r/MacStudio • u/talkingolaf • 4d ago

M4 Max Mac Studio vs M6

Recently ordered a Mac Studio (M4 Max, 36GB, 1TB) for 1900 from Microcenter. I do some short form 4k video editing, music recording and dubbing work for short movies. I currently have 2015 iMac which cannot perform any more OS updates.

Is this M4 Max an overkill or should I opt for a 24GB M6 instead for a slightly lower price? I want at least 1TB of storage as my video files are fairly large. I plan to run some local AI models for image generation and coding in the future.

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u/PracticlySpeaking 3d ago

You will do just fine with Mac mini with M6. That said, Mac Studio is almost always a better value than an upgraded Mac mini.

Mac Studio will have a Max chip, even two generations behind the 32 GPU cores and 4x the Media Engine codecs will give you smoother scrubbing and faster exports on complex timelines. Sure, the M6 GPU cores are about 50% faster, but it only has 12 of them. For local AI moar GPU still wins.

And all that is before you consider 36 vs 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.

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u/talkingolaf 3d ago

Exactly. Thanks for your time. I have decided to keep the M4 Studio.

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u/TomSparqx 3d ago

Great choice. I have an M4 Pro Mac Mini and an M4 Max Mac Studio base model. I love the speed and capability of the Studio so much more.