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Should I upgrade my Mac Studio (M5 Ultra)?

under a year old · Runs macOS 27 Golden Gate, the current macOS

Quick look

Price
£5,4992Apple UK store
Chip
M5 Ultrachip
CPU
30-coreCPU
GPU
64-coreGPU
Memory
96GBunified memory, base
Storage
1TBstorage, base
Released
22 September 20263ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 25 August 2026. Apple says Mac Studio with 512GB of unified memory is coming in late October, and its UK store marks the M5 Ultra 512GB memory option the same way (store re-read 26 October 2026: "512GB memory option for M5 Ultra coming late October").
Security updates
Not available4Security updates

Each figure is from the source marked1 unless it carries its own number.

Software support

Security updates
Not available4
macOS
macOS 27 Golden Gate, the current macOS

Nothing newer in the line yet

We hold no Apple UK store price for a newer Mac in the Mac Studio M5 Ultra’s line and tier. When we read one it appears here beside the Mac Studio M5 Ultra.

Specifications

Body

Dimensions
95 x 197 x 197 mm
Weight
3.6 kg
Colours
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 (M5 Ultra): two Thunderbolt 5 ports (up to 120Gb/s), SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
Thunderbolt ports
6
Thunderbolt version
Thunderbolt 5
USB-A ports
2
HDMI
HDMI 2.1 port
SD card slot
Yes
Headphone jack
Yes

Chip and memory

Chip
Apple M5 Ultra chip
Apple silicon
Yes
CPU cores
30
Super cores
105
Performance cores
205
GPU cores
64
Neural Engine cores
32
Chip options
M5 Ultra with 30-core CPU and 64-core GPU, or M5 Ultra with 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU
Memory (base)
96GB
Memory (maximum)
256GB5
Memory options
96GB or 256GB5
Memory bandwidth
1,200 GB/s
Storage (base)
1TB
Storage (maximum)
16TB
Storage options
1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB or 16TB
Media engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWtwo video decode enginesfour video encode enginesfour ProRes encode and decode enginesAV1 decode

Battery and power

Maximum continuous power
480 W

Connectivity

Wi-Fi
Wi‑Fi 7 (802.11be)
Bluetooth
6
Ethernet
10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ‑45 connector)
External displays (base)
8

Camera and audio

Speakers
Built-in speaker6

Platform

Newest macOS
macOS 27 Golden Gate7
Model identifier
Mac17,158
Part numbers
MHL74xx/A9
Model year
2026

A desktop Mac has no built-in display, battery or camera, so those rows do not apply.

Software support

Feature updates until
Not available4
Security updates until
Not available4
Basis
our inference from history10

The rest of the range at the price

Macs from other lines with a price read from Apple’s UK store, released within a year of the Mac Studio M5 Ultra and priced within a quarter of its £5,499 at Apple’s UK price as read on 2 October 2026, nearest price first. Each links to its side-by-side table.

Trade-in and used prices

No used or trade-in figures for the Mac Studio M5 Ultra: we have not matched it to a CeX listing we can confirm is this exact Mac, and we would rather show nothing than a near miss.

More

Sources

  1. Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) - Tech Specs · Default for Mac Studio (M5 Ultra) · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026

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  2. Apple UK store — Mac Studio M5 Ultra, 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 96GB, 1TB — From £5,499 · Apple’s figure · read 2 Oct 2026

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  3. Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra · Apple’s figure · read 3 Oct 2026

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  4. Apple publishes no date for the end of updates, and this site does not guess one. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 30 Sep 2026

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  5. Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 2 Oct 2026

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  6. Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 9 Oct 2026

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  7. Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026

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  8. Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026

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  9. Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model · Apple’s figure · read 18 Oct 2026

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  10. Runs macOS 27 Golden Gate. endoflife.date states that major versions of macOS are usually maintained for three years and that Apple usually provides security updates for the latest 3 releases, but this isn't consistently applied. Source: endoflife.date. Read 30 Sep 2026

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Not published by Apple

Mac Studio (M5 Ultra). Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: memory upgradeable by user, storage upgradeable by user, microphones, the macOS it shipped with. Geekbench 7: the Mac chart has no entry for this Mac, so no figures are shown (chart read 10 Oct 2026). Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model, read 9 Oct 2026.

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