9,199 euros for an Apple Mac Studio, is that excessive? We had fun comparing the biggest Mac Studio setup with PCs.
Apple Mac Studio // Source: Apple
At its first event of the year, Apple showed off the Mac Studio – a compact desktop computer that packs impressive computing power for its size thanks to the new M1 Ultra chip – alongside the Mac Studio Display 5K monitor.
As usual, you can customize Apple machines to add RAM, storage… the Mac Studio can thus reach 9,199 euros with 128 GB of unified memory, 8 TB of SSD and the M1 Ultra chip in its more muscular version.
This price is extremely high, we wondered if it could be compared to PCs. The exercise is not simple, nevertheless it is interesting. Moreover, it is clear that Apple’s offer seems unique on the market.
We could have had fun configuring a custom PC by choosing a smaller case, like the NZXT H1, but it’s very difficult to find a compact case compatible with the largest components for today’s PCs. Typically, the GeForce RTX 3090 does not fit in most of these cases, this graphics card uses three slots with more than 31 centimeters in length. Note that there are RTX 3090s with more contained dimensions.
If we are interested in the GeForce RTX 3090, it is because the graphics performance of the M1 Ultra chip would be superior to that of the GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card from Nvidia, which is currently the fastest graphics card on the market. And in addition, the M1 Ultra chip only consumes a little more than 100 Watts, which is 200 Watts less than the RTX 3090.
Moreover, the power supply of the Mac Studio is only 370 Watts, while it takes a power supply of at least 700 Watts for the equivalent on PC. So you realize that it seems very complicated to build a PC with similar dimensions.
In short, despite this first analysis which shows that the comparison remains difficult, we still had fun looking for comparable configurations on PC.
Comparison with high-end gaming PCs
We turned to pre-configured solutions from major manufacturers such as Dell or MSI. These configurations exist, they use CPUs like the Intel Core i9-12900KF or the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, a GeForce RTX 3090 and 128 GB of RAM. We couldn’t find a pre-assembled PC configuration with 8TB of SSD, so we took the Mac Studio with 2TB of storage as a reference.
Alienware Aurora Ryzen
It is possible to buy an 8 TB SSD, the Sabrent Rocket Q in NVMe format costs 1,299 euros with half the performance of Apple’s SSD.
| Apple MacStudio | Dell Alienware Aurora | Dell Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition | MSI MEG Aegis Ti5 12VTJ-001EU | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Apple M1 Ultra | Intel Core i9-12900KF | AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | Intel Core i9-12900K |
| GPUs | Apple M1 Ultra | Nvidia GeForce 3090 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 |
| RAM | 128 GB of unified memory | 128 GB (4 x 32 GB, DDR5, 3600 MHz) 24 GB GDDR6X dedicated to the GPU | 128 GB (4 x 32 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz) 24 GB GDDR6X dedicated to the GPU | 128 GB (4 x 32 GB, DDR5, 3600 MHz) 24 GB GDDR6X dedicated to the GPU |
| SSD storage | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB |
| Price | €7,129 | €6,609.01 | €6,462.19 | €6,799.96 |
| Store | Apple Store | Dell | Dell | LDLC |
As you can see, the price of Mac Studio is not that crazy. With comparable configurations, the difference is less than 600 euros. The configurations with GeForce RTX 3090 are all gaming oriented.
Note that the usefulness of the Mac Studio is not turned towards the game as for PCs with Nvidia GeForce RTX cards. We must therefore turn to professional workstations.
The comparison with workstations
We are therefore talking about workstations in the context of professional uses such as video editing, 3D, motion design, scientific research, etc. industrial and creative needs requiring large amounts of computing power.
The Mac Studio can be compared to these workstations. On the latter, we find the professional offer of Intel and Nvidia. Exit, the Cores and the GeForces, we are then talking about Xeon and Quadro RTX.
Dell Precision 7920 Tower
As much to warn you before you discover the table below, the prices are much higher than those of Apple. We chose two machines by trying to configure them with similar resources. Once again, the exercise is very delicate.
| Apple MacStudio | Dell Precision 5820 Tower | Dell Precision 7920 Tower | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Apple M1 Ultra | Intel Xeon W-2295 | Intel Xeon W-2295 |
| GPUs | Apple M1 Ultra | Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 | Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 |
| RAM | 128 GB of unified memory | 128 GB (4 x 32 GB, DDR4, 2933 MHz) 48 GB GDDR6 dedicated to the GPU | 128 GB (2 x 64 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz) 48 GB GDDR6X dedicated to the GPU |
| SSD storage | 2TB | 2 TB (class 40) | 2 TB (class 40) |
| Price | €7,129 | Original price: 17,225.09 euros Discounted: 11,196.88 euros | Original price: 23,360.69 euros Discounted: 15,165.52 euros |
| Store | Apple Store | Dell | Dell |
On these workstations, you can even add even more expensive CPUs, such as the Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280L (38.5 MB of cache, 28 cores, 56 threads) or add a second graphics card. We then obtain a configuration whose price exceeds 80,000 euros before discount.
The cost of a machine is not really a question
Therefore and in this context, the cost of a machine is not really a question, because the greatest value of the company, and also the greatest expense, are the people who work on it.
It is, moreover, quite clear that the subject of the relevance of Apple’s professional computer lines is only one for those who do not use them. Or, to put it another way, professionals who know they need a Mac Studio are well aware of their needs and the versatility of the tool.
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