Apple announces second-generation Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra

Apple unveiled the second-generation Mac Studio at WWDC 2023. The workstation powerhouse retains the same design aesthetics and offers the M2 Max or the new M2 Ultra chipset, starting at $1,999.

The Mac Studio with M2 Max is up to 50 percent faster than the original Mac Studio, and four times faster than the most powerful Intel-based 27-inch iMac. It features a 12-core CPU, up to a 38-core GPU, and up to 96GB of unified memory with 400GB/s of memory bandwidth. When compared to the first-generation Mac Studio, the Mac Studio with M2 Max can render up to 50 percent faster in After Effects, and offer up to 25 percent faster performance in Xcode when building apps.

The high-end Mac Studio with M2 Ultra doubles the performance gains of the M2 Max variant, as the chip is essentially two M2 Max diodes connected through Apple’s UltraFusion technology. It is up to three times faster than the previous-generation Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to six times faster than the most-powerful Intel-based 27-inch iMac. Under the hood, it’s powered by a 24-core CPU, up to a 76-core GPU, and up to 192GB of memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.

Apple says the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra can render up to three times faster in Octane, and perform up to 50 percent faster video processing in DaVinci Resolve when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra from 2022.

There’s also enhanced connectivity. On the front, the Mac Studio has two USB-C ports and an SD card slot. The back has four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, an enhanced HDMI port, and two USB-A ports. The enhanced, higher-bandwidth HDMI port supports up to 8K resolution and 240Hz frame rates. Apple says the M2 Ultra version can handle up to six Pro Display XDRs – that’s over 100 million pixels. It also supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

You can preorder the new Mac Studio starting today, and it will begin shipping next week. The base M2 Max variant starts at $1,999.