Apple has three standalone Mac desktops – the Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Mac Pro isn’t exactly worth talking about, so we’ll focus on the former two.
While these computers are typically priced quite far apart ($599 vs $1999), the Mac Studio is a bit older – and Amazon has an incredible deal on the one generation old M2 Max model. We’ll be comparing the two, and showing you which computer is the best bang for your buck at this price point.
Right now, Amazon has the M2 Max Mac Studio on its Renewed Premium store for exactly $899. This comes with 512GB of storage, 32GB of unified memory, and a 1 year return window, just in case anything goes wrong. On the other hand, M4 Mac mini (brand new) is also $899 on Amazon currently, for the 512GB/24GB configuration.
In that case, the Mac Studio seems like a no brainer. More RAM, more GPU performance – but is that actually the better computer?
Comparison
For the most part, the Mac Studio will be a better computer – especially in the GPU department. M2 Max Mac Studio has a 2.5x higher Metal score than the M4 Mac mini on Geekbench 6.
Since Apple made massive strides with the M4 chip, they’re actually quite similar in CPU performance, despite the Mac Studio having more CPU cores. In multicore performance, the M2 Max and M4 chips are basically neck and neck. M4 pulls ahead in single-core performance by roughly 35%.
So, with those numbers – CPU performance certainly isn’t why you’d pick up a Mac Studio.
The M2 Max Mac Studio mostly shines in thermals, ports, and its media engine. It has a far more capable thermal system, more ports (an additional Thunderbolt port, an SD card slot, and 10Gb ethernet), and double the number of video encode engines, plus an additional ProRes encode/decode engine over the M4 Mac mini.
It can also support more displays than the Mac mini – with the Mac Studio supporting up to eight 4K displays versus the Mac mini’s three.
Which one is the better buy?
Well, if you absolutely want a new computer, you can’t beat the Mac mini. Plus, that’ll come in with a much smaller footprint that looks nicer on your desk. Plus, there’s the simple fact that if you want less RAM and storage, you can get a Mac mini as low as $499 on Amazon – versus the $899 price point we compared at.
Outside of that though, the Mac Studio is quite compelling. The additional memory, thermal overhead, as well as the much more capable GPU make it a pretty great deal. 2.5x faster is nothing to scoff at. If it were up to me, I’d pick the Mac Studio, mainly because it’s a cooler computer.
Plus, synthetic benchmarks don’t tell the whole story. In reality, the M2 Max chip will pull ahead of the M4 in CPU performance in many real workflows.
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