New desktop powerhouse
Apple introduces Mac Studio with M1 Max or new M1 Ultra chip
APPLE HAS ADDED an entirely new high–performance headless computer to its desktop lineup, aimed at professionals who need raw grunt for tasks such as 3D rendering, code compilation, image processing, or video encoding.
Mac Studio looks much like a pumped–up Mac mini, with an identical footprint of 7.7 x 7.7 inches but 3.7 inches high, half an inch less than three Mac minis stacked on top of each other. It is designed to sit on your desk, tucked under a monitor, for easy access to its ports — more about these in a moment.
Mac Studio comes in two flavors, both with Apple silicon. The base model with M1 Max processor (with 10–core CPU and 24–core GPU), 32GB of unified memory, and 512GB SSD storage starts at $1,999, just $200 more than a maxed–out Mac mini (with 8–core M1 chip, 16GB of memory, and 2TB SSD). Build–to– order options include up to 64GB of unified memory and up to 8TB SSD.
Mac Studio with the new M1 Ultra chip (20–core CPU, 48–core GPU, and 32–core Neural Engine) starts at $3,999 with 64GB unified memory and 1TB SSD storage. Maxed out with the most powerful M1 Ultra chip (with 64–core GPU), 128GB of unified memory, and 8TB SSD, this ultimate configuration comes in at $7,999. That’s $2,000 more than a base–model Mac Pro, but the kicker is that Apple says Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is up to 80% faster than the top–of–the–line Mac Pro, which with all the build–to–order options added would cost a staggering $52,000.
That’s right: Mac Studio outperforms a $50k Mac Pro. It will transcode video to ProRes up to 5.6x faster than a 28–core Mac Pro with Apple Afterburner card, and Apple says it is the only computer in the world that is capable of playing back 18 simultaneous streams of 8K ProRes 4:2:2 video. Everything is built for speed, including the SSDs, which deliver up to 7.4GB/sec performance. Even the lower–spec Mac Studio with M1 Max is up to 3.4 times faster than the fastest iMac.
For all its performance, Apple says “Mac Studio remains incredibly quiet even under the heaviest workloads,” thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and the ingenious thermal design — air is pulled in around the base, circulated by a unique system of blowers and airflow
channels, then vented out the back. Like all of Apple’s products now, Mac Studio also has great environmental credentials, including 80% recycled aluminum in the case and 100% recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board.
Apple is emphasizing Mac Studio’s great connectivity, as well. There’s a good range of connections on the back. On the front there’s an SDXC card slot for easy import of photos and video, plus two USB–C ports, which on models with the M1 Max chip support 10Gb/sec USB 3, and on models with M1 Ultra support 40Gb/ sec Thunderbolt 4. Wi–Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are built in as well.
With all this connectivity, Mac Studio provides extensive display support — up to four Pro Display XDRs plus a 4K TV at the same time, driving nearly 90 million pixels total.
The one thing Mac Studio doesn’t offer is internal expansion, but then Apple figures few users will actually need it — out of the box, Mac Studio already outguns any expansion cards you might want to add. Apple points out that the most powerful workstation graphics card available today, for example, offers only 48GB of video memory, while Mac Studio with M1 Max already features up to 64GB of unified memory and the version with M1 Ultra up to 128GB. That’s more memory than any other Mac, but it’s also important to note that Mac Studio is not user– upgradable — so better make sure the Mac Studio you buy is fully loaded with all the memory and storage you’re likely to need, or else hold out for the Apple–silicon– powered replacement for Mac Pro, whenever that might be coming.