Apple Mac Studio Update at WWDC: M2 Ultra Option Debuts - CNET
Why You Can Trust CNET Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. How we test computers
Apple Mac Studio Update at WWDC: M2 Ultra Option Debuts
The company’s compact desktop for creatives gets its first upgrade since it launched. and now you can configure it with a high-end M2 Ultra.
For the first update since the Mac Studio launched in March 2022, Apple introduced a high-end M2 Ultra chip at its WWDC developer conference. The update also includes the launch of the M2 Ultra in addition to a new, base M2 Max configuration. It ships next week, starting at $1,999.
<div data-id="" data-cy="shortcodeListicle" data-location="LIST" data-position="1" edition="us" imagegroup="{"alt":"mac-studio-23.png","caption":"
","credits":"Apple/Screenshot by CNET","imageData":{"id":"2210109e-f4aa-4257-8648-09ee79575424","title":"mac-studio-23","filename":"mac-studio-23.png","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/hub/2023/06/05/2210109e-f4aa-4257-8648-09ee79575424/mac-studio-23.png","caption":"
","size":442875,"width":2534,"height":1356,"dateCreated":{"date":"2023-06-05 18:03:09","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2023-06-05 18:03:15","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/png","deleted":false,"credits":"Apple/Screenshot by CNET","alt":"mac-studio-23.png","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"2210109e-f4aa-4257-8648-09ee79575424","imageAltText":"mac-studio-23.png","imageCaption":"
","imageCredit":"Apple/Screenshot by CNET","imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageFilename":"mac-studio-23.png","imageDateCreated":"2023/06/05","imageWidth":2534,"imageHeight":1356,"imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}” overridecaption=”
” overridecredit=”Apple/Screenshot by CNET” usepricing=”true” data-key=”cross_content_listicle__de4822b7-e181-48e6-9533-f2c56db141f7″ position=”NaN” contenttype=”Product Advice” pagelayout=”Default – Article Page w/ original publish date” showdetails=”true” class=”c-shortcodeListicle g-border-thin-light-top g-inner-spacing-bottom-medium g-inner-spacing-left-large g-inner-spacing-right-large g-inner-spacing-bottom-xlarge g-outer-spacing-bottom-large g-border-thin-light-bottom g-border-thin-light-right g-border-thin-light-left”>
The base $1,999 model of the Mac Studio includes an M2 Max chip.
You can read about the announcement play-by-play in our live blog of the event.
More from WWDC 2023
The M2 Ultra is a pair of M2 Maxes tied together, with a 24-core CPU, 76-core GPU, and enables support for 192GB unified memory.
The system also gets HDMI 2.1 (like the MacBook Pro 16), which means higher refresh rates — up to 240Hz — and the generational chip upgrade means support for more, higher-resolution monitors simultaneously, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
The refresh otherwise leaves the system unchanged. I’m curious how much heat the M2 Ultra generates and whether any cooling changes were required for it; the Studio has been a really quiet system, and if it required more heat dissipation, it could make a difference in noise level.