Apple Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) Review

Apple’s known for its aggressive marketing and bold claims, but when the company announced the new Mac Studio desktop, the accompanying claims were pretty incredible. Not only does the new Mac come with a new processor and display, but the promised performance rivaled that of larger workstations. Was this to be the most powerful Mac since the introduction of Apple silicon?

When we tested the less-expensive M1 Max configuration of the Mac Studio, we didn’t quite see the full extent of that promised power. Instead, we saw a machine that felt a lot like a desktop-designed version of the more mundane MacBook Pro. But the results from the M1 Ultra configuration we just benchmarked (starts at $3,999; $6,199 as tested) are are stunning. This compact desktop may look like a thicker Mac mini, but the sheer amount of power inside is anything but mini. If you want the most powerful Mac, this is it.

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Mac Studio Design: Plenty of Ports, Powerful Cooling

If you’ve looked at the M1 Max version of the Mac Studio we reviewed last month, then you already know what the M1 Ultra version looks like, because they’re identical on the outside. It has the same 3.7-by-7.7-by-7.7-inch dimensions, and a thermal design that pulls cool air in through the vented base and expels the hot air out through the ventilated back of the unibody aluminum chassis. For a more detailed look at the Mac Studio’s design and specifics, check out our original Mac Studio (M1 Max) review.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The port selection is nearly identical on both configurations, with a quartet of Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10-Gigabit Ethernet jack, dual USB-A ports, a single HDMI output, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The only real difference is in front, where you’ll find an SDXC card slot and two USB-C ports—on the M1 Ultra model, they’re actually two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The other difference is one you’ll never see, but you’ll feel it if you try picking up the Mac Studio. Where the M1 Max-equipped base model weighs 5.9 pounds, the M1 Ultra configurations weigh 7.9 pounds—a full 2 pounds heavier. It’s not the larger processor that contributes to the weight, but the cooling system. Instead of the aluminum cooling block and vapor chamber used in the lesser models, the M1 Ultra needs more efficient cooling, so it uses copper, which is denser and heavier. Aside from the weight, however, it’s the same design, from the vents to the dual blower fans.

One other thing that doesn’t change between the two models: The cooling system is whisper quiet, even under the most demanding software load.

Mac Studio Display and Peripherals

Debuting with the Mac Studio is Apple’s Studio Display, a monitor with a 5K Retina display and Thunderbolt connectivity, along with an A13 Bionic processor that supports the built-in 12-megapixel webcam and features like Center Stage and Apple’s True Tone color adjustment technology. It also boasts some impressive sound, with a six-speaker array that can handle Dolby Atmos and other spatial audio formats.

The peripherals and accessories that turn the Mac Studio into a full-fledged desktop are the same on the M1 Ultra Mac Studio as they are on the M1 Max variant. (They’re also separate purchases.)

(Photo: Molly Flores)

Apple is now selling a black-and-aluminum version of longstanding peripherals like the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, the Magic Mouse, and the Magic Trackpad. But the only new detail is the color scheme. The functions are unchanged from previous versions, right down to the quirks we’ve long wanted Apple to fix, like the awkward bottom-mounted charging port on the Magic Mouse.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

Living the Apple Life: MacOS Monterey

The Mac Studio comes with the latest version of Apple’s computer operating system, Mac OS Monterey. As with any other Mac, it comes with both good and bad. 

Our own Ed Mendelson noted in his review (linked above) that the OS is both stable and secure, and praised the “elegance, coherence, and ease of use” that easily exceeds Windows 11. And if there’s a better example of tightly integrated software and hardware, I don’t know what it is. Everything just works, from the standard productivity apps to cool features like Universal Control, which lets you pair your Mac with an iPad or iPhone, and use them like a second extended display, complete with cursor control and the ability to share files between devices. (We’ve got a list of the 10 Coolest Things in macOS Monterey that gives you a nice sampling of some of the latest new features.)

Most of the software and apps you know from Windows are available on Mac, though some will look a bit different. Apple’s M1 hardware provides a compelling reason to develop apps that run natively on Apple silicon, but for those that don’t, Apple also has Rosetta 2, an emulation layer that lets the new Macs run software that was designed for older Intel x86 systems. It can be a little laggy at times, but it does make everything work.

Mac Studio Configurations

The Mac Studio is available with your choice of M1 Max or M1 Ultra processors, with additional options for added GPU cores, expanded memory and larger storage capacity. For the M1 Max models, the prices range between $1,999 and $4,999, all with the same M1 Max processor we tested in our earlier Mac Studio review.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

For this review, we’re looking at the M1 Ultra version of the Mac Studio, which sells for between $3,999 and $7,999. Again, this price varies based on configuration, with your choice of 48 or 64 GPU cores, the option to go with 64GB or 128GB of unified memory, and a range of storage choices, from 1TB up to 8TB.

For $3,999, you’ll get the M1 Ultra CPU with 20 processing cores, a 48-core GPU, 64GB of unified memory, and 1TB of SSD storage. Extra GPU cores cost $1,000. Doubling the memory is an additional $800. And storage goes up incrementally: 2TB for $400, 4TB for $1,000, and 8TB for an extra $2,200.

