Apple has announced the Mac Studio, a desktop system that looks like the Mac Mini on the outside but packs a lot more power on the inside. The Mac Studio features both Apple’s M1 Max chip as well as a new, even more powerful processor, the M1 Ultra. Apple claims that the new device will be faster than even its top-of-the-line Mac Pro.
The desktop includes four Thunderbolt 4 ports on its rear, as well as a 10Gb Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI, and an audio jack. It supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5. M1 Max systems include two USB-C ports on the front, while the M1 Ultra has two Thunderbolt 4 ports. There’s an SD card slot on the front as well.
Apple claims that the Mac Studio with M1 Max will perform 50 percent faster than a Mac Pro with a 16-core Xeon and 2.5 times faster than a 27-inch iMac with a 10-core Core i9. The M1 Ultra configuration is purportedly 3.8 times faster than that 27-inch iMac and up to 60 percent faster than the Mac Pro. Apple didn’t specify the tests or conditions that led to these results.
The M1 Ultra is a monstrous chip with 800 Gbps of memory bandwidth, supporting up to 128GB of unified memory. It has a 20-core CPU with 16 high-performance cores and a 64-core GPU. Apple says it’s “nearly” eight times faster than the M1, which powers the Mac Mini.
It’s compatible with Apple’s Studio Display, an external monitor that was also unveiled today.
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