Apple recently launched the new Mac Studio, a desktop workstation designed for professionals that features significant hardware upgrades. The most notable addition is the introduction of the M4 Max chip to the Mac Studio lineup for the first time, alongside the M3 Ultra chip, creating a powerful dual-core lineup that offers users a wider range of options to meet various professional needs. Pre-orders for the new Mac Studio began at 9 a.m. on March 7 and will be available for purchase on March 12.
Double-core Power, Performance to New Heights: M4 Max and M3 Ultra Excel in Their Respective Domains
The core of the update for the Mac Studio this time lies in the choice of chips, where users can choose between the Apple M4 Max and Apple M3 Ultra chips based on their workload and budget.
Apple M4 Max: The Universal Accelerator for Professional Workflows
The Mac Studio equipped with the M4 Max chip achieves significant performance improvements. This chip boasts a 14-core central processing unit, 32-core graphics processing unit, and 16-core neural engine, providing swift responses for a variety of professional tasks such as music production, high-resolution photo editing, smooth video editing, and complex code compilation.
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The M4 Max chip also excels in graphics processing, with faster particle effects and physical simulation capabilities, enhancing visual effects. For increasingly prevalent AI applications, M4 Max can also handle tasks such as image super-resolution, video content description generation, and real-time subtitle addition with ease. Notably, M4 Max can smoothly play up to 18 ProRes 422 video streams, fully satisfying the needs of professional video editors. The M4 Max version of the Mac Studio can also connect up to five external displays simultaneously, building an efficient multi-screen working environment.
Configuration Overview of Apple M4 Max Mac Studio:
- Chip: Apple M4 Max
- 14-core central processing unit
- 32-core graphics processing unit
- 16-core neural engine
- Memory: 36GB unified memory (up to 128GB available)
- Storage: 512GB solid-state drive (up to 8TB available)
- Ports (front):
- 2 x USB-C ports
- 1 x SDXC card slot
- Ports (rear):
- 4 x Thunderbolt 5 ports
- 2 x USB-A ports
- 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x 10Gb Ethernet port
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
- Display Support: Up to 5 displays
Apple M3 Ultra: The Peak of Performance
While the M4 Max is a versatile all-rounder in the professional field, the M3 Ultra chip represents the peak of performance on the Mac platform. The M3 Ultra features a more powerful 28-core central processing unit, 60-core graphics processing unit, and the same 32-core neural engine as the M4 Max. This chip is designed for professionals who demand ultimate performance and can handle the most demanding workloads with ease.
Whether it's locally running large-scale language models, processing massive datasets, editing ultra-high-definition video footage, or creating complex 3D animations and scene rendering, M3 Ultra delivers extraordinary performance. The M3 Ultra version of the Mac Studio takes it further, able to play up to 24 ProRes 422 video streams simultaneously, demonstrating its impressive graphics processing capabilities. In terms of multi-display support, the M3 Ultra version reaches an incredible eight displays, providing the perfect solution for users needing ultimate expandability.
Configuration Overview of Apple M3 Ultra Mac Studio:
- Chip: Apple M3 Ultra
- 28-core central processing unit
- 60-core graphics processing unit
- 32-core neural engine
- Memory: 96GB unified memory (up to 512GB available)
- Storage: 1TB solid-state drive (up to 16TB available)
- Ports (front):
- 2 x Thunderbolt 5 ports
- 1 x SDXC card slot
- Ports (rear):
- 4 x Thunderbolt 5 ports
- 2 x USB-A ports
- 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x 10Gb Ethernet port
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
- Display Support: Up to 8 displays
Unified Memory and High-Speed Storage: Creating a Smooth and Efficient Experience
The new Mac Studio continues the design of Apple's unified memory architecture. Unified memory integrates the central processing unit, graphics processing unit, and neural engine on the same chip, sharing the same high-speed memory, breaking through the bottleneck of traditional independent memory, and enabling faster and more efficient data exchange.
This architecture's advantage lies in the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously and switch between different tasks quickly, while the system still maintains a fast and responsive speed. Users can choose different memory capacities based on their needs, with the M4 Max version available up to 128GB unified memory and the M3 Ultra version up to 512GB unified memory, providing ample memory protection for handling various complex workloads.
In terms of storage, Mac Studio is equipped with high-speed solid-state drives (SSDs), offering various capacities starting from 512GB. SSDs not only have massive storage space but also possess incredible read/write speeds, significantly reducing the time taken for system booting, application loading, and file opening, allowing users to immediately get to work and say goodbye to long waiting times. The M4 Max version of the Mac Studio can be configured with up to 8TB SSD, while the M3 Ultra version can be configured with up to 16TB SSD, meeting the storage capacity needs of different users.
Rich Interface Configuration: Powerful Expandability
The new Mac Studio is also not compromising on interface configuration, taking full consideration of the expansion needs of professional users.
- M4 Max Version: The front is equipped with two USB-C ports and one SDXC card slot, allowing users to quickly connect commonly used peripherals and read storage card data. The rear is equipped with four Thunderbolt 5 ports, two USB-A ports, one HDMI port, one 10Gb Ethernet port, and one 3.5mm headphone jack, offering a rich variety of ports and an adequate number.
- M3 Ultra Version: The interface configuration is further enhanced with the USB-C port on the front upgraded to a Thunderbolt 5 port, further improving data transfer speed and expandability.
The addition of Thunderbolt 5 ports is a highlight of this upgrade, with a bandwidth of 40Gbps, twice that of the previous Thunderbolt 4, providing sufficient bandwidth for external high-speed storage devices, professional monitors, and other high-performance peripherals. The 10Gb Ethernet port meets the needs of professional users for high-speed network connections, facilitating connection to enterprise-level storage networks for big data transfer and collaboration.
Buying Tips: Choose According to Your Needs, Make the Best Use of Resources
With the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip configurations of the Mac Studio, how should users choose?
- For users who need to handle high-performance professional workflows but have a relatively limited budget, the M4 Max version of the Mac Studio is already able to provide excellent performance, and can easily handle tasks such as video editing, graphic design, and software development.
- For users who pursue ultimate performance and need to handle the most demanding workloads, such as large-scale language model training, ultra-high-definition video post-production, complex 3D rendering, and more, the M3 Ultra version of the Mac Studio is the more ideal choice, which can fully unleash creativity and significantly improve work efficiency.
Apple also offers flexible purchasing options, allowing users to choose monthly installment payments or use eligible old devices to offset part of the purchase price through the trade-in program, lowering the purchasing threshold.
Conclusion: A Professional Choice with a Bright Future
The launch of the new Mac Studio has once again consolidated Apple's leading position in the professional desktop computer field. With the addition of M4 Max and M3 Ultra dual-core processors, users have access to more powerful performance options, and whether it's dealing with daily professional workflows or challenging extreme application scenarios, the Mac Studio can become the most reliable partner for professionals. As the official launch date of March 12 approaches (purchase address: https://www.apple.com.cn/shop/buy-mac/mac-studio), it is believed that the new Mac Studio will win the favor of more professional users and become a powerful driving force for the innovative development of various industries.
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