In M3 and M4 gen, Apple started to let the higher tier chips to be clocked slightly higher. Like the base M4 is at around 4400 while the M4 Max can reach 4500MHz. If they can clock the M3 Ultra higher than the M3 Max's 4050MHz, it closes the gap at least a bit.
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New Mac Studio M4 Max and M3 Ultra Available 03/12!
- Thread starter enricoclaudio
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I'm really tempted to get an M4 Max to replace my MBP M3 Max which is pretending to be a desktop machine. I'd love an Ultra just for bragging rights, but to be honest, the M3 Max is faster than required anyway. And it might be worth it to buy one now before potential tariffs make it even more expensive.
I suppose I held my breath for nothing… I had my fingers crossed that the Studio was getting an M5 level upgrade (in June, true) and then I’d have a quandary since a laptop is presently useful to me. Although the Studios all support Thunderbolt 5 (and mesh shading and ray tracing) and even increased SSD sizes, I will wait on the M5 MBPro to see which system I end up buying.
Luke Miani mentions aftermarket storage being a possibility so my head is even more abuzz with options. Does anybody know the feasibility of adding such storage to MBPros?
Edit: just noticed my MBPro build jump $700 CAD. Yay tariffs?
Luke Miani mentions aftermarket storage being a possibility so my head is even more abuzz with options. Does anybody know the feasibility of adding such storage to MBPros?
Edit: just noticed my MBPro build jump $700 CAD. Yay tariffs?
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Lol I almost felt bad because I bought the M4 Max 16" MBP in late January 2025... as I thought Mac Studio wouldn't be out till WWDC25 and I've waited off M2/M3 series for so long already [delaying I bit the bullet on the M4 Max MBP].
Then I realised they've increased the prices of Mac Studio by 300$ where I'm at [vs M2 Max Studio], in comparison to it's predecessor, whilst the new MBP's have dropped 500$ where I'm at [over M3 Max MBP]. Knowingly the thermal is an issue in MBP they now decided to raise the price on studio knowing it's a thermal king.
That's Said, I love my 16" MBP M4 Max. Probably would pick up a Mac Studio as soon as this MBP's AppleCare expires 3 years. So far I'm getting two days battery life with mixed use on the MBP which is quite impressive on a laptop. Leaving it on sleep drops 1-2% over a day which is insane.
Then I realised they've increased the prices of Mac Studio by 300$ where I'm at [vs M2 Max Studio], in comparison to it's predecessor, whilst the new MBP's have dropped 500$ where I'm at [over M3 Max MBP]. Knowingly the thermal is an issue in MBP they now decided to raise the price on studio knowing it's a thermal king.
That's Said, I love my 16" MBP M4 Max. Probably would pick up a Mac Studio as soon as this MBP's AppleCare expires 3 years. So far I'm getting two days battery life with mixed use on the MBP which is quite impressive on a laptop. Leaving it on sleep drops 1-2% over a day which is insane.
Same I'm running a 4TB external T9 Samsung off my 16" M4 Max MBP [1TB base]. with a 30cm TB4 cable so it's a bit far away from me. Couldn't stomach paying 1200$ just to increase 3TB.
Can't do that to MBP lol it's soldered. Only Mac Studio can unscrew and add.
Thermal wise, I feel the M4 Max can be pushed much harder than the M4 Pro in the Mac Mini
Both my friends M4 Pro in the 16" MBP and my 16" MBP M4 Max get a little bit warm to the touch. Make no mistake these new M4 chips are insanely heat producing due to the higher clock [and the M4 Pro even more with that much performance cores running].. Max - no question. lol but it is speedy asf im blown away
This is where Mac studio wipes MBP and Mac mini big time. Initially I had my eyes on this but they were taking way too long to update I bit the bullet quick on m4 max mbp... still less heat and fans than my older pc which runs 7-8x slower
my m4 max gets 4000 in single core geek bench... m3 max is roughly 3100 ish [29% faster]
all because of increased clock speed over its predecessor...
best bang for buck is probably the M4 Max tbh. It's a huge premium to go up to Ultra, nearly 2x and the scaling won't be exactly 2x by the looks of it... [unless im proven wrong whole]
I used to eye M2 Ultra for my Mac Studio but put it off waiting two years. now I've used this... M4 Max is more than enough. probably overkill I could have skimped with M4 Pro but 64Gb was a comfort factor for me.
So after looking up benchmarks I'm probably going to go with M4max unless Apple boosts the clocks on the M3ultra a lot. Between the core-for-core performance increase and the fact that a 4k budget cap on my part means I'm comparing an unlocked max to a binned ultra, there's only a 20% difference in GPU power. I calculated that twice, using this guide and a second time using blenderscore (multiplying the binned m3 max score by 1.9 since that seems consistent across m1 and m2 ultras) and got about the same result.
I'll still wait for the benchmarks but I'm pretty sure of what I'm getting.
I'll still wait for the benchmarks but I'm pretty sure of what I'm getting.
IMO the huge benefit of the M3 Ultra is its unique ability to add up to 500 GB RAM. That makes it a real beast for many workflows. Folks whose apps can not take advantage of lots of RAM no doubt will optimize with the M4 Max chip instead.
Note that benchmarks are just benchmarks. IMO more important is real-world operation and comparing how different apps/workflows running with differing RAM amounts behave. Note that real world most users run multiple apps concurrently.
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No, I'm pretty sure single core will be slightly worse on M3 Ultra because it's a previous generation. Multicore is where it will shine.
If your workflow is heavily dependent on single core speeds, the M4 Max is most likely the better buy.
The company that created the Mac Studio storage upgrade did an amazing job but I would not use that solution at this point in time. Also, it may void your warranty.
I've just quickly ordered a Mac Studio M4 Max 40 GPU core (48 GB RAM) because I'm afraid of the upcoming tariffs. I wanted 2TB but the storage has become more expensive, therefore I chose only 1 TB. I will use external storage.
Yeah, I'm disappointed that the Studio didn't get an M4 Ultra. I'm back on an MBP M1 Max, which has been awesome for my photography work. But in the past year I've been into 3D CAD and now I'm sometimes waiting 20-40 seconds at a time, with all cores lit up. I was expecting to upgrade to an M4 Ultra, but obviously that won't happen.
I *DO* have a very clear understanding of my apps. My primary CAD program has a few operations that are HEAVILY threaded and can light up even the 32 cores/64 stands on one of my friend's AMD machine. For those, the M3 Ultra should handily beat an M4 Max, given 32 cores vs 16 somewhat faster cores. However, most of the limiting operations are still SINGLE threaded, where the M4 Max (or even M4 Pro) would be at least 20% faster, perhaps a little more. I have some other codes that are heavily threaded, and most others are photography and GPU-intensive. It comes down to which things do I prioritize for optimization. With a hypothetical M4 Ultra I wouldn't have to debate.
I think I will end up with an M4 Max, since it costs less out the door. They both will blow my M1 Max into the weeds.
I *DO* have a very clear understanding of my apps. My primary CAD program has a few operations that are HEAVILY threaded and can light up even the 32 cores/64 stands on one of my friend's AMD machine. For those, the M3 Ultra should handily beat an M4 Max, given 32 cores vs 16 somewhat faster cores. However, most of the limiting operations are still SINGLE threaded, where the M4 Max (or even M4 Pro) would be at least 20% faster, perhaps a little more. I have some other codes that are heavily threaded, and most others are photography and GPU-intensive. It comes down to which things do I prioritize for optimization. With a hypothetical M4 Ultra I wouldn't have to debate.
I think I will end up with an M4 Max, since it costs less out the door. They both will blow my M1 Max into the weeds.
An M4Max with an option for 256GB of RAM would work pretty well for me, but no0o0o0o0o, we don't get that, do we...
That’s the one I went for. Prior to the announcement, I’d set my mind on 128GB. With 1TB SSD, the price is close to the base M3 Ultra. If that had been M4 Ultra and had 128GB RAM, Apple might have got a few hundred more quid out of me. As it is, I’m happy with my choice.
14100 dollars for the maximum package. Well..... No)))))Mac Studio M4 Max and M3 Ultra are up in Apples website since this morning and looks like nobody payed enough attention
Buy Mac Studio
Get a new Mac Studio desktop with M4 Max or M3 Ultra from only $166.58 per month. Select a model or customize your own. Buy now at apple.com.www.apple.com
Available 03/12
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I have some money (about $5000) from work that I need to spend by the end of FY25. Use it or lose it.
I think I’m going to order an M4 Max 16/40 with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD. With the remainder, I’m going to see if I can swing the Dell 32” 6K Ultrasharp or the 40” 5K2K ultrawide. If the monitor doesn’t fit comfortably in the budget, I’ll increase the specs on the M4 Max to 128GB of RAM and/or a 4TB SSD.
I think I’m going to order an M4 Max 16/40 with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD. With the remainder, I’m going to see if I can swing the Dell 32” 6K Ultrasharp or the 40” 5K2K ultrawide. If the monitor doesn’t fit comfortably in the budget, I’ll increase the specs on the M4 Max to 128GB of RAM and/or a 4TB SSD.
That single core score is more or less the same as the M3 gen average, this means there is no onverclocking with the M3 Ultra?
The M4 Max can reach score of 40xx. This is a significant disadvantage for the Ultra.
Lol same my t9 4tb arrived and a comet 4tb tb5 drive from kickstarter is on its way. 8tb external for only 1000aud. Speed is fine i doubt i need faster than 1000MB/s… i bought my ipad pro m4 and m4 max mbp in light of this i was worried too…
Now they drop the m4 max mac studio and im like slice me please
That said i probably think i will pick a mac studio down the line because it has one advantage over the mbp that is THERMALS and home use dont need ac