The Kia Seltos has been among the most popular cars in its category in India, since its launch in 2019. The mid-sized urban SUV is just as well suited to city driving as on the highway, but what has truly worked for the car in India is its feature-heavy approach to the market. Various features such as Kia Connect (previously known as UVO) and autonomous safety tricks built into the car have helped set the Kia Seltos apart from the strong competition in the segment.

Kia has now unveiled the 2023 facelift for the Kia Seltos, which comes with further improvements to the already rich feature set of the car, along with a new premium ‘X-line’ trim, and improved engine and transmission options across variants. I had a chance to drive the new Kia Seltos and check out the features during a drive from Nagpur to the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, and here are some of the key highlights of Kia’s new mid-sized Seltos.

kia seltos 2023 first impressions matte black KiaThe Kia Seltos (2023) X-line comes in a new Matte Graphite colour and finish

Kia Seltos (2023) price in India, variants

The Kia Seltos (2023) is priced from Rs. 10.90 lakh to Rs. 19.99 lakh rupees (ex-showroom) in India, depending on the variant. The price depends on the engine, transmission, and trim options, with variants ranging from the entry-level HTE trim to the new top X-line, which is the only one available in the new Matte Graphite colour. Other colour options include the new Pewter Olive, along with various other glossy metallic colours.

Available in Petrol, Diesel, and Turbo Petrol variants across trims, you can also choose between different transmission options, including manual, iMT (clutchless manual), and three automatic variants such as CVT, torque converter, and DCT. Some variants also have manual override through paddle shifters. For my drive, I had the Kia Seltos (2023) GT-line with the Turbo Petrol engine in Pewter Olive, which comes with all major safety and tech-related features.

Kia Seltos (2023): Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) wants to take care of you

With a renewed focus on safety, the Kia Seltos puts its ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) at the forefront of its feature offerings, apart from having six airbags and disc brakes on all four wheels as standard across all variants. ADAS is available in various cars at different levels ranging from 0 (no automation) to 5 (full automation), and the Kia Seltos slots in at ADAS Level 2, which is able to offer some level of hands-off automation and control.

This being the first time I drove a car with any level of automation, I found the experience a little bit scary at first, with the ADAS functionality somewhat controlling the car for me in certain situations, which was a bit eerie. There are 17 functions that utilise ADAS on the Kia Seltos (2023), most of which you’ll hope to never have to see put to use, such as forward collision warning and forward collision assistance.

Other ADAS features were showcased in safe test environments during the drive, while some of the smaller inclusions could be constantly seen at work during the few hours I drove the Seltos. All of this is backed by a 360-degree camera system, which provides clear views all around the car, functioning while driving as well as in slow-moving situations such as when parking.

In the safe testing environments, trained Kia drivers demonstrated how the car would autonomously apply brakes, issue loud audio warnings, or autonomously counter-steer in situations where a collision was imminent, either with another car or even in situations where a door was opened while a vehicle was approaching along the side.

kia seltos 2023 first impressions inside

There are two 10.25-inch displays in the Kia Seltos – one for the infotainment system, and the second for the digital instrument cluster

I personally was able to see features such as lane-keep assist, blind-spot collision assist, and smart cruise control in action myself while driving. On multi-lane highways with well marked lanes, the Kia Seltos (2023) managed to maintain its lane much of the time, occasionally prompting me with physical feedback to make minor steering corrections. The fully-digital instrument cluster displayed the blind-spot clearly when indicating left or right, while the cruise control managed to vary its speed based on that of the car ahead of me when needed.

As mentioned earlier, it was a bit nerve-wracking when these features first started working for me, since I haven’t typically been used to my car acting on its own, even if it’s for my safety. That said, I got used to most of it soon enough, and to be fair, I continued to have primary control over the car at all times, with it only providing faint feedback through the wheel. That said, the Driver Attention Warning chimes every 15 minutes telling you to stop for coffee which got tiring very quickly.

