At WWDC 2023, Apple released the M2 Ultra chip, its most powerful Mac SoC yet, but does it bring significant upgrades over the M1 Ultra? At the moment, the M2 Ultra powers two Apple devices – the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. With the Mac Pro shifting to the M2 Ultra, the transition to Apple Silicon on Mac is now complete, with every device in the lineup now sporting an M1 or M2 chip.
The M2 Ultra is made of two M2 Max chips combined using Apple's UltraFusion packaging architecture. It has a 24-core U comprising 16 high-performance and eight high-efficiency cores. This is 20 percent faster than the 20-core U on the M1 Ultra, which has 16 high-performance cores but only four high-efficiency cores. To provide an example of how the M2 Ultra performs in real life, Apple says "colorists using DaVinci Resolve will experience up to 50 percent faster video processing compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra."
M2 Ultra Vs. M1 Ultra: GPU, Neural Engine, & Other Specs
While the base M2 Ultra trim comes with a 60-core GPU, buyers can configure it all the way up to a 76-core graphics processing unit. On the other hand, M1 Ultra offers either a 48 or 64-core GPU. With the new GPU, M2 Ultra can render 3D effects using Octane up to three times faster than M1 Ultra. Although both chips have a 32-core Neural Engine, the M2 Ultra can perform 31.6 trillion operations per second, a 40 percent improvement over the M1 Ultra. The new chipset can also play back up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, whereas the M1 Ultra can only do 18 streams.
As for the other specifications, the M2 Ultra has 134 billion transistors, s Unified Memory up to 192GB, and s up to six Pro Display XDRs. In contrast, the M1 Ultra has 114 billion transistors, can be configured with up to 128GB of Unified Memory, and up to four Pro Display XDR monitors. Regarding HDMI output, the latest chip can one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz, a significant jump over the M1 Ultra that maxes out at 4K resolution at 60Hz.
While it's clear that the M2 Ultra is more powerful than the M1 Ultra, does that necessitate an upgrade? The short answer is, no. Those using an M1 Ultra setup already have enough power to work around multiple 4K video streams on Final Cut Pro. However, professionals or creators who want the best performance possible can the $3,999 Mac Studio or $6,999 Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra, provided they can afford the asking price.