Grab this ultimately portable rechargeable speaker for your summer 2025 beach trips now while it’s just $145 at Amazon.

WhatsApp never waits long between updates and this time it’s reportedly changing how replies look. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is currently working on a feature that would put all replies to the same message in one thread. A look at it appeared in an Android update available through the Google Play Beta Program. 

Right now, WhatsApp allows users to reply directly to a message and shows the original on top of the new message. However, users have to click through each response to see any earlier replies or the first message quoted. The new update would instead show every message in the thread in one place, making the flow of conversation clearer. 

WABetaInfo

The update is currently under development, but should be available in individual or group chats, communities and channels. It would especially be beneficial for those latter ones, considering it’s always impossible to keep track of an ongoing conversation between multiple people. In the meantime, there’s no word yet of when this will roll out, though it probably won’t be too long if it’s already showing up in a beta. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-is-reportedly-developing-reply-threads-134516511.html?src=rss

CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s wants Intel to be an “engineering-focused company.”

Snapchat’s future includes generative AI video Lenses, wherein users can watch themselves cuddling with virtual animals on screen. The first three Lenses the app has launched include the Racoon and Fox, which animate the animals into a Snap. Meanwhile, the third one called Spring Flowers will generate a bouquet of flowers and use a zoom-out effect to reveal who’s holding it. All three Lenses, as well as future ones Snapchat releases, are powered by a generative video model the company built in-house. Snap says it will be adding more every week to expand users’ options. 

“We have a long history of being first movers to bring advanced AR, ML and AI tools directly to our community, and we’re excited to see what Snapchatters create,” Snap said in its announcement. The company added an OpenAI-powered chatbot to its app back in 2023, and it has released more AI features since then. Last year, Snap introduced an AI video-generation tool for creators that allow users to create videos from text prompts. The tool was released to a small subset of users, but it showed that the company was working on AI video for the app. 

For now, only users paying for the $16-per-month Snapchat Platinum subscription tier will have access to the app’s new AI video Lenses. The new Lenses will show up first in the carousel for subscribers and will work with both front and rear cameras. Any AI video a user creates will be automatically saved to Memories, and they can then share them directly with friends, to their Stories and with the public through Spotlight.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/snapchat-launches-generative-ai-video-lenses-130056731.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The Hisense 75U6H ULED TV is now down to $488 from $698, making it a solid budget pick for those who want a big-screen experience without spending over a grand (or even half a grand).

Hisense 75U6H ULED TV

$488.00
at Walmart

$698.00
Save $210.00

$488.00
at Walmart

$698.00
Save $210.00

This PCMag Editor’s Choice-winning 75-inch 4K TV delivers bright, vivid colors thanks to its quantum-dot technology and local dimming backlight, giving a noticeable boost to HDR content. That said, its contrast isn’t as deep as pricier models, and while colors pop, blacks can look a little washed out. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG, ensuring compatibility with most modern streaming content. However, it’s a 60Hz panel, meaning motion might not feel as smooth as on higher-end models—something gamers might notice. It does include VRR (variable refresh rate), but without AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync, serious gamers might want to look elsewhere. Additionally, its input lag sits at 11.1 ms, which is acceptable for casual gaming but not ideal for fast-paced competitive play, notes the PCMag review.

For streaming and smart features, this TV runs on Google TV, which means a smooth interface and access to all major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, HBO Max, and more. It supports Google Assistant hands-free, letting you control the TV or smart home devices just by saying, “Hey Google.” If you’re an Apple user, AirPlay 2 is also supported, so you can stream directly from your iPhone or Mac. The TV’s remote is pretty standard with a large circular navigation pad, volume and channel rockers, and dedicated buttons for streaming services like YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix. There’s also a built-in mic on the remote, so you can use voice commands without shouting at the TV. The TV includes four HDMI ports (one with eARC), two USB ports, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, and multiple 3.5mm jacks for headphones and other connections. It also features a cable tuner, though it doesn’t support ATSC 3.0. For setup, you can place it on a tabletop with its metal legs or mount it on the wall using VESA-compatible screws.

Get this posable and playable 599-piece model perfect for Star Wars fans ages 9 and up from Amazon while it’s 28% off.

