Along with the new Studio Display, Apple is marketing the Mac Studio to—as you might have guessed—studios, which is a broad term that seems to mean any workplace that uses computers. Let’s discuss the Studio range in greater detail.
Mac Studio Features and Price
Apple offers two options and starting prices for the Mac Studio based on the chip you choose:
Mac Studio M1 Max starts at $1,999 Mac Studio M1 Ultra starts at $3,999
Aside from performance and the inclusion of a front Thunderbolt 4 port in place of USB-C on the Ultra model, most of the starting specs match.
The Mac Studio relies on a double-sided blower—a fancy fan setup—to quietly cool your device and keep it running smoothly. Low noise, energy efficiency, and “outrageous performance” seem to be the hallmarks of the new desktop machine. The performance of some past Apple products has certainly caused outrage, so the description may be fitting. If you’re a fan of the control room setup, you can connect up to four Studio Displays to your Mac, along with one 4K TV.
The Mac Studio also supports up to 8TB of SSD storage, but such a spacious hard drive comes with an additional $2,200 price tag. When you add a lot of upgrades to the Mac Studio, the cost rapidly swells to astronomical numbers. See, Apple, we can do hyperbole too.
Now let’s talk ports and the new M1 Ultra silicon chip.
Apple Mac Studio Ports
Here’s a list of all the ports included in the Apple Mac Studio:
4x Thunderbolt 4 ports 1x Ethernet 10 Gigabit port 2x USB-A ports 1x HDMI port 1x Audio jack 2x USB-C ports, or Thunderbolt 4 for the m1 Ultra model (on the front) SDXC card slot (on the front)
As you can see, the Mac Studio offers plenty of ports to help you weather any workplace storm.
Apple M1 Ultra Silicon Features
With the release of Mac Studio also comes the latest addition to the Apple silicon M1 range: the M1 Ultra. The new product uses a method dubbed Ultra Fusion to connect two chips in order to provide faster performance—and apparently the product delivers.
The M1 Ultra boasts a 20-core CPU and 64-GPU while remaining energy efficient. Future benchmarks will indicate whether Apple’s new chip lives up to the marketing hype.
Apple Studio Display Features and Price
Apple’s Studio Display starts at $1,599 and offers most of the features you’d expect from a pro display:
27-inch active area 5K Retina resolution Three-mic array Six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio 3x USB-C ports Thunderbolt port with 96W power output for charging other devices Height-adjustable stand and mount adapter options
To accompany the new Studio range, Apple also announced silver-and-black versions of the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad. And the new products look super slick.
The Mac Studio and Studio Display Release Dates
Apple is already accepting pre-orders for the Mac Studio and Studio Display and will begin shipping the items on March 18, 2022.
If you’re searching for a Mac that provides a bit more power than some other desktop devices on offer, the new Mac Studio may be worth a look. In all likelihood, you won’t even need to be in a studio to enjoy the product. Couple the new Mac with a Studio Display, and you’ll have yourself a formidable workstation that will utterly outrage your rivals.
During the event, Apple also hinted at a future announcement of a new Mac Pro, which will no doubt come with more hyperbolic descriptions surrounding look, performance, and features.
