On Tuesday, Apple revealed an all-new product, the Mac Studio. One part Mac mini, another part iMac, the Mac Studio has a lot going for it and will undoubtedly be a boon for creatives of all stripes — assuming their place of business allows them to expense it. Though the Mac Studio starts at a respectable $2,000, a maxed-out version will run you over $8,000. Regardless of the price, here are a few things that instantly stand out about the Mac Studio that are genuinely very positive.
M1 Ultra
Who would have thought Apple's first silicon product, the M1, would spin off into the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and now, M1 Ultra? Given the M1 was revealed less than 1 1/2 years ago, it's clear Apple is taking no prisoners and is all-in with its shift away from Intel. Nowhere is this most apparent than on the Mac Studio.
There's been no confirmation this product is the 27-inch iMac replacement even though the latter was removed from the App Store soon after the new one was announced. Regardless, with the larger of the two iMacs gone, the number of Intel-based Macs that remain has slipped to one, the Mac Pro (2019).
For the M1 series, Apple has saved the best for last. The M1 Ultra comes with a massive 20-core CPU with 16 performance cores, four efficiency cores, a 48-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine. For extra, you can upgrade to a 64-core GPU. As a result, the M1 Ultra is mind-numbing, and many of us can't wait for the third-party benchmarks.
Welcome to Monterey
There's no doubt the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra will take macOS Monterey to new heights with its breakthrough performance. And with the incoming Universal Control, users can move back and forth between Mac and iPad with ease.
Customization
When the first M1 products arrived in late 2020, we could only choose RAM and storage, and those choices were limited. Wow, things have changed! On the Mac Studio, you can choose up to 128GB of unified memory and 8TB of SSD storage — plus the GPU options mentioned above. It's safe to say Apple silicon will eventually offer nearly as many configurations as older Macs did with Intel inside. More options mean we can better match the specs with our needs and leave the extra off the final price tag.
The surprise
An "iMac Pro" was long-rumored, but only in the last few days did the word "Studio" leak for a possible name for a new Mac. It proves Apple can still keep secrets, and hopefully, they'll do the same with other products during the rest of the year. First up: Although we know Cupertino is working on an AR/VR headset, wouldn't it be nice if the design didn't leak before the big reveal? Of course, it would.
It's ready
The current Mac Pro was announced in June 2019 but wasn't released until December. Six months was a longer-than-average amount of time between the announcement and release. However, for the high-end Mac Studio, there isn't a wait. Customers can order one right now for delivery in just 10 days. Incredible. Watch for our list of the best Macs to change very soon.
More to see
We'll let you know more about the Mac Studio as we continue to discover its best features. Stay tuned.
