Priciest Mac Studio will set you back $8,500 — here's what you get

Mac Studio
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's Peek Performance event unveiled the tech giant's most powerful Mac to date, the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and if you fancy picking it up with all the bells and whistles, prepare to part with up to $8,500.

Apple's Mac Studio is no doubt an outrageously powerful device, and it's aimed at professionals in need of blazing-fast performance for content creation, motion graphics design, software development, and more. The M1 Ultra essentially merges two already super powerful M1 Mac chips, and Apple has stuffed it into Mac Studio. 

The Mac Studio with M1 Max is priced from $1,999/£1,999, while the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra starts at $3,999/£3,999. However, there are plenty of configurations you can add that will bump up that price to $8,498.98/£8,423.98. That will put a dent in anyone's wallet, and that doesn't include the $1,599 Studio Display. But you can expect crazy specs. 

(Image credit: Apple)

For its priciest configuration, the Mac Studio will be equipped with an M1 Ultra with a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU and a 32-core Neural Engine, along with 128GB of RAM, 8TB of SSD storage, and pre-installed software including Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. Take away the software, and you're left with a $7,999/£7,999 machine.

The Mac Studio itself also offers a bunch of I/O, including four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10GB Ethernet port, an HDMI port, an audio jack, and two USB-A ports. On the front, there are two USB-C ports, and with M1 Ultra, these ports are Thunderbolt 4 ports. You can link up to a 4K TV and four other display. Plus, there's an SDXC card slot.

It's 7.7 inches in length and 3.7 inches in height, which is designed to fit most desk setups. The aluminum base also has a high-tech cooling system, so it stays quiet while under pressure.

If you're also adding the Studio Display, a 27-inch 5K display that's rated for 600 nits of brightness and comes with a 12MP ultra-wide camera, expect to pay over $10,000/£10,000. The Studio Display comes with its own set of configurations, including a pricer nano-texture glass and a tilt- and height-adjustable stand — racking up to be $2,299/£2,149.

Adding it up together, expect to pay $10,797.98/£10,572.98 for the full Mac Studio with M1 Ultra and Studio Display experience.

Consumers don't need this kind of power and will find many of the best laptops under $1,000, which includes the M1 MacBook Air, offer more than enough to get through the average day. Speaking of M1, Apple also announced the new iPad Air 5 with M1, along with a new iPhone SE (2022) with an A15 Bionic and 5G connectivity. Don't fret, these are a lot more affordable. 

Darragh Murphy
Editor

Darragh Murphy is fascinated by all things bizarre, which usually leads to assorted coverage varying from washing machines designed for AirPods to the mischievous world of cyberattacks. Whether it's connecting Scar from The Lion King to two-factor authentication or turning his love for gadgets into a fabricated rap battle from 8 Mile, he believes there’s always a quirky spin to be made. With a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from The University of Sheffield, along with short stints at Kerrang! and Exposed Magazine, Darragh started his career writing about the tech industry at Time Out Dubai and ShortList Dubai, covering everything from the latest iPhone models and Huawei laptops to massive Esports events in the Middle East. Now, he can be found proudly diving into gaming, gadgets, and letting readers know the joys of docking stations for Laptop Mag.