Should you buy the new Mac Studio and Studio Display?
Did you catch Apple's Peek Performance Event this week? If you heard about the new Mac Studio and Studio Display, you're probably wondering if they're worth buying. Well, today we'll shine some light on these impressive gadgets from Apple and see what they're all about.
This week, Apple announced new products, like the iPad Air (5th Gen) and the iPhone SE (2022). Also introduced was a next-level processing chip: the M1 Ultra.
More unexpected was the unveiling of two advanced new gadgets that work hand-in-hand with each other. They are the Mac Studio and Studio Display.
What are they, what can they do, and should you buy one? That’s what we’re here to talk about today. Let’s dive in together and see what these new gadgets from Apple bring to the table. Here we go!
What is the new M1 Ultra chip?
Before discussing the Mac Studio and Studio Display, it’s important to touch on the newly announced M1 Ultra chip. It wasn’t long ago that Apple released its M1 Max and M1 Pro chipsets. At the time, they were already powerful and highly effective, yet Apple is topping off the M1 series with one last entry: M1 Ultra.
The M1 Ultra features innovative architecture that combines die’s from two separate M1 Max chips. The result is an SoC that offers an unbelievable amount of performance capability and processing power.
With 114 billion transistors, up to 128 GB of high bandwidth, and unified low latency memory, it’s only just the beginning. There’s a 20-core CPU, a 64-core GPU, and a 32-core Neural Engine.
There’s no questioning that this will be one of if not the most powerful chips on the market. And the Mac Studio, in particular, will be the first product to implement it. Creative professionals will especially want to pay close attention.
What is the new Mac Studio all about?
The Mac Studio is Apple’s new personal computer. It’s quite small in size, but it’s an absolutely beastly powerhouse geared toward creatives.
In fact, the square-shaped aluminum frame is 7.7 inches on each side and 3.7 inches tall, but it houses none other than the M1 Ultra chip. There’s also an M1 Max version for those interested, but we’ll focus on the best version to highlight the most groundbreaking capabilities.
As far as the power under the hood goes, the Mac Studio (M1 Ultra version) is significantly faster than any other iMac or Mac Pro to date. It has up to 128 GB of memory, 7.4 GB/s of performance, and 8 TB of capacity. Apple says it can literally playback 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video—an unprecedented feat thus far.
There’s a myriad of ports and connectivity options available as well. Included are Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10 GB Ethernet port, USB-A ports, USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and even a pro audio headphone jack.
Bluetooth 5.0 along with Wi-Fi 6 technology are present for wireless connection capabilities. Believe us when we say it’s a mighty machine now?
You can preorder the Mac Studio from Apple. The M1 Max version is $1,999, and the M1 Ultra is $3,999.
What exactly is the Studio Display?
The Studio Display is clearly designed to complement, if not complete, the Mac Studio experience. Not only that, but it’s also a badass monitor in general. While it might not look like the most cutting edge compared to what we’ve seen in recent months, the internals say otherwise.
What are the specs? We’re glad you asked. The Studio Display features a slim aluminum all-screen design with narrow borders. It has a tiltable stand that can be replaced with other stand accessories, expanding the ways in which you can orient the display.
It also features a 27-inch 5K Retina screen that can hit over 600 nits of brightness and more than 14.7-million pixels. True Tone technology is included as well, along with an antireflective coating—there’s even an innovative nano-texture glass option for those working in brighter environments.
Surprisingly, there’s a built-in A13 Bionic chip and a 12 MP Ultra-Wide camera with Center Stage. A 6-speaker, 3-microphone audio system brings a ton of impressive capabilities, not to mention multiple USB-C ports with speeds up to 10 GB/s. I mean . . . that’s pretty dang incredible, no?
The Studio Display is available for preorder for $1,599.
Should you buy the Mac Studio or Studio Display?
The obvious big question that follows any product announcement always comes down to whether it’s worth buying. In this case, the answer is a resounding yes, but mainly for those with either a need for this kind of computing power or who simply have money to throw down on it for fun.
It’s a fantastic accomplishment on Apple’s part and a no-brainer as far as whether or not it can hold up to the most intensive creative work. However, for the money, you might want to check yourself and not wreck yourself—or more specifically your wallet.
In terms of the Mac Studio, you might can save yourself some money by opting for the M1 Max version instead of the M1 Ultra. For the Studio Display, it’s more beneficial to those requiring a monitor with extra power inside rather than those who simply want a nice-looking display.
Overall, there’s no doubt that these 2 gadgets are well worth owning. Whether they’re worth your investment is entirely up to you.
