Apple Mac Pro (Early 2009) vs Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMac Pro (Early 2009) | AppleMac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | March 2009 | March 2025 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Intel Xeon W3520, Intel Xeon W3540, Intel Xeon W3580, 2 × Intel Xeon E5520, 2 × Intel Xeon X5550 or 2 × Intel Xeon X5570 | Apple M4 Max or Apple M3 Ultra |
| CPU cores | 4 or 8 | 14, 16, 28 or 32 |
| CPU threads | 8 or 16 | – |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3), ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512 MB GDDR5), 2 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card), 3 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card) or 4 × NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (512 MB GDDR3 per card) | 32-core GPU, 40-core GPU, 60-core GPU or 80-core GPU |
| Memory | 3 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB | 36 GB, 96 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB (better) |
| Storage | 640 GB to 1 TB | 512 GB to 16 TB (better) |
| CPU | Single quad-core Xeon W3520 at 2.66 GHz or W3540 at 2.93 GHz; the current support sheet also includes the later 3.33 GHz W3580 option with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz. Dual-processor choices are two quad-core E5520 at 2.26 GHz, X5550 at 2.66 GHz or X5570 at 2.93 GHz (the latter up to 3.33 GHz). Exact processor identities are cross-checked with EveryMac and Intel's server processor table. All have 8 MB L3 cache per processor and Hyper-Threading; dual systems have eight physical cores and sixteen threads. Processor count means physical sockets, and chip cores/threads are per processor. | M4 Max: 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, or 16-core CPU; M3 Ultra: 28-core CPU with 20 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores, or 32-core CPU |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB GDDR3 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512 MB GDDR5. Factory upgrades include two, three or four GT 120 cards, with memory per card. Each card has a Mini DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI port. | M4 Max: 32-core or 40-core GPU; M3 Ultra: 60-core or 80-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing |
| AI engine | – | 16-core Neural Engine (M4 Max); 32-core Neural Engine (M3 Ultra) |
| Memory type | 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM; four slots for single-processor systems and eight for dual systems. The current factory tables list 3, 6, 8, 12 or 16 GB for single systems and 6, 8, 12, 16 or 32 GB for dual systems. The original launch announcement limited the single-processor model to 8 GB; the higher current support limit is distinguished here. | M4 Max: 36GB; 48GB, 64GB or 128GB with the 16-core CPU / 40-core GPU. M3 Ultra: 96GB or 256GB in the current specification table. Apple announced 512GB at launch and documents a 32-core CPU / 80-core GPU, 512GB, 16TB system in its power test; that historical option is retained separately. |
| Memory bandwidth | – | M4 Max: 410GB/s with the 32-core GPU, 546GB/s with the 40-core GPU; M3 Ultra: 819GB/s. M4 Max takes 36GB (32-core GPU) or 48GB, 64GB or 128GB (40-core GPU); M3 Ultra takes 96GB or 256GB, and was offered with up to 512GB at launch |
| Storage type | Four 3.5-inch cable-free bays with independent 3 Gb/s SATA channels and included carriers. Factory order tables list a 640 GB 7200 rpm drive with 16 MB cache or a 1 TB 7200 rpm drive with 32 MB cache; configurations represent one selected drive. The current support sheet additionally lists 2 TB drives and a 2 TB upgrade kit, allowing up to 8 TB with four drives, versus the launch announcement's 4 TB maximum. Optional Mac Pro RAID Card has 512 MB cache and a 72-hour backup battery. Standard 18x double-layer SuperDrive; optional second optical drive. | SSD |
| Media engine | – | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode; M4 Max: video decode engine, two video encode engines and two ProRes encode and decode engines; M3 Ultra: two video decode engines, four video encode engines and four ProRes encode and decode engines |
| Expansion slots | Double-wide PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics slot and three open full-length slots (one x16 and two x4), with 300 W combined maximum. All slots mechanically accept x16 cards; PCI and PCI-X cards are unsupported. Optional dual- or quad-channel 4 Gb Fibre Channel card. | – |
| Display | ||
| Screen | None built in | None built in |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack | 4 × Thunderbolt 5, 2 × USB-C, 2 × USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, SD card slot, headphone jack |
| Ethernet | 1 Gb/s | 10 Gb/s (better) |
| External displays | – | Up to 5 |
| Wi-Fi | – | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | 2.1 + EDR | 5.3 |
| Front ports | Two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports and a headphone minijack | M4 Max: 2 × USB-C (up to 10Gb/s); M3 Ultra: 2 × Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s); SDXC card slot (UHS-II) |
| Back ports | Three USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports, two independent Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical TOSLINK audio input/output and analogue stereo line input/output. Optional AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi card; Wi-Fi is not standard. Included keyboard has two further USB 2.0 ports, excluded from chassis counts. Graphics outputs vary by card; FireWire, DVI and optical audio are described here because the main port list has no fields for them. | 4 × Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) with Thunderbolt 5 and USB 4 (up to 120Gb/s), USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s) and DisplayPort 2.1; 2 × USB-A (USB 3, up to 5Gb/s); HDMI 2.1 with multichannel audio output; 10Gb Ethernet (RJ-45); 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones |
| External displays | Up to two displays per graphics card or eight with four GT 120 cards. Digital resolution up to 2560 × 1600 and analogue up to 2048 × 1536; optional Mini DisplayPort and DVI adapters. | M4 Max: up to five (four at up to 6K 60Hz over Thunderbolt plus one at 4K 144Hz over HDMI), or three (two at up to 6K 60Hz plus one at up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz over HDMI); M3 Ultra: up to eight at up to 6K 60Hz or 4K 144Hz, or four at up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz; VRR, HDR and multichannel audio supported |
| Speakers | Internal speaker, front headphone output and optical/analogue audio input/output | Built-in speaker |
| Microphones | – | None built in |
| Keyboard and mouse | Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Apple Mouse; optional Apple Wireless Keyboard. The original announcement names the included mouse as Mighty Mouse. | – |
| Design and power | ||
| Type | Tower | Compact |
| Weight | – | 2.74 kg |
| Width × depth × height | 206 × 475 × 511 mm | 197 × 197 × 95 mm |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Size and weight detail | Standard quad-core configuration weighs 18.1 kg; standard eight-core configuration 18.7 kg. Actual weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process; a shared weight is omitted. | – |
| Power supply | AC input 100–120 V or 200–240 V, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 12 A at low voltage or 6 A at high voltage | Built-in; 100–240V AC; 480W maximum continuous power |
| Colours | – | Silver |
| Noise | Apple gives operator-position sound pressure of 26/25 dB at idle, 26/25 dB during hard-drive access and 41 dB during optical access for the 2.66 GHz single/2.26 GHz dual models respectively. Sound power is 3.7/3.5 B at idle, 3.7/3.6 B during hard-drive access and 4.9/5.2 B during optical access. | – |
| Materials | Recyclable aluminium enclosure; BFR-free and internal cables PVC-free | – |
| In the box | Mac Pro, power cord, Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, Apple Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Launch announcement includes Mac OS X Leopard and iLife '09; the later support sheet lists Snow Leopard. | Mac Studio, power lead |
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