Kia Seltos (2023): Kia Connect, voice commands, and big screens

Kia Connect is something I’ve tested previously on the Kia Sonet when it was still called Kia UVO, and things have improved a fair bit since then. This is mainly because of the large 10.25-inch touch infotainment system lining up next to the equal-sized digital instrument cluster. These two together give the Kia Seltos quite the futuristic look and feel, apart from putting a whole lot of information about the car within easy view.

While you have the option to connect your smartphone via USB for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto UI and functionality, you can just as easily rely on the Kia Connect system. The car has a fully connected system, relying on its own data connection to work with functions such as voice commands, detailed mapping for navigation, and more. I was able to navigate to major points of interest and give voice commands reliably, even in relatively remote areas such as the Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

For music, you can connect various devices either through wired or wireless connections, with the Kia Seltos (2023) sporting a Bose speaker system on the variant I was driving. Sound quality was expectedly decent even over a Bluetooth connection, and there were also some interesting ambient soundtracks preloaded onto the Kia connect system for quiet, peaceful listening.

The Kia Seltos (2023) now comes with a 1.5L turbo petrol engine option, offering 158bhp and 253Nm of torque, and mated to an optional DCT automatic gearbox

The Kia Connect app also lets you view data about the car such as fuel range, status, and location, apart from remotely staring and stopping the car even when you aren’t sitting in it. Other tech-focused features include full diagnostics for the car and the ADAS features which can be controlled through the screens, navigation set up through the smartphone with instructions sent to the car, remote climate control, and a handy air purifier built into the car to ensure you’re breathing clean air when in the Seltos.

The voice commands work to control most car functions, such as opening the panoramic sunroof, navigating to specific locations and points of interest, turning on or off the air conditioning, and opening or closing the windows, among other things. There were occasions where I had to repeat myself, but the voice commands usually got it right. Notably, these work not only in English, but also in bilingual (Hindi with English), with commands such as ‘sunroof kholo’ or ‘AC band karo’ working reliably.

Kia Seltos (2023): How is it to drive?

The Kia Seltos (2023) is available in three different engine variants, with different transmission options linked to specific variants. I had the new turbo petrol variant for my test drive, which is the most capable in terms of brake horsepower and torque output, making it the most powerful of the three variants. This was mated to an automatic seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT), with paddle shifters offering a manual override for the occasions where I wanted to take some control.

The car is fairly capable and responsive in both city and highway conditions, thanks to the smooth and easy shifts from the DCT gearbox. It was also fairly responsive to throttle variations, and managed to set itself up well even on inclines such as hilly roads, where automatic transmissions sometimes feel sluggish and out of sorts. The manual override was a nice option to have, but even when overtaking on the highway, I rarely ever felt the need to invoke it; simply putting my foot down sent the message, and the Kia Seltos managed to deliver enough power both in the city and on the highway.

All of this is handled smoothly, with the Kia Seltos (2023) feeling almost sedan-like in the ride it offers. When cruising at around 70-80 kmph on the highway in seventh gear, the Seltos was at its absolute best, offering a smooth ride with the low revs ensuring good fuel efficiency. The DCT gearbox is nimble enough to quickly switch up as needed, setting me up quickly for lane changes and overtaking as needed.

Final thoughts

Car safety is an increasingly important factor in purchase decisions for buyers in India, and the Kia Seltos (2023) promises a lot more of that thanks to its ADAS Level-2 feature set. Apart from protecting you from potentially serious accidents, the Seltos is also well set up to prevent even small and typically avoidable incidents, thanks to its impressive 360-degree camera setup and various assistance features such as lane keep assist and blind-spot assistance. Some ADAS features such as Driver Attention Warning were a bit bothersome, but you can disable the various ADAS features as per your preferences.

Technologically, this is among the best cars in its price segment right now, representing the future of connected driving and giving drivers a taste of the future in the form of minor automation aimed at making the overall driving experience safer and easier. Features such as voice controls for car functions and navigation, as well as the Kia Connect app and interface for vehicle diagnostics, make the experience a lot better.

