Mac Studio 2023 First Look: Small Build, Massive M2 Power

pcmag.com:

Last year's surprise addition to the Mac desktop family was the Apple Mac Studio, a compact machine that looks like a double-decker Mac mini, but now with power on par with the newest Mac Pro tower. Apple's WWDC 2023 keynote included the announcement of a 2023 revision of the Mac Studio, available with either the M2 Max or the brand-new M2 Ultra chip, the latter which basically stitches two M2 Max modules together.

This development cements the Mac Studio's place in Apple's desktop lineup, making it one of its most powerful and versatile systems, even as it looks unchanged from the outside. I had the chance to see it in action firsthand at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., during Apple's WWDC 2023 kick-off. Here's what I think so far of the updated Mac Studio for 2023.

The Mac Studio is the Big Mac to the Mac mini's Quarter Pounder, sharing the same square footprint and a similar extruded-aluminum design, but standing a few inches taller. Inside, the Mac Studio houses the top processors in the M2 lineup, the M2 Max or the just-announced M2 Ultra.

The base model of the Mac Studio now features an M2 Max processor. That's a 12-core CPU paired with 30 graphics cores, 16 neural engine cores, and the Apple Media engine. Configurable with up to 96GB of memory and as much as 8TB of storage, it starts at $1,999 with a more modest 64GB of memory and 512GB of storage.

Because this is the same Mac Studio chassis as before, you still get the same hardwired connections. That includes the same four rear Thunderbolt 4 ports as before. Apple has also carried over the distinction between its "Max" and "Ultra" versions having either two additional USB-C (10Gbps) or Thunderbolt 4 ports up front, respectively.

Finally, both versions have the