Apple Announce Mac Studio and Studio Display
It’s a notable day in the computing world when Apple unveils a new product. They usually offer iterations and refinements of existing products, but this week they made Mac users sit-up and pay attention.
What Is Mac Studio?
Mac Studio is the closest we’ve come to the long wished for “xMac“, a powerful and affordable mini tower. With M1 Max and the new Ultra chip options it’s certainly powerful, and with a starting price of US$1,999 it could be considered affordable for the content creators and computer scientists working in the studios the machine is named for.
How Does Mac Studio Compare To Mac Mini?
Looking at the new Mac Studio it clearly has the DNA of the Mac Mini; with a few front facing ports and double the height. Beyond that they have a few similarities but more differences. This is what they share:
- Silver Aluminum Case Design
- Apple M1-series Processor
- 16-core Neural Engine
- HDMI Port (multichannel audio output)
- Two USB-A Ports
- 10Gb Ethernet (Uprade on Mac mini)
- 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0
- Internal Speaker
So the Mini and Studio share some features, but below you can see the features that set them apart.
Mac Mini
M1 chip
8-core CPU
8-core GPU
Up to 16GB unified memory
Up to 2TB storage
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 port
3.5mm headphone jack
Support for one display up to 6K and one display up to 4K
Starts at $699
Mac Studio
M1 Max chip or M1 Ultra chip
Up to 20-core CPU
Up to 64-core GPU
Up to 128GB unified memory
Up to 8TB storage
Media engine with two video decode engines, up to four video encode engines, and up to four ProRes encode and decode engines
Up to six Thunderbolt 4 ports
3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones
Support for up to four Pro Display XDRs and one 4K display
SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
Starts at $1,999
What’s Different About The M1 Ultra?
Following their M1 trend but with an innovative twist, the Ultra is “just” two Max processors; the twist is a high bandwidth connection to make them function as a single 20 core processor. The graphics processing also doubles up to 64 cores.
Should You Buy Mac Studio?
Apple says it’s the most powerful machine you can buy for the money, and we have good reason to believe them. Since the first implementation of Apple silicon in the MacBook Air, the power and efficiency has been a hallmark of the Mac transition to Apple designed processors. Along with the Studio Display this machine fills the gap previously filled by the iMac Pro, and like that machine you probably know how that power could be of use in your work or hobbies. If you already have a display then the base Studio is an attractive way to get access to the power of an M1 Max. But if you’re thinking the Ultra might be what you need for high end applications and aren’t in desperate need of an upgrade, you should probably wait for the Apple Silicon Mac Pro teased in this week’s presentation.