All of this is backed up by a great driving experience on the whole. That said, with such a wide price range across variants of the Kia Seltos, you’ll have to make sure you pick the variant that actually has everything you need. The well-equipped variants cost considerably more than the basic ones; the top-end X-line variants cost nearly twice as much as the entry-level variant.

The post Kia Seltos (2023) First Impressions: Tech Makes This Car Safer, Smarter, More Fun appeared first on Review Products.

TVs can be expensive or affordable, and if you’re shopping in the latter category, you’ll likely give Xiaomi a look. Of course, it might sound a bit strange to call a television that costs over Rs. 60,000 ‘affordable’, but everything is relative, and there’s a huge market for big-screen, feature-rich televisions that don’t cost too much. The latest in that list is the Xiaomi X Series (2023) television range, which now comes in a 65-inch size option, which is priced at Rs. 61,999 in India.

With a 65-inch Ultra-HD (3840×2160-pixel) screen, support for Dolby Vision HDR, 30W speakers, and the Google TV user interface alongside Xiaomi’s Patchwall on top of Android TV OS, this is a well-equipped big screen television that costs less that Rs. 1,000 per diagonal inch of screen size. Is this the best reasonably-priced 65-inch TV you can buy right now? Find out in this review.

Xiaomi X Series (2023) 65-inch Ultra-HD Smart TV design and specifications

Xiaomi’s older X series televisions have been available in sizes ranging from 43 inches to 55 inches, all of which are Ultra-HD (3840×2160-pixel) televisions. The 2023 series adds a 65-inch option as well, although it’s worth pointing out here that this isn’t the first 65-inch TV from the company, but it’s new for this series. The TV I’ve received for review is the 65-inch option, which is priced at Rs. 61,999 in India.

Expectedly, the design is largely along the lines of earlier X series models, and is available in a single black colour option. The borders around the screen are slim and largely out of sight much of the time when the TV is in operation, while the bottom has a slightly thicker and more prominent border. The Xiaomi logo is at the centre, just above the module which has the indicator light and power button.

It isn’t a very slim TV, but it isn’t too thick either, and will look reasonably good when wall-mounted using a low-profile mounting kit. Unlike the X Pro series which was launched earlier this year, there is no hands-free voice assistant functionality, and so no microphone built into the TV itself. You can, of course, access Google Assistant through the remote, which has a microphone to accept voice commands.

You get three HDMI 2.1 ports (one supports eARC), two USB type-A ports, an Ethernet port, an Optical audio port, and sockets for AV, 3.5mm audio, and antenna on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) TV – all fairly standard for a TV in this price segment. The fact that this is a large television with the ports close to the centre at the back makes access to them a bit difficult when the TV is wall-mounted, so you’ll need to ensure you set everything up before putting it on the wall.

Stands for the TV are included in the sales package, but not a wall-mount kit. Xiaomi’s installation team can take care of assembly and installation regardless of which mode of installation you opt for, but you’ll need to confirm with the technician about which wall-mount kit is used and whether there will be an additional cost for it.

The Xiaomi X Series (2023) is available in various size options, going up to the 65-inch version that I had for review

Other specifications worth mentioning are 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage for apps and app data, a quad-core A55 processor to run the smart functionality and Android TV operating system, and a standard refresh rate of 60Hz. The TV supports the Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats, and relies on Bluetooth 5 and dual-band Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity. For sound, the Xiaomi X Series (2023) TV has a 30W speaker system with support for Dolby Audio, DTS:X, and DTS: Virtual X, as well as Dolby Atmos passthrough support on the eARC enabled HDMI port.

Xiaomi X Series (2023) 65-inch Ultra-HD Smart TV remote and features

The remote and feature set on Xiaomi’s larger televisions doesn’t really change much, and the 65-inch X Series (2023) television sticks to this formula. The lightweight remote is compatible with various Xiaomi and Redmi TVs in the range, easily replaceable, and largely uncomplicated. Software fixes have made up for the lack of buttons for some time now, and AAA batteries for the remote are included in the sales package.