Because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, Unnecessary Inventor Matty built an office chair see-saw (we called them teeter-totters when I was growing up). It also rotates on its base and can move on wheels for extra dimensions of fun/motion sickness. My coworkers better hope it comes with seatbelts though because I’m about to send them through the drop ceiling.

Plus, Masi Oka is bringing Claymore to TV.

Samsung is changing its revenue-sharing policy and reducing its cut for certain apps so that developers and publishers can get more money from sales. As part of its announcements ahead of this year’s upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC), the company said that it’s implementing an 80/20 revenue share model for games on the Galaxy Store. Previously, Samsung had a 70/30 sharing model, wherein it took 30 percent of an app’s revenue. The new model also applies to games built on the company’s cloud gaming platform, which allows players to stream games without downloading them. 

By adopting the new model, Samsung is undercutting Google, which implements a 70/30 split. However, it’s worth noting that Google only takes a 15 percent cut for the first $1 million dollars in revenue that the developer earns each year. The company will only take a 30 percent cut for earnings in excess of $1 million. Google also takes 15 percent for automatically renewing subscription purchases. 

Samsung’s Galaxy Store is nowhere near as big Google’s Play Store, but it still comes pre-installed on Samsung phones and could still be used to purchase games by millions of users around the world. An 80/20 structure would still benefit a developer even if they mainly get their business from the Play Store on Android devices. The new revenue-sharing model will take effect on May 15, 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/samsung-will-cut-its-galaxy-store-commission-to-8020-for-games-130008053.html?src=rss

When temperatures start to rise, many of us naturally want to open the windows, deep clean, and get rid of clutter. Why not apply that same refreshing ritual to your finances? Just as you’d prune the plants in your yard, you can trim wasteful money habits and plant seeds for new financial goals while preparing for the April tax deadline. Get out the (figurative) feather duster and give your budget a thorough once-over.

Get your filing ducks in a row

Make assembling your tax documents part of your spring cleaning ritual. Have a designated folder or binder to compile W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements, donation receipts, and any other necessary forms. Securely discard what you don’t need, like paid bills or returns/documents that are six or more years old after you file. Proper record-keeping makes tax season far less stressful next time.

As an example, use a folder or digital system with separate sections for income, deductions, credits, and prior year documents to stay organized. Good news: I’ve created a downloadable tax preparation checklist you can use as your personalized roadmap through the filing process.

Conduct a money check-in

I also recommend taking stock of your overall financial situation. And trust me, I know what it’s like when the thought of looking at your personal finances makes your stomach churn. But if you want to regain control over how much you’re spending and saving, you need to understand exactly where your money is going.

Gather your latest bank statements, pay stubs, bills, and debts. Use a trusty budgeting app or spreadsheet to calculate your monthly income versus expenses. This bird’s eye snapshot reveals if you’re living within your means or drowning in debt.

If you examine your last 90 days of spending, you’ll probably find you can cut back on areas you don’t even realize you’re wasting money (overlooked subscriptions come to mind). It also helps to get on top of your unconscious spending with tricks like physically writing down the things you want to buy before you buy them.

For example, say your net monthly income is $4,500 while expenses ring in at $4,100. You’d have $400 leftover each month to put towards goals like saving or paying down debt faster.

Tackle lingering high-interest debt

Speaking of debt, your top priority should be eliminating any you’re paying high interest rates on, such as credit cards. List out all debts by interest rate from highest to lowest. Put as much as you can each month towards the highest interest debt first while paying minimums on the rest.

As an example, if you owed $10,000 at 19.99% on one credit card and $5,000 at 0% on another, focus on aggressively paying that high 19.99% balance down first.

Automate finances where possible

Spring is all about embracing new habits and getting organized. Now’s an ideal time to arrange automatic payments and transfers so your finances run smoothly in the months ahead:

• Arrange to automatically pay all bills from a hub account

• Set recurring transfers to divert funds into separate savings buckets for different goals

• Sign up to automatically increase your 401(k) or IRA retirement contributions each year

Clear account/credit clutter

While you’re going paperless, clean out mystery charges on your bank or credit card statements. Root out any zombie subscriptions or recurring fees for products/services you no longer use or need. These small money drains can easily go unnoticed but add up over months and years.

