Mac Studio: Configurations, price, availability, and top stories

Say what you will about the expansion limits of the first Apple silicon Mac Pro, but there’s no denying that Apple designed one helluva machine. While the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is virtually identical to the last Intel Xeon Mac Pro, MacGeneration has captured what it’s like to unbox the most expensive Mac in the lineup.

Apple debuted its second-generation Mac Studio at WWDC with more power and capability than ever. Read along for a detailed look at the M2 Mac Studio vs M1 Mac Studio and how the latest Apple Silicon desktops improve on their predecessors.

Apple announced three new Macs at WWDC 2023: a 15-inch MacBook Air, a new-generation Mac Studio, and the very first Mac Pro with an Apple Silicon chip. These Macs went on pre-order last week, and now the first orders are finally arriving to customers around the world.

A month ago, no one outside of Apple really expected to see a new Mac Studio this year (or maybe even ever). Why make a Mac Studio with an M2 Ultra if the Mac Pro uses the same chip? It turns out there are plenty of reasons to make both, and one of those reasons is a $3,000 value.

Back at the beginning of the year, I questioned whether the 2023 Mac Pro would be dead on arrival – since it seemed Apple would have enormous difficulty in distinguishing it from other Macs powered by the same chips.

Apple has of course now announced the new Mac Pro, and while it does offer a handful of benefits the updated Mac Studio launched alongside it, very few people are going to buy one …

Apple today formally introduced macOS 14, alongside iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 – and Apple is dropping support for almost all Intel Macs.

The company has provided a list of the Macs able to run macOS 14 …

Although WWDC is mainly a software-focused event, this year’s conference was packed with new hardware. During the opening keynote, Apple announced the second-generation Mac Studio, its desktop computer aimed at professional users. In its first hardware update ever, Mac Studio is now available with the M2 Max chip and the new M2 Ultra chip.

Apple’s latest Mac mini with the M2 or M2 Pro chip means more powerful CPUs and GPUs, up to 32GB RAM, up to 3 external displays, 8K output via HDMI, WiFi 6E, and the base models are even more affordable. The standalone desktop sits below the more powerful Mac Studio, making the lineup more diverse. But is the Mac Studio overkill for most people with the Mac mini to consider? Here’s an in-depth Mac mini vs Mac Studio comparison for how everything shakes out.

Turns out John Ternus wasn’t kidding when he said “that leaves just one more product to go: Mac Pro, but that’s for another day”. Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, had just unveiled the Mac Studio, the most powerful Apple silicon machine at the time. The line served to reassure Mac Pro customers that the best was yet to come.

More than a year later, however, a Mac Pro running on Apple Silicon is still yet to come. The wait is compounded by the fact that the current Mac Pro running on Intel Xeon chips was introduced in 2019, and that machine was the long-awaited course correction for the 2013 Mac Pro.

Earlier this fall, Best Buy and Apple teamed up to launch the “Mac Upgrade Program” that many buyers have been waiting on for years. Today, Best Buy has announced an expansion of the new Upgrade+ program, now allowing users to choose iMac and Mac Studio models, building on the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models that were included at the initial launch of the program.

Apple recently teamed up with popular YouTube creator Jonathan Morrison to pull off a special surprise for two up-and-coming creators. Apple reached out to Jonathan to ask if he wanted to surprise a creator with a dramatic overhaul to their tech setup, and the end result is pretty heartwarming…

Earlier this month, we reported on new MacBook Pro orders and even existing ones from February being delayed into July. Now as supply issues continue, we’re seeing the MacBook Pro delayed to August alongside other products like iMac, Mac Studio, and Studio Display.

We didn’t have long to wait after the launch of the Mac Studio to see a bunch of M1 Ultra benchmarks. These ranged from comparisons to the 28-core Intel Mac Pro to a comprehensive set of tests by Macworld.

A new set of tests not only aims to see how the M1 Ultra and M1 Max compare in real-life usage, but also when performing tasks specifically suggested by pro app users …

A check on Macs available for immediate shipping from Apple shows that these are now limited to just three models. Other Macs involve waiting anywhere from one to two weeks all the way up to 11 weeks, depending on both model and country. Some of those who have already placed orders are seeing even longer waits.

It’s the latest measure of Chinese supply chain problems that Apple estimates could cost the company as much as $8B in lost revenue this quarter …

Jared Polin of FroKnowsPhoto is a Philadelphia-based YouTuber with a following of over one million. On the channel, Polin uses his extensive photography experience to create “Fun and Informative” videos on the subject. As part of a new “Dream Studio Makeover” project from Apple, Polin got to change the life of a young up-and-coming creative.  

Alongside the Studio Display and Mac Studio announcement last month, Apple also started selling a new 1.8-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable. The company also said it would release a 3-meter version of that cable soon, and now it’s officially available to purchase. Apple’s 3-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable will set you back a cool $159…

I’ve been working on formulating my Mac Studio review for a couple of weeks, and I’ve finally been able to spend enough time with the machine to share my thoughts about Apple’s most powerful desktop offering.

I’ve had the opportunity to test both the high-end Mac Studio with M1 Ultra system on a chip, along with the entry-level M1 Max base model. Is the Mac Studio a worthwhile purchase for those looking for a desktop solution? Should you splurge for the M1 Ultra? Watch my hands-on video walkthrough as I share my observations and findings, and be sure to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Mac Studio-related videos.

Pro users of M1 Macs have reported disappointing transfer speeds with external SSDs, and tests appear to show that most M1 Mac Thunderbolt ports don’t support USB 3.1 Gen 2 – which means they don’t offer the maximum 10Gb/s transfer speeds that would be expected from Thunderbolt 4.

The tests were conducted on a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max, and a 2022 Mac Studio M1 Max …

9to5Mac readers got a few days’ advance notice of Apple’s latest desktop computer – but if you’re in the market for one, which Mac Studio model should you buy? Or should you buy at all?

Apple offers the machine in two versions, M1 Max and M1 Ultra. The former runs the same chip as the top-end MacBook Pro, while the M1 Ultra is – on paper – in a whole new league …

When Apple compared the M1 Ultra GPU performance to what was then Nvidia’s most powerful graphics card, the company’s chart and quote were technically true, but rather misleading, says Macworld.

Apple gave the impression that the M1 Ultra outperformed the Nvidia RTX 3090, but this was not the case – and will be even less so now that Nvidia has launched the 3090 Ti …

Right after the Mac Studio hit stores last week, we saw some teardowns showing everything inside the machine. And while it became clear that Mac Studio has free storage slots, it was unclear whether users could upgrade on their own. Now iFixit has been able to confirm that although the Mac Studio’s internal storage is replaceable, it is not upgradable.