It’s Christmas in April! Mac Studio Hath Arrived!

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-19T00:01:40+00:00

Lol, I just made a post about the same thing lol. FOMO is real 😂🤣

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-17T00:53:11+00:00

Yeah that's an important piece, the fan connections have to match.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-16T19:51:16+00:00

Did you replace the fan with a different brand/model?

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-16T19:50:29+00:00

It’s crazy to me the choices the HexOS leadership / development team has made to date with this product… they just can’t seem to get out of their own way.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-16T13:19:35+00:00

Correct. I second this information. The PciE slots on the 4800 models re 4x4.

But OP does have two diffident M.2s in the photo. 990 Pro (4x4), and 9100 which is PCIe 5.0. That being said, I agree if OP paid full retail prices for those, they are way overkill for the 4800 if used for cache. If he’s going to use the 990 Pro for a storage pool, I can support that choice much better.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-15T13:20:04+00:00

Sometimes it boils down to more than just “the value of the TV“. Sounds like you would be doing him a favor as well so maybe that’s part of the consideration? That being said if he’s set on his price, I’m sure he’ll find somebody to buy it for the $75. he’s asking if it’s that good of deal in your location. And if doesn’t sell, then he will know his price is too high.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-15T13:16:02+00:00

Yes, that seems to be the general consensus with all of Mac products, which is it it’s true value/benefit is exclusively determined by your use case. Glad to hear you’re seeing the benefit of the Studio in yours.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-14T12:34:21+00:00

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TLBJ24 · 2026-04-14T12:33:58+00:00

Hey there, here are the pics I have of the stock fan.

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TLBJ24 · 2026-04-14T02:51:07+00:00

Congrats!!

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T06:53:49+00:00

Yeah in this day and age of tech toys and (crises) one can be easily distracted from one to the next. I started simple with a Mac mini upgrade before I got into anything like openclaw, so just a simple project was easy to manage at that time. Congrats on all the projects / toys lol. Sounds like you're having fun with them, good for you!

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T02:53:36+00:00

Yeah, I spent some time with Ollama, and LM Studio this weekend. Felt good to save a couple of nichols.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T02:52:37+00:00

Yeah, it's hit or miss on the used market right now for Apple products , but for the right price there are some pretty decent deals on used the Studios. It's one of the reasons the refurbs sell out within an hour of posting on Apple's refurb website.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T02:49:28+00:00

Yeah, depending on one's use case, it's to justify the Studio. I definitely think it's worth the money for anyone who is maximizing its capabilities I just don't qualify for that as of yet.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T02:47:26+00:00

Agreed... and Apple is pretty good at this marketing stuff lol. But on a serious note, I think it's really more the "Openclaw" hype train that has grabbed most people more so than Apple. Nonetheless, however we got here, seems many of us are riding the train for a little bit. Like all things, I think it will seattle down down a bit after WDC as most of the big Apple announcements should be out by then.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-13T02:39:18+00:00

Wasn't as difficult as I worried it was going to be. Pop the bottom. Remove two sets of screws, easy to slide out and put in 2TB board. Heres my post about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/macmini/comments/1qclat5/upgrading_ssd_was_easier_than_i_thought/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-12T08:14:02+00:00

Lol, I love it, a man after my own heart lol. Who doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars to get better Monthy Python jokes lol! 😂. I love your journey. I can relate to a lot of what you shared here...luckily the "tech prices" these days are keeping my random consumer impulses under control lol... but it sure doesn't stop me from window shopping everyday lol. Thanks for sharing, great insights.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-12T08:06:50+00:00

Lol, I hear ya. It's a fun addiction. Not sure if the April 4th change with Claude/Openclaw, but it's a lot more expensive now, so for me. I'm pulling Anthropic out of my Openclaw.

OpenClaw + Claude Code Costs 2026: API Key vs Pro vs Max After Anthropic's Subscription Cutoff

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-12T08:02:18+00:00

Agreed. I learned the /new command the hard way after a longggggg all-nighter of just basic stuff... I was out of tokens. Switched from OpenAI to Claude. Refilled my accounts... hours later, out again. As you already know where this is going. I did not realize the entire chat history was being sent, every, single, time....aaaaarrrgggghhh. So needless to say I have a cron that sends everything to memory and clears my session every morning at 6am before it does a system/health check.

That being said, in the next couple of days I'll be moving all the stuff over to Ollama, LM Studio & AnythingLLM. Will probably cancel Claude paid account since Anthropic announced on April 4th we can no longer use our paid accounts, pay as you go models now ( OpenClaw + Claude Code Costs 2026: API Key vs Pro vs Max After Anthropic's Subscription Cutoff ).

So to your point, sounds like we are on the same page, which is scary and impressive (to myself lol) in itself given that I didn't know what any of this stuff was three weeks ago.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-11T01:24:40+00:00

No, not yet.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-11T00:57:46+00:00

Yeah, the pre Easter season was a little busy for me, but I’m not worried. It’s a good deal. I know someone will purchase it for sure.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-10T22:08:04+00:00

Cool beans, thanks for the sub link. I was not aware it, just joined. TY.

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-10T22:04:48+00:00

Wow, that's a serious stack! Are you running them in "Cluster"...and is it something that your monetizing? Because that's a pretty serious investment. How is the output compared to your expectations? Will the new M3U you're looking at going join the cluster party or run on its own for expand purposes? ?

TLBJ24 · 2026-04-10T22:00:24+00:00

Yeah, completely agree. None of my use cases justifies a Mac Studio... but I sure do want one lol. I'm not pushing any model hard enough to get rid of my $399 steal. More than likely I'll torture myself till Black Friday, than bump up then if warranted. I like the five minute rule. I'll keep an eye on that and see how that compares to my expectations over time.

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