Mac Studio unboxing and first experience: How does it feel in practice?

The new Mac Studio has officially arrived. Whether you think of it as a "mini Mac Pro" or a "Pro Mac mini," it's an impressive machine that packs a serious punch. Head below for our quick, early look at the new Mac Studio in the real world.

Mac Studio features a design that proves to be polarizing. It's basically the size of three Mac minis stacked on top of each other. Think of it like a Mac mini, but stretched. Looks a little weird in real life, but not necessarily bad. Just different.

On the back of the Mac Studio, you’ll find a very unique perforated cooling design. I didn't count them, but Apple says the Mac Studio has more than 4,000 perforations on the back and bottom to "help cool the high-performance chips inside the machine."

But where Mac Studio really shines is in its I/O options. There are two USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front. If you opt for the M1 Ultra (I didn't), those USB-C ports on the front also support Thunderbolt 4.

As I said when I wrote about the new 14-inch MacBook Pro last year, I really didn’t need an SD card slot, especially on the front of my Mac Studio. Selfishly, I wish Apple had used this space for an extra pair of USB-C ports, but I know I'm probably in the minority.

On the back, the Mac Studio features four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, and a "Pro Audio Jack" designed for high-impedance headphones or external speakers.

It’s only been a few hours, but I’m already impressed with Mac Studio. For those wondering, this is the exact configuration I ordered:

• Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 64GB Unified Memory
• 1TB SSD Storage

I know that the Mac mini has long been the "comes with mouse and keyboard" machine in Apple's product line. However, given that the Mac Studio starts at $2,000, I think Apple should include a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse/trackpad in the box, along with a Thunderbolt 4 cable. Instead, all you get is the Mac Studio itself and the power cord. For this reason, the unboxing experience was definitely a bit disappointing.

## I’m personally glad the Mac Studio is silver instead of dark Empty gray. There's also a status light on the front of the Mac Studio, which makes it look awkward and "in your face" if you plan to have the Mac Studio out of sight on your desk.

I continue to be impressed with the setup and transfer process for my new Mac. The ability to easily set up a new Mac from another Mac using a Thunderbolt 4 cable is very simple and very fast. There are a few quirks to work out, especially when it comes to Apple ID authentication, but the overall experience is nearly seamless.

Performance-wise, I'll be the first to admit that the M1 Max is overkill for most of my needs. That being said, I've noticed a huge advantage with 64GB of combined memory compared to the 16GB in my 14-inch MacBook Pro.

With the exception of the SD card slot preference I mentioned earlier, the connectivity options on the Mac Studio are perfect. I've almost completely transitioned to USB-C, but I'm glad to have these two USB-A ports - one of which will be dedicated to Logitech's stupid unified receiver, which continues to annoy me.

So, why should I buy a Mac Studio? It really comes down to me preferring an always-on Mac in my setup. For the past few months, I've been living the MacBook Pro external monitor lifestyle. This has its benefits, but for me they don't outweigh the benefits of an always-on, 100% reliable Mac.

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