Image Credit: Apple

Apple just announced the Mac Studio, M1 Ultra and Studio Display among other new products at their Peek Performance event.

At yesterday’s event, Apple continued their expansion of Apple silicon across their computer and tablet lineup. Mac Studio acts as a middle ground between both of Apple’s desktop computers: the compact Mac mini and Mac Pro powerhouse, in size and performance. With identical width and length dimensions as a Mac mini, at 3.4 inches tall the Mac Studio’s design essentially looks like two/three Mac minis stacked on top of each other. This additional volume gives Mac Studio more space for powerful components, cooling and connectivity.

Mac Studio ships with one of two chips. Either the already praised M1 Max found in last year’s MacBook Pro or the brand new M1 Ultra. M1 Ultra is effectively two M1 Max chips working together in harmony, giving creatives access to a 20-core CPU, either 48 or 64-core GPU, a 32-core Neural Engine, 64 or 128GB of RAM, and between 1 and 8TB of SSD storage.

This new computer was announced alongside the new Studio Display. As a cheaper alternative to the $5000 Pro Display XDR, the 27-inch 5K Retina display comes with a bunch of additional features like the 12MP Ultra Wide camera, six speakers and Spatial Audio.

Video Credit: Apple

Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is now the most powerful computer with Apple silicon and can even outperform the Mac Pro in certain configurations and operations. If you don’t need the portability of a laptop and need more horsepower than Apple’s $700 M1 Mac mini, Mac Studio may be the solution for you. Paired with one or multiple new Studio Displays, this may be the perfect combo for the studio you’ve been looking for.

At the end of the event, Apple noted the only remaining computer in their line up yet to receive the Apple silicon update is the Mac Pro. With Apple’s predicted two-year transition coming to an end in June, we should expect to see the largest and most-powerful Apple computer receive the update in the coming month. In other words, now is just about the worst time to splash out on a new Mac Pro.

Mac Studio with M1 Max starts at $1999. Mac Studio with M1 Ultra starts at $3999. Studio Display starts at $1599. Pre-orders are open now and start shipping March 18, however shipping on the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra in the US has already slipped to 6-7 weeks for new orders. Find the full Apple event here.