Apples new top tier Mac Studio, powered by the M3 Ultra chip, contains so much computing horsepower that its never going to be on the radar of most tech enthusiasts let alone your average consumer. It starts at $3,999, but if you upgrade every spec to the best on offer (including an astonishing 512GB of unified memory), you land at a mind-boggling $14,099. As the price makes clear, the Mac Studio is not a computer for the everyman. Its a workstation for those who already have an idea of just how itll make their lives easier and more productive. If thats you, the investment could pay for itself in relatively short order with faster exports and more completed projects. Time is money, after all. And this thing does scream. As just one example, its the first Mac to break the one minute barrier on our long-running 4K export test in Premiere Pro.Even so, Id steer the vast majority of people shopping for a desktop Mac to the M4 Mac Mini, and if you need some extra wallop, the M4 Pro version of that machine has never broken a sweat during my photography workflows. Videographers and those doing resource-intensive 3D work could be better served with the M4 Max edition of the new Studio; check out our MacBook Pro review for a sense of that chips blistering performance. It also comes at a far more conventional $1,999 entry price.But even if Im not the target market for the Ultra Studio, I still really wanted to get my hands on one after Apple introduced it last week alongside a new MacBook Air and faster iPad Air. Who wouldnt want to kick the tires on a computer like this? Apple sent me a Mac Studio that, as configured, sells for $8,099. Its the higher-spec M3 Ultra with a 32-core CPU and 80-core GPU; you get a 32-core neural engine regardless. Its also equipped with 4TB of storage and 256GB of unified memory half the maximum amount I mentioned earlier.The M3 Ultra Mac Studio has Thunderbolt 5 up front; the M4 Max version sticks to regular USB-C ports.Those are impressive specs, but its important to note that there are objective benefits to choosing the M4 Max Mac Studio model. It outpaces the M3 Ultra in single-core performance, which is the most critical element in making most everyday apps feel fast. The day-to-day user experience is super responsive in both cases, which has been true of all recent Apple Silicon products. You dont have to spend anywhere close to this much money for a dependable, speedy Mac. Aside from substantial multi-core gains, stepping up to the Ultra tier nets you some I/O advantages as well. The two frontside ports offer Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and, theoretically, data transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s on the M3 Ultra Studio. If you opt for the Max, you just get a pair of regular 10Gb/s USB 3 ports up front. The rear of the Studio includes four Thunderbolt 5 ports no matter which chip you choose, so its mainly a question of whether you require peak performance out of every available port. If your work calls for an abundance of external displays, its also worth knowing that the Ultra Studio supports up to eight displays, whereas the M4 Max model tops out at five. The Mac Mini mightve let go of USB-A, but its still alive and well on the Mac Studio.Around back youll also find two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, 10-gigabit ethernet, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the Mac Mini, the 3.5mm jack is up front, which is more convenient for headphones, but less so if youre plugging in full-time speakers that arent going anywhere. Like the MacBook Pro, the Studio features a UHS-II SDXC card reader, which is something I constantly miss on the Mini. If money were no object, would I upgrade for an SD card slot? Its not out of the question. There remains a noticeable weight difference between the M4 Max (6.1 pounds) and M3 Ultra Studio (8 pounds); the latter tacks on nearly two extra pounds since it has a larger cooling module inside, which is made from copper compared to the Maxs aluminum heatsink.SystemMac Studio M3 Ultra / 32C / 80C / 256GB / 4TBMacBook Pro 16-inch M4 Max / 16C / 40C / 128GB / 4TBMac Studio M2 Ultra / 24C / 76C / 128GB / 4TBCinebench 2024 Single150182Not testedCinebench 2024 Multi30572043Not testedCinebench 2024 Multi 30-min loop30372061Not testedCinebench 2024 GPU2011716409Not testedGeekbench 6 CPU Single324640112623Geekbench 6 CPU Multi283762642221397Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)144437115870129482Geekbench 6 GPU (Metal)254429192753224158PugetBench for Premiere Pro1035112400975PugetBench for Photoshop1159313424Not testedPremiere Pro 4K export50 seconds1 minute, 18 seconds1 minuteLike its predecessors, the 2025 Mac Studio delivers breakneck performance while running shockingly quiet, as my former colleague Monica Chin wrote two years ago. That remains just as true today as it was then. In a few days of testing, this thing has laughed at my Lightroom edits, made quick work of Adobes AI noise reduction and other effects, and Ive never so much as heard any fan noise.The M3 Ultra chip is overkill for many. If you need this level of power, you already know exactly how youll get the most from it. Its for visual effects artists and animators. Its for professionals doing ambitious audio and video production work. Are you regularly crunching big medical datasets? Maybe you can use all those cores and memory to their fullest potential. And as AI development continues to flourish, the kitted out configurations with 256GB or 512GB of memory could prove appealing to anyone interested in running sophisticated LLM models locally on their machine. All that power fits into a machine thats barely taller than a second-generation iPod Nano.Ive only had our Mac Studio review unit for a few days, so for now Im providing the usual benchmarks and setting it up for some of these LLM test cases to gauge what its capable of. In the weeks ahead, Ill also be looking to friends and experts in other fields that can fully appreciate the Studios capabilities to see what they think of its performance. If youve got ideas or tests youd like to see us run through, feel free to share them in the comments.Photography by Chris Welch / The VergeShot with the Nikon Z6IIISee More: