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Bdubs760 97K Views
May 6, 2023 2:26 PM

Costco Members: Apple Mac Studio Desktop: M1 Max Chip, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD (2022)

$1,500

$1,950

23% off
+ Free Shippingat Costco Wholesale
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Deal Details
Costco Wholesale has for their Members: New Mac Studio Desktop: Apple M1 Max Chip (MJMV3LL/A) on sale for $1499.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Bdubs760 for finding this deal.

Note: You need to be an active Costco Member and signed in to your account to purchase at sale price, otherwise non-members may purchase but are subject to a 5% surcharge.

Specs:
  • Apple M1 Max Chip
    • 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores
    • 24-core GPU
    • 16-core Neural Engine
    • 400GB/s memory bandwidth
  • 32GB RAM (Unified Memory)
  • 512GB Solid State Drive
  • Built-in speaker
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • Wi-Fi (802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking) (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible)
  • macOS Monterey
  • Ports:
    • 3.5 mm headphone jack
    • HDMI port (supports multichannel audio output)
    • 4x Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
    • 2x USB-A
    • 10Gb Ethernet
    • 2x USB-C Ports (Front)
    • SDXC Card Slot (UHS-II)
  • 7.7-inch-square, 3.7-inch-tall design in silver

Editor's Notes

Written by oceanlake
  • About this deal:
    • Our research indicates that this is $299 lower (16.6% savings) than the next best available price from a reputable merchant with prices starting at $1799 at the time of this posting.
    • This price is also $200 lower than a previous Frontpage Deal form January.
  • About this product:
    • 4.7 out of 5 stars rating at Costco based on over 75 customer reviews
  • About this store:
    • You can view Costco's Return Policy here.
  • Additional Note:

Original Post

Written by Bdubs760
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Costco Wholesale has for their Members: New Mac Studio Desktop: Apple M1 Max Chip (MJMV3LL/A) on sale for $1499.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Bdubs760 for finding this deal.

Note: You need to be an active Costco Member and signed in to your account to purchase at sale price, otherwise non-members may purchase but are subject to a 5% surcharge.

Specs:
  • Apple M1 Max Chip
    • 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores
    • 24-core GPU
    • 16-core Neural Engine
    • 400GB/s memory bandwidth
  • 32GB RAM (Unified Memory)
  • 512GB Solid State Drive
  • Built-in speaker
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • Wi-Fi (802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking) (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible)
  • macOS Monterey
  • Ports:
    • 3.5 mm headphone jack
    • HDMI port (supports multichannel audio output)
    • 4x Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
    • 2x USB-A
    • 10Gb Ethernet
    • 2x USB-C Ports (Front)
    • SDXC Card Slot (UHS-II)
  • 7.7-inch-square, 3.7-inch-tall design in silver

Editor's Notes

Written by oceanlake
  • About this deal:
    • Our research indicates that this is $299 lower (16.6% savings) than the next best available price from a reputable merchant with prices starting at $1799 at the time of this posting.
    • This price is also $200 lower than a previous Frontpage Deal form January.
  • About this product:
    • 4.7 out of 5 stars rating at Costco based on over 75 customer reviews
  • About this store:
    • You can view Costco's Return Policy here.
  • Additional Note:

Original Post

Written by Bdubs760

Community Voting

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Top Comments

jagerdr
12Comments
14Reputation
I basically agree, but with the following adds / exceptions --

We ordered one of these on this deal -- thanks OP! It should arrive tomorrow.

We have had an M1 Max Studio for about 8 months now. Our M1 Mini's with 16GB RAM just seem too slow now that we're spoiled by the Max Studio which we got for about 1700 bucks on an open box deal.

We may have shot ourselves in the foot because rumor has it that a 'space gray' pro Studio version with an M2 max or ultra or something CPU chip will be out at WWDC in June. We've played this game before and waited 6, 9, 12 months before something close to the rumored machine showed up. Plus, for our uses, we really don't need the M1 Ultra or M2 Ultra type horsepower.

On the other hand, a ~500 dollar or ~25% drop is something that doesn't usually happen with Mac pricing. It could be that Microsoft and Apple -- both of whom reported Windows OEM and Mac sales down about 20% year/year - ( in their quarters ended March 31, reported last week) are seeing a glut in desk/lap top supply and are not too eager to throw more resources into developing the category when they see more potential in AI for Microsoft and VR and phones for Apple.

Also, the M2 Mini stepped up version with similar cores and RAM and storage is about the same price as the Studio basic Max. If you accept the view that heat is the primary enemy of any electronic device, then for the same money go for the machine that should have better cooling - the Studio over the Mini.

Re M1 / M2 / M3, etc. The M2 seems to be about 20% avg. faster than the M1 for most tasks. Who is to say that the M3 will have nothing but the same rate of change, i.e., another +20% over the M2. The old rule dating back decades is that CPU performance has to approximately double before from one clock speed / core count to the next before performance increases are perceptible 'touch and feel' types of human, not software based, measurements.