The remote has hotkeys for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, and YouTube, apart from the customary navigation pad and Android TV buttons, Google Assistant button, and volume button. Connectivity is only through Bluetooth, and the remote needs to be paired (through a quick and convenient pairing process) when the TV is first booted up.

Other features on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) TV include Chromecast built-in and auto low-latency mode (ALLM). The X Series (2023) is not quite as well-equipped as the X Pro launched earlier this year, but it’s a fair bit more affordable than the X Pro for models of the same size, and largely gets the core experience on point.

Xiaomi X Series (2023) 65-inch Ultra-HD Smart TV software and interface

Xiaomi has a pretty stable formula for its televisions which is arguably a bit too predictable, but I see it as a big benefit if you go by the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ philosophy. Much of that comes down to the software experience, and the X Series (2023) television range comes with the expected combination of Android TV with the Google TV user interface, apart from the ability to switch to Xiaomi’s own PatchWall UI.

The television runs Android TV 11 under the hood, but seems to struggle a bit with performance, when it comes to the UIs and smart TV functionality. Even with just a few basic apps loaded, I found the TV quite sluggish when navigating around the Google TV and PatchWall user interfaces. Rebooting the TV completely would improve things for a few hours (or maybe a day), but it would go back to being sluggish eventually.

Apart from the Google TV user interface, you can also use PatchWall on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) TV

This seems to apply only to the user interface itself; on platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube (all known for their performance reliability), there were no performance issues with anything playing. Some apps such as JioCinema did have occasional issues of lag and stutter, but at no point was the TV troublesome, once content was actually streaming.

Wall Mount or on a Stand? What You Need to Know Before Setting Up Your New TV

The Google TV user interface was introduced on the Xiaomi X Pro series earlier in 2023, and makes its way to the X Series (2023) as well. As mentioned in numerous earlier reviews, it’s a considerable upgrade over the earlier stock Android TV UI. PatchWall, on the other hand, remains largely familiar, with many of its classic features such as curated categories and recommendations present on the X Series (2023) as well.

Xiaomi X Series (2023) 65-inch Ultra-HD Smart TV performance

Xiaomi’s brand image, coupled with the fact that it’s a well-established and leading player in the smartphone segment, has made it naturally interesting to buyers of TVs in this price segment. At Rs. 61,999 for the 65-inch variant, it’s also quite competitively priced as compared to much of the competition in the segment, especially when you consider the features and specifications on offer, such as support for Dolby Vision, 30W of sound output, and the Google TV user interface.

The X Series (2023) has some minor performance-affecting differences as compared to the X Pro, but you’re unlikely to really notice these in practical use. Key features and specifications are all in place, and the performance more than matched up to most of the televisions I’ve used in this price segment. I’ve usually reviewed 55-inch TVs at this price, so getting a 65-inch option at under Rs. 65,000 is somewhat of a novelty for me.

With plenty of Ultra-HD and high dynamic range content available to stream from various platforms, there’s lots to work with on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) television if you buy one of the larger screen sizes. I watched a range of content from various streaming platforms, including episodes of Star Wars Visions and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on Disney+ Hotstar, Strange Planet (Review) on Apple TV+, episodes of Barry on JioCinema, and assorted sports and YouTube content.

Ultra-HD Dolby Vision content looks best on the TV, although the bump in brightness with HDR isn’t significant

The 65-inch screen size comes with its own impact, but this can also potentially create challenges in the picture quality for lower-resolution content. While the differences between Ultra-HD and even full-HD content are a bit more pronounced on larger screens, the actual drawbacks are handled to a reasonable extent by the Xiaomi X Series (2023) TV thanks to acceptable upscaling. Of course, you’ll want to stick to Ultra-HD content as much as possible for the optimal level of performance, and the Xiaomi X Series (2023) manages to do decently for the price when it comes to that.

