Mac Studio (M4 Max) review: Heir to the Mac Pro throne

With its most recent update, Apple’s fastest Mac is the Mac Studio, hands down. The Mac Pro lurking in the background might cost more and look more powerful, but it still has a chip that was released nearly three years ago, and that chip isn’t the fastest anymore.

So, the spotlight focuses on the Mac Studio. That’s not by accident. Apple has been trending towards compact designs with its products, so the company’s preference for the Mac Studio as its top performer fits the bill. And the Mac Studio is up to the task–compact doesn’t mean a sacrifice in performance. It’s a mean machine ideal for the most hectic of production environments.

M4 Max Mac Studio: Our model’s specifications

Apple offers two standard configurations of the Mac Studio: A $1,999 model with an M4 Max chip, and a $3,999 model with an M3 Ultra. Each configuration can be customized with more memory and SSD, as well as variations on the chip’s CPU and GPU cores.

This review focuses on the M4 Max Mac Studio, and our review unit has a chip upgrade from the standard configuration, as well as more RAM and a larger SSD. Here are the specs of our review unit:

• CPU: M4 Max with 16 cores (12 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores), 16-core Neural Engine
• GPU: 40 cores
• Memory: 128GB unified memory (819GBps memory bandwidth)
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Ports: 4 Thunderbolt 5/USB-C; 10Gb ethernet; 2 USB-A (USB 3);  HDMI 2.1; 3.5mm audio; 2 USB-C; SDXC Card slot
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax); Bluetooth 5.3; gigabit ethernet
• Weight: 6.1 pounds (2.74 kg)
• Dimensions: 3.7 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches (9.5 x 19.7 x 19.7 cm)
• Price (as tested): $3,699/£3,799/CA$5,249/AU$6,049

M4 Max Mac Studio: Performance

Apple did something…different with the Mac Studio. It offers it with both Max and Ultra versions of its M-series chips, as it has always done. But this time, the chips are not from the same generation; instead, there’s an M4 Max and an M3 Ultra. When asked by Ars Technica why an M3 Ultra instead of an M4 Ultra, Apple flatly said every chip generation wouldn’t have an Ultra chip in its lineup. According to Numerama, the M4 Max chip doesn’t have the UltraFusion technology Apple uses to create an Ultra chip. So this’ll presumably be the top-of-the-line chip until the M5 Ultra comes along.

The M4 Max Mac Studio comes standard with a 14-core CPU (10 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores), a 32-core GPU, 36GB of unified memory, and a 512GB SSD. This review looks at the M4 Max option with a 16-core CPU (two more performance cores), a 40-core GPU, 128GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, which all add $1,700 the price of the Mac Studio.

The M4 Max’s 76 percent increase over the M2 Max is impressive, even considering the two-generation bump. The M4 Max is also 25 percent faster than the M2 Ultra, which was Apple’s fastest chip even after the M3 Max arrived.

The boost of the M4 Max over the M2 Max (12-core CPU) is gigantic, but there’s practically no difference between the M2 Ultra and the M4 Max. If you have an M2 Ultra Mac Studio and thought maybe you could save a little bit of money by upgrading to the M4 Max instead, it’s probably not worth it for the CPU.

Mac Studio users are more likely to be using pro apps instead of consumer-based software like iMovie, but the file exports can give a sense of the performance gain, regardless. The 24 percent boost with ProRes exports is a significant amount of time for creative professionals.

Handbrake 1.9.2 video encode

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In this test, we transcoded the 4K Tears of Steel video to H.265 using HandBrake, a video converter app. Some huge gains are seen here, either when using the Mac’s hardware encoders or when not.

Blackmagic Disk Tests

^{Results are megabytes per second. Higher rates/longer bars are faster.}

These scores are essentially flat across the board. The performance here is good, but it appears that it’ll take some newfound innovation to see a drastic change in SSD performance.

The M4 Max in our review has a 40-core GPU, which is two more than the M2 Mac Studio, so that, along with any new optimizations the M4 Max has, results in a 25 percent Metal improvement. Geekbench Compute tests graphics with either OpenCL or Metal APIs, the latter of which is Apple’s.

M4 Max Mac Studio: Thunderbolt 5 ports

The other major upgrade with the new Mac Studio is that the Thunderbolt ports now support Thunderbolt 5. This significantly increases the bandwidth from 40Gbps in Thunderbolt 4 in the previous Mac Studio to 80Gbps–for video it can go as high as 120Gbps. That’s a big deal for production use, but to take advantage of the speed, however, you need to use Thunderbolt 5 devices, which are still pricey and somewhat rare.

This enhances the external display support on the M4 Max Mac Studio a little. It can still drive up to five displays, four over Thunderbolt at 6K/60Hz, and one connected to the HDMI 2.1 port at 4K/144Hz (HDMI was previously limited to 4K/60Hz). The other display connection option hasn’t changed: two displays with 6K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, and one display with 8K at 60Hz or 4K at up to 240Hz over HDMI.

M4 Max Mac Studio: Status quo

The two major changes with the 2025 Mac Studio are the chip upgrades and the Thunderbolt 5 implementation. Apple hasn’t changed anything else. But because we strive for completeness, here’s a summary of those unchanged items.

• Design: The impressively small square form hasn’t changed since its introduction in 2022. Learn more about the Mac Studio’s design.
• Ports: The Mac Studio offers the same plentiful ports as before, but as I mentioned, the Thunderbolt implementation was upgraded to version 5.
• Keyboard, mouse, and monitor: As always, you need to provide your own. Apple’s Magic Mouse, Trackpad, and Keyboard received a USB-C update last November, while the 27-inch Studio Display is still on its 1st-gen release from 2022.

One thing that hasn’t changed that I wish would, is the Mac Studio’s way of initiating the setup process for the Magic Keyboard. It involves pressing the Mac Studio’s power button twice, and like before, it took me several tries to find the rhythm of the double button press. It didn’t take me 13 tries like last time, but it did take me eight attempts, which seems like seven too many.

Should you buy the M4 Max Mac Studio?

When you need as much processing power as you can get, the Mac Studio is your only choice right now. Fortunately, it provides a serious amount of processing power, whether you get an M4 Max or M3 Ultra.

If you bought any of the past versions of the Mac Studio, you’re never satisfied with the speed and always need faster performance. You’ll find the boosted performance worth the money, but remember you also get Thunderbolt 5, which can make your experience even better, so long as you use Thunderbolt 5 devices.

Apple’s other workstation, the Mac Pro, has the sole purpose now of filling a niche: users who need the expansion slots. It wasn’t updated and still has an M2 Ultra chip, which is now a slower CPU than the M4 Pro. You’re not buying the Mac Pro if you want the fastest Mac. Speaking of the M4 Pro, the current M2 Pro Mac mini starts at $1,399, but if you upgrade it to a 14-core M4 Pro CPU ($200) and 48GB of RAM ($400), you end up with the same price as the entry-level M4 Max Mac Studio that is the better deal. You don’t get as much RAM, but you do get more GPU power, more ports, and more robust display support.