It’s that time of the year again – WWDC 2023 has finally happened, and Apple wasted no time in giving Apple and tech fans a showcase of new and shiny tech. With that said, the Cupertino-based company finally revealed several new hardware, focused on giving users their computing needs – let’s take a look!
The MacBook Air goes Big
First up is the latest iteration of the MacBook Air, which now comes in a 15-inch version. The highlight of the new laptop however is the M2 chip and 24GB of unified memory, which should be enough to power users’ gaming and productivity needs. It also comes with the “standard” fanless design of the Air series.
In addition to these hardware higlights, the 15-inch MacBook Air features a Liquid Retina display, alongside a new six-speaker sound system making it ideal for media and content consumption. The laptop also comes with spatial audio onboard, as well as a 1080p FaceTime camera, MagSafe Charging, and will ship with macOS Ventura. Apple says that the built-in battery will be able to last up to 18 hours of use on average.
The 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 is available for pre-order today, starting at at £1,399 and £1,289 for education, and will ship out to customers on Tuesday, June 13.
The M2 Ultra Makes its Entrance
Apple also announced the latest chip, the M2 Ultra – this will power its more high-end computer models moving forward, including the new Mac Studio and the Mac Pro. Apple says that the M2 Ultra is built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process with Apple’s UltraFusion technology to connect the die of two M2 Max chips for double the performance. The company boasts that this new chip brings improved performance for machine learning, video production, and overall power and speed.
The M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors, and will be able to support up to a whopping 192GB of memory capacity, in addition to 800GB/s of memory bandwidth. The M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that’s 20 percent faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that’s up to 30 percent faster, and a Neural Engine that’s up to 40 percent faster.
Apple states 24-core CPU of M2 Ultra consists of 16 high-performance cores and eight high-efficiency cores, which should prove to be more than enough for most productivity tasks. For example, the company says that DaVinci Resolve users will experience up to 50 percent faster video processing compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra. The GPU can also be configured with 60 or 76 next-generation cores, allowing for faster rendering of 3D effects using Octane on Mac Studio, for example.
New Mac Powerhouses Revealed
Apple also unveiled the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro, its two most powerful computers to date. The Mac Studio literally doubles its hardware capabilities for power users, packing the M2 Max and the new M2 Ultra chip inside. Apple says that the new Mac Studio is up to six times as powerful as competing Intel-powered Macs, and up to three times as powerful as the previous-gen Mac Studio. Beating inside is a 12-core CPU, up to a 38-core GPU, and up to 96GB of unified memory with 400GB/s of memory bandwidth.
The Mac Studio is also equipped with Wifi 6E, and this hardware setup is rounded out by several connectivity ports including a four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, an enhanced HDMI port, and two USB-A ports. It also packs two USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front to easily import photos and video. It’s rather ideal for productivity thanks to six Pro Display XDRs, allowing for more screen real estate during resource-heavy editing sessions.
Meanwhile, the new Mac Pro also comes with the M2 Ultra chip, in addition to PCIe expansion, up to 192GB of unified memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, as well as a media engine that allows it to play up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes video. PCle expansion allows users to configure their workstation with digital signal processing (DSP) cards, and even serial digital interface (SDI) I/O cards for example. Apple adds that the M2 Ultra chip inside will allow the Mac Pro to run 3D simulations and video transcoding projects to up to three times faster.
The Mac Pro also comes with support for up to six Pro Display XDRs, along with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, which come to the new Mac Pro for fast wireless connectivity. Additionally, the Mac Pro includes three USB-A ports, two higher-bandwidth HDMI ports that support up to 8K resolution and up to 240Hz frame rates, two 10Gb Ethernet ports, and a headphone jack for wired audio.
The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro are available for pre-order today, and will start shipping on Tuesday, June 13. The Mac Studio starts at £2,099, and £1,889 for education., while the Mac Pro (tower enclosure) starts at £7,199 and £6,789 for education, while a version with a Rack Enclosure starts at £7,699 and £7,189 for education.
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