Apple debuts new high-powered M1 Ultra chip and all-new Mac Studio
Apple (AAPL) on Tuesday took the wraps off of its newest processor: the M1 Ultra. And the first place the chip will show up is in Apple's all-new $3,999 Mac Studio.
First, let's talk about the M1 Ultra. Apple already offers its M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max, but the company says the M1 Ultra is a beast on a completely different level than its stablemates.
The 5-nanometer chip gets a whopping 20 CPU cores —16 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores. On the graphics side, Apple says the M1 Ultra includes 64 graphics cores. And the chip supports up to 128GB of memory. In other words, this is one high-powered piece of silicon.
How did Apple do all of this? Believe it or not, the company basically smashed two M1 Max chips together to create one new processor.
The M1 Ultra will first appear in Apple's new Mac Studio. The company's most powerful desktop yet, the Mac Studio, which you can also get with an M1 Max for $1,999, looks like a souped up version of the Mac mini. Inside, the machine gets two large fans that pull in air through the bottom and push it out the back to keep the entire machine running smoothly and, according to Apple, quietly.
Since the Mac Studio is designed for prosumers and professionals, it's got a huge number of ports. We're talking 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, an ethernet port, 2 USB ports, an HDMI port, and a pro audio port. In front, the Mac Studio can be had with either 2 USB C ports if you opt for the M1 Max, or 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports if you opt for the M1 Ultra.
So how does the Mac Studio stack up in terms of performance? According to Apple, the Mac Studio with an M1 Max is 2.5 times faster than the company's fastest Intel-powered 27-inch iMac and 50% faster than the Mac Pro with a 16-core Intel (INTC) Xeon processor.
With the M1 Ultra, though, the Studio is 3.8 times faster than the iMac and 90% faster than the Mac Pro.
In terms of graphics performance, the M1 Max-powered Mac Studio is 3.4 times faster than both the 27-inch iMac and Mac Pro equipped with AMD (AMD) Radeon chips.
Mac Studio running the M1 Max is 2.5 times faster than the fastest 27-inch Intel iMac and 50% faster than the Mac Pro with a 16-core Xeon processor.
Drop and M1 Ultra into the Mac Studio and you'll get 4.5 times faster graphics performance than the 27-inch iMac and 80% faster performance than the Mac Pro.
Add it all up and Apple says the M1 Max-powered Mac Studio is 3.4 times faster than the company's Intel-powered 27-inch iMac and 80% faster than its Intel-powered Mac Pro.
Of course, all of these are Apple's own internal numbers, so we'll have to verify them for ourselves. Still, if Apple's systems can live up to the company's hype, they'd be some of the most powerful computers on the market.
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