Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) vs Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)¹Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)²

Quick look

Quick look: Mac Studio M4 Max against Mac Studio M2 Ultra
Figure	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Price	£2,099³launch price	£4,199⁴launch price
Chip	M4 Maxchip	M2 Ultrachip
CPU	14-coreCPU	24-coreCPU
GPU	32-coreGPU	60-coreGPU
Memory	36GBunified memory, base	64GBunified memory, base
Storage	512GBstorage, base	1TBstorage, base
Released	12 March 2025³ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 5 March 2025.	13 June 2023⁵ReleasedIn Apple Stores; orderable online from 5 June 2023.
Security updates	Not available⁶Security updates	Not available⁷Security updates

Price: The Mac Studio M4 Max is £2,099 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the Mac Studio M2 Ultra is £4,199 at launch, per Apple UK Store (archived 5 June 2023).

True to scale

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) · 197 × 95 mm frontMac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023) · 197 × 95 mm front

Front faces, from Apple’s published dimensions, drawn to one scale and superposed. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.

Specifications

Each figure is from the source marked by its Mac’s name unless it carries its own small number, which links to where that figure was read.

Body

Body: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Dimensions	95 x 197 x 197 mm	95 x 197 x 197 mm
Weight	2.74 kg	3.6 kg
Colours	Silver	Silver
Ports	Four Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports, two USB 3 (USB-A) ports (up to 5Gb/s), HDMI 2.1 port, 10Gb Ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack; on front (M4 Max): two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s), SDXC card slot (UHS-II)	Four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports (up to 5Gb/s), HDMI port, 10Gb Ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack; on front (M2 Ultra): two Thunderbolt 4 ports (up to 40Gb/s), SDXC card slot (UHS‑II)
Thunderbolt ports⁸	4	6
Thunderbolt version	Thunderbolt 5	Thunderbolt 4
USB-A ports	2	2
HDMI	HDMI 2.1 port	HDMI port
SD card slot	Yes	Yes
Headphone jack	Yes	Yes

Chip and memory

Chip and memory: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Chip	Apple M4 Max chip	Apple M2 Ultra chip
Apple silicon	Yes	Yes
CPU cores	14	24
Performance cores	10	16
Efficiency cores	4	8
GPU cores	32	60
Neural Engine cores	16	32
Chip options	M4 Max with 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU, or M4 Max with 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU⁹	M2 Ultra with 24-core CPU and 60-core GPU, or M2 Ultra with 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU
Memory (base)	36GB	64GB
Memory (maximum)	128GB⁹	192GB
Memory options	36GB; 48GB, 64GB or 128GB (16-core CPU and 40-core GPU)⁹	64GB, 128GB or 192GB
Memory bandwidth	410 GB/s	800 GB/s
Storage (base)	512GB	1TB
Storage (maximum)	8TB⁹	8TB
Storage options	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB⁹	1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB
Media engine	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginetwo video encode enginestwo ProRes encode and decode enginesAV1 decode	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWtwo video decode enginesfour video encode enginesfour ProRes encode and decode engines

Battery and power

Battery and power: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Maximum continuous power	480 W	370 W

Connectivity

Connectivity: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)	Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth	5.3	5.3
Ethernet	10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)	10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ‑45 connector)
External displays (base)	5	8

Camera and audio

Camera and audio: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Speakers	Built-in speaker¹⁰	Built-in speaker¹¹

Platform

Platform: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Shipped with	Not available¹²	macOS Ventura¹³
Newest macOS	macOS 27 Golden Gate¹⁴	macOS 27 Golden Gate¹⁵
Model identifier	Mac16,9¹⁶	Mac14,14¹⁷
Model year	2025	2023

Benchmarks

Benchmarks: Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) against Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023)
Specification	Mac Studio M4 Max¹	Mac Studio M2 Ultra²
Geekbench 7 (CPU, single-core)	3,500¹⁸	2,530¹⁹
Geekbench 7 (CPU, multi-core)	25,909¹⁸	27,761¹⁹

Sources

Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs · Default for Mac Studio M4 Max · Apple’s figure · read 15 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2023) - Tech Specs · Default for Mac Studio M2 Ultra · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever · Apple’s figure · read 15 Sep 2026
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Apple UK Store (archived 5 June 2023) — Mac Studio, M2 Ultra with 24-core CPU and 60-core GPU, 64GB, 1TB, £4,199.00 · third-party figure · read 11 Oct 2026
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Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Security updates: no end date published. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 22 Sep 2026
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Security updates: no end date published. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 30 Sep 2026
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Different Thunderbolt generations. Mac Studio M4 Max: Thunderbolt 5. Mac Studio M2 Ultra: Thunderbolt 4.
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Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 2 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 9 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2023) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 9 Oct 2026
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Not published by Apple. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model. Read 9 Oct 2026
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Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro · Apple’s figure · read 9 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 22 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model · Apple’s figure · read 15 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) · third-party figure · read 11 Oct 2026
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Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) — Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 2023) · third-party figure · read 2 Oct 2026
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Not published by Apple

Mac Studio M4 Max. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: memory upgradeable by user, storage upgradeable by user, microphones. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model, read 9 Oct 2026.

Mac Studio M2 Ultra. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: memory upgradeable by user, storage upgradeable by user, microphones. Geekbench 7 Metal: the Mac chart has no Metal score for this Mac (chart read 10 Oct 2026). Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2023) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model, read 9 Oct 2026.

If you own one of them

Whether to move is a different question from which is better. Each Mac has a page on it: what its successor changes (the newest Mac in its line where Apple sells one, otherwise the Mac this site treats as its replacement, which can be in another line), what it fetches and whether it still gets updates. Should I upgrade my Mac Studio M4 Max (2025)? · Should I upgrade my Mac Studio M2 Ultra (2023)?

The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.