Apple Announces New Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips, Thunderbolt 5, and More

[Lounge vibes 05]

How can Apple screw up a desktop so much. Ever since the 2013 trash can Apple is just messing up. It’s not that complicated.

Very disappointed this is an M3 Ultra. It’s a bit too late for an update to M3. Just goes Apple cares nothing about any high end product.

The exact same amount of time has passed between the introduction of the first M3 and today’s announcement of the M3Ultra than passed between the November 2020 introduction of the M1 and the March 2022 introduction of the M1Ultra.
Also, it’s pretty industry standard for major workstation class chips to lag behind the consumer grade versions.
That’s how it was during the Intel days, that’s how it is now.
Ivybridge chips were put into MacBooks as early as June 2012, the Mac Pro didn’t get Ivy Bridge until December 2013, and that was the latest chip available, despite the laptops already moving onto Haswell.
Not really that unexpected.

 

[Ethosik]

Lol, these are just your guesses, nothing more. Zero chance of M5 Max having 512GB RAM, heck, even having 192GB option.

I literally have an M2 Ultra and M3 Max and the M3 Max is definitely better than it. Especially in my Blender work.

 

[hovscorpion12]

I'm convinced more people like to complain then celebrate achievements.

 

[Cristim74]

No Apple videos explaining the new products???

 

[pksv]

M3 Ultra haha. No M4? Apple Comedy.

Being disapointed by a number different than expected is pure comedy 😁 How does the number matter if the performance is there?

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'm convinced more people like to complain then celebrate achievements.

Let us know which announcements are the "achievements"

 

[pksv]

I literally have an M2 Ultra and M3 Max and the M3 Max is definitely better than it. Especially in my Blender work.

So it means that M3 Max is better than M2 Ultra for your workflow, that's all. Means nothing else.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

M5 Max is going to blow this out of the water no problems. And it’s almost here in the fall.

Even assuming that is the case, the M5Max is extremely unlikely to allow up to 512 GB of RAM and 16 TB of internal storage with an 80 core GPU.

 

[Ethosik]

So it means that M3 Max is better than M2 Ultra for your workflow, that's all. Means nothing else.

M2Max was also better than M1 Ultra. It’s why a lot of people here have said they won’t be using the studio going forward since M-next Max gets released so soon after and is better in so many ways.

 

[Ethosik]

Even assuming that is the case, the M5Max is extremely unlikely to allow up to 512 GB of RAM and 16 TB of internal storage with an 80 core GPU.

That configuration is such a niche of a niche of a niche. I care about getting my work done. And the Max chips are far better than the Ultra and it’s very disappointing.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple doubled the prices of their unbanned chip and only gave it an update to an M3. Now a fully configured Mac Studio is $20K. Has Apple lost their minds?

$14,099.00 is the top end in the USA, not sure where you’re at geographically.

 

[pksv]

M2Max was also better than M1 Ultra. It’s why a lot of people here have said they won’t be using the studio going forward since M-next Max gets released so soon after and is better in so many ways.

These are just more crystal ball predictions.

 

[Jack Burton]

It sucks to be in the market for a powerful desktop in 2025.

 

[dredlew]

The best feature is that the power button isn’t on the bottom. And USB-A ports.

USB-A should be banned for new devices. If you have an old device that still uses USB-A, then use an adapter. They are small and cheap.

USB-C is 10(!) years old at this point, enough with USB-A/B/mini/micro. We need to move on and this cannot happen when manufactures keep putting that ancient technology in. I would expect better from Apple. They got right of it in all other devices, so what is the holdup?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Then why did they not release it last year? None of this makes sense.

The same reason the M1 Ultra was released 18 months after the M1, the M2 Ultra was released 11 months after the M2.

 

[Ethosik]

These are just more crystal ball predictions.

M2 Max was released a while ago. It is proven fact. Look it up. M1 Ultra suffered greatly with GPU and scaling issues. M2 Ultra is missing a very significant GPU update and ray tracing. These are all resolved in the next Max variants.

 

[turbineseaplane]

USB-A should be banned for new devices. If you have an old device that still uses USB-A, then use an adapter. They are small and cheap.

USB-C is 10(!) years old at this point, enough with USB-A/B/mini/micro. We need to move on and this cannot happen when manufactures keep putting that ancient technology in. I would expect better from Apple. They got right of it in all other devices, so what is the holdup?

Heaven forbid they include a few useful ports to make things nicer for the user.... on a desktop computer where space for ports is really not a big issue.

 

[tomscott1988]

Another confusing release. Spend more on old tech while inevitably a 4 ultra will come.

Wonder how they made this as the m3 max doesnt have the fabric connector...

 

[JSRinUK]

This was going to be a “day one purchase” for me, but it seems the only way to get 128GB RAM in the Studio is to spend £3,600. That’s a little extreme for what I was aiming for. Will need a rethink now.

 

[pksv]

M2 Max was released a while ago. It is proven fact. Look it up. M1 Ultra suffered greatly with GPU and scaling issues. M2 Ultra is missing a very significant GPU update and ray tracing. These are all resolved in the next Max variants.

And what does this have to do with the M3 Ultra?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Let us know which announcements are the "achievements"

First Apple Silicon Mac with over 256 GB of RAM.
First Apple Silicon Mac that can have up to 16 TB of internal storage.
First Apple Silicon Mac that supports eight simultaneous 6K displays.
First Apple Silicon Mac with a bigger than 16 core neural processing unit, in fact double that.
These are pretty huge accomplishments and the number attached is pretty much completely irrelevant.

 

[pksv]

First Apple Silicon Mac with over 256 GB of RAM.
First Apple Silicon Mac that can have up to 16 TB of internal storage.
First Apple Silicon Mac that supports eight simultaneous 6K displays.
First Apple Silicon Mac with a bigger than 16 core neural processing unit, in fact double that.
These are pretty huge accomplishments and the number attached is pretty much completely irrelevant.

"but the number is three not four! 🤡"

 

[miguel cortez]

I’ve been meaning to make a thread about this, but it always boggles my mind how leakers get things right almost every single time, but people don’t stop making sarcastic comments as if they get it wrong every single time.

Well they are often continuously wrong about something until eventually they get the actual leak right.

All last year Gurman said multiple times that a Mac Studio with M4 Max and Ultra would ship mid to late 2025 and the day before it's announced he "gets it right".

 

[G5isAlive]

Lol, these are just your guesses, nothing more. Zero chance of M5 Max having 512GB RAM, heck, even having 192GB option.

Its a rumor site remember? some rumors are true, some are false, some will get updated. Isn't that what you just said? Or does that only apply to Saint Gurman? lol

 

[hovscorpion12]

It sucks to be in the market for a powerful desktop in 2025.

That's debatable. The definition of "powerful" falls into the hands of the user.

For some a powerful desktop in 2025 can be the $499 Mac Mini

How many consumers use the full power of a 14900KS+5090+256GB combo
How many consumers use the full power of fully spec'd Intel Mac Pro with 1.5TB of RAM.

For PC users, you can build a machine and gradually upgrade over time.

With Apple Silicon users you can not. It is debatable that Apple users are more intelligent than PC users in that they know what they need and buy what they need the first time.