Apple had a big announcement day. On August 25, the company unveiled two updated desktop Macs: a redesigned Mac mini lineup and a new Mac Studio built around its most powerful chip yet, the M5 Ultra. Here’s a rundown of what’s new, and what it means if you’re thinking about upgrading.
The next-generation Mac mini can now be configured with either an all-new M6 chip or the M5 Pro chip that Apple released earlier this year. It’s available to pre-order today, with units arriving to customers and launching in stores on Tuesday, September 22.
U.S. pricing:
- M6 model: starts at $899
- M5 Pro model: starts at $1,699
That gives buyers a clearer choice between an affordable, everyday desktop and a more powerful “Pro” tier for demanding workflows, all in Apple’s compact mini form factor. (MacRumors)
New Mac Studio: Meet the M5 Ultra
Apple also introduced a new Mac Studio, powered by the M5 Ultra — a chip Apple says is the most powerful it has ever built. Highlights include:
- Up to a 36-core CPU (12 super cores + 24 performance cores), delivering up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance than the previous M3 Ultra
- Up to an 80-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator built into every core, offering up to 4.5x the peak AI compute of the M3 Ultra and more than 6x that of the original M1 Ultra
- Apple’s latest shader core technology, second-generation Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and third-generation ray tracing, for up to 40% faster graphics performance than the M3 Ultra
- An upgraded Media Engine with dedicated H.264/HEVC hardware, four ProRes encode/decode engines, and hardware-accelerated AV1 decode
- A 32-core Neural Engine for on-device AI tasks
- Up to 512GB of unified memory and up to 1.2TB/s of memory bandwidth (a 50% increase over the M3 Ultra) — enough to run large language models with hundreds of billions of parameters entirely on the machine, no cloud required
The M5 Ultra itself is built from two dual-die M5 Max chips fused together with Apple’s next-generation UltraFusion technology, connecting four dies into a single processor with more than 4.4TB/s of inter-die bandwidth. (MacRumors)
What a Fully Maxed-Out Mac Studio Actually Costs
All that power comes at a price. If you configure the new M5 Ultra Mac Studio with every option maxed out — full CPU/GPU core count, 512GB of memory, and top-tier storage — the total comes to $18,300. That’s a serious investment, and realistically overkill for the vast majority of users. Most people land on a far more reasonable configuration once they know what their actual workflow requires.
Thinking About Upgrading? Talk to MacMedics First
Whether you’re eyeing the new Mac mini as an everyday desktop or considering a Mac Studio for serious video, audio, or AI work, picking the right configuration matters — both for performance and for your budget. As Maryland’s original, independent Apple Authorized Service Provider and Reseller since 1989, MacMedics can help you figure out exactly what you need (and just as importantly, what you don’t), place your order, and get your new Mac set up and migrated correctly from day one.
Stop by our Severna Park store or give us a call 410-987-8588 before you buy — we’re happy to walk you through the options.
