Apple announces $1,999 Mac Studio workstation with new 20-core M1 Ultra chip
For months, everyone has been speculating that Apple would soon update high-end, Intel-based Mac mini configurations with its own custom-designed silicon, and now Apple has announced just that at its spring product event. But what we got is actually a little more than what we expected.
The new desktop Mac is called the Mac Studio, and it's like a Mac mini, but bigger—bigger in size and bigger in performance. The thicker desktop comes in multiple configurations based on Apple's M1 Max and the new M1 Ultra processor, which doubles the CPU and GPU core counts of the M1 Max.
The more powerful chips allow the Studio to offer a dramatically upgraded array of ports, compared to the M1 Mac mini. On the back, you get four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10GB Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. Those ports allow it to drive up to four of Apple's 6K ProDisplay XDR screens at once, plus a 4K screen using the HDMI port. Another nice addition: unlike every other Mac desktop Apple has released in recent history, the Studio offers two easily accessible USB-C ports on the front, plus an SDXC card reader that will be handy for photographers.