Dolby Vision: What Is It, and How Does It Make Your Movies and TV Shows Better?

Support for Dolby Vision high dynamic range (but not the HDR10+ format) means that you’ll get slightly better performance with compatible content from platforms such as Netflix and Apple TV+. That said, the actual Dolby Vision effect isn’t quite as pronounced on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) as on high-end quantum-dot and OLED televisions, but you’ll still see a decent increase in the brightness and colour vibrance.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 looked good on the TV, thanks to support for the Dolby Vision format for the title. The colourful and over-the-top set pieces of Knowhere (the Guardians’ city-spaceship headquarters) looked punchy and sharp for the most part. That said, very bright colours and certain skin tones appeared a bit oversaturated.

Peak brightness was also somewhat of a concern on the Xiaomi X Series (2023) television, with HDR content not really offering much of a bump over standard dynamic range content. Fortunately, I didn’t need to do too much to darken the room for the picture to be visible; if you’re in front of the TV or just off by a small angle, you won’t have any trouble watching even with bright daylight in the room.

That said, you do need to be in front of the TV for the ideal viewing experience, and the further away from the centre you are, the more reflective the screen of the Xiaomi X Series (2023) television gets. Additionally, darkening the room as much as you can will definitely help in making the picture and colours appear as good as they can.

Ultra-HD content obviously appeared the sharpest and nicest to watch, including the deliberately hazy They Cloned Tyrone which still looked sharp despite the tone of the film itself. However, low-light scenes were sometimes difficult to watch, thanks to the fairly average black levels and noticeable grey tinge of the TV. Lower resolution content – such as episodes of Barry – looked alright, and I definitely didn’t have any trouble watching these.

That said, don’t expect it to look stunning; there were points where details seemed washed out, and the show effectively appeared a bit older than it actually is. You probably won’t mind this once in a while, but if most of your viewing is full-HD or lower resolution content such as this, you shouldn’t really be considering a 65-inch Ultra-HD TV in the first place.

Xiaomi tends to be very good with sound quality on its TVs, and that is the case on the X Series (2023) as well. Although not quite as loud as the X Pro TV series, the X Series comes with a box speaker system providing 30W of sound output. There is no support for Dolby Atmos from the speaker system, but in most cases, this isn’t something you’ll miss either.

The TV is loud, clear, and audible even at moderate volumes with plenty of room to go higher if you like. The uniformity in volume increments is excellent, and I didn’t experience too many unpleasant volume spikes. Usefully, there is Dolby Atmos passthrough, so you’ll be able to connect to a compatible soundbar or speaker system and get the benefit of Atmos, if you want.

Verdict

Although the frequent releases and somewhat overlapping product range might seem confusing for many, Xiaomi’s diversity in the sensibly-priced big screen segment is perhaps its biggest strength. The Xiaomi X Series (2023) adds to the company’s capable portfolio, this time adding a 65-inch option while sticking to the current-generation and no-frills approach of the X series.

The issues with this TV aren’t significant, save for a somewhat sluggish user interface and hassles with black levels which make dark content a bit difficult to watch. In all other ways, you get a TV that more than matches up to its price, providing a value-for-money experience that lets you enjoy the benefits of a massive TV without breaking the bank. Consider the X Pro TV series if you want a few more features and HDR10+ compatibility, but otherwise the X Series (2023) is a solid option, especially if you want the 65-inch screen size.

The post Xiaomi X Series (2023) 65-inch Ultra-HD Smart TV (L65M8-A2IN) Review: Big Size, Not So Big Price appeared first on Review Products.

Apple’s desktop strategy has taken an interesting turn this year. Not only has the company finally updated the Mac Pro, which was its last Intel-based computer, but there’s also a new version of the Mac Mini with a more powerful processor. This means there are more choices than ever, with new options at the ultra-high end as well as the mainstream-pro level. In between those sits the updated second-gen Mac Studio, with your choice of M2 Max and M2 Ultra processors.

