The Mac Studio looks great, and as a computer lover, I want one just because, but I thought this mental exercise was a good way to determine if it's right for you.

Consider an alternate reality where the Mac Studio was released in October 2021, and the new MacBook Pros were just revealed yesterday. Apple would have sold them with some variant of "if you want the power of the Mac Studio, but need to move around, then the new MacBook Pro can get you all the power of the same M1 Max in a thin and light device you can take anywhere."

People would be over the moon for that product, and many would be tempted to sell their few-months-old Mac Studios to get the portable model that still has desktop-class performance. I'd also wager a few people realized their work didn't need an M1 Max and would welcome the M1 Pro which has the same CPU performance and still plenty of GPU umph.

Anyway, I find this "what if the products came out in a different order" thought experiment helps me figure out if I want the newest Mac/iPad/whatever because it's right for me or because it's the newest thing.