Apple Introduces Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra for On-Device AI and Pro Workflows

Apple has introduced a new Mac Studio powered by M5 Max and M5 Ultra. The compact desktop is aimed at creators, developers, AI researchers and professionals who need substantial compute and graphics performance without moving to a rack-mounted system.

The announcement puts on-device AI at the center of the product story, with high-bandwidth unified memory and a platform designed for demanding professional workloads.

M5 Max versus M5 Ultra

M5 Max: up to an 18-core CPU, 40-core GPU and 128GB of unified memory
M5 Ultra: configurable with up to a 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU and 512GB of unified memory

Apple says M5 Ultra can deliver up to 4.3 times the AI performance of M3 Ultra, with memory bandwidth reaching 1.2TB/s. That capacity is designed to let professionals run very large models locally instead of sending every workload to the cloud.

Built for AI development and clustered workloads

Neural Accelerators are integrated into each GPU core, while Apple’s Core AI framework and open-source MLX framework support local model development and deployment. Up to four Mac Studio systems can also be connected as a cluster over Thunderbolt 5 and RDMA for distributed AI inference.

Pro connectivity in a compact desktop

The new Mac Studio adds Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, alongside Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. It can drive up to eight displays or four Studio Display XDR panels, and its next-generation SSD architecture is rated for up to twice the storage performance of the previous generation.

Pricing and availability

Mac Studio with M5 Max starts at THB 89,900 in Thailand
Mac Studio with M5 Ultra starts at THB 199,900
Apple says the new models will be available in Thailand soon

Professionals should choose the configuration around their real workload: memory capacity, GPU needs, display count and high-speed external storage are more important than simply choosing the most expensive chip.