I tested the Mac Studio M5 Ultra — and it’s the best kind of overkill

The Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra ($5,499 to start) is the most powerful computer I’ve ever reviewed. While the Apple M6 chip now exists, the “older” M5 Max and the new M5 Ultra processors still run circles around the new silicon. And that’s exactly what you want if you need a Mac desktop with no compromises. That said, that impressive performance certainly doesn’t come cheap!

Powerful performance is the main highlight, and the Mac Studio’s design remains identical to last year’s model. That’s fine, as this desktop PC’s sleek, compact design makes it easy to fit into your work setup. As before, the Mac Studio runs cool and quiet even under heavy load and packs a ton of ports — the M5 Ultra model features a whopping 6 Thunderbolt 5 ports.

The Mac Studio is undoubtedly one of the best computers, capable of handling even the most demanding video editing or 3D rendering projects with ease. It’s also good for gaming, especially games optimized for Apple silicon. However, if you don’t need all the power this expensive PC offers, you’re probably better off with the $899 M6-powered Mac mini.

Price aside, this is one seriously impressive machine. Find out more in my full review of the Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra!

Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Mac Studio is Apple’s most powerful desktop computer.
• Who is it for? For professionals who need more power than even the iMac or Mac mini can provide.
• What does it cost? The Mac Studio with the M5 Max chip starts at $2,499, while the model packing the M5 Ultra starts at $5,499. As configured, our review unit is valued at $12,299.
• What do we like? We like the sleek, compact design, powerful CPU and gaming performance, and how cool and quiet it runs even under heavy load.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the extremely steep asking price.

Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra review: Specs

Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra review: The ups

The Mac Studio impresses thanks to its elegant design and powerful performance. It's the kind of computer for serious power users and professionals.

Lovely design

The Mac Studio retains the same simple, boxy design as its immediate predecessors. Thanks to its small footprint, it’s easy to place almost anywhere on your desk. And with the lion’s share of ports on the back, cable management is also a breeze.

Speaking of ports, you’ll find plenty here. The front has two USB-C ports and an SDXC card slot, while the back has four USB-C/Thunderbolt 5 ports, an Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. On Mac Studios with the M5 Ultra chip, all USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 5, for a total of six.

Though the Mac Studio can be heavy (especially the 8-pound M5 Ultra model), moving it around your desk is seamless thanks to its smooth, protruding bottom. The computer practically glides across the desk, so you’ll rarely need to pick it up when moving it to another spot.

Killer CPU performance

The Mac Studio I tested is an absolute monster thanks to its Apple M5 Ultra chip and whopping 256GB of RAM! It’s certainly more power than I need for my daily work, which involves keeping multiple Chrome tabs open, with the occasional video tossed in. It won’t surprise anyone that even with well over 30 Chrome tabs open, the Mac Studio kept going without slowing down and stayed cool and quiet the entire time.

To be clear, the Mac Studio I reviewed is so powerful that we had a difficult time finding other computers in its class. So keep that in mind as I move forward with the comparisons I decided to make, as they still give you an idea of what Apple’s desktop is capable of.

On the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, the new Mac Studio has single-core performance comparable to its M4 Max-powered predecessor. However, multi-core performance differs significantly. Again, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since it’s an M5 Ultra chip vs. M4 Max, but the numbers still tell a story.

The Mac Studio also delivered strong results compared with last year’s model in our other benchmark tests. For instance, on the Blackmagic SSD speed tests, the new Apple computer vastly outperformed the previous model. On the HandBrake test, which converts a 25GB 4K video file to 1080p, the Mac Studio completed the task 51 seconds faster than the M4 Max Mac Studio.

Lastly, we also had the Mac Studio export a high-res video. The video was 8 minutes, 27 seconds long and included 5K at 30 fps ProRes RAW footage with color grading, plus one 4K 120 fps clip reduced to 25% speed. The Mac Studio took 1 minute and 20 seconds to convert this video to 4K at 30 fps.

In comparison, a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip and 32GB of RAM completed the task in 5 minutes and 40 seconds. While comparing an M5 Ultra Mac Studio to an M5 MacBook Pro isn’t exactly fair, it highlights the wide gulf between these M5-powered machines.

Awesome for gaming

Given the power under the hood, I was eager to see the Mac Studio’s gaming prowess. Though it can’t quite match the performance of one of the best gaming PCs, you’ll still see solid results — especially for Apple Silicon-optimized games.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a dedicated “For this Mac” graphical mode, and when I enabled that and set the resolution to match the Mac Studio Display’s 5K, the game ran at a consistent 60 frames per second. Sure, I’ve seen this title run at higher frame rates on proper gaming rigs; this is very impressive for such a graphically demanding title.

Now, how does the Mac Studio hold up against a gaming PC? For this comparison, I’m using the Alienware Area-51, which is one of the best gaming PCs we’ve tested. Again, the comparison isn’t perfect, but it shows you how the Mac Studio compares to a proper gaming rig.

At high graphical settings and 4K resolution, Apple Silicon-optimized games such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077 ran smoothly. This is especially true of the latter, which has a dedicated “For this Mac” setting that further optimizes performance. Even an unoptimized game like Borderlands 3 runs like a dream on the Mac Studio.

Though the Mac Studio’s gaming prowess is commendable, it doesn’t come close to the Alienware Area-51, which packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, and 64GB of RAM. Except for Cyberpunk 2077, the beefy gaming rig ran games at well over 120 frames per second on the same settings.

I should note that even Apple Silicon-optimized games have likely not been specifically tuned for the M5 Ultra chip. As a result, we could see much better gaming performance soon. Still, even if you’re not getting exact gaming PC-like performance, the Mac Studio can handle AAA games, as long as they’re optimized.

Runs cool and quiet

Powerful computers tend to get very loud and hot when pushed to the limit. I didn’t experience that with the Mac Studio during my testing.

The fans are on the bottom and back, and both do an effective job of pushing heat out. But even when I ran a demanding game or rendered a large video file, the vents got lukewarm at best.

Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra review: The downs

There’s no denying the Mac Studio’s impressive performance, but you’ll have to pay a steep price for that privilege.

Very expensive

The Mac Studio comes in two models: one with an M5 Max chip and another with an M5 Ultra. The former starts at $2,499 ($500 more than last year’s model), while the latter will set you back a wallet-crunching $5,499 — or $1,500 more than last year's M3 Ultra model.

You get what you pay for with this computer, and if you’re a professional video editor, this could be a worthwhile investment, as it will certainly speed up your projects. The same is true if you want to run complex AI models on device. However, if you’re just looking for an Apple desktop computer for everyday work, you’re better off with the more reasonably priced M6 Mac mini, which starts at $899.

Apple Mac Studio M5 Ultra review: Verdict

The Mac Studio M5 Ultra is one seriously impressive computer. It can handle just about anything you throw at it and keeps asking for more. Doing so while running quietly makes it even more astonishing. Again, if you need an insanely powerful Mac for video editing or heavy AI workloads, you can’t do better.

Of course, this isn’t a computer for everyone, and not just because of its steep price. If you just want a desktop Mac for everyday work, then the $899 Mac mini M6 is your best bet. Conversely, if you have cash to spare but want a proper gaming rig, the Alienware Area-51 or the HP Omen Max 45L are solid choices.

But if you like what I had to say about the Mac Studio M5 Ultra and think it’ll make your workflow easier, then certainly consider checking it out, especially if you’re using a much older model or want to upgrade from a MacBook Pro. Yes, it’ll cost a pretty penny, but you won’t be disappointed by the results.

Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.