Technology

Apple Mac Studio tests show local AI performance gains alongside price increases

Testing highlights faster local processing on the M5 Ultra desktop as configuration prices rise substantially.

Updated Sep 21, 2026 · 20:11 UTC2 reports

The short version

Testing of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio shows a roughly 150% boost in prompt processing and 70% faster response generation compared to the prior M3 Ultra generation.[Hacker News]
Hardware updates include an 80-core GPU with per-core Neural Accelerators and a memory bandwidth increase to 1.2 TB/s.[Hacker News]
The M5 Ultra base price climbed by $1,500 to $5,500, with an equivalent high-end configuration costing $11,299 compared to $7,499 at the previous generation's launch.[Engadget]

The M5 Ultra Mac Studio features an 80-core GPU with Neural Accelerators and 1.2 TB/s unified memory bandwidth.[Hacker News]
Comparative tests against the M3 Ultra showed prompt processing speeds rose by an average of 150% and response generation improved by about 70%.[Hacker News]
The M5 Ultra's starting price increased by $1,500 over the M3 Ultra to $5,500, while the M5 Max base model rose by $500 to $2,500.[Engadget]
A Mac Studio configured with 256 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD retails for $11,299, compared to $7,499 for the equivalent M3 Ultra configuration at launch.[Engadget]

Apple's exact internal production costs remain unconfirmed, with estimates placing the 256 GB memory expense around $2,500 to $2,800 and 2 TB NAND storage at $300 to $500.[Engadget]

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.