Mac Studio with dual displays boosts rendering a staggering 12x [Setups]

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Mac Studio, check. Dual Studio Displays, check. Crippled bank account, check.
Mac Studio, check. Dual Studio Displays, check. Crippled bank account, check.
Photo: the_hell_indeed@Reddit.com

The term “money pit” usually refers to an old house that needs a lot of expensive work that never seems to end. But it could actually refer to a computer setup, too. After all, it’s never really finished and the next round of irresistible gear is always about to come out.

Today’s featured Mac Studio setup is a good example. After years of saving and planning, a setup centered on a struggling 2015 iMac metastasized, at great cost, into a Mac Studio powerhouse with dual Studio Displays.

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M1 Max Mac Studio with 2 Studio Displays sure beats video editor’s 2015 iMac

Video editor and Redditor the_hell_indeed (“Hellin”) showcased the setup in a post entitled, “Home office setup is complete. For now.” (Some people just intuitively get that a setup is never done.)

And they also get that a good setup often costs serious money, especially when it centers on a new M1 Max Mac Studio (32-core, 2TB, 64 GB RAM) paired with two new Studio Displays.

“After a few years of saving and planning, I finally have the setup of my (current) dreams,” Hellin said. “I’m a video editor who works from home on occasion, with some freelance here and there.”

12-hour render now takes 1 hour

Commenters were naturally curious about how the transition has worked out.

“It’s so much nicer to work on than my old 2015 iMac, even if I have to eat ramen for a few months. Buy once, cry once, twice, a million times,” Hellin said.

“I love it. Super fast and snappy, and coming from a 7ish-year-old iMac is night and day,” they continued. “I had an old project that used to take 12 hours to render and it took an hour on the Studio.”

In video editing, rendering refers to the process of merging large media files into one file.

And as for the two displays, Hellin said they “run [Adobe’s] Premiere on one side and After Effects/Audition/Photoshop/Illustrator/Netflix/Hulu/Firefox on the other.”

Contour ShuttlePro v2 multimedia controller

Another interesting aspect of this setup is the Contour ShuttlePro v2 multimedia controller sitting to the left of the keyboard. It looks like a mouse on steroids.

Here’s the company description:

The ShuttlePRO v2 multimedia controller will maximize your audio and video editing, graphic design, or other shuttle and jog productivity with both ideal form and function. Pre-configured for many of the industry’s leading audio and video editing applications, 15 customisable buttons will make working amazingly fast and precise by utilising commonly used macros.

Hellin called it a game changer in their work. “I have mine mapped for my most used Premiere shortcuts,” they said.

Split screenshot

And if you like what’s on the Studio Displays, here’s some more information about it:

“I think I got it from this thread and resized and cropped it to work in the dual displays. It’s a screenshot from the game Among Trees by Mikael Gustafsson. The actual shot is called Small Memory,” Hellin said.

Returning to the affordability theme, they also noted they have “various tour posters for concerts I can no longer afford because I’m in hock for this setup. There’s always room for growth, even if my bank account doesn’t agree.”

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If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches or challenges.

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