Rather than the new M2 chip, Apple has introduced a much more powerful M1 Ultra chip, which debuted on the rumored Mac Studio desktop computer, which makes it the first high-performance Mac desktop powered by Apple Silicon, while Apple has also teased that a new Mac Pro is also coming later in the year.
The M1 Ultra chip brings a new level of performance that comprise a 20-core CPU with 16 high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, which Apple claims that it has 90% higher multi-threaded performance than a 16-core PC desktop chip within the same power envelope, it also has a 64-core GPU that has faster performance than the highest end PC GPU while using less than 200 watts of power. Last but not least, it can be configured up to 128GB of unified memory.
Compared to the Mac Mini, the Mac Studio features a much thicker form factor and is full of ports this round, including four Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports on the back, two USB-A ports that works up to 10Gbps, a 10Gb Ethernet port, an HDMI and a high impedance audio jack. On the front, you get two USB-C ports and a SDXC card slot, while only the M1 Ultra variant will get Thunderbolt 4 on the front, Apple says that the Mac Studio can power up to four Pro Display XDR displays and a 4K TV at the same time, which is insanely powerful.
On the other hand, the 27-inch Studio Display is also announced alongside to work well with the Mac Studio, which sports a 5K Retina screen with 600 nits brightness, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with Center Stage, a high fidelity six speaker system that supports Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos, three USB-C 10Gbps ports and one Thunderbolt 4 port that delivers 40Gbps transfer speed and 96W of charging speeds, and to handle all these things, Apple has equipped it with an A13 Bionic Chip.
Mac Studio will be available in M1 Max and M1 Ultra configurations and will start at RM8,799 and RM16,799 respectively, they can be configured up to 8TB of storage while Unified Memory is limited to 64GB for the M1 Max configuration, it can cost up to RM32,799 for the decked out configuration with the M1 Ultra with 20-Core CPU, 64-Core GPU, and 32-Core Neural engine, 128GB Unified Memory and 8TB storage.
The Studio Display will start at RM6,999 and like the Pro Display XDR, it can be configured with a Nano-texture glass that will cost a cool RM8,299, either configurations will still come with a standard monitor stand.