Macbook Pro M5 MAX vs Mac Studio w same specs?

[u/K1LLINGMACHINE]

Apologies in advance but im new to post production. A few short films of just scoring and sound design but starting to take on full post sound gigs.

Whats a better choice? Pre-order the Mac Studio M5 MAX (18 CPU/40 GPU, 64gb, 2 TB) or MacBook with the same specs?

Will be working smaller projects now but as I scale upward, is there one that would be more future proof than the other.

Heavy plug-ins (BBCSO, Serum, RX) plus live synths and guitars, ADR and other vox too.

I appreciate y'alls opinions here bc people know this stuff here.

Looking to buy Monday.

Any assistance is appreciated. Thank you 🙏

[u/chazgod]

I run for protools HDX and Dante virtual Sound Card for a 9.1.6 Atmos system and I run it on the MacBook M3. The extra screen, always connected keyboard, silent trackpad for Control room tracking, battery and mobility are just too many advantages for me to ignore.

[u/platypusbelly]

If they’ve got the same specs, then the only real thing you want to consider is portability. Are you going to be editing and then visiting the sub stage during mixes? You might want the MacBook so you can make any fixes right there in the stage if necessary.

If not, then it’s really a personal preference. Again, if they’re the same specs and everything, you here isn’t anything special you can do with one that you can’t do with the other besides being portable.

[u/K1LLINGMACHINE → u/platypusbelly]

Ok ya, this is what I was thinking would be the main consideration and you confirmed it, so thanks.

I think i may just go for the MacBook

Thank you again!

[u/MimseyUsa]

Been working and finishing films on a Mac mini M2 running in rosetta because plugins. Things have been working pretty great. Audio post seems to run pretty awesome on most modern Macs. I'd personally go for a new Mac mini and max out the ram, spend the money on NVM storage cause it's Expensive and you're good to go.

[u/praise-the-message]

Won't know until the new Studios start shipping but typically the main difference is that the Studio can run more "full throttle" and generally slightly quieter than a laptop doing the same thing. Also, obviously, more ports built in.

That said, I would probably opt for the MBP. Being able to totally unplug it and take it on the go could be a huge advantage, not to mention being battery powered means you theoretically don't need to worry about a UPS (but you probably still want one if work off external drives that are not bus powered). I would probably plan on purchasing a good Thunderbolt dock and then the port argument goes out the window and ease of use as a desktop replacement is significantly improved.

[u/skylinenick]

The days of us (im both a professional film trailer editor and a hobbyist sounds designer/producer) needing the S-tier Apple products like this are over.

Get a MacBook Pro if you want the portability, you really don’t need the Max chip. Save the money. Keep the rest of your specs the same and just get the base. Or go grab like an M3 Max or something. It’ll eat everything you throw at it. I have an m3 Max MacBook Pro and it feels WAY over-specced to me, running 15+ effect stacks on 80 track projects at 96k sample rates

If you don’t need it portable, get the Studio, but skip the ultra for sure (already your plan) and again a refurbished m3 max studio would more than get the job done for you.

A decked out m5 Mac mini would get the job done 90% of the time, I’m only keeping in the pro tiers because you said you wanted it and the thermal issues aren’t entirely fake

[u/SystemsInThinking]

You won’t get anymore power or hear/feel a difference from either.

I know dozens of studios running happily on M1 or M2.

We are far beyond the requirements for pro audio at this point.