also has a nice little hook for hanging headphones, which will be ideal, since I bought Slate VSX not that long ago. (Mike... did you try it? What did you think?)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079YWMH91

[Michael Canavan]

Thanks for the link— looks pretty good. In this case, USB 4 is the key. The numbers you get are great but there’s no reason to believe they will be better connected to a Studio. That pipe is still 4 lanes and that’s not changing till TB5/USB 4.2.

Someone just pointed this USB4 drive out to me, so maybe we will see larger numbers than 2800 soon enough. They're claiming a lot closer to the theoretical limit it seems. https://ziketech.com/products/zikedrive ... 9341608097

[mikehalloran]

Thanks for the link— looks pretty good. In this case, USB 4 is the key. The numbers you get are great but there’s no reason to believe they will be better connected to a Studio. That pipe is still 4 lanes and that’s not changing till TB5/USB 4.2.

Someone just pointed this USB4 drive out to me, so maybe we will see larger numbers than 2800 soon enough. They're claiming a lot closer to the theoretical limit it seems. https://ziketech.com/products/zikedrive ... 9341608097

It would surprise me if it could achieve those speeds while connected to a Mac. Since it isn't yet shipping, we'll have to wait and see.

supports PCle Gen4×4

[mikehalloran]

The Cult of Mac Review Roundup with comparisons to the Studio M1 (at last).

https://www.cultofmac.com/820300/2023- ... ew-roundup

As expected, the differences video/AV. Average is 17% to 19% over the M1. In reviewer terms, it’s huge, of course. I’m not so sure that’s so big in the real world.

The Mac Pro is mentioned in passing as being the same as the Ultra with six PCIe slots (actually, there are seven but one is a 3 x4 Apple I/O card so that’s off the table). The remaining six are as follows: two are 4 x8 single height, two are 4 x8 double height and two are 4 x16 double height.

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/