Apple 'cuts you a new one' with storage upgrade pricing. We have our Studio and Mini M1' decked out with Thunderbolt drive NVME drives. They are very fast,and reliable. Plus we can swap them between machines, or take them off and let them sit on the shelf for archival backup. Unless we get into making feature length movies or something, our 512 drives serve us okay. Old stuff can be moved to one of the Thunderbolt dongle drives quickly and easily.


We could be wrong, but the above factors shaped our decision.






.
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Surge99
176Comments
18Reputation
Lol you edited your post, I have your original on my first reply to you.
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turns2stone
4.4KComments
716Reputation
You can use a $30 USB-C to HDMI 2.1 Cable Matters adapter to get 4K120 from any M1 Mac.
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181 Comments

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May 6, 2023 5:49 PM
421 Comments
Joined Dec 2010
Tom_ChanMay 6, 2023 5:49 PM
421 Comments
Quote from kijb View quoted comment :
512gb of storage is a weak configuration nowadays. Even Mobile computing starts at 128 or 256gb. It would be nice to have every desktop setup start at 1TB given storage has gotten more affordable.
Attach a USB SSD and you can have storage for cheaper than what Apple charges.
3
May 6, 2023 5:55 PM
1.8K Comments
Joined Dec 2013
JeffJ9000May 6, 2023 5:55 PM
1.8K Comments
Quote from La-grenouille View quoted comment :
Nope…check the benchmarks
Same as real world usage or juiced for the test?
May 6, 2023 6:01 PM
479 Comments
Joined May 2006
apackofmonkeysMay 6, 2023 6:01 PM
479 Comments
Quote from turns2stone View quoted comment :
You can use a $30 USB-C to HDMI 2.1 Cable Matters adapter to get 4K120 from any M1 Mac.
All I see for sale, they include a disclaimer that even with the adapter you can only get 4k@60hz on a Mac (example below) . Do you have a specific model that says with does 4k@120hz on a Mac?

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matt...B08MSWMXT4
2
May 6, 2023 6:06 PM
423 Comments
Joined Nov 2012
ccsoccer23May 6, 2023 6:06 PM
423 Comments
Quote from StevenJ8494 View quoted comment :
Wondering if this machine effectively support a 3-monitor setup with 4K resolution at 60hz for Thingorswim?
Easily.

Your Mac Studio supports five displays in total—four displays with resolutions up to 6K at 60 Hz connected to the Thunderbolt ports and one HDMI display up to 4K resolution connected to the HDMI port.
1
May 6, 2023 6:15 PM
78 Comments
Joined Nov 2022
IntelligentPersonMay 6, 2023 6:15 PM
78 Comments
i honestly wouldn't put my chips on this computer as a long term system due to it being a gen 1 machine and the fact that m3 is likely going to be the biggest update in apple silicon history until the next major breakthrough. an M3 Max is likely going to be faster than an M1 Ultra. if you need a mac for the time being, just get the cheapest M2 mac mini and then slap on an external HDD for extended storage and wait it out for the Mac Studio w/ M3 Max
3
1
7
May 6, 2023 6:20 PM
306 Comments
Joined Jun 2016
ButterscratchMay 6, 2023 6:20 PM
306 Comments
Quote from IntelligentPerson View quoted comment :
i honestly wouldn't put my chips on this computer as a long term system due to it being a gen 1 machine and the fact that m3 is likely going to be the biggest update in apple silicon history until the next major breakthrough. an M3 Max is likely going to be faster than an M1 Ultra. if you need a mac for the time being, just get the cheapest M2 mac mini and then slap on an external HDD for extended storage and wait it out for the Mac Studio w/ M3 Max
As with any other computer/electronics, the next breakthrough is just around the corner, which will not be as affordable at launch, and when it does become slightly affordable, another breakthrough will be around the corner and so the cycle continues.
2
May 6, 2023 6:22 PM
462 Comments
Joined Sep 2016
bigboySocalMay 6, 2023 6:22 PM
462 Comments
Quote from Butterscratch View quoted comment :
As with any other computer/electronics, the next breakthrough is just around the corner, which will not be as affordable at launch, and when it does become slightly affordable, another breakthrough will be around the corner and so the cycle continues.
Well said!
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May 6, 2023 6:23 PM
1.2K Comments
Joined Dec 2020
SmartHaddock3847May 6, 2023 6:23 PM
1.2K Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

This a good price, but M3 is surely coming, with lots of improvements. I'd wait for M3 Max and see how it compares for $500 more. And if it isn't worth it, the M1 Max version will surely be still at least this price if not blown out for even less by then.
1
1
May 6, 2023 6:25 PM
30 Comments
Joined Oct 2019
MarcelM1May 6, 2023 6:25 PM
30 Comments
Quote from dvdrdiscs View quoted comment :
Any idea if this is why the Mac mini 2 looks odd on my monitor? I know the Mac mini 2 also has the same hdmi 2.0. I bought one to use with my LG 42" OLED but ended up returning it because everything looks off. When connected to my windows PC running a 3080, everything looks sharp and great. But switched to the Mac mini 2, I felt like I was getting eye fatigue. Couldn't really figure out why as the resolution is the same.
This might be because MacOS does not support antialiasing out of the box. I ran into this issue when switching from a PC to Mac using the same monitor it just looked blurry and there was no way to fix it that I could figure out. Mac OS needs a higher resolution monitor to overcome the lack of antialiasing. I ended up switching to two LG Ultrafine monitors and this made a huge difference (LG 27UK650-W 27)