Choose the right types of accounts for your needs

Different savings vehicles offer different tax advantages. For instance, if you have kids, research setting up tax-advantaged 529 education accounts.

Spring is smart timing to ensure you’re maximizing those benefits. For a long-term goal, like retirement, you want to consider a retirement account like a 401(k) or IRA to earn compound interest over a long period of time—money invested over time, even small amounts, can make a big difference.

For short-term goals, you’ll want your money to be easily accessible in cash and earning high interest. Something like a high-interest cash management account allows you to easily take out money when you need it.

Find the budget that works for you

There’s no “one size fits all” budget out there for everyone, but choosing a system of some kind is better than nothing. This list goes over some of the most common budgets to choose from, like the classic 50/30/20, or cash-stuffing, or perhaps a values-based budget. This spring, I’ve been trying out the “one in, one out” method for my finances so that I can increase my mindfulness about my spending—and turn a profit along the way.

The bottom line

Whatever the season, taking a periodic, comprehensive look at your finances allows you to get rid of unhealthy money habits, identify problem areas, set new goals, and determine smarter ways to save, spend and invest. An annual financial clean-up provides clarity on where you truly stand financially and what needs to be prioritized. It’s easy for things like mounting credit card debt, lack of retirement savings, and unhealthy spending patterns to get out of control when you aren’t regularly reviewing your money situation.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei is worried that spies, likely from China, are getting their hands on costly “algorithmic secrets” from the U.S.’s top AI companies — and he wants the U.S. government to step in. Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event on Monday, Amodei said that China is known for its “large-scale industrial espionage” and that AI companies like Anthropic are almost certainly being targeted. “Many of these algorithmic secrets, there are $100 million secrets that are a few lines of code,” he said. “And, you know, I’m sure that there are folks trying to steal them, and they may be succeeding.”

More help from the U.S. government to defend against this risk is “very important,” Amodei added, without specifying exactly what kind of help would be required. Anthropic declined to comment to TechCrunch on the remarks specifically but referred to Anthropic’s recommendations to the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) earlier this month. In the submission, Anthropic argues that the federal government should partner with AI industry leaders to beef up security at frontier AI labs, including by working with U.S. intelligence agencies and their allies.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Save nearly 40% on the 8Bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth controller with charging dock over at Amazon for a limited time.

Just 25 years ago, the disease of measles was declared to have been eliminated from the U.S. Cases were sometimes imported from overseas, from people who traveled from Europe, Africa, or Asia. But not until this year did we have a measles death on U.S. soil; and not until this year have we had a notorious anti-vaxxer as the head of our Department of Health and Human Services. 

That department head, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has sorta-kinda acknowledged that vaccines have a role in preventing measles.  This opinion piece that appeared under his name at Fox News carefully weaseled around the needed vaccine messages, saying that parents “should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options” about the vaccine, and that “Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses.” Kennedy previously led an anti-vaccine propaganda organization that spread misinformation so egregious it got kicked off of Facebook.

Contrast his messaging with the World Health Organization, which is able to lay it out more plainly: “Being vaccinated is the best way to prevent getting sick with measles or spreading it to other people.” So far, the CDC’s website still has accurate information about measles, including yet another plain statement that RFK, Jr. couldn’t bring himself to say: “The best protection against measles is measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.” 

While public health authorities in Texas and elsewhere are doing their best to contain the latest outbreaks, RFK Jr. is going on Fox News talking up the “benefits” of measles infection and making the vaccine sound as bad as the disease. So, with the people in charge of the measles response sending mixed messages, I want to make sure the correct information is getting out there. So here’s what you should know about measles and the measles vaccine. 

The MMR or MMRV vaccines are the best protection against measles

This is the absolute first and best thing to know: The measles vaccine protects you against measles. It is the best protection we have against measles, as both the CDC and WHO will openly tell you. The World Health Organization estimates that measles vaccination saved 60 million lives worldwide between 2000-2023. Most measles deaths were among children under 5 who were not vaccinated, or who didn’t get the two recommended doses on schedule. 

There are two types of measles vaccine available: the MMR vaccine that provides protection against measles, mumps, and rubella; and the MMRV vaccine that covers those three plus varicella, better known as chicken pox. 

