Apple has launched its latest Mac Studio powered by the M5 Max and the all-new M5 Ultra chips in India, alongside the new Mac mini. The compact desktop brings Apple's latest silicon platform with significant improvements in AI performance, graphics processing, storage speeds, and connectivity.
Mac Studio with M5 Max
The M5 Max features an 18-core CPU with six super cores and 12 performance cores, along with a GPU offering up to 40 cores with dedicated Neural Accelerators. It supports up to 128GB of unified memory with memory bandwidth reaching 614GB/s. Apple claims up to 3.9x faster AI performance and up to 50% faster GPU performance compared with the previous generation.
The chip also includes third-generation hardware-accelerated ray tracing, improved shader cores, and a Media Engine with hardware-accelerated support for H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and AV1 decoding. This enables workflows involving uncompressed 8K footage and multiple simultaneous video streams.
Performance Highlights
- Up to 10.7x faster LLM prompt processing in LM Studio compared with M1 Max and up to 3.9x faster than M4 Max.
- Up to 7.4x faster text-to-image generation compared with M1 Max and up to 3.5x faster than M4 Max.
- Up to 5.3x faster Magic Mask performance in DaVinci Resolve Studio compared with M1 Max and up to 3x faster than M4 Max.
- Up to 3.5x faster DNA sequencing basecalling in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW compared with M1 Max and up to 1.9x faster than M4 Max.
Mac Studio with M5 Ultra
The M5 Ultra takes performance further with up to a 36-core CPU comprising 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. It also features an up-to-80-core GPU with Neural Accelerators and supports up to 512GB of unified memory with bandwidth reaching 1.2TB/s.
According to Apple, the M5 Ultra offers up to 4.3x the peak AI compute performance of the M3 Ultra and up to 9.8x that of the M1 Ultra. Graphics performance is up to 1.8x faster than the previous generation, while multithreaded CPU performance is up to 1.3x higher than the M3 Ultra.
The Media Engine includes twice as many video encode and decode blocks as the M5 Max and supports up to 33 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at 30fps.
Performance Highlights
- Up to 15.4x faster CopyCat ML training in Foundry Nuke compared with M1 Ultra and up to 3.3x faster than M3 Ultra.
- Up to 9.8x faster LLM prompt processing in LM Studio compared with M1 Ultra and up to 4x faster than M3 Ultra.
- Up to 8.2x faster text-to-image performance compared with M1 Ultra and up to 4.3x faster than M3 Ultra.
- Up to 4.7x faster scene rendering in Maxon Redshift compared with M1 Ultra and up to 1.7x faster than M3 Ultra.
AI, Storage and Connectivity
The new Mac Studio supports Core AI, Apple's framework for building, running, and deploying AI models on Apple silicon. The platform uses the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and unified memory to let developers run full-scale large language models locally and integrate custom AI models into applications.
Apple's open-source MLX framework allows users to run, train, and fine-tune AI models locally, while Xcode and other AI tools are designed to support AI-focused development workflows.
Multiple Mac Studio systems can also be connected through Thunderbolt 5 and RDMA to create a shared memory pool for handling larger AI models. Apple claims that a four-system cluster can deliver up to 3x faster AI inference compared with a single Mac Studio.
Key Connectivity Features
- Storage: PCIe Gen 6-based SSD architecture delivers up to 2x faster storage performance.
- Thunderbolt 5: Supports bandwidth of up to 120Gb/s for external storage, displays, and PCIe expansion chassis.
- Wireless: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are supported through Apple's N1 chip.
- Genlock: USB-C genlock support enables display synchronisation with professional camera capture setups, including iPhone 17 Pro configurations.
- Displays: Supports up to eight displays, including up to four Studio Display XDR monitors running at full 5K resolution and 120Hz.
The new Mac Studio supports macOS 27 (Golden Gate), bringing Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features. The operating system also improves performance, search, and the Liquid Glass interface.
Environmental Features
The Mac Studio contains 35% recycled content, including 100% recycled aluminium in the enclosure and 100% recycled rare earth elements in its magnets. Apple says renewable energy accounts for 40% of the energy used across its manufacturing supply chain.
The packaging is entirely fibre-based and can be recycled through household recycling systems. The Mac Studio is also part of Apple's broader plan to make its entire business carbon neutral by 2030.
Pricing and Availability
- M5 Max – Starts at Rs. 2,79,900 ($2,499 in the US); education pricing starts at Rs. 2,56,900 ($2,299).
- M5 Ultra – Starts at Rs. 6,29,900 ($5,499 in the US); education pricing starts at Rs. 5,84,900 ($5,099).
- 512GB unified memory configuration – Available from late October.
Pre-orders opened on August 25 across 30 countries and regions, including India, through the Apple Store online and Apple Store app. The new Mac Studio will be available from September 22 through Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers.
