- VERDICT
The Mac Studio is an absolute powerhouse that can take your computing to the extreme. It provides the unmatched speed, power and performance so you can realise the possibilities.
The latest Mac Studio with new M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips is the fastest Mac Apple has ever produced and is aimed at the professional user with extraordinary needs and tasks that require superior speed and performance.
It is truly in a class of its own.
Under the hood is Apple’s most powerful silicon – the M4 Max and M3 Ultra.
The M4 Max was built for developers, photographers, videographers, composers and researchers.
M4 Max has up to 16-core CPU, 40-core GPS, up to 128GB of unified memory (also known as RAM) and 546GB/s unified memory bandwidth.
And that goes up to a whole new level with the new M3 Ultra. This chip takes things to the extreme.
It has up to 32-core CPU, up to 80-core GPU and up to 512GB unified memory – the most ever for a personal computer – and up to 819GB/s unified memory bandwidth.
Naturally the M3 Ultra version of the Mac Studio is designed for customers who push the limits of computing like video editors, 3D and VFX artists, DNA sequencers and AI researchers.
For our review Tech Guide received the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra loaded with 256GB unified memory and 4TB storage.
We’re not going to pretend to think we could push the Mac Studio to the limit with our workflow.
We don’t do a lot of 3D rendering and visual effects. Nor have we ever done any DNA sequencing lately.
But we now have the power if we ever decide on a career change.
We did test out how long it would take to export a video from Final Cut Pro. It was a 4K video and had a file size of 26.23GB.
It took only 1m 9s to export to the desktop. On a regular computer this would usually take a few minutes.
We ran the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra through Cinebench R23 for a couple of benchmarking tests which compared the Mac Studio processor performing the same tasks with other chips and it’s no surprise Mac Studio was in the top spot for both results.
And, of course, the Mac Studio is compatible with Apple Intelligence.
The Mac Studio is a standalone computer with four Thunderbolt 5 ports on the back, an Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, HDMI port and a headphone jack.
On the front are two more Thunderbolt 5 ports.
Mac Studio with M3 Ultra’s Thunderbolt 5 supports data speeds of up to 120Gb/s.
This connectivity means you can connect accessories and daisy chain multiple displays.
Studio is in the name of this computer for a reason – it can be set up in a design studio, editing studio, effects studio where it would become the central hub for the envelope-pushing tasks.
The unit itself has a rather small footprint. It is just 9.5cm tall, 19.7cm wide and 19.7cm long.
And, of course it BYO monitor, keyboard and mouse and/or trackpad. Mac Studio customers would want to have complete control of the set up to suit own use cases.
This is the fastest and most powerful Mac we’ve ever used – in fact the fastest computer of any kind we’ve ever used.
But we did find something we didn’t like.
The Mac Studio, despite its remarkable computing power, speed and capacity, does now have Wi-Fi 7. It has Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.
We’re sure this isn’t the feature that will prevent a stampede of customers for the Mac Studio but with the emphasis on speed and the latest technology, the fact is there are laptops that cost less than $2,000 that have Wi-Fi 7.
We connected the Mac Studio to our modem with an Ethernet cable as will most users but if you connect wirelessly, you miss out on the added speed that Wi-Fi 7 offers.
The Mac Studio with M4 is available now and is priced from $3,499. Mac Studio with M3 Ultra starts at $6,999.
The Mac Studio we received with 256GB unified memory, 32-core CPU, 80-core GPU and 4TB hard drive would cost $13,149.
Going up from the standard 28-core CPU and 60-core CPU to the 32-core CPU and 80-core GPU adds $2,250 to the price.
Going from the standard 96GB unified memory to 256GB unified memory is an additional $2400.
Upgrading to 512GB unified memory from the standard 96GB would cost customers $6,000. Going to 4TB from the standard 1TB storage is $1,500.
Maxxing out the storage to 16TB will cost you $6,900.
But the Mac Studio is a computer that’s not just a simple purchase.
It is an investment in speed and productivity.
If the Mac Studio is used to create the special effects for a $300m Hollywood movie, and it can, or be used to find the cure for Motor Neuron Disease, then those prices we mentioned will now seem like pretty good value.
VERDICT
The Mac Studio is an absolute powerhouse that can take your computing to the extreme. It provides the unmatched speed, power and performance so you can realise the possibilities.