The recommended schedule for MMR or MMRV vaccination is to get the first dose at an age of 12 to 15 months, and the second dose at age 4 to 6 years. Infants who are traveling or who live in a place with a measles outbreak can get a dose at age 6 months, but this protection isn’t expected to last long, so they will still need two more doses on the usual schedule. Adults and older children can also get a two-dose series (four weeks apart) if they didn’t get it as kids or don’t remember whether they got it.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known, and can be deadly

Is it worth vaccinating against measles? Yes, very much so. Anti-vaxxers like to point out that measles used to be a common childhood illness, which is true. But that doesn’t mean it’s harmless. Before vaccination was common, according to a 2013 report from the CDC’s vaccine advisory board, there were 500,000 cases of measles in the U.S. in a typical year. Those resulted in 500 deaths, 48,000 hospitalizations, and 1,000 cases of permanent brain damage from encephalitis.

Measles is also horrendously contagious, perhaps the most contagious human disease known. For a comparison, the average person with the flu will give it to 1.3 other people. For ebola, that number is 1.8. For smallpox, before we eradicated it through vaccination, it was 3.5 to 6. Chickenpox is near the top of the list, with each sick person giving it to 10 to 12 others. But measles beats even that, spreading to 12 to 18 people, on average. I’m getting my numbers from this chart on Wikipedia. The exact number for each outbreak can depend on the specifics of the time and place it occurs, but these statistics are pretty widely agreed upon.

Measles is so contagious that, after an infected person leaves a room, the air and surfaces in that room can infect people for the next two hours. This is why just avoiding sick people isn’t enough, and why authorities announce where and when a person with measles was known to be in public, like two Philadelphia children’s hospital locations on March 7 and 10. Anybody who visited those places at those times is being told to find out if they are protected from measles and to talk to their healthcare provider about getting the vaccine if appropriate.

The measles disease is so, so much worse than the vaccine

Kennedy repeated a common and wrong anti-vaxxer talking point when he said that the measles vaccine “causes all the same illnesses” as measles. No, the vaccine does not give you measles. Even if he meant “all the same symptoms,” it’s still not true.

He specifically called out encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain that can lead to death or brain damage. The measles vaccine causes 1-2 cases of encephalitis per one million children vaccinated. Measles, on the other hand, causes encephalitis in 1-3 out of every thousand children who get the disease, according to Encephalitis International. In other words, measles the disease has 1,000 times greater encephalitis risk compared to the vaccine. 

Kennedy also claimed that the measles vaccine “cause[s] deaths every year,” which isn’t true. The Infectious Disease Society of America says that “There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people.” There have been a very few deaths from vaccine side effects in children who were immunocompromised, which is why the first step in getting a vaccine is talking to a healthcare professional who can determine whether it’s safe for you to get the vaccine. 

The vaccine can be given after you’re exposed to the measles virus

The best time to get an MMR vaccine is when you’re young, at 12-15 months and 4-6 years old. The second best time, if you’ve just been exposed to measles, is now. A dose of the vaccine can be given within 72 hours of being exposed to the virus to provide last-minute protection. 

If you think you need the vaccine for this reason, ask your doctor. There is another option, which is to get a dose of immunoglobulin instead. It has to be one or the other, not both; the globulin can cancel out the vaccine. 

Vaccine immunity can fade, but not as much as RFK Jr thinks

After one dose of the MMR vaccine, you have a 93% chance of being protected against measles. After both recommended doses, that increases to 97%. This is exactly why two doses are recommended. 

It’s probably true that immunity from a measles infection lasts longer than from the vaccine, but the vaccine still gives lifelong protection to the vast majority of people who got their two doses. Kennedy said that vaccinated people lose “4.5%” of their immunity each year. I don’t know where he got that number, but I did find a study that postulated a 0.04% waning per year—that’s about 100 times less than the number he cited.

For the love of god, you do not want “natural” immunity

In the 1950s and earlier, natural immunity—from getting infected—was the only measles immunity we had. Everybody still got the disease, because children without any measles immunity were constantly being born. Eventually they’d encounter the virus, and get sick. As I discussed above, this was fine for most kids and catastrophic for some. Read Roald Dahl’s letter about losing his daughter to measles, if you haven’t already. She was healthy, and then she had a routine case of measles, and then she felt “all sleepy” one day, and shortly afterward, she was dead.