We had thought this device might replace the Mac Pro or serve as the default option for content creators, but there’s more to it than that. In this review, we’ll check out what’s new with the 2023 Mac Studio and help you decide whether it’s the perfect middle ground, or whether any of its siblings would better suit your needs.

Mac Studio price in India

The Mac Studio is sold without a monitor, keyboard or mouse – all you get in the box is the unit itself, a power cable, and some documentation. Prices start at Rs. 2,09,900 for the base variant with an M2 Max SoC (12-core CPU, 30-core GPU), 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. A slightly more powerful M2 Max with 38 GPU cores instead of 30 will cost Rs. 20,000 more.

In typical Apple fashion, nothing can be upgraded post-purchase, and configuration options are extremely expensive. For example, you’d have to pay a shocking Rs. 40,000 more to step up to 64GB of RAM and Rs. 20,000 more to double your storage to 1TB. The SSD is actually removable, according to teardowns, but you can’t swap or upgrade it yourself due to software-level locks.

Options with the M2 Ultra SoC, which we’ll talk about later in this review, start at Rs. 4,19,900, which means you’re in a whole different class – this isn’t just a simple spec bump. This version of the Mac Studio will have 64GB RAM minimum, and a 1TB SSD. There are two versions of this SoC as well, with 16 extra GPU cores on the higher-end one raising the price by Rs. 1,00,000. You can step up to 128GB or 192GB of RAM (for an eye-watering Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 1,60,000 more respectively) plus up to 8TB of storage (another Rs. 2,20,000). That means the top-end spec goes for Rs. 8,99,900 – and that’s before adding any software.

Apple’s Studio Display would be well suited to the Mac Studio, and if you want to know whether it’s worth the Rs. 1,59,900 base price, check out my impressions of it in my recent Mac mini review. I also used Apple’s Magic Keyboard With Touch ID and Number Pad, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad during this review. Those are priced at Rs. 19,500, Rs. 9,500 and Rs. 14,500 respectively – so that’s well over Rs. 10,00,000 right there.

Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) design

The most obvious way to describe the Mac Studio is to say it looks like a taller Mac mini. It’s a simple, effective design that belies the amount of power inside. The Mac Studio is exactly as wide and deep, but over twice as tall, making it much less easy to tuck away than the mini. Stackable Mac mini accessories such as hubs should look right at home. It’s made of the same silver aluminum and has the same body texture. The Apple logo on the top is also larger, and the base a little more raised. This device is clearly meant to sit on your desk. I’m most thrilled to see ports on the front; something I’ve complained about with multiple generations of desktop Macs.

There’s very little else to say about design – the power LED on the front is surprisingly large. The back is where all the rest of the ports are, and you’ll also see a large air vent. In India, the AC power cord you get in the box unfortunately has a 16A power plug, and I’ve noted the inconvenience of this before, especially when power consumption shouldn’t be anywhere near that high. If you’re using a Mac Studio with a Studio Display, you’ll need two of these uncommon outlets at your desk. At least the power supply is built in, and you don’t have to deal with an external brick.

The M2 Max-based version weighs 2.7kg while the M2 Ultra-based version is a surprising 3.62kg, probably due to a needing a more robust cooling system. Both are still portable enough to be carried around if you need to work on location often. In fact, the box it comes in has a cloth handle so you can do just that. Plenty of companies also sell rack-mount adapters so you can slot one or more of these units into a standard equipment cage.

Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) specifications and software

I received an M2 Max-powered Mac Studio for this review, with the 30-core GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, which would be priced at Rs. 2,29,900 in India. The M2 Max is superior to the M2 and M2 Pro (which is where the Mac mini tops out), but fits below the M2 Ultra and even the M1 Ultra. The entire M2 family is fabricated on a 5nm process.

