M1 Ultra Mac Studio vs. M1 Max MacBook Pro

by

If you've been wondering how the top-end Mac Studio compares to the highest-end MacBook Pro, look no further, because we have a real-world usage comparison that doesn't rely solely on benchmarks. Over on YouTube, MacRumors videographer Dan tested both machines with his real world workflow.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Dan has been using the M1 Max ‌MacBook Pro‌ to edit the MacRumors videos since it came out, and it has met and exceeded his expectations and needs. Obviously, the M1 Ultra does the same, but even for a professional video editor for a tech site, it may be a little bit too much machine for the price.

As a quick example, a standard 4K 10 minute video exported in 4 minutes and 50 seconds on the ‌M1 Max‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌, and three minutes on the ‌M1 Ultra‌ ‌Mac Studio‌. An hour long podcast exported in 26 minutes on the ‌MacBook Pro‌, and just over 14 minutes on the ‌M1 Ultra‌.

The ‌M1 Ultra‌ is definitely a time saver, but the ‌M1 Max‌ is already pretty good compared to prior Intel chips used in machines like the Mac Pro. In situations where money is no object, the ‌M1 Ultra‌ is a no brainer, but if budget is a concern, it's worth carefully considering the benefits you get with the ‌M1 Ultra‌ over the ‌M1 Max‌ in the ‌MacBook Pro‌ or the ‌Mac Studio‌.

As for form factor, the ‌Mac Studio‌ has far more ports with up to six Thunderbolt/USB-C ports and four USB-A ports, but you do get a decent number with the ‌MacBook Pro‌, plus the ‌MacBook Pro‌ is obviously the winner when it comes to portability. Choosing between the ‌MacBook Pro‌ and the ‌Mac Studio‌ really comes down to your form factor needs unless you require the maximum power of the ‌M1 Ultra‌ for your workflow.

Make sure to watch Dan's full comparison to see both machines in action and to get his thoughts on how each form factor works for a videographer's workload.

Related Roundups: Mac Studio, MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Buy Now), MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forums: Mac Studio, MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 3 4ths Perspective Aluminum Camera Module 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Read Full Article • 123 comments
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

10 Products Still Coming From Apple in 2025

Friday April 11, 2025 4:14 pm PDT by
Apple may have updated several iPads and Macs late last year and early this year, but there are still multiple new devices that we're looking forward to seeing in 2025. Most will come in September or October, but there could be a few surprises before then. We've rounded up a list of everything that we're still waiting to see from Apple in 2025. iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro - We get...
Read Full Article • 54 comments
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Report Reveals Internal Chaos Behind Apple's Siri Failure

Thursday April 10, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
A new report from The Information today reveals much of the internal turmoil behind Apple Intelligence's revamped version of Siri. Apple apparently weighed up multiple options for the backend of Apple Intelligence. One initial idea was to build both small and large language models, dubbed "Mini Mouse" and "Mighty Mouse," to run locally on iPhones and in the cloud, respectively. Siri's...
Read Full Article • 343 comments
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Waiting for the Perfect MacBook Pro? 2026 Might Be the Year

Thursday April 10, 2025 4:19 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the MacBook Pro is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small...
Read Full Article • 113 comments
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: New iOS 19, iPhone 17, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 Leaks

Friday April 11, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we catch up on the latest iOS 19 and watchOS 12 rumors, upcoming devices, and more. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Detailed new renders from leaker Jon Prosser claim to provide the best look yet at the complete redesign rumored to arrive in iOS 19, showing more rounded elements, lighting effects, translucency, and...
Read Full Article • 14 comments
iPad Pro iPadOS

iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

Sunday April 13, 2025 6:43 am PDT by
A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware. That could soon change. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS." Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:Improved productivity Improved multitasking Improved app window management...
Read Full Article • 180 comments
apple intelligence black

NYT: Apple's AI Struggles Began with 2023 Chip Budget Dispute

Friday April 11, 2025 4:33 am PDT by
Apple's current struggles with Apple Intelligence and Siri began in early 2023 when AI head John Giannandrea sought approval from CEO Tim Cook to purchase more AI chips for development, according to a new report from The New York Times. Cook initially approved doubling the team's chip budget, but CFO Luca Maestri reportedly reduced the increase to less than half that amount, and instead...
Read Full Article • 114 comments
Apple Vision Pro with battery Feature Blue Magenta

