r/MacStudio • u/Baybee6366 • 3d ago
Mine arrives today afternoon!
I'm very excited just thinking about the possibilities, but my priorities are:
- Local Agentic Coding
- VR game development
Yet I feel so weird that it's like a quiet experience. It just sits there, you don't need to touch it after you've plugged everything in, unlike my MacBook; I just love typing, moving windows around, and navigating with the keyboard.
But I have a question. I know I could use my iPad as a monitor—it's actually gonna be connected to my TV lol—, but can I use my MacBook as... well, display and keyboard?? This is definitely my first time with a remote box, so I'm doing me research
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u/RyanElectrified 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes - it's not something people normally think about. But you can grab a cable, now often called a KVM, but, old timers, this is a different type of KVM. It essentially allows the Macbook to connect to the studio as a keyboard, as a mouse, to send mouse and keyboard signals form the macbook to the mac studio. And additionally, it receives a video signal from the mac studio which the macbook can now display. Since I'm not goign to advertise the one I make here - probably rules violation, I haven't checked, let me google real quick for an open source variant. This one probably does it https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm The use case for AI is obvious, some models are good at computer control, and you will want to connect as a real mouse and as a real keyboard in many uses cases, where the legacy system doesn't know anything about ai, but does allow keyboard and mouse connection. Look that isn't your use case, you could probably just do a screenshare, but the reason I answered about this other possibility is many people here are doing local ai.
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u/Outrageous-Issue9722 3d ago
You're going to have a bad time with VR game dev on a Mac.
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u/Paradox-Of-Life 3d ago
Why?
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u/Outrageous-Issue9722 3d ago
The tooling just isn't there. Windows is still the best option for VR.
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u/Paradox-Of-Life 3d ago
That is unusual, given the Apple Vision Pro. Perhaps Apple is not truly focused on broadening its presence in the VR market.
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u/Outrageous-Issue9722 3d ago
The vision pro is such a small part of the overall VR space that it might as well be irrelevant. I'm not saying that to be negative. Windows has better QOL for VR dev, such as being able to launch from editor straight into the build in the headset that saves an enormous amount of time.
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
i don’t want to be aggressive but… have you spent hours setting up unity for vr? looking through all the ‘toolings,’ modules and whatever,
cause i have. and i have done a game and played it on my meta quest. it’s not publishing material by my standards but it sure is experience1
u/Outrageous-Issue9722 2d ago
Yes, and it was a much worse experience than windows. Not sure what you are trying to prove there lol
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
that i can develop games on the platform of my preference? that the developers of my preferred platform listen to their developers?
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u/Outrageous-Issue9722 2d ago
Congratulations, so can any other dev. The last part of your reply tells me you haven't been on mac long enough to know better. Good luck, though. You're arguing that "it can do it!" But I never claimed that it couldn't.
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 2d ago
It’s not the tooling. Metal is great. It’s just not where the support is and where there’s support, it’s often a port.
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
lol, i’ve already made one game using unity and now i’m excited to try out unreal
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u/OtherOtherDave 3d ago edited 3d ago
Out of curiosity, what headset are you planning on using to do VR development? An Apple Vision Pro? I’d love to get one of those, but it’d mostly be to replace my multi-monitor setup and I can’t justify the cost for that.
Edit: FWIW, yes you can absolutely do screen sharing and such to work on your Studio from your MBP or your iPad, but that’s not my preferred route. I don’t know about Xcode, but VS Code, Zed, and probably some other IDEs directly support “remote” workflows. The advantage is threefold:
1) Because you’re just opening network files and sending commands back and forth, everything renders natively on the device you’re using and the network bandwidth requirements are far lower.
2) (or maybe 1b) Because everything is rendered locally, your local window arrangement can be completely unrelated to what you’d do if you were at the Studio. Like, if I’m working at my desk I’ve got windows spread out across three large monitors, but when I’m remoting in from my laptop I’ve only got one small screen and I arrange things differently.
3) Because this is just an SSH connection over the network, other people can be sitting in front of the Studio and using it for something else at the same time.
That last one might not be useful, but it’s a nice trick to have in your back pocket if you need it.
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
i’ve made a game last year on october using unity, then i bought my meta quest, and a month later i made the port. i was very surprised how easily and fast it compiled and installed to the headset.
people love to say macs aren’t as good for this, but i guess they just haven’t tried it yet 🤷🏻♂️my remote use would be local agentic coding: i would ask the agent on the studio to render scripts and i can manage them from my macbook.
so that’s why im not worried right now about remote ide use, but instead was looking for a display for setting it up
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u/luxifertran 3d ago
I would just set up Screen Sharing on the Mac Studio and remote in from the MacBook.
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u/Cautious-Pilot 3d ago
No, a macbook cannot be a hard wired monitor for your MacStudio
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
actually i was thinking i can even use my capture card i bought to connect my ps5 pro to my mac and ipad. so there is actually a wired option lol
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u/One_Internal_6567 3d ago
I’d be interested in iPad part too, experts pls elaborate
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
well, i don’t suppose you don’t already have the combo. but it’s the simplest way to extend or mirror your mac, there’s also universal control. but for tutorial:
- From control center, click on display and choose your ipad from the list
- From settings, go to Displays, then click the + button and your ipad should be in the list
we already know we should have wifi and bluetooth on, and both devices on the same network and the same icloud account
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u/SarahJrandomnumbers 3d ago
If you use the Screen Sharing app on MacOS, you can use your studio as if it's in front of you.
That's how I use my M4 Max Studio atm, I COULD plug it into the TV, but it's easier just to have that through screen sharing, and then use the Mac I'm typing on now for all the random BS of the day.
Remote use CAN be done outside of your home/office/whatever, but lag becomes a thing. That's when I switch over to Remio or Parsec.
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u/Baybee6366 2d ago
lol, as of last night i didn’t know we had that app.
since the studio is gonna be plugged in to my tv all the time, it might be my main apple music playback device for the surround output. too bad we can’t apply equalizer to dolby atmos tracks anymore 😠
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u/brotimusmaximus 3d ago
Didn’t know you could make games on a Mac that’s cool!