by While the Mac Studio has been well-received since it launched last spring, Apple may not be releasing an updated model any time soon. Bloomberg reports that the upcoming Mac Pro with Apple Silicon will be “similar in functionality to the Mac Studio” and it may eliminate the need for Apple to sell both the Mac Pro and the Mac Studio.
New Mac Studio
In the latest edition of his A Newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reports that he doesn’t expect a new version of Mac Studio “in the near future”. Instead, the more likely outcome is that Apple will “never update the Mac Studio” or wait until the M3 or M4 generation of Apple Silicon chips.
If Apple waits a few more years, it might be able to “better distinguish the Mac Studio from the Mac Pro.”
I wouldn’t expect a Mac Studio to be introduced any time soon. The upcoming Mac Pro is very similar in functionality to the Mac Studio – adding the M2 Ultra chip instead of the M1 Ultra. So it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to offer an M2 Ultra Mac Studio and an M2 Ultra Mac Pro at the same time. It’s more likely that Apple will either never update the Mac Studio or hold off until the M3 or M4 generation. At this point, the company might be better able to tell the Mac Studio apart from the Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro with Apple Silicon is expected to launch this year with the M2 Ultra and M2 Max chip configurations. Apple originally planned an “M2 Extreme” chip, which was essentially two M2 Ultra chips fused together, but that idea was scrapped for cost and production reasons.
The new Mac Pro is expected to retain a design identical to the current model. This means it is a tower machine with plenty of internal space for potential expansion. The question, however, is what users can expand. So far, it has been reported that the Apple Silicon Mac Pro will not support expandable RAM, but will support expandable SSD size, GPU and network functions.
Another benefit of the Mac Pro’s design over the Mac Studio is better cooling. The Mac Studio has been criticized for its cooling system. With a much larger design, the Mac Pro could offer better cooling systems and maintain maximum performance for longer periods of time.
9to5Mac’s take
As a Mac Studio fan, this is disappointing to read. The Mac Studio packs incredible power into a small footprint. The Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro will obviously offer incredible performance itself, but the tower design will be a deal breaker for many people. This leaves people who want top-notch Mac performance, but without that tower design, in the dark.
The new M2 Mac Mini range could be an option for people who would have bought the base model Mac Studio. There is a relatively small performance gap (mainly GPU differences) between the M2 Pro Mac mini and the base model M1 Max Mac Studio (or eventually M2 Max Mac Studio).
Still, I like the Mac Studio as a computer, and I quite like the “Studio” branding. I hope Apple releases a new version of the computer at some point – even if it’s not this year.
Follow chance: TwitterInstagram and Mastodon
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Visit 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
