{"id":161642,"date":"2025-03-28T11:53:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T11:53:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-03-28T11:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T11:53:02","slug":"m4-max-and-m3-ultra-mac-studio-review-a-weird-update-but-it-mostly-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642","title":{"rendered":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n <\/clippath><\/defs><\/g><\/svg><\/p>\n

\n Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

As for the Intel and AMD comparisons, both companies’ best high-end desktop CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core Ultra 285K are often competitive with the M4 Max’s multi-core performance, but are dramatically less power-efficient at their default settings.<\/p>\n

Mac Studio or M4 Pro Mac mini?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n \"\"\n <\/div>
\n
\n

\n The Mac Studio (bottom) and redesigned M4 Mac mini.<\/p>\n


\n Credit:<\/p>\n

Andrew Cunningham<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever since Apple beefed up the Mac mini with Pro-tier chips, there’s been a pricing overlap around and just over $2,000 where the mini and the Studio are both compelling.<\/p>\n

A $2,000 Mac mini comes with a fully enabled M4 Pro processor (14 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores), 512GB of storage, and 48GB of RAM, with 64GB of RAM available for another $200 and 10 gigabit Ethernet available for another $100. RAM is the high-end Mac mini’s main advantage over the Studio\u2014the $1,999 Studio comes with a slightly cut-down M4 Max (also 14 CPU cores, but 32 GPU cores), 512GB of storage, and just 36GB of RAM.<\/p>\n

In general, if you’re spending $2,000 on a Mac desktop, I would lean toward the Studio rather than the mini. You’re getting roughly the same CPU but a much faster GPU and more ports. You get less RAM, but depending on what you’re doing, there’s a good chance that 36GB is more than enough.<\/p>\n

The only place where the mini is clearly better than the Studio once you’re above $2,000 is memory. If you want 64GB of RAM in your Mac, you can get it in the Mac mini for $2,200. The cheapest Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM also requires a processor upgrade, bringing the total cost to $2,700. If you need memory more than you need raw performance, or if you just need something that’s as small as it can possibly be, that’s when the high-end mini can still make sense.<\/p>\n

A lot of power\u2014if you need it<\/h2>\n
\n
\n \"\"\n <\/div>
\n
\n

\n Apple’s M4 Max Mac Studio.<\/p>\n


\n Credit:<\/p>\n

Andrew Cunningham<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Obviously, Apple’s hermetically sealed desktop computers have some downsides compared to a gaming or workstation PC, most notably that you need to throw out and replace the whole thing any time you want to upgrade literally any component.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. As for the Intel and AMD comparisons, both companies’ best high-end desktop CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core Ultra 285K are often competitive with the M4 Max’s multi-core performance, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11768],"tags":[11553,1750,3749,4553,1333,4238,5052,1232],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-161642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-2","tag-mac","tag-max","tag-review","tag-studio","tag-ultra","tag-update","tag-weird","tag-works"],"yoast_head":"\nM4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. As for the Intel and AMD comparisons, both companies’ best high-end desktop CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core Ultra 285K are often competitive with the M4 Max’s multi-core performance, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Mac\",\"Max\",\"review\",\"Studio\",\"Ultra\",\"Update\",\"WEIRD\",\"Works\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Apple\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\",\"name\":\"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. Comparing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra to high-end PC desktop processors. As for the Intel and AMD comparisons, both companies’ best high-end desktop CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core Ultra 285K are often competitive with the M4 Max’s multi-core performance, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works","datePublished":"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642"},"wordCount":402,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg","keywords":["Mac","Max","review","Studio","Ultra","Update","WEIRD","Works"],"articleSection":["Apple"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642","name":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-03-28T11:53:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_2813-1152x648.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161642#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio Review: A weird update, but it mostly works"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/161643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161642"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=161642"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=161642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}