APPLE MAC STUDIO (M2 ULTRA): TWO-MINUTE REVIEW
The original Mac Studio, equipped with the first generation of Apple processors, was a remarkable addition to Apple's desktop line-up, demonstrating the true potential of Arm CPUs in a perpetually powered system by outperforming virtually all other options. Apple upgraded this creative professional desktop in 2023 with the M2 processor, which the company believes is capable of driving its most potent desktop device, the Mac Pro, as well as the new line of Mac Studio devices.
The new M2 processors feature enhanced performance, increased memory capacity, and enhanced memory bandwidth. The Neural Engine, which translates non-native MacOS programs into RISC language and handles AI processing duties, has also been upgraded.
The 2023 Mac Studio is a desktop PC that continues to reside above the Mac Mini without costing as much as the Mac Pro's initial price of $6,999, £7,199, or AU$11,999. The M2 Max configuration of the Mac Studio begins at a very affordable $1,999, £2,099, or AU$3,299, but perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that the M2 Ultra configuration, which starts at $6,599, offers the same processor, unified memory allocation, and SSD as the significantly more expensive entry-level Mac Pro configuration.
Intel and AMD have worked hard to ensure that the latest generation of processors outperform Apple's M2 offerings, so the Mac Studio does not offer the same level of exceptional performance as the previous generation. However, both M2 configurations offer up to a 20% improvement in CPU benchmarks and over a 40% improvement in gaming frame rates over the M1 Mac Studio devices. Some applications are optimized even further, allowing for enhancements that surpass these processor enhancements.
If your workload requires additional memory, increased processing power, or frequently includes graphically intensive applications, you will likely benefit from the additional power of a Mac Studio as opposed to a top-spec Mac Mini. When you consider the capability on offer at the price you get it, the Mac Studio is an exceptionally excellent value PC. The compact desktop requires little space, is silent, and will significantly reduce energy costs for users who perform intensive work. The M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studio configurations offer a comprehensive selection of ports and the most advanced wireless connectivity options.
APPLE MAC STUDIO (M2 ULTRA): PRICE, AVAILABILITY AND SPECS
The entry-level Mac Studio utilizes the same M2 Max processor as the highest-end MacBook Pro. The base Mac Studio SoC has a GPU with fewer processors than the MacBook Pro, but it can be upgraded to match the MacBook Pro for an additional $200, £200, or AU$300.
This entry-level Mac Studio is equipped with 32GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, a fairly potent configuration given its $1,999, £2,099, or AU$3,299 price tag. You can select up to 64GB of RAM and up to 8TB of storage (if you're willing to double the unit's price), but the 1TB storage upgrade and 64GB memory upgrade are not prohibitively costly for those who require a little more than the base configuration.
The M2 Ultra configuration, which begins at $3,999, £4,199, or AU$6,599, is available for those who wish to drive their device to the edge of workstation territory. This model includes 64GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD by default, but can be configured with up to 192GB of total memory and an 8TB SSD. Pricing is based on what you need to complete your work, but it's not exorbitant considering it's positioned between enthusiast gaming PCs and custom workstation PCs, and it's competitive with the base Mac Pro configuration.
We're not precisely sure why the devices seem to have a comparatively high price in the UK although it's likely due to various local product taxation.
Price and specs: 4.5/5
APPLE MAC STUDIO (M2 ULTRA): DESIGN
The 2023 Mac Studio employs the same extruded aluminum chassis as its predecessor, so it continues to resemble two stacked Mac Minis. In an amusing twist, the M2 Ultra chips use the UltraFusion technology seen in the original Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) to sandwich two M2 Max processors together without a significant reduction in performance from each chip—a MacMini sandwich, if you will.
This year, it is possible to find compact desktop PCs with dimensions that are comparable, if you search carefully enough. For roughly the same price as an entry-level Mac Studio, a PC with comparable performance, such as an Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon with discrete graphics and a substantial amount of RAM, is available.
