The new Apple Mac Studio is powered by the M5 Ultra chip, which is Apple's first quad-die processor. It connects two M5 Max SOCs via UltraFusion technology, providing a memory bandwidth of up to 1.2 TB/s. The chip includes an 80-core GPU with neural accelerators and a 32-core neural engine, alongside a media engine supporting AV1 decode and ProRes encode/decode.
The tested configuration, priced at $12,299, features the M5 Ultra, 256GB of unified memory, and 4TB of storage. The base model starts at $2,499 with an M5 Max chip, 36GB of memory, and 512GB of storage. Apple plans to introduce a 512GB memory option in late October. Currently, the high-end configuration faces a shipping delay of 16 to 18 weeks.
In performance benchmarks, the M5 Ultra achieved a single-core score of 3,770 and a multi-core score of 52,293 on Geekbench 7. The system transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 1 minute and 4 seconds. While it excels in AI and professional workloads, it trails behind dedicated gaming PCs equipped with Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards in gaming performance.
The device features a compact aluminum chassis measuring 7.7 x 7.7 x 3.7 inches. Connectivity includes four Thunderbolt 5 ports on the rear and two on the front, along with USB-A, HDMI 2.1, 10Gb Ethernet, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The system runs on macOS 27 Golden Gate, which introduces updated AI features and system-wide search improvements.
