Skip to main content
O
oohtruck
Participating Frequently
July 28, 2022
Question

Mac Studio for After Effects - Max or Ultra? or neither?

  • July 28, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 4318 views

I'm going to upgrade my current setup to a new Mac and was considering going with the Mac Studio, and i'm curious if anyone has any experience on which one is more ideal for AE: M1 Max or Ultra?

 

I mainly use AE for animation and editing.

 

I am still a little sour after spluring on my iMac Pro in 2017 and having to wait years for Adobe to offer multi-threaded support for AE, so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Jose Panadero
Community Expert
Jose PanaderoCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 29, 2022

I've tested the two models Max and Ultra and both are beasts for After Effects with the latests AE version. Not sure if the Ultra model is far better than the Max model (I get a lot better results in FCPX when decoding or encoding ProRes files. Working on heavy vfx projects with EXR files AE is at least 3 to 4 times faster even on the Max model. Cinema 4D is also impressive on the new Mac Studio. The only problem as Rick says is that I use some third party plugins that are not Apple Silicon native so in some circumstances I have to work in AE using Rosetta emulation. Also it is impossible to get the fan make noise on the MacStudio, it looks like a really efficient machine.

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 29, 2022

I have very promising and stable results with an M1 Macbook Pro. I tested on a bare-bones Mac Mini before springing for the MacBook pro. 

 

There will be a few stumbles, and I still have a couple of plug-ins and scripts that have to be run in Rosetta, but I am happy and productive.

 

My only concern in your question comes from the statement that you use After Effects for editing. AE is an animation, motion graphics, visual effects, and compositing app designed to create shots. AE is not, never was, and is a terrible video editing app. You do that in Premiere Pro. 

 

As far as which machine to buy and how to configure it, spend as much as you can afford without going into debt. 

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices