M2 Max and M2 Ultra Studio; M2 Ultra Mac Pro announced today

[mikehalloran]

M2 Max Studio: 4x faster than the fastest Intel iMac

M2 Ultra Studio: 6x faster than the fastest Intel iMac

My 18 Core iMac Pro is the fastest Intel iMac.

Then there's the M2 Ultra Mac Pro with Afterburner now standard — but it packs the whollup of seven of the previous Afterburner cards.

Goodgawd! Ok, I do not need the New New NEW Mac Pro.

In fact, I'm certain that I don't need to max out an M2 Ultra Studio but now I have a whole slew of options including the M1 Studio (if the price is reduced) and the M2 Pro Mini. All support at least three 5K monitors and have 8TB storage available.


iOS/iPadOS 17 is looking great, too. Don't know how much of it will be supported on my iPhone 13 Pro and my 12.9" Gen 2 iPad Pro. I'll find out soon enough…

[mikehalloran]

Still have no use for the Apple Watch.

The new VR headset with AppleVision Pro could be the game changer the industry has been waiting for — eventually. At $3.499, it will be a luxury item for now but I expect that to change. This makes everyone else's offerings look like Tinkertoys but that, too, will change..

As I grow older and become more handicapped, I'll be paying attention, big time.

[James Steele]

Holy crap!! $3500. Yeah... considering the economy right now and a lot of other factors, that is NOT going to make it into the average person's household. At least not mine anyway.

I was happy that I didn't have much buyers remorse about my M1 Max Mac Studio purchase. It seems like the new M2-based Mac Studios were cool, but the performance gains aren't massive enough to make me feel unhappy with where I'm at. I noticed that the presenters kept referring to "X times faster than the fasted Intel Mac." It gave me the impression that this was intentional so they could throw around some "astounding" comparisons to sort of distract from the fact that the Apple Silicon to Apple Silicon performance gains were more incremental. Anyway... cool stuff... but I was relieved that I didn't end up crying in my beer because I didn't wait for an M2 Mac Studio.

[Killahurts]

I was happy that I didn't have much buyers remorse about my M1 Max Mac Studio purchase. It seems like the new M2-based Mac Studios were cool, but the performance gains aren't massive enough to make me feel unhappy with where I'm at.

I wish I were in your position. I ordered a Mac Studio M1 Max last week, for video work. I got more storage, RAM and GPU than the stock machine, so I'm still waiting for it to ship. I find out today that for the same money, I could have purchased a superior machine, 1 week later. I'm not going to be furious until I find out if there is anything I can do about it..

[Michael Canavan]

It's funny I have near the least powerful M1 out there with the M1 Air and I feel fine.

Personally I'm not that impressed with the Mac Pro specs in terms of CPU, I expected more than that. It sounds like it's a GPU monster and anyone running say all of Opus inside DP without VEP etc. is going to be happy with 128GB RAM, but besides more TB4 ports and PCIe slots I don't see anything that different with the Mac Studio they just released, in fact it doesn't look like there's any difference at all.

We're talking IMO incremental changes to the Studio, nothing particularly mind blowing in terms of audio. I recently put together a Crucial NVME M.2 in a TB4 case that's running at 3600GBs with the old M1 here.

Sorry, I just expected something brutal in terms of difference from the Studio and I'm not seeing it. I suppose it's great for UAD cards etc. but TB4 is more than capable with even the lowliest of M1's out there.

Or more succinctly, the Mac Pro is $3,000 more for exactly the same specs as the Mac Studio. IMO PCI isn't worth that.

[James Steele]

I was happy that I didn't have much buyers remorse about my M1 Max Mac Studio purchase. It seems like the new M2-based Mac Studios were cool, but the performance gains aren't massive enough to make me feel unhappy with where I'm at.

I wish I were in your position. I ordered a Mac Studio M1 Max last week, for video work. I got more storage, RAM and GPU than the stock machine, so I'm still waiting for it to ship. I find out today that for the same money, I could have purchased a superior machine, 1 week later. I'm not going to be furious until I find out if there is anything I can do about it..

Doesn't Apple let you have a certain amount of time to return it? Can you cancel or is that not possible with a custom ordered machine? I got extra RAM and storage in mine, but I bought mine back in July of 2022, so I can't complain, but I understand your upset. That's the problem... when WWDC is just around the corner it's a good idea to delay purchases until afterward. I know... "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Maybe there's a way to get out of the deal? Reminds me how many years ago I had to pitch a major fit when I ordered a Digidesign system based on a NuBus card right before PCI was coming out. I had to make a major stink, but they let me change my order to a PCI card.

[monkey man]

Then there's the M2 Ultra Mac Pro with Afterburner now standard — but it packs the whollup of seven of the previous Afterburner cards.

What impact would this have on DAW performance, if not now, perhaps in the future, Mike?

[Chris T]

I've just been comparing the brand new Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) with the brand new Mac Pro (M2 Ultra). Aside from the PCI expansion slots on the new Mac Pro, it looks like, in terms of spec, they're identical...right?..

I own an Apollo Quad (Thunderbolt) and so would not need any expansion slots.

Before WWDC I was going to aim for the new Mac Pro, but now seeing the new Mac Studio, when maxed out I figured might as well save the $3,000. Any reason at all to go with the Mac Pro these days?...

(i.e. I agree with Michael Canavan above!)...

[HCMarkus]

I was happy that I didn't have much buyers remorse about my M1 Max Mac Studio purchase. It seems like the new M2-based Mac Studios were cool, but the performance gains aren't massive enough to make me feel unhappy with where I'm at.

I wish I were in your position. I ordered a Mac Studio M1 Max last week, for video work. I got more storage, RAM and GPU than the stock machine, so I'm still waiting for it to ship. I find out today that for the same money, I could have purchased a superior machine, 1 week later. I'm not going to be furious until I find out if there is anything I can do about it..

https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns ... to%20Apple.

14 days, if purchased directly from Apple.

You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it.

[HCMarkus]

Any reason at all to go with the Mac Pro these days?...

If you feel the need to spend $400 for wheels, the Mac Pro is for you.

[Michael Canavan]

Any reason at all to go with the Mac Pro these days?...

If you feel the need to spend $400 for wheels, the Mac Pro is for you.

I had a gut feeling about this. Apple are producing their own chips, there's no other market for them. The Mac Pro is simply too small of a market to design a chip specifically for, the chips in the Studio and Mac Pro are exactly the same, down to memory bandwidth etc. It doesn't even look like they redesigned the case at all, no NVME slots, the only advantages are PCI, larger probably quieter fans, and some internal storage etc.

IMO they're just doing it for the random UAD etc. user.

[Chris T]

larger probably quieter fans, and some internal storage etc.

IMO they're just doing it for the random UAD etc. user.

By "internal storage" you mean space for PCi's right? Seems like the Pro and the Studio both have up to 8TB internal drive options.

I have the Apollo but no the UAD card. Any reason to get the UAD PCI card?...

Any reason to get the 76-core GPU? I'm only using it for sequencing (with video) - no gaming etc. Seems like the 60-core GPU would be fine for me, right?

Also, coming from a 2013 Trashcan, my rig already uses an OWC TB enclosure containing 4 large SSDs for my samples and work drives. With this in mind, I've only really used my system drive to run apps and video. Any good reason not to keep this same setup with the new Studio, or do folks consider it robust enough to run work projects / samples etc off say the large internal 8TB in the new studio? My inclination is just to go with a 1TB internal and keep my outboard enclosure for all my work and samples.

My only hesitation would be all the ins/outs necessary in my current rig. I need to use a USB hub anyway (inevitable). Aside from 2 less USB A inputs, it seems like the rest is comparable to the Trashcan: 4 Thunderbolt (C instead of A), 1 HDMI, etc. I run 2 monitors and a 3rd large screen TV (via HDMI) for video playback. Seems like it would be very similar in/out setup to my Traschcan...

[mikehalloran]

I wish I were in your position. I ordered a Mac Studio M1 Max last week, for video work. I got more storage, RAM and GPU than the stock machine, so I'm still waiting for it to ship. I find out today that for the same money, I could have purchased a superior machine, 1 week later. I'm not going to be furious until I find out if there is anything I can do about it..

You have a return period (14 day in the USA). Since the order has not shipped yet, I'd be on the phone today. Here are the details:

https://www.apple.com/shop/help/returns ... o%20Apple.

Your return gets resold in the Refurb Store, currently the same price as the EDU store. When the M2 Studios start shipping next week, all the M1 Studios will be there unless Apple has marked them for overseas markets where they don't intend to offer the M2 version (doubtful — that's normally an iPhone strategy).

[Killahurts]

Doesn't Apple let you have a certain amount of time to return it? Can you cancel or is that not possible with a custom ordered machine? I got extra RAM and storage in mine, but I bought mine back in July of 2022, so I can't complain, but I understand your upset. That's the problem... when WWDC is just around the corner it's a good idea to delay purchases until afterward. I know... "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

So I called apple today and spoke first with the AI guy (who literally begins to sound a little frustrated when he can't understand quite what you're after.. really weird). The AI told me the status of my order, and that the order had been replaced with a different product, but he couldn't tell me what that meant. So I had a human call me back, and she confirmed that they had automatically (without my having to ask) replaced the Mac Studio I had purchased with the newest machine, as well as the three upgrades I had made. It was the exact same cost.

I had ordered the 10-core CPU (M1), 32-core GPU, 64GB RAM and 1TB drive.

Now I get 12-core CPU (M2) and 38-core GPU!

Apple did this right, as far as I'm concerned. And it works out for them as well, when you think about it. They don't want me to get my computer and immediately return it at their expense, only to turn around and purchase the newer model.

The amazing thing to me, is that the two machines were the same cost.

[mikehalloran]

The amazing thing to me, is that the two machines were the same cost

Looked up some pricing today. These are for fully maxed out Macs with 8TB onboard only — fewer features and EDU pricing will be less $, of course. Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse extra except for the Mac Pro.

M2 Pro Mini 32 — $4,499

M2 Pro MacBook Pro 14" 32 — $5,099

M2 Max Studio 96 — $5,399

M2 Max MacBook Pro 16" 96 — $6,499

M2 Ultra Studio 192 — $8,799

M2 Ultra Mac Pro 192 — $12,348.00 (inc. Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse)


Refurb Store only as of today — when available
Interestingly, the Refurb Store now lets you see prices for some items not in stock—that's new.

M1 Max 64 — $4,049

M1 Ultra 128 — $6,659

Intel Mac Pro 7.1 — $35,299 (2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W, Two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo, Apple Afterburner, 1.5TB RAM, 8TB storage) In stock!

For comparison, a fully loaded Mac Pro 7.1 was over $53,000 day before yesterday and my loaded iMac Pro 18 Core with 128GB RAM and 4TB Storage was $10,700 in the Refurb Store. For anyone who has either machine and wishes to max out storage to 8TB, Apple makes a kit for $3,000 (plus installation in the iMP). Although I've been wanting 8TB in my iMP, the thought of spending that kind of coin is nuts — cheaper to sell mine and get something newer.