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as long as you do not need single core performance the M3 should actually be fine - the price jump to the M3-Ultra versions seems justified

And let's put that in perspective too -- the M3 is no slouch when it comes to single core performance. The M4 is of course 20% faster than the M3 but the M3 is >10% faster than an M2, all of which are faster than the fastest computers from a few a years prior. Even on single core applications, M3 Ultra buyers will not be suffering. If someone only needs to run single core applications, the M3 Ultra will not be cost efficient but it's not like the system is going to lag.
 
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I think a lot of people don't realize how big of a deal the 512GB RAM option is. There's nothing else like it on the market, and the price is literally pennies when compared to similar solutions.

For comparison:
A single Instinct MI300X 192GB HBM3 card alone is around $35-40k.

For the price of less than a single MI300X card, you can have a 3 Ultra's interconnected with total 1.5TB of VRAM that will be able to run a non distilled, full 671B parameters models locally, like Deepseek R1 or llama 3.3.
Wild, this is a game changer.

That's literally knocking down AI costs by an order of magnitude overnight. If you don't believe me, just watch how quickly that 512GB RAM option will move into the distant future of delivery after it goes on sale.
This.
AMD is trying a similar trick with the Strix Halo though, Apple won't be alone for long in this game.
 
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And let's put that in perspective too -- the M3 is no slouch when it comes to single core performance. The M4 is of course 20% faster than the M3 but the M3 is >10% faster than an M2, all of which are faster than the fastest computers from a few a years prior. Even on single core applications, M3 Ultra buyers will not be suffering. If someone only needs to run single core applications, the M3 Ultra will not be cost efficient but it's not like the system is going to lag.

only situation where I would love faster single-core is X86/64 emulation via UTM/QEMU - otherwise all Ms from 1 to 4 are more than fast enough
 
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I think a lot of people don't realize how big of a deal the 512GB RAM option is. There's nothing else like it on the market, and the price is literally pennies when compared to similar solutions.

For comparison:
A single Instinct MI300X 192GB HBM3 card alone is around $35-40k.

For the price of less than a single MI300X card, you can have a 3 Ultra's interconnected with total 1.5TB of VRAM that will be able to run a non distilled, full 671B parameters models locally, like Deepseek R1 or llama 3.3.
Wild, this is a game changer.

That's literally knocking down AI costs by an order of magnitude overnight. If you don't believe me, just watch how quickly that 512GB RAM option will move into the distant future of delivery after it goes on sale.
Correct. If you're into powerful local AI this thing is a game changer.
 
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It is still quite baffling to me that Apple still uses the WIFI 6E spec while there is WIFI7 on the iPhones already !?
Other than that i am buying a Mac Studio with M4 Max chip since i am still on a M1 Max (which still is a speedy chip btw).
What? Oh geez 🙄. So instead of putting current technology into a flagship product, they rather pocket the few bucks for the upgrade for themselves.

I’m also still on the M1 Max and have been looking forward to this upgrade but the more I learn about it, the more it doesn’t sound like I’m getting my money’s worth.
 
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Damn it why do I underestimate Mark Gurman so much???

Still what a confusing line up with the pro desktop Macs now? Mac Pro stuck with M2, Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra.. and you know the M5 Max will challenge that chips performance in a laptop…

Gurman was right, but it makes NO sense to me?
 
I guess we should be grateful though as Apple hasn’t I created the starting price at least. And interestingly it now offers the Ultra chip in the base spec model as an upgrade.
 
I think a lot of people don't realize how big of a deal the 512GB RAM option is. There's nothing else like it on the market, and the price is literally pennies when compared to similar solutions.

For comparison:
A single Instinct MI300X 192GB HBM3 card alone is around $35-40k.

For the price of less than a single MI300X card, you can have a 3 Ultra's interconnected with total 1.5TB of VRAM that will be able to run a non distilled, full 671B parameters models locally, like Deepseek R1 or llama 3.3.
Wild, this is a game changer.

That's literally knocking down AI costs by an order of magnitude overnight. If you don't believe me, just watch how quickly that 512GB RAM option will move into the distant future of delivery after it goes on sale.

Haha Nvidia will be taking note no doubt, for sure a single high spec computer built for AI is an insane cost these days, and usually water cooled too adding to maintenance. Apple has certainly shaken the market up here.
 
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Maybe the M4 Ultra Extreme is so powerful that it will definitely be banned from sale to China. Is that why they released the M3 Ultra first?
 
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.

I agree, I wanted a new Mac and for it to last me, I wanted the Studio but did not want to buy the M2, so instead of waiting until who knew when for an upgraded Studio I got an M3 Max MacBook Pro last year.
 
I know this is an Apple website, but out of curiosity, how much would it cost to build a PC with 16TB of storage, 512GB of RAM and the best processors and GPUs on the market? How much would you save compared to a $20K Mac Studio and how much better would it be?
 
So is this M3 Ultra essentially an M3 Max X2 enhanced with M4 decoders and Thunderbolt 5 compatibility?

Those are significant improvements. While I don't think that the M3 Ultra will be twice as fast as an M4 Max, what are we looking at? 1.5x? 1.7x, with the capacity of up to 512 GB RAM?

While not the best marketing look (hence the press release, no video), it is still a compelling chip with a use case.
 
I know this is an Apple website, but out of curiosity, how much would it cost to build a PC with 16TB of storage, 512GB of RAM and the best processors and GPUs on the market? How much would you save compared to a $20K Mac Studio and how much better would it be?

I cant speak on the RAM as per my knowledge MSI's latest Motherboard peaks at 256GB of RAM.

If you have multiple SSD PCI slots, Sabrent's 8TB SSD is $1,000. 2x8TBs would be $2,000.
Add $2,500 for the RTX 5090.

For reference my

- i9-13900KF
- Gigabyte Nvidia RTX 4090
- MSI Z790 Carbon Wi-Fi
- 192 GB RAM
- 2TB SSD

was around $7,400
 
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Springing for the higher end model that costs double gets you a 1 generation older chip. Weird.

Springing for the higher end model that costs double gets you a 1 generation older chip with double the cores and the option for 4x the RAM. If you don't need the cores or the RAM, the M4 Max is the better choice.

There was a while there where the choices were a Mac Mini M4/Pro or paying more for a Studio with a 2 generation older chip, and I am sure some people still went with the Studio. Their needs were niche but needs generally become more and more niche as you go higher-end.
 
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