Apple's Mac Studio is a tiny pro-level desktop powered by M1 Ultra

J. Fingas@jonfingasMarch 8th, 2022In this article: news, gear, apple event march 2022, Apple, Mac, M1 Ultra, Mac Studio

The rumors were true: Apple has introduced a high-powered headless desktop that sits between the Mac mini and Mac Pro. The company has launched the Mac Studio, a compact machine with up to a 20-core M1 Ultra chip, a 64-core GPU and more expansion than its mini counterpart. Not surprisingly, Apple is making bold performance claims — it believes the Studio is up to 60 percent faster than a 28-core Intel Mac Pro in CPU tasks, 80 percent faster than the fastest Mac graphics card and capable of handling up to 18 8K ProRes 4:2:2 video streams at once.

Gallery: Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display | 12 Photos

/12

.wafer-lightbox-content
height: 100%;
max-width: 80%;
display: flex;
margin: 0 auto;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;

.wafer-lightbox-overlay
z-index: 5001;

.article-lightbox
outline: none;
width: 100%;
max-height: 100%;

.article-lightbox ul
list-style-type: none;

.article-lightbox img
border: none;

.article-lightbox .scrollview
width: 100%;
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .slides
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: auto;
display: flex;
margin: 0;

.article-lightbox .scrollview li
display: inline-block;
white-space: normal;
zoom: 1;
padding: 0;

.article-lightbox .scrollview li:before
display: none;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .content
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .content img
max-height: calc(80vh – 60px);
max-width: 100%;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .pagination .prev-btn
position: absolute;
left: 0;
top: calc(50% – 30px); /* 50% minus half the defined height = middle */
border: none;
border-radius: 50%;
width: 60px;
height: 60px;
outline: none;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .pagination .next-btn
position: absolute;
right: 0;
top: calc(50% – 30px); /* 50% minus half the defined height = middle */
border: none;
border-radius: 50%;
width: 60px;
height: 60px;
outline: none;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .indicators
font-size: 14px !important;
font-weight: bold;
text-align: right;
color: white;
margin-top: 10px;

.article-lightbox .scrollview .indicators svg
vertical-align: middle;
fill: white;

Gallery: Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display | 12 Photos

/12

You’ll have plenty of choice for peripherals with four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, HDMI and 10Gbps Ethernet on the back. And yes, Apple is aware you want front ports — two USB-C connectors and an SD card slot will spare you from reaching behind the system to upload photos. The computer is also power-efficient. Apple claims the Mac Studio uses about 100W less power than a 16-core Windows at similar performance levels. It’s not clear how performance stacks up in real life, of course, but it’s notable that Apple is even comparing a desktop Mac against high-end consumer PC towers.

The Mac Studio starts at $1,999 with an M1 Max, 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, and will be available on March 18th. Pre-orders start today. A version with the M1 Ultra, 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $3,999, and maxing out the system with 128GB of RAM and an 8TB SSD will cost a whopping $7,999. The complementing 27-inch Apple Studio Display is $1,599, and you can once again buy the Magic Keyboard (with Touch ID), Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse in silver and black at respective $199, $149 and $99 prices.

This isn’t the Apple Silicon-based Mac Pro some creatives want. That’s “for another day,” Apple said at its event. It also isn’t cheap, as you’re looking at a cool $3,600 (plus peripherals) if you want an all-Apple setup. Still, this might be appealing if you’ve craved a fast Mac desktop but didn’t want to tie yourself to a built-in display or the overkill of a full-size workstation. This might be a dream machine for Power Mac G4 Cube fans.

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


Some parts of this article are sourced from:
engadget.com