2022 Mac Studio M1 Ultra: Real World Photoshop: Make Multi-Res Image Series

2022-06-22 • SEND FEEDBACK •
Related: 2019 iMac 5K, 2019 Mac Pro, 2020 iMac 5K, 4K and 5K display, Apple Mac Studio, Apple Silicon, computer display, iMac, iMac 5K, Mac Pro, Macs, Other World Computing, Photoshop

Unsure which Mac to get or how to configure it? Consult with Lloyd, and see recommended Macs for photographers and videographers.

MPG tested the $7999 Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra 20-core CPU / 64-core GPU/ 128GB / 8TB SSD , provided on loan for review by B&H Photo, an authorized Apple Mac dealer. Please buy your gear at B&H Photo and OWC/MacSales.com using any link from this site.

2022 Mac Studio M1 Ultra

About

This test is as real world as it gets, one that I (Lloyd) do frequently for generating lens rendering aperture series, such as for this lens comparison. It is a time-consuming and work-stopping task, so performance gains are very welcome. It is a workflow that might have limited significance for the workflow of others. Still, if workflow is scripted in Photoshop, it likely applies.

This javascript-driven automation script generates series of images which in part does not lend itself to multiple CPU cores. However, the task is mostly about Image sizing, Smart Sharpen, and saving a JPEG.

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Results

See the test notes for details on hardware configuration and software versions.

The Mac Studio M1 Ultra disappoints badly here, barely outpacing the M1 Max, and badly trailing the 2019 Mac Pro. For my work, this is my most important task, so this is a major disappointment.

The poor performance might be due to something involving Photoshop Javascript toolkit support, which seems to have security-related performance problems (macOS security chewing up a full CPU core frequently).

Memory usage: MacStudio: 26GB, MacPro: 27GB, iMac5K: 25GB

Create multiple resolution aperture series (126 output images of varying sizes)
2022 Mac Studio M1 Ultra vs 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max, 2019 iMac 5K, 2019 Mac Pro,

2022 Mac Studio M1 Ultra