Here's more on this

https://piunikaweb.com/2021/06/24...l-display/
Last edited by MarcelM1 May 6, 2023 at 11:30 AM.
1
Pro
May 6, 2023 6:29 PM
3.5K Comments
Joined Nov 2010
Elon69
Pro
May 6, 2023 6:29 PM
3.5K Comments
Quote from IntelligentPerson View quoted comment :
i honestly wouldn't put my chips on this computer as a long term system due to it being a gen 1 machine and the fact that m3 is likely going to be the biggest update in apple silicon history until the next major breakthrough. an M3 Max is likely going to be faster than an M1 Ultra. if you need a mac for the time being, just get the cheapest M2 mac mini and then slap on an external HDD for extended storage and wait it out for the Mac Studio w/ M3 Max
That's why there are people who will experience the great new things vs ones forever waiting for the one coming around the corner and never experienced anything

-guy who bought m1 mini, m1 air, and mpro14 and macstudio, m2 air all at launch cuz I don't mind paying up for shiny new things. My m1 pro spec machines are so under utilized I didn't upgrade to M2 pro but I will get m3 when it's finally available.

I just sell my gear whenever I upgrade for a small loss but it's like renting the mac for a low cost.
Last edited by Elon69 May 6, 2023 at 11:32 AM.
4
May 6, 2023 6:37 PM
264 Comments
Joined Nov 2019
GreenIdea3316May 6, 2023 6:37 PM
264 Comments
Great deal, I have one for almost a year. Power computer
Pro
May 6, 2023 6:39 PM
3.5K Comments
Joined Nov 2010
Elon69
Pro
May 6, 2023 6:39 PM
3.5K Comments
Quote from ccsoccer23 View quoted comment :
This is the way. DisplayPort > HDMI
I cannot find a confirmed setup where m1/m2 mac allows 4k @ 120hz thru an adapter. Reddit posts all said the OS throttles it back down to 60hz. Most adapter also say 60hz max


I do like 120hz but only on the pro14 laptop.

Edit:

Just did more google

This product page says 240hz!

Maxonar USB C to DisplayPort 1.4 VESA Certified, 8K 60Hz Thunderbolt 4/3 /USB4 to DP Cable 6.6FT/2M(4K 60Hz 144Hz 120Hz 2K 240Hz) 32.4Gbps HBR3 Alt Mode Adapter for Mac Studio, MacBook Pro, XPS Grey https://a.co/d/6yppmXc
Last edited by Elon69 May 6, 2023 at 11:51 AM.
1
May 6, 2023 6:39 PM
925 Comments
Joined Sep 2007
sukruMay 6, 2023 6:39 PM
925 Comments
I have the M2 Pro version, and this is a good deal.

For contrast, M2 Pro (base) comes with:
* 16GB vs 32GB RAM
* same number of CPU cores (but should be 10-20% faster)
* 16 instead of 24 core GPU
* 200GB/s vs 400GB/s memory bandwidth
* Same ports, except HDMI2.1

So, basically it is a $200 upgrade for several more high end features, and a few tradeoffs. If you are in the market for a capable Mac system for the long run I would say: go for it (though soldered ram/ssd makes me a bit uneasy).
1
May 6, 2023 6:41 PM
2.5K Comments
Joined Dec 2007
bakerzdosenMay 6, 2023 6:41 PM
2.5K Comments
Back to the M2 Pro Mini vs M1 Max Studio debate:

The M2 Pro is definitely faster overall in benchmarks.

But, a M2 Pro Mini with 32 GB of RAM and 10GigE runs $1799 and has some glaring expansion limitations vs the Studio.

So yes, the machine that costs $300 is technically faster (in both single core and multi-core benchmarks), but I'd argue it's close enough that this is the better deal.
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May 6, 2023 6:46 PM
78 Comments
Joined Nov 2022
IntelligentPersonMay 6, 2023 6:46 PM
78 Comments
Quote from Butterscratch View quoted comment :
As with any other computer/electronics, the next breakthrough is just around the corner, which will not be as affordable at launch, and when it does become slightly affordable, another breakthrough will be around the corner and so the cycle continues.
this way of thinking isn't wrong, but you need to take context into account. you'd be foolish to buy an RTX 4090 at MSRP if it was currently summer of 2024 because you would know with high confidence rate that something much superior is right around the corner that would render the current product inferior. months before the m2 came out, we already knew that it was going to be a relatively minor upgrade over the m1 and we were right. even though this item is currently $450 off, we pretty much know that the next entry level Mac Studio will likely be a better value than this thing on sale. we know it'll have much better CPU, GPU, wifi, hdmi port, and possibly even thunderbolt 5. and if you don't need these things, then we should question whether or not you even need a Mac Studio to begin with rather than a macbook air or mac mini.
1
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