*Service coverage is available only for Mac and its original included accessories for protection against (i) defects in materials or workmanship, (ii) batteries that retain less than 80 percent of their original capacity, and (iii) up to two incidents per year of accidental damage from handling of your Mac, each incident being subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax. If your Mac has catastrophic damage from an accident or is inoperable after unauthorized modifications, you will need to buy a replacement.

SMAD Desktop Recommendations for Fall 2023

SMAD suggests that DVC concentrators might consider purchasing Apple’s $199.99 Pro Apps Bundle for Education; it’s a great deal on a collection of professional-grade media production applications that we use in our own labs and classes.

Please note: storage and memory are not upgradable in Apple computers after purchase, so SMAD recommends that one buy as much of both as one can reasonably afford and thus ensure that the computer will run quickly for as many years as possible. One can add external storage, but not external memory, so more memory should nearly always take precedence over more storage.

If price is a concern, the “Better” system could have its storage reduced to 512 GB, and the “Best” system could have its memory reduced to 32 GB or its storage reduced to 512 GB. The only possible price decrease on the “Good” system would come from reducing its memory to 8 GB, but SMAD strongly recommends against doing so.

*Service coverage is available only for Mac and its original included accessories for protection against (i) defects in materials or workmanship, (ii) batteries that retain less than 80 percent of their original capacity, and (iii) up to two incidents per year of accidental damage from handling of your Mac, each incident being subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax. If your Mac has catastrophic damage from an accident or is inoperable after unauthorized modifications, you will need to buy a replacement.

If you purchase a Mac Studio computer, please be aware that it does not come with a monitor, mouse, or keyboard. If you already have any of these peripherals, you can use them with the Mac Studio. If you need to purchase any of these peripherals, here are SMAD’s recommended peripherals that can be purchased through the Madison CyberZone. Other SMAD recommended peripherals are available through other vendors.