Mac Studio > Flash Drives

The Mac Studio launched in 2022 as a brand new model of desktop Mac, based around the M1 Max and M1 Ultra range of ARM based Apple Silicon CPUs. Aimed at professional users, the machine packs a huge amount of performance into a small form factor case.

The machine is aimed at a segment of users who 10 years previously would have been served by the Mac Pro, and who had moved on to high-end iMacs as the Mac Pro line was first neglected, and then retargeted at the very highest performance requirements with a price tag to match.

Like all ARM based Macs, RAM is non-upgradeable after purchase. And while the internal drives are technically removable, the way they work ties them to the individual machine in such a way as to make third party upgrades or replacement impossible. Expandability is therefore limited to external connections, with the Mac Studio having 4 x Thunderbolt 4 ports - Thunderbolt 4 is the same connector as Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, and devices with these connections are fully compatible with the Mac Studio.

The Mac Studio does not have any PCI Express slots, but a PCI-Express chassis can be added via Thunderbolt if expansion cards are required.