New Mac Studio's Biggest Upgrade Isn't the M5 Ultra Chip, Review Says
Ahead of the new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips launching this Tuesday , the first reviews of the computer have been shared by selected tech websites and YouTube channels. According to one review published by Macworld 's Roman Loyola , the biggest upgrade isn't even the M5 Ultra, but rather significantly faster storage speeds. "Typically, we start our reviews by looking at overall…
When the new Mac Studio featuring M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips hit the market on Tuesday, the first reviews began to surface from select tech outlets and YouTube creators. According to a piece penned by Macworld's Roman Loyola, the most significant enhancement doesn't lie within the M5 Ultra chip itself, but rather in the computer's noticeably swifter storage speeds.
Loyola emphasized that during the review process, Geekbench results are initially evaluated, followed by a closer examination of more targeted features. However, in this case, the SSD performance proved to be the standout factor. Using Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test benchmarking tool on a Mac Studio equipped with an 18-core M5 Max chip, 128GB RAM, and a 4TB SSD, Loyola found that storage read speeds increased by approximately 2.6 times and write speeds rose by around 2.1 times compared to a prior-generation Mac Studio powered by the M4 Max chip.
Apple had initially promised up to 2x faster storage speeds with the new Mac Studio, and these findings corroborate those claims. While real-world performance might differ, the overall speed boost appears substantial. Earlier reports have hinted at the M5 Ultra's prowess, with the chip reportedly delivering up to 30% faster single-core CPU performance and up to 35% faster multi-core performance compared to the M3 Ultra.
However, this potency comes at a considerable price point; in the U.S., the Mac Studio featuring a 36-core M5 Ultra starts at $6,799. Apple has indicated that the M5 Ultra boasts up to 1.25x faster single-threaded CPU performance and up to 1.3x faster multi-threaded CPU performance relative to the M3 Ultra, aligning with or even surpassing the advertised benchmarks.
In summary, the new Mac Studio impresses with its remarkable speed, with The Verge's Antonio G. Di Benedetto calling the M5 Ultra model's performance "outrageous" and PCMag's Brian Westover describing it as "a serious powerhouse for top-tier local AI inference." The new Mac Studio and a Mac mini featuring M6 and M5 Pro chip options have been available for pre-order since August 25 and are set to launch on Tuesday, September 22.
Written by urgent.news from MacRumors's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
