Two brand new Apple toys just got some upgrades, and they’re major leaps for those who really push their softwares and need a high-performance desktop that promises speed and power — like musicians, photographers, software engineers, and designers pushing real-time 3D and motion graphics. The new-and-improved Mac studio introduces the new M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, while the Mac mini introduces the M6 and M5 Pro chips.
The new M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips for Mac Studio
The M5 Max chip features an 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores so developers can compile code even faster. Its up-to-40-core GPU with Neural Accelerators is now up to 50% faster than the previous generation, boosting graphics-intensive tasks like game development with higher frame rates and more complex scene geometry. The M5 Max has up to 614GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, delivering superfast on-device AI compute that enables users to run large language models, generate images and video, and accelerate complex workflows. Basically: it offers a huge leap in performance.
For those who always need more, the M5 Ultra takes all this to the next level as Apple’s most powerful chip, specifically built for those with the most demanding workflows. It achieves up to 4.3 times of the peak of AI compute performance offered by the M3 Ultra, and 9.8 times more than the M1 Ultra. Along with 512GB of unified memory and 1.2TB/s of memory bandwidth (50% higher than before), Mac Studio lets users run massive models entirely on their device.
The new Mac Studio desktop also makes it easier to work with AI at all. Between multiple Mac Studio systems, for example, users and teams can cluster them together using built-in support for Thunderbot 5 and RDMA (remote direct memory access) to share AI compute. To put it in perspective: a cluster of just four Mac Studio systems delivers up to 3 times faster AI inference than a single system.
The new M6 and M5 Pro for Mac mini
From September 22, the new-and-improved Mac mini (from $899) will be available with some new upgrades. With the new M6 chip, the new Mac mini delivers up to 4 times faster AI performance, storage and graphics that are twice as fast, and 40% faster CPU performance. It features a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU that now includes Neural Accelerators in each core (a first for the Mac mini) resulting in up to 4 times faster AI performance and two times faster graphics than Mac mini with M4.
It also has the new Dual 16-core Neural Engine that delivers up to two times faster performance than the previous generation, making the Mac mini a powerhouse for AI. And with 16GB of standard unified memory configurable up to 32GB, as well as higher memory bandwidth up to 170GB/s, multitasking is faster (and better) than ever.
Meanwhile, with the M5 Pro, video production and game development are much more efficient with its up-to-20-core GPU with an enhanced shader core and third-generation ray tracing for complex work in 3D design,VFX, and game development. It can also support up to 64GB of unified memory with 307GB/s of memory bandwidth, allowing even larger local AI models to be run, work with complex 3D scenes, edit ProRes RAW files, and load large custom datasets for research.
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