Even though we are a Microsoft-based website, I have always had a special place for the Mac Studio. It has always felt like a powerful professional workstation-class PC in a tiny footprint on your desk. Apple has unveiled the M3 Ultra and the M4 Mac Studio lineup.
While the form factor remains the same as the previous generation, the insides are packed full of new upgrades. The M4 Max can be outfitted with up to 16 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores, and the M3 Ultra 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. This makes the current models just over one and a half times faster than the original M1-based Mac Studio when using Adobe Photoshop.
The new Mac Studio also comes with Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, just like its younger sibling, the Mac Mini. Thunderbolt 5 can handle up to eight of Apple’s 6K Pro XDR displays and is 120GBps. The M4 Max Mac Studio starts at $1,999, and that gets you 36GB of unified memory with a 512GB storage option. Creators will still need to take advantage of external storage for larger projects with the entry-level model.
The M3 Ultra’s opening price is $3,999, but it comes with 96GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. For heavy workloads, models with 128GB of unified memory are available in the M4 variant and 512GB for the M3 Ultra. You can preorder these today, and shipments will begin March 12th.