The only way you get natural immunity is by rolling those dice. One child in every 1,000 died of measles. The other 999 carry that immunity with them for life, but only because they were lucky. The point of a vaccine is to give you the immunity without the risk of complications and death. 

Which means, sorry, no measles parties. Or, as the Texas health department puts it, “No! DSHS strongly advises against intentionally exposing anyone to infectious diseases like measles.” As they correctly point out, you’d be risking severe complications and death for the attendees of the party, you can’t predict how severe the symptoms will be, and you’re creating a bunch of walking measles vectors who can then transmit the virus to the elderly, unvaccinated, and immunocompromised. Vaccination, on the other hand, provides protection for 97% of those who receive the vaccine, with far smaller risks of complications. 

How to know if you need a measles vaccine

When I said that “everybody” used to get measles as a child, that’s true enough that the CDC and other health authorities rely on that fact to know who is immune. If you were born before 1957—meaning you are 69 or older in 2025—you are assumed to have already survived a bout of measles. 

You can also assume you are immune if you have medical records saying that you got two doses of the measles vaccine, or that you had a laboratory-confirmed case of measles, or that you have had a blood test that confirms your immunity.

If you don’t remember whether you had the vaccine, you can get your immunity tested, but that’s not necessary. As the CDC states: “There’s no harm in getting another dose if you may already be immune to measles, mumps, or rubella.”

If you are in Texas, where the largest measles outbreak is currently occurring, this page from Texas Health and Human Services has information on staying safe, including where to get an MMR vaccine in Texas.

The Mac Studio is Apple’s ultimate performance computer, but this year’s model came with a twist: It’s equipped with either an M4 Max or an M3 Ultra processor. The latter might seem like a step backward, since nearly all Macs (except the Mac Pro) are now equipped with M4 chips. However, the M3 Ultra is indeed Apple’s best-performing processor, which makes the new Mac Studio its fastest computer ever.

While the M3 Ultra model appears highly capable for creative pros and engineers, it starts at $4,000 and goes way up from there. I’m intrigued by that model based on benchmarks I saw elsewhere, of course. However, the M4 Max model I received for this review is the one that most people will want, as the base configuration is half the price. For power users doing tasks like video editing or designing games, it’s the Mac of choice, and it’s even a decent deal by Apple’s standards.

Hardware

The Mac Studio’s design hasn’t changed since the original M1 Ultra version from 2022. That isn’t a bad thing since the aesthetic has aged well and it takes up very little desk space. It’s about the size of two old Mac minis (prior to the recent update that made them even smaller) stacked together and has the same polished aluminum case. Everything has a premium feel, even the environmentally friendly packaging and flexible power cable.

Up front, there’s an SDXC card slot that supports UHS-II speeds (300 MB/s), along with a pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports (they’re Thunderbolt 5 on the M3 Ultra version). Around back, you’ll find four Thunderbolt 5 ports that now offer up to 15 GB/s throughput (capital B), triple the speeds of the 2023 Mac Studio with Thunderbolt 4. You also get a 10Gbps ethernet port and two USB 3.1 (Type A) slots, along with an HDMI port and 3.5mm headphone jack. All of that is enough to connect plenty of disk drives, monitors and peripherals.

Inside, the M3 Ultra version is arguably overkill with up to a 32-core CPU, eight more than the Mac Studio M2 Ultra. The GPU comes with 80 cores, another record for Apple Silicon, along with a 32-core Neural Engine for on-device AI and machine learning. Unified memory starts at 96GB and goes up to a massive 512GB (with up to 819 GB/s of bandwidth) and 16TB of SSD storage. With all those items maxed out, the Mac Studio costs a hair-raising $14,099.

Steve Dent for Engadget

The M4 Max model is more modest but still impressive. The top-end configuration comes with a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, over 546 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and up to 8TB of storage. These specs align pretty closely with the MacBook Pro M4 Max but at a lower price, by the way. At the $1,999 base price, you get a 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU and 16-core neural engine. All M4 Max models start with a decent 36GB of unified memory, though my test unit came with the maximum 128GB in a $3,699 configuration.

