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Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra SLOWER than M1 Max?

2022-06-16 • SEND FEEDBACK |

Related: Apple, Apple Mac Studio, Apple Silicon, Photoshop

Consult with Lloyd on your computer or photographic purchase, backup strategy, archival and storage strategy, etc.

See previous comments on the Apple Mac Studio.

A big thank-you to B&H Photo for sending the $7999 Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra 20-core CPU / 64-core GPU/ 128GB / 8TB SSD for review. This is exactly the configuration I would buy excepting a preference for a 4TB SSD (only to keep the cost down).

Just started testing a maxed-out Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra.

UPDATE: the speed problems were (mostly) fixed by Photoshop CC 2022 v23.4.1.

Flabbergasted and no idea yet what‘s going on. But if even one or two more tests go this way, it looks bad for the M1 Ultra. And maybe I’ll reboot and everything will change and there is some weird macOS bug? I’ll do what I can to get to the bottom of it.

Zerene Stacker: M1 Ultra tests 25% to 89% slower than the 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max.
diglloydSpeed1 Photoshop test: M1 Ultra tests 26% slower than M1 Max .
diglloydMedium Photoshop test: M1 Ultra tests 26% slower than M1 Max .
OpenSSL SHA512: M1 Ultra is 9% slower than M1 Max.

This is ridiculous and if it holds for the other tests, count me out on the Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra Fake. I’d suggest this: do not assume that the Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra performs as one would hope.

Is there a downclocked CPU in the M1 Ultra— substantially slower ones which guarantees inferior performance for many if not most tasks?

Apple System Report... Studiously avoids any mention of clock rate. Maybe that’s no accident. Nor do the online specifications or buying page discussion mention clock speed. That’s suspiciously vague.

Yeah, macOS has changed a little, and so has Photoshop, but ZereneStacker is running a native M1 Java virtual machine, and openssl has not changed.

David L writes:

The terminal tool “powermetrics” shows a lot of information and is refreshed continuously. I would recommend grep:ing on CPU or something to get a little less information.

DIGLLOYD: hadn’t heard of this tool, but it offers a fire hose of interesting stuff.