Apple has unveiled an updated Mac Studio with M4 Max chips and a new M3 Ultra. The company says the M3 Ultra is the most powerful chip the company has ever created.
With a 16-core processor and 40-core GPU, the base Mac Studio with M4 Max is "up to 3.5 times faster" than the original M1 Max, according to Apple. The M4 Max Mac Studio has 36 to 128 GB of RAM and 512 GB to 8 TB of SSD storage.
Apple believes the new Mac Studio with M4 Max will be ideal for video editors, developers, engineers, photographers, creative professionals and others who need to work quickly in intensive workflows. It will also be able to run artificial intelligence models locally.
The GPU in the M4 Max also implements Apple's new graphics architecture for the first time in a Mac Studio, including dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and second-generation ray tracing for gaming.
The more powerful Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip promises even more performance. It has up to 32 processor cores, 24 of which are performance cores, which Apple says is 50 percent more than any previous Ultra chip. The GPU has a base configuration of 60 cores that can be expanded to 80 cores, as well as a 32-core Neural Engine for machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip is available with a base configuration of 96 GB of RAM, expandable up to 512 GB, and with SSD storage options ranging from 1 to 16 TB.
The Mac Studio's exterior remains the same: a compact silver chassis with two USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front. The back has four USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, Ethernet, an audio jack, and a power port. Both processor configurations support Thunderbolt 5, but only the M3 Ultra model has Thunderbolt 5 on all USB-C ports.
Both versions are now available for pre-order on Apple's website for $1,999 (M4 Max) and $3,999 (M3 Ultra). Sales will begin on March 12.