Vision Pro 2 Rumored to Have Two Key Advantages Over Current Model

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
Apple is working on a new version of the Vision Pro with two key advantages over the current model, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Specifically, in his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple is developing a new headset that is both lighter and less expensive than the current Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499 in the U.S. and weighs up to 1.5 pounds. Gurman said Apple is also...
Read Full Article • 109 comments
Apple Accessories Deals 2024 Anker Green

Anker Raises Prices on Amazon Due to Tariffs

Friday April 11, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
Chinese company Anker is one of many companies that will be raising prices due to the tariffs put in place by U.S. President Donald Trump, and prices are already starting to go up on Amazon. As noted by Reuters, Anker has increased pricing on about a fifth of its products since Thursday of last week. Prices are up approximately 18 percent, and there is a possibility for further increases. A...
Read Full Article • 326 comments

Top Rated Comments

ThunderSkunk Avatar
ThunderSkunk
40 months ago
I can't stop looking at the Gif gar on the shelf.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bandaman Avatar
Bandaman
40 months ago

I can't stop looking at the Gif gar on the shelf.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vagos Avatar
vagos
40 months ago

so for the love of god please can YouTube reviewers think outside their own world? The logic seems to be 'I make review videos, so all I need to look at is how good this hardware is for making videos'.
100% spot on.

What about 3D, image editing, coding, office work and so on and so on...
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ikramerica Avatar
ikramerica
40 months ago

I had no thought of going for anything other than the base model Max which arrived on Tuesday. It has exceeded my expectations compared to a gen 1 Mini M1 16 GB. Some things finish so quickly that my brain doesn't register that they are DONE for a few minutes haha

I also still happily use a 10th gen 13" i5 MBP for semi-heavier lifting and a couple of (sacrificial/sub-$300 Chromebooks for daily driver light/moderate duty).

Like you, never in 21 years of using Mac laptops has one been hot in my lap or ran with fans on for any length of time beyond when I was crushing I/O and processing to the max or during OS upgrades/updates occasionally. Also growing tired of benchmark obsessiveness along with battery runtime on laptops and mobile phones.

Didn't really need quite this much horsepower but figured that selling the M1 Mini (for what I paid it) made the step up to MiniMAXimus not so bad. Along with that came:

Huge performance gain (primarily with Docker development, Lightroom Classic and more mundane apps (no gaming here)
More PORTS and one's in front too :D
10 GB Ethernet
2x internal storage
2x RAM
Better multi-display support

The "always on" fan is hardly noticeable (my overhead LED lights make more noise in my super quiet basement office)
I do not believe you. Sorry

Had a 2 hr zoom meeting with my core i7 MBP yesterday on the desk on battery most of the way. Fans were quite loud by the end. For a zoom meeting. With no other programs running.

Intel MBPs get hot.

Which is why I love my M1 Pro 16”. It’s a paradigm shift of what a laptop can be.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HelloMikee Avatar
HelloMikee
40 months ago

Can someone explain to me why saving 2 mins (or 10mins) in export time is a big deal? It's not like video editors export multiple times an hour (or even a day). 99% of time is spent editing. When it comes to export, does it really matter if a MacRumors (or any other) podcast or video comes out 10mins (or for that matter several hours) later?! Just seems like a meaningless benchmark. But every single review video goes (like this one) goes on endlessly about it. Is it just because it's easy to measure?

Also for the love of god please can YouTube reviewers think outside their own world? The logic seems to be 'I make review videos, so all I need to look at is how good this hardware is for making videos'. This is going to blow some people's minds but people do other things on laptops than make videos and play games.
Your field obviously doesn’t deal with deadlines. You’re asking YouTubers to think outside of their world, yet you’re not going beyond YouTubers when it comes to video export times. You do understand that more times than not, clients want it yesterday right?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnsterdam Avatar
johnsterdam
40 months ago
Can someone explain to me why saving 2 mins (or 10mins) in export time is a big deal? It's not like video editors export multiple times an hour (or even a day). 99% of time is spent editing. When it comes to export, does it really matter if a MacRumors (or any other) podcast or video comes out 10mins (or for that matter several hours) later?! Just seems like a meaningless benchmark. But every single review video goes (like this one) goes on endlessly about it. Is it just because it's easy to measure?

Also for the love of god please can YouTube reviewers think outside their own world? The logic seems to be 'I make review videos, so all I need to look at is how good this hardware is for making videos'. This is going to blow some people's minds but people do other things on laptops than make videos and play games.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments