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What's Next for the Mac Studio

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Apple is working on an updated version of the Mac Studio, and the new machine is expected to launch around October 2026. We've rounded up what we know about the next-generation Mac Studio so far.

mac-studio-green.jpg

Design

We're not expecting Apple to redesign the Mac Studio, and there haven't been rumors of a design update. The Mac Studio will continue to have an Apple TV or Mac mini-like squircle design with rounded corners.

The Mac Studio is a much more compact desktop than the Mac Pro, measuring in at 3.7 inches tall and 7.7 inches wide. Apple has apparently put the Mac Pro on the backburner, and the Mac Studio is seen as the future of Mac desktop computing.

M5 Max and M5 Ultra Chips

We're expecting the Mac Studio to adopt M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. The M5 Max chip will offer much faster CPU and GPU performance than the M5 chip that came out last October, and the M5 Ultra will double the M5 Max performance.

Signs of the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips were spotted in the recent iOS 26.3 release candidate.

Faster SSD

The M5 MacBook Pro models were updated with a faster SSD, so the Mac Studio and other Macs coming in 2026 could get the same refresh.

Pricing

There haven't been rumors of pricing increases for the Mac Studio, so it could continue to start at $1,999, but Apple may also bump up the minimum storage and the minimum pricing as it has done for some other updates like the MacBook Air.

Release Timing

Apple is postponing the launch of the next MacBook Studio due to global memory chip shortages. Rumors have previously suggested the machines will arrive in mid-2026, but now Apple may not ship them until October of 2026.

Article Link: What's Next for the Mac Studio
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/mac-studio-2026-rumors/
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Apple’s propensity to keep selling horrendously outdated Mac Pro models at hideous markups is wildly unethical. Admittedly, power users should know what they’re getting into, but there’s still a latent endorsement from Apple if it maintains stock of those models. And I don’t buy the excuse that Apple, as a four-trillion-dollar company, lacks the resources to keep developing the Mac Pro as a niche product. Heck, the Vision Pro is an even more niche product, and considerably more complex to develop and manufacture, and Apple keeps updating it.
 
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Yes, I hope that Apple released both a M5 Max and a M5 Ultra version of the Mac Studio in the early half of this year. We need to tap into that power. If Apple waits too long, the M6 Max and M6 Pro MacBook Pro models are likely to launch this fall or winter. So please Apple, release these M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studios way before then, so we don't feel like we are buying old CPUs when the M6 Mac models come out.
 
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crococarbs said:
Waiting for the M5 Max Mac Studio over the Mini because of the extra GPU power. Call me crazy but I do all my gaming on my Mac! Got more than enough games to play with macOS-native games, some iPad games running on macOS, and Windows games via CrossOver (besides the PS5).
Click to expand...
What are you coming from?

From what I understand, there are dedicated modules within the processors that allow games to perform really well without relying solely on the GPU. Maybe double check that before spending the extra money, you might not need to to get the same/similar results.
 
I'm going to order a beef cake the first day I can. I price out the M3 variant often and for what I want its around 8k, I'm really hoping the pricing stays consistent with the M5 line up, or I"ll be waiting for refurbs to show up. 8k is already crazy for a computer but the last time I bought a Mac like this (the Mac Pro 6,1), I used it for 9 years as a daily driver and kept it running for a bit longer after that.
 
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its the best price/performance AI server on the market- rivals nvidia systems that take up an entire room and cost 10x as much.

And with macos 26.2 you can daisy chain them to make a compute cluster

hopefully we get 768gb RAM option with m5
 
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poematik13 said:
its the best price/performance AI server on the market- rivals nvidia systems that take up an entire room and cost 10x as much.

And with macos 26.2 you can daisy chain them to make a compute cluster

hopefully we get 768gb RAM option with m5
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But with Video AI stuff (locally), the current best Studio money-no-object you can buy is miles slower than an Nvidia/Cuda based machine. Heavy GPU work is the Studio's downfall and I hope Apple can fix this going forward. Even the now 3 and half year old, last gen 4090 consumer card is so much faster in this kind of work and AI video/video upscaling is gaining big momentum now.
 
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The m5 ultra will have a memory bandwidth of over 1TB/s? I'm so excited!! Then wouldn't it be at least as good as the rtx4090?
 
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hieranonymous said:
And I don’t buy the excuse that Apple, as a four-trillion-dollar company, lacks the resources to keep developing the Mac Pro as a niche product....
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Apple doesn't even need to do anything to add PCIe slots to their Mac Studio (and to other Macs, for that matter). Somebody has already done it: Sonnet Technologies makes PCIe expansion units for Macs. Granted, their PCIe expansion unit only offers 2 PCIe slots (versus the 7 PCIe slots of all sizes in a Mac Pro if you're willing to remove the Apple I/O card). But the Mac Studio Ultra has six Thunderbolt 5 ports, so you could attach up to 4 full size/full speed PCIe cards (with 2 expansion units) and still have two Thunderbolt 5 ports left over. You can also rack mount your Mac Studio with the PCIe expansion units if you want. Not bad!
 
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dredlew said:
Speed. There’s nothing faster than a PCI interface for storage and networking. Also, the Mac Pro has more ports.

While the Studio is a great machine, I would prefer a Mac Pro (with the same specs) any day.
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The Mac Pro of the 2019 era was basically empty space in terms of the chassis.

If they do a Mac Pro it might have a different design, like this concept art.
1770958077043.png
 
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Waiting for M6 and PCIe-5-like internal SSD speed like internal Samsung 9100 Pro SSD:
Sequential read/write speeds up to 14,800/13,400 MB/s
Random read/write speeds up to 2,200K/2,600K IOPS
semiconductor.samsung.com

Internal Solid State Drives (SSD) | Samsung US

Select and compare the latest features and innovations available in all Samsung's SSD hard drives. Find the perfect Samsung solid state drive for you!
semiconductor.samsung.com semiconductor.samsung.com
 
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hieranonymous said:
Apple’s propensity to keep selling horrendously outdated Mac Pro models at hideous markups is wildly unethical. Admittedly, power users should know what they’re getting into, but there’s still a latent endorsement from Apple if it maintains stock of those models. And I don’t buy the excuse that Apple, as a four-trillion-dollar company, lacks the resources to keep developing the Mac Pro as a niche product. Heck, the Vision Pro is an even more niche product, and considerably more complex to develop and manufacture, and Apple keeps updating it.
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This is my frustration with Apple. They severely over-engineer a basic desktop computer. We don't need that. Just have a basic box like a Dell / basic PC and be done with it. The R&D will be a drop in the bucket to their other budgets and the pro market will like it.
 
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poematik13 said:
hopefully we get 768gb RAM option with m5
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Do people really need that much? I remember people saying nobody needed 1.5TB of the Mac Pro 7,1 (with a theoretical 2.0TB maximum).

Or maybe it was just cover for the M2 Mac Pro having 192GB limit.

ClaraStahlbaum said:
The Mac Pro of the 2019 era was basically empty space in terms of the chassis.
Click to expand...

Are you sure?

With a Sonnett NVME card (W11 for Workstation on that), Apple Afterburner and 2x W6800X Duos mine is pretty full, barely any room left. Only thing I haven’t got is the storage caddy for more big capacity HDDs.

I’m probably completely wrong though, I mean I only own two of them. 😉
 
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