Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

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Mac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra) compared with Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

	AppleMac Studio (M4 Max or M3 Ultra)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	March 2025	April 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M4 Max or Apple M3 Ultra	2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005), 2 × PowerPC G5 2300 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 2700 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	14, 16, 28 or 32	2
Graphics
Graphics	32-core GPU, 40-core GPU, 60-core GPU or 80-core GPU	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) or ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	36 GB, 96 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB (better)	512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 16 TB (better)	160 GB to 250 GB
CPU
CPU	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	Two physical PowerPC G5 processors at 2, 2.3 or 2.7 GHz, each with 512 KB L2 cache and no L3 cache. Front-side bus per processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.35 GHz. The dual 2.7 GHz model uses liquid cooling.
GPU
GPU	M4 Max: 32-core or 40-core GPU; M3 Ultra: 60-core or 80-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing	Dual 2 and 2.3 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB DDR and two single-link DVI outputs. Dual 2.7 GHz: ATI Radeon 9650 with 256 MB GDDR3, one single-link and one dual-link DVI output. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL with 256 MB has two dual-link DVI outputs and occupies the adjacent PCI slot.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine (M4 Max); 32-core Neural Engine (M3 Ultra)	–
Memory type
Memory type	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.	Stock 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, installed in matched pairs. Dual 2 GHz has four DIMM slots and a 4 GB maximum. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have eight slots and an 8 GB maximum. Configuration rows keep the stock drives and graphics at base and maximum memory.
Memory bandwidth
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
Storage type	SSD	Stock 160 GB on dual 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual 2.3/2.7 GHz, all 7200 rpm Serial ATA. Two internal drive bays; optional 250 or 400 GB drives, including two 400 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting DVD±R and up to 4x dual-layer DVD+R recording.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	–	AGP 8x Pro graphics slot. Dual 2 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have PCI-X: two 100 MHz slots and one 133 MHz slot.
Media engine
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	–
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	4 × Thunderbolt 5, 2 × USB-C, 2 × USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, SD card slot, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	10 Gb/s (better)	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 5 (better)	Up to 2
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	–
Front ports
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)	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	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	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, optical S/PDIF input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and a V.92 modem are optional.
External displays
External displays	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	Two displays in extended desktop or mirrored modes. Radeon 9600 supports two displays up to 1920 × 1200; Radeon 9650 supports one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display via dual-link DVI. Optional 6800 Ultra DDL supports two 30-inch displays. DVI-to-VGA adapter included.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	–	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Microphones
Microphones	None built in	–
Design and power
Type
Type	Compact	Tower
Weight
Weight	2.74 kg (better)	20.2 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	197 × 197 × 95 mm	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	–	The exact maker sheet labels height as 47.5 cm, width 20.6 cm and depth 51.1 cm. Earlier G5 sheets label height/depth in the opposite order; main dimensions are omitted because those published axes conflict. Maker reference weight is 20.2 kg and varies with configuration.
Power supply
Power supply	Built-in; 100–240V AC; 480W maximum continuous power	450 W on dual 2/2.3 GHz; 600 W on dual 2.7 GHz, as stated by the maker.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
Colours
Colours	Silver	–
In the box
In the box	Mac Studio, power lead	Mac OS X Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple’s 27 April 2005 launch says these models are available “this week”; first sale is kept at April precision rather than treating the announcement as a confirmed delivery day. The older single 1.8 GHz model retained in the launch range is represented separately as Late 2004.