Apple Mac Studio: No.1 Technology

As the newest member of Apple’s desktop range, the Mac Studio is designed to be a hybrid of a Mac mini and a Mac Pro, utilizing the company’s most potent M-series chips. The Apple Mac Studio, named after the “studio” professionals for whom it is intended, is a towering reincarnation of the Mac mini, built with Apple’s most potent M-series CPUs. It is a less expensive alternative to the more expensive Mac Pro and is suitable for people who do not want the flexibility and expandability that the Mac Pro provides.

Compared to the Mac Pro, Apple Mac Studio is smaller, less expensive, and offers comparable performance, connection, and capability. In June 2023, Apple updated the Mac Studio, introducing M2 Max and M2 Ultra processor choices.

M2 vs M1 Ultra Apple Mac Studios

Apple refers to the M2 Ultra chip, which is two M2 Max processors joined together on a single die and capable of functioning as a single integrated circuit, as UltraFusion technology. It has a 32-core Neural Engine, 800GB/s memory bandwidth, up to 192GB Unified Memory, a 24-core CPU, and a 60-core (upgradable to 76-core) GPU. It also has a 2x faster Media Engine.

Apple claims that the GPU and CPU of the M2 Ultra are up to 30% and 20% quicker, respectively than those of the M1 Ultra. Up to 40% quicker is the Neural Engine.

Specifications of Apple Mac Studio

In June 2023, Apple updated the Mac Studio, introducing M2 Max and M2 Ultra processor choices. See our comprehensive article for more details on the Apple Mac Studio.

Performance

The M2 Ultra promises performance comparable to top-tier PC CPUs and graphics cards at a fraction of the power consumption, and it can support up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, which Apple claims no other personal computer in the world can achieve.

Design

The Mac Studio has an all-aluminium 7.7-inch square casing that is 3.7 inches high and is designed to resemble a taller Mac mini. The design hasn’t altered throughout the generations, and the size is intended to fit under the majority of market displays.

Using dual-sided blowers to draw air in via the bottom airflow channels and push it out through extra holes on the chassis’ rear, the Mac Studio’s innovative thermal architecture is engineered for silent operation.

Ports

The Mac Studio has two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, four Thunderbolt 4 connections, a 10Gb Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone socket that supports high-impedance headphones on the rear. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports and an SDXC card slot are located on the front of the M2 Max Mac Studio, while two USB-C connectors and the same card slot are located on the M2 Ultra.

Storage

Up to six 6K Pro monitor XDRs and one 4K monitor via HDMI can be supported by the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra. Although the M2 Max and M2 Ultra models have different starting SSD capacities—512GB and 1TB, respectively—they may both be configured to have up to 8TB of SSD storage available.

Connectivity

When a suitable network is available, the Mac Studio models feature a quicker 802.11ax WiFi 6E connection, which can connect on the faster 6GHz band. Regarding wireless connectivity, the Mac Studio is equipped with Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E, which offer the fastest Wi-Fi speeds.

Display

The Mac Studio may be utilized with the more costly Pro panel XDR or with Apple’s corresponding $1,599 Studio Display, a 27-inch 5K resolution panel with a built-in 12-megapixel camera and Center Stage capabilities, as well as premium microphone and speaker arrays.

Pricing

Here are the current M2 Mac Studio lineup’s regular configuration costs.

• M2 Max, priced at $1,999/£2,099, features a 12-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 32GB of unified memory, and 512GB of SSD.
• M2 Ultra, priced at $3,999/£4,199, features a 64GB unified memory, 1TB SSD, a 24-core CPU, a 60-core GPU, and a 32-core neural engine.