OK, my M1 Mac Studio failed in late October. Fortunately, the computer was over a year old under Apple Care. It seems that the internal SSD failed, and the machine would not boot up. I went through the standard troubleshooting procedures with no luck. I then called Apple, and they had me repeat all the steps I had already done with again no luck. They suggested I take it to the Apple Store, which I did the following day. The Apple Genius repeated the same steps with the same results. He stated it needed a new Logic Board, which he placed on order. The estimated time to repair was three business days.
Fortunately, I have an extensive backup plan, and all my important files are on external drives, backed up in multiple ways. The backup plan is to use my M1 Macbook Air computer with the same external hard drives. The plan worked. However, the amount of RAM was marginal, and working meant closing any unused applications. For example, round-tripping from Lightroom to Photoshop and invoking one of the Topaz applications would not work. I had to export the file from Lightroom, close Lightroom, work in Photoshop, save the file, close Photoshop, and reimport the file into Lightroom. This procedure is acceptable for a few days, but a prolonged outage would be impractical.
Meanwhile, the Logic Board was not readily available. I ordered the original machine with a custom configuration with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The logic board was not in stock locally or at any other Apple store. Delivery of the part was at least six weeks. Apple offered a replacement machine, but it was the stock Mac Studio Max, which only had a 512 GByte SSD, smaller than I required. After some give and take with Apple and with the assistance of a cooperative Lead Apple Genius and the local Store Manager, Apple replaced the machine with an M2 Mac Studio Ultra with 64 GBytes of RAM and 1TB, a better machine than the original, but it was nearly a month later.
I love my Mac Studio, both the replaced and the new one. But there are some lessons learned here:
Apple Care is now a must-have. Self-repair is not an option. I have a significant amount of computer maintenance experience, and it is not an option to self-maintain these machines. For example, a failure of the SSD requires the replacement of the logic board, not simply the SSD. The whole machine frequently needs to be replaced.
A computer disaster recovery plan is essential. You need to know how to keep working in the event of a failure. Data backup is crucial; storage should be on external drives, not the computer's internal drive. Fortunately, I did this well.
Consider using the standard configuration computer rather than a build-to-order computer. The long recovery time of the computer was due to the non-standard configuration.
It would help if you planned for an extended outage, ensuring you have a backup with enough power to work effectively. I purchased a new laptop in addition to the MacBook Air, with a larger RAM and fast processor. I kept the MacBook Air in case that laptop failed, as I needed the laptop computer to download images on the road, so I also needed a backup laptop.
Ensure you have a list of serial numbers and web addresses for all your mission-critical applications. While the laptop computer had everything up and running, I needed to find some of the serial numbers when loading up the new computer.
The new Apple Machines with Apple Silicon are amazing computers. They are fast and reliable. However, the closed nature of the hardware makes repair nearly impossible except by Apple or one of the authorized repair shops. Fortunately, the computers are reliable, but failures do occur. Planning to ensure you can still work and not lose critical images is essential.