Hi Neil,
Just a quick reply, as have been off sick and working through a backlog of work
to try and “Catch up" to everything.
Nice purchase there,..and actually you got in at the right time. As a few weeks
after your order Apple put all their pricing up. (I had some “wins” for clients
who saved $500-$1500 on what the ordered to the new pricing, but unfortunately
had some orders that have gone up in price).
So you would have gotten in just at the right time! If you were ordering that
exact same set up now you’d be looking at $4749 RRP (AUD). - not often these
days what you order and then what is delivered is worth more than you paid for
it,..hehe.
Now,..on to your display question…..
Generally, the cables won’t matter “too much” What is more important is what it
can run - as per each monitor output.
So for your model,..it’s specs are:
/quote
M4 Max
Simultaneous support for up to five displays:
• Up to four displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one
display with 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI
• Up to two displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one
display with 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at up to 240Hz over HDMI
/end quote
So given you’re running one off HDMI, to be honest, you may as well just get 2x
USB-C to HDMI cables for the other 2 monitors. And run this off the Thunderbolt
ports. Even just a $20 cable will do that fine I find.
It’s more based on “what” the graphics card can run - which is “total number of
pixels”.
For some of my clients their computers won’t run 2 external displays - so I
work around this with a specialised “dock” that can run up to 3 HDMI monitors
off it (extended desktop) off one Thunderbolt port. Plus the special dock has
USB-A, Ethernet etc. And charges laptops. So it means they just plug in one
cable to say their laptop - and everything is plugged into this “special dock”.
(Plus it means their M-series laptop which would normally only run 1 external
display, can then run 2 external displays fine.
(It’s all to do with “total number of pixels” and graphics chip etc etc.
Display port can (generally) be a little better quality. So if you monitor has
that - then USB-C to Display Port (x2) would be fine.
Otherwise if a lot dearer, most people find USB-C to HDMI is perfectly fine
(and in fact some times you can barely (if at all) pick the difference between
either cable to the “naked eye”. - it also depends on the monitor quality as
well.
But yeh,….any of the above cables would be fine for you setup. And given you
have a lot of Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the Mac Studio - taking 2 more for the
monitor won’t be a huge difference.
Hope that all helps.
Enjoy your new Mac Studio - would be a HUGE jump up from a 2009 iMac! (Also a
good time to clear out any old Apps that no longer work, or swap over from
Intel based Apple Apps to Silicon based Apple Apps - as then they run better.
(Downloads and old Mobile Sync backups are also a good space to remove old
backups of old devices).
These are stored in User Library (id hold down Option key, click on Go menu in
Finder and select “Library”) - then Application Support then MobileSync. Any
“old” date backups can generally be deleted from old iPhone/iPad backups.
Looking there sometimes you can find GB’s and GB’s and GB’s of old backups of
(very) old devices.
Enjoy!!
Kind regards
Daniel
---
Daniel Kerr
MacWizardry
p : 0414 795 960
e : <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au>
w : <http://www.macwizardry.com.au>
**For everything Apple**
NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as
such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any
information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept
liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to
be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be
requested.
> On 7 Jul 2026, at 8:27 pm, neil--- via WAMUG <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi Daniel,
>
> After seeing Stephen Chape's heads-up about Microsoft Office 2019 files
> entering a "reduced functionality mode," becoming read-only, on July 13
> - I realised that I could no longer keep my 2009 27" iMac going until
> Apple released a new 28" or 32" Apple silicon iMac (I kept hoping...) -
> the old i7 iMac still works pretty well after upgrading to an internal
> SSD for OSX & apps, plus 3TB internal drive for data, plus RAM upgrade
> to 20GB (was 24GB until one 4GB chip got flaky) but an upgrade of the
> 17 year old machine is long overdue.
>
> I had been contemplating a Mac mini or Mac Studio when the M5 versions
> came out - however my overriding requirement was to keep MS Office
> going - all accounting and reporting for my SMSF is handled by a large
> Excel workbook - 35 (and rising) linked worksheets, and some 20 years
> of invested work, generate the Annual Report, Annual Tax Return, and
> all audit worksheets - so I decided to bite the bullet on a M4 machine.
> So, late on 9 June, I ordered:
>
> Mac Studio with M4 Max chip
>
> Hardware:
>
> 36GB unified memory
>
> Accessory Kit
>
> 1TB SSD storage
>
> 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
>
> Down here, in Albany, I’m used to things taking a bit longer so the
> estimated delivery of 20^th to 28^th August was as soon as I expected,
> given your warning about special orders.
> Well, for once, Apple under-promised and over delivered! The computer
> was picked up in Shenzen (China) at 7:35pm on 1 July and landed on my
> doorstep at 10:40am this morning – so less than 6 days after pick-up in
> Shenzen and not even 4 weeks after placing the order!
>
> One thing I am really looking forward to is having a multiple monitor
> set-up – I am frequently working with several large Excel
> workbook/worksheets open and at present I am limited to my 27” iMac
> screen and a 32” QHD monitor (same res as the iMac screen) but with the
> new studio I will have (as a starting minimum) three 4k monitors (one
> 28” and two 32”).
