In the more general Geekbench 5 test, the Mac Studio scored 1792 in the single-core and 12759 in the multi-core, which is a similar score to the M2 Pro chipset powering the higher-end Mac Mini M2 Pro and MacBook Pro 14-inch. In the Standard PugetBench for Premiere Pro benchmark (version 0.98) – a high-performance synthetic benchmark that gives a general view of editing, encoding and exporting speeds – the Mac Studio scored 626 – putting it above the Razer Blade 16 (i9-13950HX, RTX 4090) which scored 601. It’s a mid-tier option, costing around £2599/$2599 and it’s supremely capable. The Mac Studio provided by Apple for this review is the M1 Max version, with a 32-core GPU, 10-core CPU and 64GB RAM. The cheaper M1 Ultra variant feels a little more like Mac Mini Pro. The M1 Ultra is Apple’s most powerful M1 chip and this makes for a true Pro machine for those who need the most power in a desktop possible. While both versions are called the Apple Mac Studio, the vast price difference clearly points them towards two different markets. In typical Apple fashion, these memory upgrades are expensive (£800/$800 for a move from 64GB to 128GB memory, £2200/$2200 for an 8TB SSD) and performing your own upgrades after purchasing isn’t an option, so you’ll need to really think about what you when you make the plunge. Both can be outfitted with up to 8TB of storage. The M1 starts with 32GB memory and can be upped with 64GB, while the Ultra ups that to a base of 64GB and a maximum of 128GB. The higher-end model (starting at £3999/$3999) uses the M1 Ultra chip with a 20-core CPU, 48-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine and 800GB/s memory bandwidth. One with the M1 Max chip (starting at £1999/$1999) boasts a 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine for AI tasks and 400GB/s memory bandwidth. There are two main versions of the Mac Studio sold by Apple. Up to four Pro Display XDRs at 6K 60Hz can be connected simultaneously. You can attach a display through one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports on the rear (these support the Display Port standard) or via HDMI. I would assume most will plump for a cheaper monitor or one that is already being used. Those with an even bigger wallet could go for the Pro Display XDR. Apple, of course, would like you to splurge on the accompanying Studio Display, which is an excellent screen even if does miss off some higher-end features like a ProMotion panel, proper HDR support or Mini LED tech. Like the Mac Mini, the Mac Studio doesn’t come with a monitor or any accessories like a keyboard or mouse. This means unless you have specific storage cards that aren’t supported, using this machine without an attached dongle is perfectly doable. It’s great to see Apple continuing to use the space available here to add in all the ports other Macs – especially the USB-C-only iMac 24-inch – have ditched, notably the two USB-A ports. These include four Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10Gb Ethernet for high–speed wired connections, HDMI, a 3.5 headphone jack and two USB-A ports, Those Thunderbolt 4 ports can support up to 40Gb/s speeds and DisplayPort, too. There’s a healthy selection of ports around the back, too. Not having to blindly reach around the back to plug in an external SSD or an SD card, or even just an iPhone charging cable, is fantastic and it really should have been like this on the Mac Mini too. It might sound basic, but having a few ports easily accessible makes using the Mac Studio so much easier in everyday use. Both have a UHS-II spec SDXC card slot too. On the M1 Max version, there are two USB-C (with speeds up to 10Gb/s supported), while the M1 Ultra swaps them for two Thunderbolt 4 ports. On the front of the Apple Mac Studio, there are a couple of ports, something not found on the front of the Mac Mini. I carried it from the office to home for further testing and while it’s not something I would do every day, the 2.7kg weight (the M1 Ultra version is heavier at 3.6kg) is fine for moving between studios. This isn’t designed as a portable machine, but it can easily be moved around in a small bag with ease. It’s less than 20cm wide and deep and just 9.5cm tall making it small enough to fit under many monitors and considering the power that can be on offer, it feels downright miniature. It’s heavily influenced by the Mac Mini, almost as if Apple has popped two Minis on top of each and called it a day. The Mac Studio is a simple machine to look at.
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