Apple says the M2 Max is made up of 67 billion transistors. It features the same 12-core CPU block and 16-core ‘Neural Engine’ AI accelerator as the M2 Pro but GPU resources jump up to 30 or 38 cores and RAM support goes up to 96GB. You also get double the video encoding resources in hardware, including acceleration for Apple’s own ProRES format, compared to the M2 Pro. That’s a large part of how the Mac Studio is positioned above the Mac mini – these differences won’t matter much for everyday photo and video editing but will certainly come into play when editing or recolouring multiple 4K or higher-res video streams, processing 3D models and visual effects, and even training machine learning models.

The Mac Studio will update to the latest version of macOS on first boot Apple

Compared to a previous-gen Mac Studio with the M1 Max SoC, Apple says this model with the M2 Max can render motion graphics in Adobe AfterEffects up to 50 percent faster, or build Xcode projects 25 percent faster.

If you’re splurging on a higher-end Mac Studio, you’ll get the M2 Ultra SoC which is Apple’s current top-end in-house processor and essentially doubles everything about the M2 Max – in fact, it’s two M2 Max dies joined together with a custom high-speed interconnect. That’s around 134 billion transistors, according to Apple, and means you get 24 CPU cores and either 60 or 76 GPU cores, plus twice the Neural Engine capacity, memory bandwidth, and media encoding resources.

A 2023 Mac Studio with an M2 Max SoC can drive up to four 6K displays plus another at 4K 60Hz, or two 4K displays plus one 8K at 60Hz. If that wasn’t enough, the M2 Ultra-powered variants can handle up to eight 4K, six 6K or three 8K 60Hz displays – and you can use that headroom for higher refresh rates on fewer displays, and play with different permutations thereof.

On the rear panel, you get four Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) Type-C ports, two USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) Type-A ports, 10Gb Ethernet, HDMI, and a 3.5mm combo audio socket. There’s also the three-pin AC mains inlet and a power button. It’s nice to see legacy USB Type-A ports, but connectivity on the front is even better. On M2 Max-powered units these two Type-C ports work at USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) speed but the M2 Ultra can drive more Thunderbolt 4 ports so you get all that bandwidth. The card slot supports SDXC cards but not the newer SDExpress format.

Like the Mac mini, there’s a built-in speaker which is decent enough for notifications but you wouldn’t want to use it for music. If you’re connected to a Studio Display which has its own speakers, or any other external ones, this speaker will be bypassed. As for wireless communications, there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

MacOS is of course preloaded and you’ll need an iCloud account to set up any current-day Mac. You get all of the preloaded apps including Safari, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, FaceTime, iMovie, GarageBand, Mail, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Maps. There is of course the company’s own App Store, and all the iCloud ecosystem tie-ins such as Find My. If you also use an iPhone, iPad and/or AirPods with the same Apple account, you’ll be able to sync content across them easily.

Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) specifications and software

When you first power up the Mac Studio, you’re guided through a fairly lengthy setup process. You’ll have to sign in or create a new Apple ID, and you can import data from iCloud or another Apple device automatically. A few security features are enabled by default – your SSD is encrypted, the version of macOS you have installed is verified to be unmodified, booting from other media isn’t possible. Your SSD is also encrypted by default. These are the first signs that the Mac Studio is intended to be used in a production environment. My Apple accessories were detected automatically and I was able to enroll my fingerprint seamlessly. On first boot, I was offered upgrades to macOS Ventura 13.5 and the Apple Studio Display firmware 16.4.

There’s really nothing to be said about everyday performance – it’s perfectly fine. If you want to know more about using macOS and Apple’s monitor and accessories, check out our Mac mini review. In short, everything’s very expensive but you won’t get the same experience and some features such as Touch ID with third-party products. One little note is that as much as I like having USB Type-C ports on the front, you’ll need to hold the Mac Studio down with one hand when plugging in or unplugging devices with your other hand, since it isn’t very heavy.

The 2023 Mac Studio is available with either the M2 Max or M2 Ultra SoC Apple

Things only really start to feel different when running benchmarks. Starting with Geekbench 6, I got scores of 2,664 in the single-core CPU test, 14,508 in the multi-core test, and 74,465 in the GPU OpenCL test. For reference, the Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023) scored a completely unsurprising 2,654 and 14,208 in the CPU-based scores but its GPU score was significantly lower at 49,686. Cinebench R23’s render test posted single-core and all-cores scores of 1,660 and 14,539 respectively, which are again at par with what the Mac mini managed.

