Following the M1 Pro and M1 Max chip introduced last year, Apple has revealed a new flagship chip for personal computing, called M1 Ultra. With the M1 Ultra, Apple is staking a claim as the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer.
The M1 Ultra is the result of combining two M1 Max chips through a packaging architecture called UltraFusion. This new System on a Chip (SoC) packs a whopping 114 billion transistors, the most ever in a personal computer chip, and boasts a 20-core CPU, a 64-core GPU, and a 32-core Neural Engine.
The new chip will first find its way into a brand new product: Mac Studio, which also has the option to go with the lesser but still powerful M1 Max chip. Mac Studio is, as its name implies, aim at heavy studio works.
The Mac Studio is a beautiful hardware, featuring a Mac mini-ish square enclosure machined from a single block of aluminum extrusion.
Highlights include double-sided blowers and over 4,000 perforations for enhanced cooling, up to 64 GB of unified memory on systems (or up to 128 GB on systems with M1 Ultra), SSD with up to 7.4 GB/s of performance, and a capacity of up to 8 TB (!), Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0.
The device has a generous amount of I/Os too and it includes four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10 Gb Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a pro audio jack for high-impedance headphones or external amplified speakers. Plus, there are two USB-C ports and an SD card slot over at the front.
Meanwhile, the Studio Display touts an expansive 27-inch 5K Retina display, a 12 MP Ultra-Wide camera with Center Stage, and a high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with spatial audio – all packed in a gorgeous slim aluminum design.
The new Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display are available to order now, with official availability on March 18, 2022. Mac Studio starts at US$1,999 and the Studio Display sells for US$1,599.
All images courtesy of Apple Inc.