M1 Ultra: Lots of Power, But No Upgrades

Since our initial review, we’ve seen several teardowns of the Mac Studio, and they confirmed what we suspected all along: There are no post-purchase upgrades to this little desktop, and Apple doesn’t even want users opening up the chassis.

One of the most curious aspects of the internals is the presence of not one, but two storage slots. But you won’t be able to simply swap them out for a new, larger SSD. Unlike the average PC, Macs using M1 processors use plain NAND modules, without an on-board controller, instead delegating that function to the processor. The drive and CPU are also cryptographically paired, so even pulling a storage card from one unit and plugging it into another Mac Studio won’t work.

And that’s just the storage, which at least looked like it could potentially be upgradable. Everything else is locked down tight. The memory is soldered down, there are no slots for adding hardware, and the unibody chassis wouldn’t support additional ports or accommodate additional hardware even if you could figure out a way to connect it.

You’re stuck with whatever you buy, so be sure to bump up the RAM, and possibly the storage, if you think you might need more. (Of course, there’s always Thunderbolt; an external drive connected over Thunderbolt will be plenty fast and can actually be moved between machines.)

Mac Studio (M1 Ultra): Power Unleashed

The M1 Ultra’s impressive performance claims are backed with plenty of silicon muscle, using a doubled-up processor that weds two M1 Max CPUs onto a single chip die using Apple’s UltraFusion interconnect, an eight-lane highway of data flow that combines the two halves of the chip with 2.5 terabytes per second of bandwidth.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The result allows the processor to function seamlessly as a single chip, which is how it appears to software—as one massive CPU with 20 processing cores and 64 GPU cores. Backed with 128GB of unified memory and a specially built cooling block that manages the heat generated by the chip, it’s a powerhouse of a processor. But just how powerful is it?

Productivity & Content Creation Testing

With the M1 Ultra offering both a high-powered CPU and GPU in a single package, we test performance of Macs and competing PCs (some of whose specs you can see in the chart below) with an array of productivity tests.

The first test we run on Mac systems is Cinebench R23, which uses Maxon’s Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene to test multi-core and multi-threaded processing. Here, the M1 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio delivered one of the best scores we’ve ever seen, nearly doubling the already capable score of the M1 Max version.

We follow it up with Primate Labs’ Geekbench Pro, which simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Again, the M1 Ultra rocketed past the M1 Max, as well as systems that use top-tier Intel Core i9 CPUs.

But the most impressive improvements were in real-world tests, like our Handbrake 1.4 video transcoding test and Adobe Photoshop running in Rosetta 2. Whether it was decoding and re-encoding a 4K video clip or running through a gauntlet of processor-intensive filters and functions, the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra proved itself one of the most capable media editing machines we’ve ever tested.

Even in truly demanding content creation, such as rendering a 3D image in Blender, the M1 Ultra showed it has the chops to power any professional media shop, thanks to lightning-fast results in both CPU and GPU render tests.

The only area where we didn’t see staggering improvements over the M1 Max was in browser-based tests. Whether it was the 64 JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmarks of JetStream 2 or the HTML and JavaScript throughput tests of Principled Technologies’ WebXPRT 3, the results fell slightly behind those we saw on the M1 Max Studio, but only slightly—and both still handily beat out every other M1 Mac by a wide margin.

The lesson here? The M1 Ultra’s processing and graphics horsepower isn’t going to be needlessly wasted bolstering browser performance, but you’ll still get lightning-fast performance for even the most demanding web apps.

Graphics & Gaming Testing

Finally, with the M1 Ultra bringing 64 GPU cores to bear—twice the 32 cores of the M1 Max—it’s no surprise that it dominated in every graphics test we threw at it.

In the cross-platform 3DMark Wildlife Extreme, running in Unlimited mode to accommodate the Apple Studio Display’s 5K resolution, the M1 Ultra nearly doubled what we saw on the M1 Max-powered Studio.

In both of our GFXBench OpenGL graphics benchmarks, the Studio’s M1 Ultra went toe-to-toe with the best graphics options available. In the Car Chase (1080p) test, that meant matching every other system in low-level performance. But in the more demanding Aztec Ruins (1440p) test, it lead-footed past the competition. When performance matters most, the M1 Ultra delivers in a big way.

The only disappointment is that the muscular graphics of the M1 Ultra won’t translate into great gaming experiences. Sure, it delivered the best performance of any Mac tested using Rise of the Tomb Raider, delivering best-in-class frame rates at the highest detail settings. But Apple’s relationship with gaming is tricky at best. You can get more games on Apple than ever before, but between running many in Rosetta 2 and finding M1-native versions of the biggest titles today, you’ll find yourself frustrated as often as you are delighted by the capable hardware.

Verdict: Finally, A True Mac Powerhouse

We really like the M1 Max-powered version of the Mac Studio, but its lack of really competitive power is a head scratcher for us. Having finally tested the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, the confusion is long gone. This is the desktop Apple promised, delivering an astounding amount of power in a strikingly compact package.

(Photo: Molly Flores)

The Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) is far and away the best value for Mac users that need power, and lots of it. Sure, the Intel Xeon-powered Mac Pro is still available if you want to spend $10,000 or more for a truly unparalleled machine, but with the Mac Studio around, you won’t need to. From the slick design and generous port selection to the unbeatable power of the doubled-up M1 Ultra, the Mac Studio is the desktop to get for any professional studio.