Apple Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) vs Apple Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2002)

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Mac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra) compared with Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2002)

	AppleMac Studio (M5 Max or M5 Ultra)	ApplePower Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2002)
Overview
Released
Released	September 2026	August 2002
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M5 Max or Apple M5 Ultra	2 × PowerPC G4 867 MHz (Power Mac Mirrored Drive Doors 2002), 2 × PowerPC G4 1000 MHz (Power Mac Mirrored Drive Doors 2002) or 2 × PowerPC G4 1250 MHz (Power Mac Mirrored Drive Doors 2002)
CPU cores
CPU cores	18, 30 or 36	2
Graphics
Graphics	32-core GPU, 40-core GPU, 64-core GPU or 80-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce4 MX (32 MB) or ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB, 96 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB (better)	256 MB, 512 MB or 2 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 16 TB (better)	60 GB to 120 GB
CPU
CPU	M5 Max: 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores; M5 Ultra: 30-core CPU with 10 super cores and 20 performance cores, or 36-core CPU with 12 super cores and 24 performance cores	Dual 867 MHz, dual 1 GHz or dual 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processors; each physical processor has 256 KB on-chip L2 cache. 867 MHz and 1 GHz have 1 MB DDR SRAM L3 per processor; 1.25 GHz has 2 MB. System bus 133 MHz on dual 867, 167 MHz on dual 1/1.25 GHz. CPU count describes physical processors; supplier is not inferred.
GPU
GPU	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing	Dual 867 MHz: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 32 MB DDR. Dual 1/1.25 GHz: ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64 MB DDR. Optional NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 128 MB; independent CTO options are not expanded into unsupported stock combinations.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine (M5 Max); 32-core Neural Engine (M5 Ultra)	–
Memory type
Memory type	Apple’s current specification table lists 256GB and 512GB with the 36-core CPU / 80-core GPU M5 Ultra; its configure-to-order section only explicitly restricts 512GB. Current UK store configurator lists memory options up to 256GB, so the maker-confirmed 512GB option is not claimed as currently selectable there.	Dual 867 MHz: 256 MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM at 266 MHz. Dual 1 GHz: 256 MB PC2700 DDR at 333 MHz; dual 1.25 GHz: 512 MB PC2700. Four DIMM slots support up to 2 GB. Configurations preserve stock processor/drive/graphics ties at base and maximum memory.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	M5 Max: 460GB/s with the 32-core GPU, 614GB/s with the 40-core GPU; M5 Ultra: 1.2TB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD	60/80/120 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 stock drives respectively. Dual 867 MHz has Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW (CD-R 16x); faster models SuperDrive (DVD-R 2x, CD-R 8x). Four hard-drive bays support two ATA/100 and two ATA/66 drives, or up to four SCSI drives with a separately sold PCI card. Two optical bays, one occupied; optional second Combo drive. Maker optional storage choices remain in details rather than assumed CPU cross-pairs.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	–	Four open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and dedicated AGP 4x graphics slot.
Media engine
Media engine	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode; M5 Max: video decode engine, two video encode engines and two ProRes encode and decode engines; M5 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	2 × 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 7	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	6	–
Front ports
Front ports	M5 Max: 2 × USB-C (up to 10Gb/s); M5 Ultra: 2 × Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s); SDXC card slot (UHS-II)	Headphone jack and built-in speaker.
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 FireWire 400, two USB chassis ports (maker four-port total includes two keyboard ports), Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, ADC/DVI, stereo audio line-in/out and Apple Pro Speakers minijack. Optional 11 Mbps AirPort 802.11b card. Bluetooth is a separately listed adapter, not built-in. No FireWire 800 in this 2002 generation.
External displays
External displays	M5 Max: up to five (four at up to 6K 60Hz or 4K 165Hz, plus a fifth at up to 5K 60Hz over HDMI), or three (two at up to 8K 60Hz, 5K 120Hz or 4K 240Hz, plus a third at up to 5K 60Hz over HDMI); M5 Ultra: up to eight at up to 6K 60Hz or 4K 165Hz, or four at up to 8K 60Hz, 5K 120Hz or 4K 240Hz; up to four over a single Thunderbolt port; VRR and HDR supported	Two displays in extended desktop or mirroring modes; ADC and DVI with included DVI-to-VGA adapter. Connecting two ADC displays requires a separately sold DVI-to-ADC adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker	Built-in speaker; optional Apple Pro Speakers.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	–	Apple Pro Keyboard, optical Apple Pro Mouse, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.
Microphones
Microphones	None built in; Apple says an external microphone or headset is needed for calls	–
Design and power
Type
Type	Compact	Tower
Weight
Weight	2.7 kg (better)	19.1 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	197 × 197 × 95 mm	227 × 468 × 432 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	–	Exact maker reference weight 19.1 kg varies with configuration and manufacturing process; height 43.2, width 22.7, depth 46.8 cm. These published dimensions differ slightly from earlier G4 sheets and are retained.
Power supply
Power supply	Built-in; 100–240V AC; 480W maximum continuous power	100–125 V AC or 200–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz. Maximum current 6.5 A at low voltage or 7.5 A at high voltage; maker publishes no maximum wattage here.
Power use
Power use	M5 Max with 32-core GPU, 36GB and 512GB: 7W idle, 200W maximum; M5 Ultra with 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU, 512GB memory and 16TB: 9W idle, 385W maximum (Apple wall-power test)	–
Noise
Noise	Declared to ECMA-109 as 1.5 B sound power and 7 dB sound pressure at the operator position, at idle and wireless web (M5 Ultra, 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU)	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 35% recycled content overall	–
Colours
Colours	Silver	–
In the box
In the box	Mac Studio, power lead	Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar as default startup system, plus bootable Mac OS 9.2.2; iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and iDVD for SuperDrive. Maker August 13 release says dual 867/1 GHz available that week, so first sale uses August month precision. Actual dual-1.25 GHz shipping confirmed 18 September. January 2003 FireWire 800 models and June 2003 reissue are separate generations.