Apple Mac Pro (Late 2013) vs Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMac Pro (Late 2013) | AppleMac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | December 2013 | March 2025 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1650 v2, Intel Xeon E5-1680 v2 or Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 | Apple M4 Max or Apple M3 Ultra |
| CPU cores | 4, 6, 8 or 12 | 14, 16, 28 or 32 |
| CPU threads | 8, 12, 16 or 24 | – |
| Graphics | Dual AMD FirePro D300 (2 GB GDDR5 each), Dual AMD FirePro D500 (3 GB GDDR5 each) or Dual AMD FirePro D700 (6 GB GDDR5 each) | 32-core GPU, 40-core GPU, 60-core GPU or 80-core GPU |
| Memory | 12 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB | 36 GB, 96 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB (better) |
| Storage | 256 GB to 1 TB | 512 GB to 16 TB (better) |
| CPU | 3.7 GHz quad-core, 3.5 GHz six-core, 3.0 GHz eight-core or 2.7 GHz twelve-core Intel Xeon E5. Exact identities are E5-1620 v2, E5-1650 v2, E5-1680 v2 and E5-2697 v2, cross-checked against Geekbench device records and Ars hardware testing; Intel specifications supply thread counts and maximum Turbo frequencies. | 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 | Dual AMD FirePro D300 with 2 GB GDDR5 per GPU, D500 with 3 GB per GPU, or D700 with 6 GB per GPU. Memory is specified separately for each GPU, rather than pooled. All graphics options are available by upgrading the original quad-core base configuration. | 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 | Four user-accessible slots for 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC memory; 12 GB (three 4 GB modules), 16 GB (four 4 GB), 32 GB (four 8 GB) or 64 GB (four 16 GB) | 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 | PCIe-based SSD; 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. No internal hard-drive bays or 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 | No internal PCIe card slots; peripherals and compatible external expansion chassis connect through Thunderbolt | – |
| Display | ||
| Screen | None built in | None built in |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 4 × USB-A, 6 × Thunderbolt 2, 2 × Ethernet, HDMI, 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 6 (better) | Up to 5 |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11ac | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | 4.0 | 5.3 |
| Front ports | – | 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 | Four USB 3 USB-A ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, HDMI 1.4 Ultra HD, 3.5 mm headphone jack with headset support, and a separate combined optical digital audio output/analogue line-out minijack. Thunderbolt ports are divided across three controllers, as explained in Macworld and Ars reviews. | 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 | Apple's current support specifications allow six Thunderbolt displays or three dual-cable 5K displays. The launch announcement specified support for three 4K displays; the later 5K statement should not be read as launch-day capability. | 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 | Built-in speaker; HDMI supports multichannel audio output | Built-in speaker |
| Microphones | – | None built in |
| Keyboard and mouse | Keyboard, mouse and display sold separately | – |
| Design and power | ||
| Type | Compact | Compact |
| Weight | 5 kg | 2.74 kg (better) |
| Width × depth × height | 167 × 167 × 251 mm | 197 × 197 × 95 mm |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Size and weight detail | Cylindrical enclosure; 251 mm high and 167 mm in diameter, with 5 kg weight from Apple's Japanese specification sheet. Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. | – |
| Power supply | 100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, single phase; maximum continuous power 450 W | Built-in; 100–240V AC; 480W maximum continuous power |
| Colours | – | Silver |
| Noise | Apple's overview reports 12 dBA operator-position sound pressure at idle, while the acoustic table reports 14 dB at idle and 14.5 dB during wireless web. These are conflicting maker statements; no single noise value is selected. | – |
| Materials | Highly recyclable enclosure; BFR-free and PVC-free, with regional exceptions for the power lead | – |
| In the box | Mac Pro and power lead. Launched with OS X Mavericks; the current support page describes the later macOS Mojave release. Original standard configurations were quad-core with 12 GB memory and D300 graphics, and six-core with 16 GB and D500. The current support sheet also lists an eight-core standard configuration with 16 GB and D700. Configurations below include independent processor, memory, graphics and storage upgrades of the original quad-core base, so 12 GB or D300 with a higher-core processor represents a customised base model. | Mac Studio, power lead |
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