What is still distinct is that the footprint is just under 20cm squared and the height is 9.5cm, resulting in a volume of 3.8 liters that is remarkably compact for something of this capacity. In comparison, the Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon, the most diminutive commercially available PC, is approximately three-and-a-half times larger than the Mac Studio. The Mac Studio's lower power consumption in comparison to x86-based PCs makes heat more manageable, so the fans are quieter than you would expect for a device of this size.
This iteration of the Mac Studio has a higher-bandwidth HDMI for 8K or 240Hz displays and supports up to six Pro Display XDR screens. Additionally, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility have been upgraded for quicker connectivity compared to previous incarnations. The SSD's PCIe connections have been upgraded to the most recent iteration, resulting in read and write speeds of 7,000 and 5,759 MB/s, respectively.
If you're using a Mac, you'll likely connect everything with Thunderbolt or USB-C ports anyway. If not, you have Ethernet, an SD card reader, HDMI, and two USB Type-A ports for connecting to non-Apple devices. The device also comes with a built-in speaker for when you don't have speakers connected.
APPLE MAC STUDIO (M2 ULTRA): PERFORMANCE
The Mac Studio that was sent to us for testing included an M2 Ultra with 24 CPU cores and 76 GPU cores, 128GB of unified memory, and a 4TB SSD, a configuration that retails for $10,798. Unsurprisingly, this is a seriously potent device capable of outperforming an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU by up to 25% on Geekbench 5, but it underperforms by up to 20% on other benchmarks, such as Cinebench R23. The CPU performance here is more comparable to offerings from Intel and AMD in the enthusiast gaming space, so it's not quite as impressive as the M1 Ultra's launch performance. However, if you are a creator seeking the most powerful laptop for video editing or comparable tasks, this device provides more than enough power.
The Mac Studio we tested doubled the core count against a MacBook Pro 16 (M2 Max 38-core GPU) that we had on file, but this translated to a graphical performance increase of just 58% on synthetic benchmarks, with the two offering equivalent framerates in some gaming applications.
Compared to last year's 64-core Apple Mac Studio (M1 Ultra), the new 64-core Apple Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) offers 40% better scores on synthetic benchmarks and up to 80% better gaming performance, according to our testing. Additionally, a number of creative workflows offer significant GPU performance improvements.
In terms of synthetic benchmark performance, the 76-core GPU on the test Mac Studio is roughly equivalent to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (notebook) when comparing graphic performance to a PC. If you intend to use it for gaming, you should anticipate significantly reduced performance, as we were only able to achieve 64–90 frames per second on Sid Meier's Civilization VI and Total War Saga: Troy at Ultra 1080p resolution, respectively. Thus, it is doubtful that current graphically intensive games are particularly well optimized.
Fortunately, Apple's Unified Memory architecture enables the GPU to directly access memory, which will be an enormous boon for certain creative workflows. The Apple Mac Studio with the most potent M2 Ultra has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 90W, which is 35W less than the Intel Core i9-13900K's base power consumption. Once you add the power consumption of a discrete GPU, the Apple offering is going to consume two or even three times less power than a PC that performs similarly well.
Performance: 4.5/5HOW I TESTED THE APPLE MAC STUDIO (M2 ULTRA)
- I used the Mac Studio over a work week
- I edited 8K video on it and performed other tasks
- I ran our usual suite of standardised benchmarks
In June, Apple released the Mac Studio (2023) concurrently with the MacBook Air 15-inch. I spent a week using Mac Studio as my primary computer and penned portions of the review onomia.
To determine how the Mac mini managed intensive creative tasks, I installed 8K video files, transcoded a 1080p video, and browsed the internet using Safari and Chrome.
I've reviewed and used numerous compact form factor PCs and laptops, including the finest MacBook Pros, Mac minis, MacBooks, and the previous Mac Studio, allowing me to make direct comparisons with other devices.