Mac Studio and Mac Pro with M2 Ultra on board: professionals get power
- June 5, 2023
- 0
Apple’s most powerful chip yet, the M2 Ultra, is available for the Mac Studio and the all-new Mac Pro. In the first fifteen minutes, Apple also launched two
Apple’s most powerful chip yet, the M2 Ultra, is available for the Mac Studio and the all-new Mac Pro.
In the first fifteen minutes, Apple also launched two new Pro models with the brand new M2 Ultra chip, in addition to the 15-inch MacBook Air. The Mac Studio gets the new chip, but so does the Mac Pro. The latter is a surprise as it was the only device in the Mac lineup with an Intel chip. Now the full transition to Apple’s own chips is complete.
Apple M2 Ultra
The heart of the new professional top models is the Apple M2 Ultra with 24 CPU cores and up to 76 GPU cores. This means that the chip is on average 30 percent faster than its predecessor, the M1 Ultra.
The main thrust lies in the universal memory: 192 GB, so half more than the M1 Ultra. With 800GB/s of memory bandwidth, this is a workhorse that will satisfy any video editor or developer with ML workloads.
According to Apple, the new Octane chip can perform 3D rendering up to three times faster than the previous Ultra chip. In DaVinci Resolve, video processing speed could be increased by up to 50 percent.
The Apple M2 Ultra supports up to six Pro Display XDR screens, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
Apple Mac Studio
The Apple Mac Studio, which saw the light of day early last year, gets an upgrade in the form of two M2 chips: M2 Max and M2 Ultra. Additionally, there’s now HDMI v2.1 on the rear, which supports 8K screen resolutions up to 240Hz.
The back has room for four USB-C ports (Thunderbolt 4), one 10Gb Ethernet port, HDMI (v2.1), and two USB-A ports. At the front there are two more USB-C ports and an SD card slot.
That’s how the first Mac Studio was adopted last year.
Apple Mac Pro
The big surprise in the Mac range comes from the Mac Pro. So far, this was the only device in the product range that could still have an Intel chip installed. Not anymore, because the new version of the Apple Mac Pro now has an M2 Ultra chip as standard.
What is special about this machine is that inside there is space for six PCI Express 4.0 slots, allowing professionals to add various accelerator cards such as digital signal processing (DSP), serial digital interface (SDI) I/O cards or additional network or storage options can connect.
There is no shortage of connectivity with six USB-C ports on the back (Thunderbolt 4), 2x HDMI (v2.1), 2x USB-A, 2x 10Gb Ethernet and a headphone jack. On the top there are 2x USB-C and 1x USB-A for quick access. Just like the Intel variant, this Mac Pro is also available as a rack model.
price and availability
The Mac Studio with the new M2 chips is available today and will ship on June 13th. Prices start at $1,999 for the base model with an M2 Max on board.
Every Apple Mac Pro ships with just a high-end M2 Ultra chip and starts at $6,999.
Euro prices will be announced later in the evening. We will update this article once the details are known.
This article will be updated regularly as new information is released from Apple WWDC 2023.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