>
> All 3 monitors have both HDMI and DisplayPort inputs and I am
> envisaging driving one from the Studio HDMI port to the Monitor HDMI
> input via a standard HDMI cable – this will probably be the 28” monitor
> which I have already been using with our MacBook Air, via a USB-C hub
> and HDMI cable.
>
> So, what I am wondering is the best way to connect the two new 32”
> monitors to the Thunderbolt ports on the Studio? Two options seem to
> be simplest:
> * USB-C to Display Port cable
> * USB-C to HDMI cable
>
> I am aware that either option is physically compatible – ie they can be
> plugged into each other – but I am wondering if either option is
> preferable from the signal protocol point of view. I was caught out
> when I first tried to connect my 32” QHD monitor to the iMac (which has
> a mini Display Port video output) I first used a mini Display Port to
> HDMI cable but the iMac would not recognise the native QHD resolution
> of the monitor – the best it would do was FullHD. A bit of Googling
> later (this was pre AI) I found that a mini Display Port to Display
> Port cable was recommended – new cable bought – full QHD resolution
> enabled. I believed that this was because this connection used the
> display port signal end to end – whereas the initial set-up required a
> Display Port to HDMI conversion and my hardware for this (in the cable,
> I presume?) was OK at FullHD but couldn’t handle QHD.
>
> This is my first experience with the Thunderbolt interface, but
> Wikipedia tells me that it uses the Display Port interface for the
> video signal. Wikipedia tells me a lot about HDMI – most of which went
> over my head – but it included this:
> Adapters and active converters are also available for connecting HDMI
> to other video interfaces, including the older analog formats, as well
> as digital formats such as DisplayPort.
>
> My first reading of this seems to suggest that I would be better with a
> USB-C to Display Port cable than a USB-C to HDMI cable? However the
> USB-C to HDMI cables seem to be much more common.
>
> I was also surprised with a quick peruse of Office works (which we have
> in Albany) to see the reviews of this
> [1]https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/comsol-displayport
> -to-usb-c-4k-cable-2m-codpum02 which says that the cable only works one
> way (the wrong way for me) – the computer has to have the Display Port
> and the monitor has to have the USB-C
>
> Looking at places like Amazon shows a HUGE selection of different
> brands and prices from around $10 to hundreds of dollars! Some saying
> 4k and some saying 8k but often the 8k items are much cheaper than
> other 4k items.
>
> Anyway that is more than enough rambling from me, I guess that my
> questions are:
> What are the pros/cons of using either the HDMI or Display Post input
> on the monitor when driving from the Thunderbolt output on the Studio
> Are there any particular brands to avoid or recommended or will any do
> the job
> Many descriptions refer to cables including chips and being
> one-directional – is this a general thing or just with cheaper cables.
>
> If anyone has any recommendations/horror stories I’d love to hear.
>
> I figure with his many corporate clients, Daniel probably has a lot of
> experience with this – any input most welcome :o)
>
> TIA
>
>
> Neil
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WAMUG <[2][email protected]> on behalf of Daniel
> Kerr via WAMUG <[3][email protected]>
> Reply to: WAMUG <[4][email protected]>
> Date: Thursday, 04 June 2026 at 18:24
> To: WAMUG <[5][email protected]>
> Cc: Daniel Kerr <[6][email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [WAMUG] Delay on login window becoming active ?
>
> Good luck getting a Mac mini (or Mac Studio at the moment). Most
> options have an “at least” 12 week wait time for special orders. :))
> Also,..waiting for the M5 to go into the Mac mini and Mac Studio
> currently too.
>
> I had a Mac Studio on order for a client (with 64GB RAM upgrade).
> Ordered it mid-March. It was delivered today.
> The run on component parts from AI server farms has made delays in
> a lot of products (and let’s not get started on what it’s done to SSD
> pricing.!!! I nearly fell off my chair the other day when I had to
> price one up for a client!!
>
> But yes,..that Mac mini and external screens are good options. I’ve
> done a lot of them for my clients. (Replaced a whole business from
> 2012/2013 iMac 27” models to all Mac minis with 3rd party various
> screens). Plenty of range and choice available for different budgets
> (and depending on “features” wanted. :)
> They’re great little machines’ the little Mac mini.
>
> Kind regards
> Daniel
>
> ---
> Daniel Kerr
> MacWizardry
>
> p : 0414 795 960
> e : <daniel AT [7]macwizardry.com.au>
> w : <[8]http://www.macwizardry.com.au>
>
>
> **For everything Apple**
>
> NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal
> opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the
> views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or
> warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be
> appreciated that if any information in this email is to be
> disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be
> requested.
>
> References
>
> 1.
> https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/comsol-displayport-to-usb-c-4k-cable-2m-codpum02
> 2. mailto:[email protected]
> 3. mailto:[email protected]
> 4. mailto:[email protected]
> 5. mailto:[email protected]
> 6. mailto:[email protected]
> 7. http://macwizardry.com.au/
> 8. http://www.macwizardry.com.au/
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