They both have 32 GB memory and the same # of CPU cores. Of course you need the extra bandwidth if you are going to a CPU that supports more RAM but this test by Art shows the same performance for the M2 Mini with the Pro (200Gb/s) as the Studio with the M1 Max (400 Gb/s). It seems that memory bandwidth is not the whole story WRT how fast these machines run. On a related note, does anyone care to comment on why the M1Ultra Studio has such great LR import and export times-still nearly half of M2 machines and even faster than M1 machines? Is it all about more RAM (64GB or more) and the faster memory bandwidth (800GB/sec with 2 M1Max)? Or did Adobe actually tweak the code to efficiently utilize the parallel chips? Seems likely it is all about the memory bandwidth, so Ultra chips may always perform better in these import and export tasks. And Apple has to make sure that the most expensive machines really do perform demonstrably better. Though that would beg the question of what chips will be in the new MacPros. Given how well the M2Max MBP performs in a confined laptop case, it seems likely that Apple could easily release the M2Max and M2Ultra Studios by the summer. So the M2Pro Mini I was considering as my affordable temporary machine likely won't deliver much more performance than my M1Pro MBP because it only has the same 32GB RAM and the same 200GB/sec memory bandwidth. It seems like the faster memory bandwidth of 400GB/sec on Max and Ultra machines makes a big difference.

While my main need is for a desktop in my studio, I hadn't considered the M2Max MBP which is about as expensive as the Studio Ultra I was considering, if 64gb and a 2TB internal drive are a requirement.

My biggest hesitation with springing for the M1Ultra besides the money, is that it's already one year old. If you want to set up a download of some of your files/presets I can run a test for you. That puts it at only an $800 delta over the M2 Mini and that's a great value. If you are patient, the model you are thinking of turns up on the Apple Refurb store and you'll save 10%. On top of that you get support for more monitors, and 50% more Thunderbolt 4 ports. Also, Lightroom now uses the GPU for a lot of functions, including exports, and all of those extra GPU cores on the Ultra will help you out a lot as will the fact the memory bandwidth is doubled in speed. OK that's sloI personally would not recommend 32GB to anyone working with 100Mpx files remember the CPU and GPU are sharing this memory. UPDATED: Lightroom Benchmarking: M2 and M1 Macs and PCs.

Parallels m1max