The right choice?

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Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

The right choice?

I am going to order the Mac Studio with the M1 ultra a 1TB SSD and 64GB RAM.

I'm just not sure if 64GB of RAM is enough.

Any suggestions?

Posted on Mar 16, 2022 5:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

132,991 points

Mar 16, 2022 7:41 AM in response to Luc De Rop

64GB is way too much for some uses, way too little for others, and just right for still more.

Everything readers know about your situation is what you have posted -- that you are considering a Mac with 64GB RAM.

Please tell us about the work you do in detail.

Also, what Mac/PC do you use today, and how does it meet or not meet your needs?

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Answer 2

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 16, 2022 8:12 AM in response to Luc De Rop

I have a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), 4,2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro 580 8 GB.

When i edit movies in Final Cut, the rendering takes ages.

And even when the computer has started up and no programs are open, the kernel task makes my quad cores running very high.

A few months ago I have completly installed everything from the start but the problem of the kernel task remains.

And 3 extern Lacie Thunderbolt drives of 12TB, 10 & 10 TB. This are used for storage of the media.

For example: I place the library of Photo's on de external drive, so only the software is on my internal startup SSD.

Same for the library of Final Cut Pro; iTunes, etc.

The 2nd drive is a backup of the first external drive and the 3th is another backup, that i stored in a safe. I replace montly those two harddrives so I always have a backup in case of fire, burglary, etc

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Answer 3

Mar 16, 2022 8:29 AM in response to Luc De Rop

if you were running 10.11 El Capitan and little else, more than 6GB RAM is required.

If you are running Monterey and little else, 8GG of RAM is just adequate today. So 16GB would be recommended for a new Mac just for web-surfing.

If you want to edit Video on top of that basic requirement, there is NEVER enough RAM. You are NOT making a mistake specifying 64GB.

Very few Applications can take advantage of many processors. But more cores in the GPU are a welcome addition and will speed up things like editing Video.

-------

Many Video Editors' systems are I/O bound. You have already taken the important speedup of placing source on a drive that is NOT the boot drive. Press on and do that some more. Place Destinations on another drive, and Library/scratch on another drive, and continue using the Boot drive only for the Application and MacOS.

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Answer 4

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 16, 2022 9:23 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I'm running Monterey OS 12.3 now

The main thing I'm worried about is the amount of RAM that is configured in my order. I have order 64GB RAM

and still can change that in 128 GB. Nut that's €900 more

If assume that I can't store more RAM afterwards

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Answer 5

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 10, 2022 1:45 AM in response to Luc De Rop

So I still have doubt about my order:

I have order the Mac Studio Ultra with 128 RAM. But after watching all those reviews on YouTube about what type of Mac Studio (Max or Ultra) I should buy, I start to doubt iff I have made the right choice.

My main concern having a computer that can last for a long time, at least 6 years and still be able to work perfect. And I already own a Macbook, so I don't wanna use a laptop for my daily work.

Because I own a iMac that runs very slow with the software that I ue, I want a new computer that works much better.

To give an example of my current frustration with my current IMac.

When this start up without any program running, the 4 CPU's are running at it's maximum ?!

And I don't know hhow this occurs.

Sow if you can give me suggestions about every option, I would appreciate it

Thank you

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Answer 6

Fravin

Level 1

11 points

Apr 10, 2022 10:03 AM in response to Luc De Rop

Just mind that Mac Studio has a different architecture. It's ARM based, not x86. As ARM address RAM in another way, you should be aware that x86 machines needs more RAM than ARM ones.

The first M1 Macs were just fine running tremendous tasks with 16Gb of RAM. It's just different.

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Answer 7

Mar 16, 2022 9:46 AM in response to Luc De Rop

Even if available, 128GB is not likely to be used by the video editing software.

Those kinds of numbers might be usable for running airframe stress analysis simulations or weather modeling.

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Answer 8

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 16, 2022 10:35 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you

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Answer 9

Fravin

Level 1

11 points

Apr 10, 2022 10:11 AM in response to Luc De Rop

FYI I upgraded from an i9 MacBook Pro with 64Gb of RAM to a M1 MacBookPro with 16Gb.

Final Cut rendering times for the same project are those:

i9 - 4' 45"

M1 - 1' 9"

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Answer 10

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 10, 2022 10:50 AM in response to Fravin

So, would I go for the Max or the Ultra?

And should I instal more RAM ?

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Answer 11

Fravin

Level 1

11 points

Apr 10, 2022 12:10 PM in response to Luc De Rop

In my opinion, Max is a pretty capable machine. 32Gb would fit your needs now and fulfill any future needs. I would spend the saved money in Studio Display.

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Answer 12

Luc De Rop Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 10, 2022 12:18 PM in response to Fravin

i'm also gone buy the Studio Display, because i I replace my iMac, I wont have a display anymore.

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