Apple announced a new desktop computer today called the Mac Studio. As far as I can tell, there weren't even rumours of its existence prior to today's presentation. I think that it's designed for people who would like to have a Mac Pro but either can't justify one or can't afford one. I would think that some people here will be interested in checking it out.
Currently using a 2018 Mac mini with an Asus external graphics card and an Eizo CS2740 monitor, I'm impressed enough that I'm working out what it would cost to replace the Mac mini and external graphics card with a Mac Studio. The latter looks a lot like a Mac mini, except a couple of inches taller.
There's a choice of two of Apple's Silicon M1 chips, the M1 Max that Apple introduced in October as an option for new MacBook Pros, and a new chip called the M1 Ultra. There are also several options for Memory (up to 128GB) and Graphics Processing. From a technical perspective, the M1 Ultra sounds remarkable, but my tentative view is that the M1 Max would do what I need and then some. From a financial perspective, that would be a beneficial conclusion. Fitted with an M1 Ultra chip, these are expensive computers. The M1 Max version is much less expensive (base price with 32GB RAM is US$2,000), and I think good value for people who want the processing power it offers.
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