SSD performance, as measured by AmorphousDiskMark, indicated sequential read and write speeds of 6,497.12MBps and 7,044MBps, which is also on par with what the Mac mini was capable of. As you can see, depending on your workload, you might be perfectly fine with Apple’s much less expensive desktop. In such cases, you’ll have to spend far more on the M2 Ultra SoC to get to the next performance tier.

We start to see the M2 Max-based Mac Studio set itself apart when it comes to content creation and more holistic tests. The browser-based WebXprt benchmark managed 255 points, Basemark Web test showed a score of 2,285.41, and Jetstream 2 posted 320.501. The LuxMark render test posted a score of 39,217 for the standard LuxBall scene, and IndigoBench’s Bedroom and Supercar scene tests managed 1.679 and 3.848 Megasamples per second respectively. Blender’s popular Barcelona Pavilion Demo took 7 minutes, 2 seconds to render and the Classroom scene took 5 minutes, 50 seconds.

Using Final Cut Pro to transcode a 23.8GB ProRES 4K file shot with an iPhone 13 Pro to H.254 1080p took approximately 37 seconds, and keeping the resolution at 4K, that only rose to approximately 1 minute, 48 seconds.

Coming to graphics performance, GFXBench’s Aztec Ruins and Car Chase test runs both maxed out at 60fps, likely due to being constrained by the Studio Display. The same tests set to render off-screen at 4K pushed out a whopping 144.934fps and 589.78fps respectively, which is considerably higher than what the Mac mini managed. Unigine’s Valley benchmark posted 114.6fps at 1920×1080 using the Ultra quality preset with AA set to 4X. AAA games are still relatively rare on the Mac platform, but the trusty Rise of the Tomb Raider averaged 111fps at 1920×1080, 75fps at 2560×1440, and 38fps at 4K, all using the High quality preset.

The Mac Studio’s cooling system was barely audible. At no point during testing did I even notice fan noise. The top of the unit only got slightly warm.

Verdict

All of our performance testing and observations apply to the M2 Max-based Mac Studio. This SoC is notably faster than the M2 Pro in some areas but not all and you should really examine your workload and future requirements carefully before spending your money on the Mac Studio vs the Mac mini. You should really consider the M2 Ultra version of the Mac Studio a completely different product. Its performance and price puts it in another class altogether, and the target market is also different. This machine will likely suffice for anyone who has heavy creative production work.

That relegates the brand new Mac Pro to an extremely niche audience – it’s only for those who need expansion cards for specific workflow environments such as a fibre-based network interface, more NVMe storage, and low-latency audio/video interfaces. The Mac Studio offers none of this expandability (aside from what you can do with external Thunderbolt devices), but that should be fine for a lot of creative workers.

The Mac Studio is great at handling content creation workloads Apple

Considering how powerful the Mac Studio is, it’s quite remarkable how Apple managed to keep it this small. The tradeoff is upgradability – absolutely nothing about the Mac Studio’s internal components can be upgraded or even swapped out. Apple’s RAM and storage configuration options at the time of purchase are infuriatingly overpriced, but there’s nothing anyone can do about that.

Video editors, 3D artists and software developers who deal with a lot of high-resolution content seem to be the primary target audience for the Mac Studio. It’s potentially good value for money, but you should really study all the options available to you within Apple’s current catalogue before deciding to buy it.

Price: Rs. 2,09,900 (as reviewed)

Pros:

• Very good performance
• Compact and quiet
• Ports on the front

Cons:

• RAM and storage not upgradeable
• Expensive configuration options

Ratings (out of 5):

• Design: 4
• Performance: 4.5
• Software: 4.5
• Value for Money: 3.5
• Overall: 4

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