With Apple releasing the new M2 Ultra Mac Pro and Mac Studio today, a new Geekbench score showed precisely what most people expected: both Mac computers offer the same performance since they share the M2 Ultra chip.
While the M2 Max processor offers a 12-core CPU and 30-core GPU with support for up to 96GB of RAM, which is 25% faster than the M1 Max, the M2 Ultra doubles these specs with a 24-core CPU, 60-core GPU, and up to 192GB of RAM. It can handle 22 streams of 8K resolution.
Reviewers have already seen the decked-out Mac Studio in action, but it was a Geekbench result from a Mac 14,8 (also known as the Apple silicon Mac Pro) that confirmed that a 64GB RAM Mac Pro model with the M2 Ultra chip reached a 2,794 single-core score and a 21,453 multi-core score.
Over on Geekbench, there are several tests with a Mac 14,14, which is the new Mac Studio. Both devices have virtually the same performance. One test showed the new Mac Studio reaching a 2,669 single-core score and a 21,203 multi-core score.
What’s interesting to compare is how far the M2 Ultra chip has come compared to Intel’s highest-end chip from the 2019 Mac Pro with a 28-core Xeon W processor. This computer started at $12,999, and its results were 1,378 single-core and 10,390 multi-core scores — half what Apple’s high-end processor can reach right now.
With that, Apple now charges $6,999 for the base model Apple silicon Mac Pro, while an M2 Ultra Mac Studio starts at $3,999. For 99% of pro users, the Mac Studio will be more than enough, but if you really need a better fan system, more Thunderbolt ports, and expandable storage, only then will the new Mac Pro make sense for you.
Otherwise, it’s better to wait for a new generation that could finally offer upgradeable RAM, a new design, and even an M Extreme chip — which was first rumored to be exclusive to the Mac Pro and ended up being canceled.
