Apple’s brand new Mac Studio desktop computer is officially here. After being exclusively revealed by 9to5Mac, the Mac Studio was announced during Apple’s “Peek Performance” special event on March 8 featuring M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips, a new design, an array of connectivity, and more.
Head below as we roundup all of the features and details on Apple’s first all-new Mac desktop brand in years.
Mac Studio in-depth: Table of contents
Mac Studio: The highlights
- Pricing starts at $1,999
- Configurations available with M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips
- Up to 128GB Unified Memory
- Up to 8TB SSD
- Release date: Pre-orders on March 8, available on March 18
Design
To put it plainly, the design of the new Mac Studio looks a lot like a trio of Mac minis stacked on top of each other. It features the same physical footprint of Apple’s popular Mac mini, but is notably taller to accommodate the cooling system necessary for the M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips on the inside.
Even though it is bigger than the Mac mini, the Mac Studio features an impressively small design given the amount of power inside. Apple says the machines have a footprint of just 7.7 inches and a height of only 3.7 inches. It features an all-aluminum chassis with rounded edges and a black Apple logo on top.
It features what Apple describes as an “innovative thermal design” with a system of double-sided blowers. You’ll find over 4,000 perforations on the back and bottom of the Mac Studio enclosure, which Apple says helps guide air through the internal components for cooling purposes.
The Mac Studio is only available in silver. In conjunction with the announcement of the Mac Studio, Apple also released new silver-and-black versions of its Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad. These are meant to pair with the Mac Studio and companion Studio Display, but are sold separately.
Connectivity
The Mac Studio features a wide selection of ports and connectivity option, more so than any other recent Apple desktop computer. Here are the ports you’ll find on the back of the Mac Studio:
- Four Thunderbolt 4 ports
- 10Gb Ethernet jack
- Two USB-A ports
- One HDMI port
- Pro audio headphone jack
On the front of the Mac Studio, you’ll find two USB-C ports for an additional easily-accessible connectivity. For Mac Studio configurations that are powered by the M1 Pro Max chip, these ports USB-C connectivity speeds of 10Gb/s. Mac Studio configurations with the M1 Ultra, however, support Thunderbolt 4 connectivity at 40Gb/s.
You’ll also find an SD card slot on the front side of the Mac mini. Apple says this is a UHS-II SD card slot, which means it supports speeds of up to 312MB/s.
Finally, the Mac Studio also features support for some of the latest wireless connectivity stands. This includes WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
Performance
Where the Mac Studio really shines, however, is in terms of its performance capabilities. Apple is selling the Mac Studio with two different chips: the M1 Max and M1 Ultra. The M1 Max was previously available in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2021, but the M1 Ultra is an all-new chip that (as of release date) is only available in the Mac Studio.
The M1 Ultra is essentially two M1 chips connected using a technology that Apple refers to as Ultra Fusion. Apple says this enables a chip design with 114 billion transistors, which is the “most ever in a personal computer chip.”
What kind of performance does this enable? Apple has some pretty impressive statistics in regards to the M1 Ultra versus Intel chips:
- Up to 3.8x faster CPU performance than the fastest 27-inch iMac with 10-core processor.
- Up to 90 percent faster CPU performance than Mac Pro with 16-core Xeon processor.
- Up to 60 percent faster CPU performance than 28-core Mac Pro.
- Up to 4.5x faster graphics performance than the 27-inch iMac, and up to 80 percent faster than the fastest Mac graphics card available today.
- Up to 12x faster than the 27-inch iMac, and up to 5.6x faster than 28-core Mac Pro when transcoding video.
In real-world use, Apple says that this M1 Ultra chip can play back 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, something that “no other computer in the world can do.”
Configurations and pricing
The base model Mac Studio, which costs $1999, features the follow specifications:
- M1 Max chip with 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine
- 32GB of unified memory
- 512GB of SSD storage
The base model Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra chip starts at $3,999 and features the following specifications:
- M1 Ultra chip with 20-core CPU, 48-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine
- 64GB of unified memory
- 1TB of SSD storage
As usual, these configurations are largely interchangeable and you can opt to upgrade specific aspects of the Mac Studio but not everything. The maximum amount of available unified memory is 128GB, while the maximum amount of SSD storage is 8TB.
What’s in the box?
The Mac Studio, just like the Mac mini, is pretty barebones in terms of accessories. In the box, regardless of which configuration you choose, you’ll simply receive the Mac Studio itself and a power cable.
This means you’ll need to bring your own keyboard, mouse/trackpad, display, and any other peripherals you might need or want. Luckily, Apple did release a new Studio Display to complement the Mac Studio, but it’s a bit pricey with the base configuration option, retailing for $1,599.
9to5Mac’s Take
The Mac Studio is an incredibly interesting addition to Apple’s Mac lineup amid the ongoing transition from Intel to Apple Silicon. In fact, it represents a machine that Apple likely could not have released using Intel processors due to thermal concerns.
The machine also sits in an odd spot within Apple’s current Mac lineup, serving as a higher-end option to the Mac mini — and a smaller, Apple Silicon-powered version of the Mac Pro. Another interesting tidbit is that there (currently?) isn’t a 27-inch available in Apple’s lineup. This means that if you want an Apple Silicon desktop something more powerful than an M1, your best option is the new Mac Studio paired with the new Studio Display.
What do you think of the Mac Studio and how it’s positioned in Apple’s lineup? Do you plan on becoming a user? Let us know down in the comments!
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