The processor, memory and storage aren’t upgradeable after purchase, so you’ll want to choose wisely when ordering. That’s a challenge in itself, as Apple isn’t very flexible with the system configurations. For example, the base $1,999 14-core M4 Max Mac Studio can only be configured with 36GB of RAM. If you want more, you need the 16-core version which automatically bumps memory up to 48GB and adds $500 to the price.

I’d say the latter option is the sweet spot at $2,499, netting you the faster processor and enough unified memory for most content creation. Engineers and others looking for even more performance may want the M3 Ultra version, as it allows for up to 512GB of RAM and puts two additional Thunderbolt 5 slots up front.

In-use: A rocketship for content creators

Mignon Alphonso for Engadget

The Mac Studio with M4 Max destroyed most synthetic benchmarks, showing the highest single-core Geekbench 6 CPU score for any PC we’ve tested. It falls just below the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra on the multicore Geekbench 6 test. It even beats the latest Mac Studio M3 Ultra in single-core performance, though it’s topped by that model in multicore tests. GPU scores are similarly impressive and the ATTO disk peak throughput is the best we’ve seen to date with write speeds up to 8 GB/s.

However, the best way to evaluate a machine like this is to feed it some content creation jobs and see how quickly it chews through them. Video editing is the sternest test for most machines, so I tried Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve with a mix of 4K, 6K and 8K video (RAW and MP4) to challenge it.

All of those files easily played through in their native formats with no hiccups on a 4K timeline, thanks to the M4 Max’s ability to decode RAW and 10-bit H.264 or H.265 files on the fly. It was still able to handle real-time playback of a single layer of 8K video with color correction added and only struggled when I tried to play two or more 8K video tracks at the same time. Overall, it provides a smooth and glitch-free editing experience that enables power users to get work done quickly.

Encoding is equally rapid. It took me one minute and 51 seconds to output a 3.5 minute timeline in 4K with the same mix of 4K, 6K and 8K footage using the GPU. For comparison’s sake, my MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro processor took over twice as long at four minutes and 10 seconds.

The Mac Studio showed the same prowess with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, providing fast and fluid editing for even RAW photos that were 100MB or larger. Note that when doing GPU- or CPU-intensive tasks like video encoding, the fan will kick in and the chassis can get warm, but that didn’t happen often. In any case, the Mac Studio’s larger size and bigger fan provides better thermal performance than the Mac mini.

To test the machine’s AI capabilities, I ran a 75 minute podcast through Apple’s Whisper transcription tool and it took a minute and 32 seconds to convert it to text. The latest MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor took two minutes and 11 seconds for the same task, and my MacBook Pro M3 Pro did it in three minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

On top of content creation, I played Baldur’s Gate III, a game that puts moderate demands on a PC. The Mac Studio was up to the task, delivering smooth gameplay at high settings and 1440p resolution (though it was somewhat limited by the Studio Monitor’s anemic 60Hz refresh rate). I again noticed that the Mac Studio got fairly hot and the fans kicked in during gaming sessions. Still, GPU performance surpassed most PCs except those with high-end GPUs, based on a quick comparison to our recent tests and GeekBench’s database. To that end, the only thing limiting the Mac Studio as a gaming machine is the sparse choice of games for macOS.

Should you buy the Mac Studio?

Steve Dent for Engadget

Content creators may wonder if they need to splurge on the Mac Studio, or if a Mac mini will do the job. After all, you can get the Mac mini M4 Pro with 24GB of RAM for $1,399 instead of the Mac Studio M4 Max and give up just a single Thunderbolt 5 port and 12GB of unified memory, saving $600.

If you regularly edit 4K (or higher) videos or render 3D graphics (or play games), you’d be better off with the Mac Studio. For less demanding jobs, a Mac mini will likely suffice. The Mac Studio M3 Ultra is another animal altogether, with the extra cores and higher memory capacity aimed at engineers or AI developers. At $4,000, it’s mostly overkill for everyone else. The Mac Pro also exists, but it’s so expensive that it’s really only for studios and big companies, meaning the Mac Studio is now the high-end Mac for most professionals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/apple-mac-studio-m4-max-review-a-creative-powerhouse-123000265.html?src=rss