Apple has now refreshed the Mac Studio twice since its introduction in 2022, so must you improve your unit and is an older mannequin nonetheless price shopping for?
The brand new Mac Studio’s essential improve is its chip, shifting from the M2 Max and M2 Extremely to the M4 Max and M3 Extremely. In comparison with its predecessor, the brand new Mac Studio is as much as 75% quicker with 2x quicker graphics. It additionally now options as much as 512GB of reminiscence of 16GB of storage, in addition to Thunderbolt 5 connectivity.
See the breakdown under for every new function, change, and enchancment that was added with the newest Mac Studio in comparison with its predecessors:
| Mac Studio (2022) | Mac Studio (2023) | Mac Studio (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M1 Max or M1 Extremely chip | Apple M2 Max or M2 Extremely chip | Apple M4 Max or M3 Extremely chip |
| M1 Max: 10-core CPU (8 efficiency cores, 2 effectivity cores) M1 Extremely: 20-core CPU (16 efficiency cores, 4 effectivity cores) |
M2 Max: 12-core CPU (8 efficiency cores, 4 effectivity cores) M2 Extremely: 24-core CPU (16 efficiency cores, 8 effectivity cores) |
M4 Max: As much as 16-core CPU (12 efficiency cores, 4 effectivity cores) M3 Extremely: As much as 32-core CPU (24 efficiency cores, 8 effectivity cores) |
| M1 Max: As much as 32-core GPU M1 Extremely: As much as 64-core GPU |
M2 Max: As much as 38-core GPU M2 Extremely: As much as 76-core GPU |
M4 Max: As much as 40-core GPU M3 Extremely: As much as 80-core GPU |
| {Hardware}-accelerated ray tracing | ||
| AV1 decode | ||
| M1 Max: 16-core Neural Engine (11 TOPS) M1 Extremely: 32-core Neural Engine (22 TOPS) |
M2 Max: 16-core Neural Engine (15.8 TOPS) M2 Extremely: 32-core Neural Engine (31.6 TOPS) |
M4 Max: 16-core Neural Engine (38 TOPS) M3 Extremely: 32-core Neural Engine (76 TOPS) |
| M1 Max: Video decode engine M1 Extremely: Two video decode engines |
M2 Max: Video decode engine M2 Extremely: Two video decode engines |
M4 Max: Video decode engine M3 Extremely: Two video decode engines |
| M1 Max: Two video encode engines M1 Extremely: 4 video encode engines |
M2 Max: Two video encode engines M2 Extremely: 4 video encode engines |
M4 Max: Two video encode engines M3 Extremely: 4 video encode engines |
| M1 Max: Two ProRes encode and decode engines M1 Extremely: 4 ProRes encode and decode engines |
M2 Max: Two ProRes encode and decode engines M2 Extremely: 4 ProRes encode and decode engines |
M4 Max: Two ProRes encode and decode engines M3 Extremely: 4 ProRes encode and decode engines |
| M1 Max: 32GB or 64GB reminiscence M1 Extremely: 64GB or 128GB reminiscence |
M2 Max: 32GB, 64GB, or 96GB reminiscence M2 Extremely: 64GB, 128GB, or 192GB reminiscence |
M4 Max: 36GB, 48GB, 64GB, 128GB reminiscence M3 Extremely: 96GB, 256GB, or 512GB reminiscence |
| M1 Max: 400GB/s reminiscence bandwidth M1 Extremely: 800GB/s reminiscence bandwidth |
M2 Max: 400GB/s reminiscence bandwidth M2 Extremely: 800GB/s reminiscence bandwidth |
M4 Max: As much as 546GB/s reminiscence bandwidth M3 Extremely: 819GB/s reminiscence bandwidth |
| 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD storage | M2 Max: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD storage M2 Extremely: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD storage |
M4 Max: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD storage M3 Extremely: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 16TB SSD storage |
| M1 Max: 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-C ports M1 Extremely: Six Thunderbolt 4 ports |
M2 Max: 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-C ports M2 Extremely: Six Thunderbolt 4 ports |
M4 Max: 4 Thunderbolt 5 ports and two USB-C ports M3 Extremely: Six Thunderbolt 5 ports |
| HDMI 2.0 port | HDMI 2.1 port | HDMI 2.1 port |
| Assist for as much as 4 Professional Show XDRs and one 4K show | Assist for as much as eight 4K shows, six 6K shows, or three 8K shows | Assist for as much as eight 4K shows, eight 6K shows or 4 8K shows |
| 3.5mm headphone jack | 3.5mm headphone jack with superior assist for high-impedance headphones | 3.5mm headphone jack with superior assist for high-impedance headphones |
| 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6 | 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6E | 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Launched March 2022 | Launched June 2023 | Launched March 2025 |
Solely these 2022 Mac Studio customers who persistently push their machines to the restrict with duties like 3D rendering, video enhancing in excessive resolutions, machine studying workflows, or large-scale software program improvement ought to take into account upgrading to the 2025 mannequin. The 2025 Mac Studio introduces a substantial leap in efficiency, significantly with the M4 Max and M3 Extremely chips, providing considerably higher GPU efficiency, extra highly effective GPUs with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a considerably quicker Neural Engine, and assist for as much as 512GB of reminiscence and Thunderbolt 5. These enhancements dramatically enhance workflows that demand excessive parallel processing, quicker reminiscence entry, or broader exterior show setups. In case your present 2022 Mac Studio ever looks like a bottleneck, or if you’re making ready to work with more and more complicated tasks over the subsequent few years, the improve is prone to be price it. Nonetheless, for customers whose workloads stay nicely throughout the capabilities of the M1 Max or M1 Extremely, particularly these targeted on much less GPU-intensive duties, the features could not justify the price right now.
Upgrading from the 2023 Mac Studio to the 2025 mannequin is prone to be price it for a lot fewer customers, just because the efficiency features, whereas important on paper, will make much less of a real-world distinction for many professionals already utilizing the M2 Max or M2 Extremely chip as a result of the 2023 mannequin remains to be exceptionally succesful. Nonetheless, there are just a few edge circumstances the place the improve could also be justified—significantly for customers working with native massive language fashions or intensive AI workloads, the place the vastly improved Neural Engine within the M4 Max or M3 Extremely can supply main advantages. Equally, customers who depend on extraordinarily excessive reminiscence capability or bandwidth, or these constructing methods round Thunderbolt 5 and AV1 decode assist, may see tangible enhancements that justify the price. Nonetheless, for the overwhelming majority of customers, particularly these in video manufacturing, app improvement, or common professional workflows, the 2023 Mac Studio stays greater than ample for the foreseeable future, making the 2025 improve extra of a luxurious than a necessity.
The 2022 and 2023 Mac Studio fashions are nonetheless very a lot price shopping for, particularly if discovered refurbished or second-hand at a very good value. Each fashions supply wonderful efficiency that continues to be extremely aggressive even in 2025, with the M1 Extremely and M2 Extremely nonetheless delivering substantial CPU and GPU energy, excessive reminiscence bandwidth, and devoted media engines that simply deal with demanding duties like video enhancing, music manufacturing, 3D rendering, and software program improvement. Whereas they lack newer options like Thunderbolt 5, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, or the improved Neural Engine efficiency discovered within the 2025 fashions, these are largely helpful solely to customers with very particular, future-facing workloads. For many professionals and energy customers, particularly these upgrading from Intel Macs or base M1 methods, the 2022 and 2023 fashions stay an excellent worth—and sometimes signify the most effective stability between efficiency and value when bought refurbished or pre-owned.
