Apple Mac Studio (M5 Ultra) review: Huge AI and graphics power at a huge premium

At $11,299, the extra performance over the M5 Max model is only worth it for select buyers.

Steve Dent for Engadget Add Engadget on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover RATING : 8.9 / 10 For creative or AI pros looking for Apple's most powerful desktop computer, there's now only one model to consider: the Mac Studio . It's the only one equipped with the company's mighty M5 Ultra processor (two M5 Max chips frankensteined together) and support for up to 512GB of unified memory. With all that, it's capable of incredible performance, despite the small size.

This year, though, there's an unpleasant twist. Given that amount of memory, the Mac Studio is particularly vulnerable to the " RAMageddon " crisis that has seen memory prices soar over the last year. The M5 Max model jumped from a base $2,000 price to $2,500, but the M5 Ultra version now starts at $5,500, an enormous jump from the previous model's $4,000 price. Though incredibly powerful, the leap in performance over the M5 Max-powered Studio can't justify that extra cash, unless you're a hardcore power user.

There's nothing new to see with the Mac Studio's design (again). The compact, rounded-square aluminum body is unchanged at 3.7 inches tall and 7.7 inches long and wide. With its premium feel and that small size, it'll look nice on your desk and won't take up much space. That design also makes it stackable, which can come in handy for reasons I'll explain shortly.

The Mac Studio offers the same array of ports as before, too. Up front, there's a high-speed memory card slot plus two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports on the M5 Ultra model, and two slower USB-C 10 Mbps ports on the M5 Max. In back, both models have four Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, along with two USB-A ports (up to 5Gb/s), an HDMI 2.1 port, 10Gb Ethernet and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The Thunderbolt 5 ports deliver up to a blazing 120 Gbps speeds, though accessories supporting those data rates are still quite expensive .

The previous Mac Studio choices were confusing, with either M4 Max or M3 Ultra processors available. Luckily, the new models at least share the same chip number. The M5 Ultra now comes with up to a 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU and 32-core neural engine, up from 32 CPU cores before (the number of GPU and neural cores is unchanged). Unified memory is currently available in 96GB and 256GB configurations, with 512GB coming next month.

With 2TB storage, 256GB of RAM and a 36-core processor (my test configuration), the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra costs $11,299. In comparison, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra model with the top-end 32C chip, 256GB of RAM and 2TB of storage was $7,499, or $3,800 less. That's a massive price jump of over 50 percent, largely due to RAM prices and Apple's notorious markups.

The Mac Studio M5 Max, meanwhile, comes with up to an 18-core CPU (up from 16 cores before), along with a 40-core GPU and 16-core neural engine. Memory tops out at 128GB. The top-end configuration with 2TB of storage is still expensive at $5,899, but is just over half the price of the M5 Ultra model.