Last week Apple surprised everyone with the launch of the new iPad Air and Ipad, in addition to the Macbook Air and the powerful Mac Studio. In the latter, Apple offers two versions of processors, the Ultra M3 and the M4 Max.
Well, after consulting the first performance tests of both processors, we bring you this comparison in terms of efficiency and capabilities to be clear which of the two can adapt more to your needs.
The ultra or M4 Max chip is better
Although the company has assured that the M3 ultra doubles the speed of the M4 Max in some scenarios, the first benchmarks have revealed an unexpected truth: The difference in performance is not so big As expected.
A recent Geekbench 6 test made in a Mac Studio with the ultra -performance M3 chip shows impressive figures, yes, but not as much as expected. This 32 -core processor has reached a score of 3,221 in single -core performance and 27,749 in multinuco. However, the surprise comes when these results are compared with the M4 Max, which with its 16 cores achieves 3,921 points in a single nucleus and 25,650 in multinuk. This means that, despite the largest number of ultra m3 nuclei, The M4 Max is still faster in tasks that depend on the individual power of the processor.
This difference is due to several factors. First of all, Chips architecture Play a key role. The Ultra M3 is based on the first generation of 3 Nanometers of TSMC, which uses the A17 Pro of the iPhone 15 Pro. On the other hand, the M4 Max uses the second generation of this technology, which is more efficient. This explains why the M4 Max exceeds the ultra M3 in a single nucleus performance, despite being a smaller chip with less cores in total.
But we must bear in mind that these benchmarks only evaluate processor performance. Where The ultra really shines is in graphic tasks. While the M4 Max can only be configured with a GPU of up to 40 nuclei, the Ultra M3 reaches the 80 cores, which is a considerable difference in applications that require high graphic performance. In addition, the Ultra M3 offers a higher memory bandwidth, reaching 800 GB/s compared to 500 GB/s of the M4 Max.
What Mac Studio Buy in 2025
For users, this comparison is crucial when deciding which Mac Studio to buy. If the objective is to have a fast equipment for tasks that do not depend so much on the GPU, the model with m4 max It is a very attractive option, especially because its price starts from 2,529 euros. However, those who work with 3D graphics, professional video edition or video game development will find in the M3 ultra A stronger investment, although with an entry price of 5,049 euros.
This Apple strategy is also giving rise to theories about the future of its chips. Everything indicates that the company has reserved the Ultra M4 for a future update of the Mac Pro, which would reinforce the difference between this team and the Mac Studio.
The new Mac Studio is now available for reserve and its official launch is scheduled for March 12. Now the question is: is it worth paying the extra for the ultra M3? The answer will depend on whether you are going to give you very intensive use or not.
