If you’ve long found the Mac Mini underpowered and the Mac Pro a little too much power for your computing needs, then Apple just dropped a new desktop that just might be your cup of tea. Called the Apple Mac Studio, the new PC is a compact desktop meant to slot right between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro.
Measuring just 7.7 x 7.7 x 3.7 inches (width x depth x height), the desktop is sized to fit comfortably under most monitors, allowing you to keep it right on the desk without taking up too much precious real estate. Despite those compact dimensions, it’s meant to deliver plenty of power, boasting up to 3.8 times faster CPU and 4.5 times faster GPU performance than the 27-inch iMac, making it a much more capable desktop replacement for users of Apple’s all-in-one machine.
The Apple Mac Studio runs on Apple’s silicone system-on-a-chip, with option to use either the M1 Max or the more powerful M1 Ultra, which is, essentially, two M1 Max chips fused together to work in unison. The M1 Max, by the way, has a 10-core CPU, a 24-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine, while the M1 Ultra is fitted with a 20-core CPU, a 48-core GPU, and a 32-core neural engine. That SOC can be accompanied by up to 128GB of RAM and up to 8TB of SSD storage, so you can get yourself a really high-spec PC, despite the limited size of the chassis.
According to Apple, the Mac Ultra version of the PC can play back 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video simultaneously. We know… you can’t imagine a workflow that will require you to do that, but that should give you a good idea of just how much muscle this thing is packing. Apple further claims that there isn’t a PC of this size in the world that can do that, which we do tend to believe.
The Apple Mac Studio comes with plenty of options in connectivity, including four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet slot, an SD card slot, and a pro-grade audio jack for high-impedance headphones, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connections. It allows you to connect plenty of displays, too, with enough chops to support up to four Pro Display XDRs and a 4K TV at the exact same time.
Since all that power will likely generate a lot of heat, it comes with double-sided blowers, multiple airflow channels, and over 4,000 perforations on the back and bottom to make sure air can properly circulate. With the help of its thermal system, Apple claims the machine can run in a very quiet manner even under the heaviest workloads. Since they’re, basically, touting it as an upgrade to the 27-inch iMac, the outfit is introducing it alongside an optional 27-inch monitor called Studio Display, which brings 5K resolution, 600 nits of brightness, and support for over one billion colors.
The Apple Mac Studio is available, priced starting at $1,999.99 for the M1 Max and starting at $3,999 for the M1 Ultra.