When the latest generation MacBook Pro was introduced several weeks ago, I found myself caught up in the excitement that followed despite being a longtime Windows user. His announcement was brilliantly done, and people were quick to pre-order within minutes of the broadcast ending. If I had had a large sum of money in my name, I could have participated as well, but it was not just the high sale price that made me see reason.
If I had a choice, I would buy an Nvidia Studio laptop instead of a MacBook Pro. My own preference for Windows-based hardware comes into play in this decision, but I also think they are better optimized for what I would like in a docking station. creative work.
After all, despite all the wealthy business executives who will buy Apple's new flagship, the MacBook Pro is designed with content creators in mind, who in part made the decision to remove most of its ports in 2016. so controversial.
Apple may have restored them in this new iteration, but it still annoys me that they were already removed in the first place. On top of that, while this may be one of the best options for photographers and video editors, my creative interests lie more in 3D sculpting and other graphically demanding applications. Call me old-fashioned, but I like having a dedicated graphics card in an embedded system on my workstation laptops, especially when it comes to features like DLSS and ray tracing.
This is exactly why you would buy an Nvidia Studio laptop instead of a MacBook Pro. Nvidia is perhaps best known for its gaming products, but the features it includes in its GeForce line of games also have benefits for creatives. GPU RTX-accelerated ray tracing and AI-enhanced noise removal is a huge boost for anyone working with applications like Autodesk Arnold and Blender, for example, all thanks to the drivers in Nvidia Studio.
The engine of creativity
Studio drivers differ from common Game Ready drivers by optimizing a wide range of applications that cover almost the entire scope of the creative industry, such as Adobe Creative Suite and Davinci Resolve. These Studio drivers come pre-installed on Nvidia Studio laptops, but are also compatible with cards from the GeForce GTX 10 series, up to the Quadro professional range (although you will get the best results on a GPU with RTX technology).
So if you can download drivers on any Nvidia-compatible device, what's so special about Nvidia Studio laptops? Well, the whole device is designed for content creators, so it is not just the software that you are optimizing. That means you get things like more RAM and storage than a regular laptop, plus high-resolution displays with accurate colors, and generally a good selection of ports for peripherals and SD cards.
The Nvidia Studio mapping is also a badge, providing an easy way for those unfamiliar with the technology to know that any laptop bearing the RTX Studio symbol was designed from the ground up to give creatives the power to edit. . time ray tracing and AI-assisted functions, all in a slim, rugged chassis. Some even offer perks like an OLED display, along with excellent sRGB and Adobe color coverage and high refresh rates.
I'd like to make it clear that I don't think the new MacBook Pro is a bad laptop by any means, and it would be folly to suggest something like that. However, it is not the best option for everyone, despite its popularity, and I think its few weaknesses are covered by the wide range of Nvidia Studio laptops now available on the market.
If you don't want to be a part of Apple's vast ecosystem, there's no point in launching with just the MacBook Pro, and while its fanless design and mini-LED display have already converted some Windows users, Nvidia has a card trump that Apple has no chance of countering.
The specifications for content creation and gaming are very similar, which means that Nvidia Studio laptops are, in a sense, powerful gaming laptops in disguise as well. I wouldn't recommend them as a dedicated gaming device, but for students and professionals who also like to open Steam after a few hours of video editing or 3D rendering, they are the perfect hybrid solution.
You can certainly play some games on macOS, but the list of supported titles is paltry compared to the gaming world available to Windows users, and you won't have to go through hoops to do so. Currently, you can play on a Mac if you download a Windows emulator like Parallels, but that's not exactly a streamlined process.
During this time, games will run on both Nvidia Studio drivers and Game Ready drivers, but to switch between the two, all you need to do is press a button to download the driver you need in GeForce Experience. You really do get the best of both worlds.
Not only that, but the range of different components within these laptops means that certain models are better optimized for specific creative tasks. A MacBook Pro can be a fantastic all-rounder, but that won't be much if you need an Nvidia RTX 3080 or RTX A5000 for 3D animation work, or want ray tracing and enhancements. AI on a budget.
It's all about the material
If we dive into the comparisons Apple made in its October presentation for the MacBook Pro, we can see that the Intel product that was compared to it was an MSI GP66 Leopard gaming laptop, which was equipped with an Intel i7 processor. -11800H, a GeForce RTX 3070 GPU and 16GB of RAM. It is not an underpowered device, but there are better optimized and more powerful options available to fight the Nvidia corner.
And, of course, you have to consider the cost. A 14-inch MacBook Pro with a 10-core processor / 1-core M16 Pro GPU and 16GB of RAM will cost you € 2,499. Meanwhile, a Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED comes with, unsurprisingly, an OLED screen, as well as an 9th Gen Intel i11980-11HK processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM for € 2,749.
To showcase the capabilities of Nvidia Studio devices, artist Steven Christopher recreated the now iconic Simpsons living room using Blender and Unreal Engine 4, with ray-traced lighting. The project was created using a Gigabyte Aero laptop with RTX 3070 technology and according to Christopher it took around 4 days from start to finish.
Since this kind of creative presentation is not what is typically displayed in MacBook Pro marketing content, I have my doubts how it would hold up against these specialized devices, especially without any ray tracing capabilities. If my interests were video or photo editing and audio mixing I'd probably feel more shattered, but as someone who indulges in 3D sculpting and learns to master Unreal Engine 4, Nvidia will win my favor (and my money). ).
Considering the extra features you get, this is an easy pick in my book. I may be the only one to die on this hill, but Nvidia's work to develop the Studio laptops available today has certainly convinced me to switch to macOS soon.
Where does that leave the MacBook Pro? In the words of Shania Twain, "that doesn't impress me much."