In addition to the new MacBook Air with M4 chip, Apple today also announced its new Mac Studio with pro-focused M4 Max chip. Added to this is the ultimate power-user configuration sporting Apple’s new M3 Ultra silicon, and is the most powerful computer that Apple has ever made.
Apple’s John Ternus, Senior VP of Hardware Engineering, describes the 2025 Mac Studio range as: “a complete game-changer for pros around the world — powering both home and pro studios — Mac Studio sits in a class of its own, offering a staggering amount of performance in a compact, quiet design that fits beautifully on your desk.
The M4 Max edge
The M4 Max version, which is priced starting from RRP A$3,499 with 36GB of RAM, is a balanced mix of capabilities and ideal for “video editors, colourists, developers, engineers, photographers, creative pros”, according to Apple, and it certainly looks to have the goods to support high-end workflows.
The chip features a 16-core CPU – Apple says it is the world’s fastest – along with a 40-core GPU. There’s also half a terabyte per second unified memory bandwidth, and a neural engine rated at 3x faster than the M1 Max.
While we plan to get one to review and test ourselves, Apple claims that the Mac Studio with M4 Max is 3.5x faster than the Mac Studio with M1 Max and “…up to 6.1x faster than the most powerful Intel-based 27in iMac”.
I also witnessed a demo using Autodesk Flame (a post-production platform for film and TV) working on a cinematic movie scene with multiple video streams and effects, where it was able to composite and render the video in real time.
M4 Max performance examples (from Apple)
- Up to 1.6x faster image processing in Adobe Photoshop when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 2.9x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
- Up to 2.1x faster build performance when compiling code in Xcode when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 3.1x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
- Up to 1.2x faster ProRes transcode performance in Compressor when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 2.8x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
- Up to 1.6x faster video processing performance in Topaz Video AI when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 5x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
M3 Ultra is an untouchable speed demon
Cranking up the performance to 11, the M3 Ultra version is aimed at the most intensive workflows including 3D modelling and games development, running local large language models, Hollywood special effects, AI and app development, physics simulations and more.
It’s also 2x faster than the M4 Max and features up to 32 CPU-cores with 24 performance cores, 50 per cent more than any previous Ultra chip, and the most CPU cores ever in a Mac. There’s also up to 80 GPU-cores, which is more than any Apple silicon chip. For artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) tasks, there’s a 32-core Neural Engine and a high-bandwidth 800GB/s unified memory architecture.
Speaking of memory, the M3 Ultra starts with 96GB as standard, and configurable up to 512GB, and you can spec up to 16TB of high-performance solid-state storage. Starting price is $6,999.
Performance-wise, I watched a demonstration of a game world being created with Cinema 4D, running a script placing hundreds of trees on an island, which would have otherwise taken a day to do. The Python script was generated using LM Studio, which ran a fully local LLM on the Mac Studio, with up to 6 billion parameters, all the while Cyberpunk 2077 running in the background – wow!
M3 Ultra performance examples (from Apple)
- Up to 16.9x faster token generation using an LLM with hundreds of billions of parameters in LM Studio when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, thanks to its massive amounts of unified memory.
- Up to 2.6x faster scene rendering performance in Maxon Redshift when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 6.4x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.
- Up to 1.1x faster basecalling for DNA sequencing in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 21.1x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.
- Up to 1.4x faster 8K video rendering performance in Final Cut Pro when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 4x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.
Compact design
In terms of physical design, the new Mac Studio models don’t look different, keeping their compact form factor from the previous models, although we assume there will be a few modifications on the inside to account for the new chips.
Faster Thunderbolt 5
Also changed is the upgrade to Thunderbolt 5 expansion ports, which can connect to external devices like solid state drives and high-resolution monitors at speeds up to 120 gigabits per second. This is 3 times faster than Thunderbolt 4, found on previous Mac Studios. The M4 Mac Studio gets 5 of them, while the M3 Ultra has 6 in total, with 4 ports on the back and 2 on the front. This means that the M3 Ultra model can connect to an astounding 8 external Apple Pro Displays XDR at the full 6K resolution.
Mac Studio (M4, M3 Ultra) price and availability
| Model | Starting RRP (inc. GST) | Education RRP (inc. GST) | Unified Memory | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac Studio (M4 Max) | A$3,499 | A$3,199 | 36GB | 512GB SSD |
| Mac Studio (M3 Ultra) | A$6,999 | N/A | 96GB | 1TB SSD |
The new Mac Studio is available to pre-order today at Apple.com/au with availability beginning on 12 March. You can also use the configurator to build a specification and price that suits your needs.
More Apple News and Reviews on GadgetGuy
The post Apple’s new Mac Studio is here – and it’s an absolute monster appeared first on GadgetGuy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment