Mac Studio with M3 Ultra Review: A Dream Machine for Video Editors

Mar 11, 2025

Jeremy Gray

A sleek, silver desktop computer sits on a wooden surface against a plain background. The lower right corner has a "PetaPixel Reviews" label.

Apple calls its new M3 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio its most powerful computer ever. It’s a big claim and comes with a price tag to match. Apple’s ambitions create two questions, and we will answer them both: Is the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra truly Apple’s most performant computer, and if it is, is it worth it?

At the heart of the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is, you guessed it, an M3 Ultra chip. This is notable for a couple of reasons. The M3 series is the last-generation Apple Silicon after the M4 series arrived last May inside the redesigned iPad Pro. This was followed quickly by M4 Pro and M4 Max. Where’s the M4 Ultra, then?

It’s admittedly odd that Apple’s current flagship desktop — sorry, Mac Pro, you’re in a weird spot and require an upgrade — is a cross-generational machine, with the more expensive, “better” version sporting an older generation of chip. It’s the first time Apple has updated a product line with two different M-series options.

Silver square computer with rounded edges placed on a wooden surface. The device features a black apple logo on top and ports on the front side.

There are some good reasons for it, though. As Apple told French publication numerama, the M4 Max lacks the UltraFusion connector necessary to fuse two M4 Max chips to create an M4 Ultra. That’s right, the new M3 Ultra is a pair of linked M3 Max chips, just like the M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra were M1 Max and M2 Max pairings. As for why Apple did not give the M4 Max an UltraFusion connector, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman explains that Apple is “reluctant” to spend the money reengineering the M4 Max with an UltraFusion connector when the M3 Max was already ready for the transition to Ultra given the small size of the professional desktop market. Apple told PetaPixel that it does not necessarily plan to release an Ultra chip for every generation. Could an M4 Ultra pop up sometime? Sure, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Ultimately, the M3 and M4 generation are 3nm chips with familiar core architecture. However, improvements within the M4 generation are reflected in some of our performance tests. However, broadly speaking, the new M3 Ultra is the king of the Apple castle in terms of pure power. Two fused M3 Max chips deliver more oomph than an M4 Max, at least when software is optimized for it.

The Mac Studio comes with either the M4 Max or the new M3 Ultra, which is, basically, two M3 Max chips fused.

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra, which I received from Apple as a short-term review loaner, is its most powerful configuration. It features the upgraded M3 Ultra chip with a 32-core CPU, 80-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine. It ships standard with 96GB of unified memory, although Apple sent PetaPixel the one with 256GB of unified memory. It can feature 512GB of memory, the most of any personal computer on the planet at the time of review, which propels the starting cost to $9,499 with 1TB of storage. My unit has 4TB of storage, and it can include up to 16TB. As configured, my review sample comes out to $8,099.

While that is a hefty price, getting an M3 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio for much less is possible. The base M3 Ultra machine with a 28-core CPU and 60-core GPU starts at $3,999 with 96GB of memory and a 1TB SSD.

The other Mac Studio option, the excellent one with the M4 Max, starts at $1,999 with 36GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. The M4 Max starts with a 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU, although it is upgradable to a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU for an extra $300. This upgrade also bumps the unified memory from 36GB to 48GB, which then adds another $200 to the final tally.

This is crucial to note concerning unified memory and the M4 Max, as users cannot upgrade unified memory at all without bumping up the selected M4 Max chip. Once the higher chip is selected and the starting price increases to $2,499, thanks to the core bump and RAM increase, users can upgrade unified memory to 64GB or 128GB. 256GB and 512GB options require the M3 Ultra, and the 512GB choice is locked to the higher-tier version of the M3 Ultra. The beastly 16GB SSD option is also locked to M3 Ultra, although either version can accept this upgrade.

The price tag gets larger quickly when you start upgrading total core counts, unified memory, and storage, as is always the case. It is worth adding that the Mac Studio doesn’t ship with any accessories; the box only includes the computer and power cord. Users must supply everything else: monitor, keyboard, and trackpad or mouse.

Apple Mac Studio with M3 Ultra: Design and Build

From the outside, the Mac Studio looks the same as the last one, which looked the same as before. This familiarity is not a bad thing, as the Mac Studio does not lack style. It is an intelligently designed machine that looks as modern on a desk in 2025 as it did in 2022.

Two silver desktop computers are placed side by side on a wooden surface. The larger device features multiple ports and a power indicator, while the smaller one also has ports and indicators. A keyboard is partially visible in the foreground. — Mac Studio with M3 Ultra versus the redesigned Mac mini with M4 Pro

While it is much larger than the redesigned Mac mini with M4, a bafflingly tiny desktop, the Mac Studio is not all that large in the grand scheme. It is 3.7 inches (9.5 centimeters) tall, 7.7 inches (19.7 centimeters) wide, and 7.7 inches (19.7 centimeters) deep. The M3 Ultra version weighs a dense eight pounds (3.64 kilograms).

The Mac Studio’s I/O is fantastic and easily fits within a professional workflow. The machine’s rear includes five Thunderbolt 5 ports, up from Thunderbolt 4 on the last prior, and a 10Gb Ethernet port to the left of the centralized power supply port. To the power port’s right are two USB-A ports (USB 3, unfortunately), an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the power button.

A silver desktop computer with multiple ports, including USB, HDMI, and Ethernet, is situated on a wooden desk. A black cable is connected to one of the ports. A keyboard is partially visible in the foreground. — The Mac Studio’s array of ports is impressive, and far beyond what even Apple’s best laptops offer.

Moving to the relatively bare front, there are two more ports and a UHS-II SDXC card slot. On the M4 Max version, these front ports are USB-C (up to 10Gb/s), but on the M3 Ultra unit, they are Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s) ports.

This means the M3 Ultra has six Thunderbolt 5 ports, the most of any Mac. Thanks to this healthy array of powerful ports, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra supports up to eight 6K/60Hz or 4K/144Hz displays simultaneously, or four 8K/60Hz or 4K/240Hz ones. The M4 Max machine, on the other hand, supports up to five displays (four 6K/60Hz over Thunderbolt 5 and one 4K/144Hz over HDMI) or three (two 6K/60Hz over Thunderbolt and one 8K/60Hz or 4K/240Hz panel over HDMI). It can be complicated, so users with robust display needs will want to carefully look at the complete technical specifications on Apple’s website before taking the plunge.

A silver computer on a wooden desk with cables plugged into its back. A keyboard is partially visible in the foreground, and a blue object is next to the computer. The computer has a small white light on its front. — The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra has two front Thunderbolt 5 ports. On the Mac Studio with M4 Max, these ports are just standard USB-C ports with 10Gb/s transfer, less than 10% of what a Thunderbolt 5 port offers. Both Mac Studio configurations include the same UHS-II SDXC card slot.

The move to Thunderbolt 5 is a welcome one. While not many Thunderbolt 5-equipped SSDs and accessories are on the market yet, they are arriving fast and will quickly become the norm for high-end users. I have LaCie’s Rugged SSD Pro5, and unsurprisingly, it is ridiculously fast over Thunderbolt 5.

A computer screen showing a disk speed test. It features two large dials indicating write speed at 4689.9 MB/s and read speed at 4661.5 MB/s. Below, there's a table assessing video format compatibility and speed requirements. — Thank you, Thunderbolt 5 ports. I could even use six of these at once if I wanted, which is power I cannot be trusted with.

Apple sent PetaPixel editor-in-chief Jaron Schneider an M4 Max Mac Studio for testing, and its rear Thunderbolt 5 ports are just as quick using the new Thunderbolt 5 OWC Envoy Ultra SSD.

A wooden desk with a Nikon camera, a black OWC Envoy Ultra external hard drive, and the corner of a computer monitor and Mac Studio visible. Cables are attached to the devices. — This drive delivered 5,159 MB/s write and 4,948 MB/s read speeds over Thunderbolt 5 on the Mac Studio with M4 Max.

Speaking of that new Thunderbolt 5 SSD, it’s even faster than the LaCie Rugged.

Dashboard of a disk speed test by Blackmagic Design showing write speed at 5159 MB/s and read speed at 4948 MB/s. Includes a list of video formats and their compatibility with the current speeds, with green check marks indicating compatibility. — The Thunderbolt 5 OWC Envoy Ultra is *fast*.

Thunderbolt 5 is theoretically capable of reaching transfer speeds that match the internal SSD, but the test below shows that Apple’s built-in storage is still just a bit speedier.

Disk speed test interface showing a write speed of 7056.9 and a read speed of 5894.4. Table lists video formats like NTSC/PAL, HD, and 4K, with checkmarks indicating compatibility for Blackmagic RAW, ProRes 422 HQ, and H.265 formats. — The internal 4TB SSD is fast, as I’d expect.

The Mac Studio has built-in speakers, which are fine, but that’s all there is to say about the computer’s design. It looks good, has many useful ports, and is well-designed.

Mac Studio with M3 Ultra: Performance

Oh boy, here comes the fun stuff, where the rubber meets the road. Apple has made some lofty and uncharacteristically loud claims about the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra’s performance, and now it’s time to find out if all the fanfare is warranted. Is this truly Apple’s most powerful Mac ever?

Overall, yes, but it is a more complicated picture than I expected. Not all applications take full advantage of what the M3 Ultra has to offer, and the M4 Max Mac Studio will be the better choice for most photographers.

A quick note before we get started: While this overarching review is for the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra, Schneider ran all these same benchmarks on the Mac Studio with M4 Max, so I will analyze those results as we go and discuss both machines in the conclusion to follow. His loaner unit has the M4 Max with a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, plus a memory upgrade to 128GB. This machine starts at $3,499 with a 512GB SSD.

Adobe Lightroom Classic

In Adobe Lightroom Classic, we import 110 61-megapixel Sony Alpha 7R IV and over 160 100-megapixel Phase One XF RAW files and generate full-size 1:1 previews. For export testing, we utilize a custom-made preset with significant global edits, then export those images as 100% JPEGs and 16-bit TIFFs. The test runs are hand-timed three times to gather a reliable average result.

Bar chart comparing Lightroom Classic Import times across various devices, categorized by Sony a7R IV (blue) and PhaseOne XF (red). Devices range from MSI Creator 17X Studio to M1 MacBook Air. Elapsed time in milliseconds appears on the x-axis. — In our Lightroom import testing, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is the best performer yet.

For Sony a7R IV and Phase One imports with 1:1 previews, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is the fastest machine we’ve tested, although the M4 Max is no slouch.

When it comes to exports, the story is the same. The M3 Ultra Mac Studio is the best and sets new standards in our tests.

Bar chart comparing export times for different computers in Lightroom Classic. Categories include M2 Max MacBook Pro, M3 Ultra Mac Studio, and others. Times range from about 2.11 to 13.33 minutes, with lower times being better. — The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is so fast.

Bar chart showing Lightroom Classic Export times for 16-bit TIFF across various computers. Red bars represent Sony a7R IV, blue bars for Phase One XF. MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio is fastest, while M1 iMac (24 cores) is slowest. Lower times are better. — Very, very fast.

Photoshop

The M3 Ultra can stretch its legs in Adobe Lightroom but stumbles in Adobe Photoshop.

Bar chart showing PugetBench Photoshop category scores for different devices. Categories include General, GPU, Filter, and Photomerge, each represented in different colors. Devices are listed vertically, and scores are along the horizontal axis. — As you can see, the Mac Studio with M4 Max bests the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra across the board. Photoshop is not adequately leveraging the power of the fused chips, a story we’ve seen before with the M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra.

The M3 Ultra Mac Studio trails the M4 Max Mac Studio despite having many more CPU and GPU cores and more memory (256GB versus 128GB). The M4 Max Mac Studio is the best Photoshop performer we’ve seen, likely besting the MacBook Pro with the M4 Max because of its additional cooling capabilities. The M3 Ultra Mac Studio is the third-best performer on the charts, but that’s not high praise given that it starts at $3,999 and is more than twice that as configured here.

The M3 Ultra trails the M4 Max in every single Photoshop test category, in some cases by considerable margins, thanks to the M4 Max delivering Apple’s fastest CPU performance. In some tests, the M3 Ultra is not that much better than the base M4 chip in the MacBook Air, although that is more of a testament to the M4 than it is a knock on the M3 Ultra.

While we prefer Puget’s Photoshop v0.8 test seen above because it includes a Photomerge score, the fact that the M3 Ultra is lagging behind the M4 Max, both in the MacBook Pro and the new Mac Studio, gave us pause. We have historically seen improvements with each more powerful Apple M-series chip in the Photoshop benchmark. Given that the M3 Ultra has shredded the rest of our benches, we decided to see if Puget System’s current Photoshop benchmark test showed the same surprising results.

While we don’t have access to every single machine we’ve tested on our typical Photoshop benchmark, we cobbled together a pretty healthy mix of Apple Silicon-powered laptops and desktops, including my M1 Max MacBook Pro, the M2 Ultra Mac Studio, the new M3 Ultra and M4 Max Mac Studios, the M4 Pro Mac mini, the M4 MacBook Air, and the M4 Max MacBook Pro.

Bar chart showing Pugetbench Photoshop v1 overall scores. Higher is better. MacBook Pro M1 Max: 7000, Mac Studio M2 Ultra: 12000, MacBook Air M4: 8000, Mac mini M4 Pro: 9000, Mac Studio M4 Max: 11000, Mac Studio M3 Ultra: 14000. — The situation does not change when using the current Pugetbench for Adobe Photoshop. The Mac Studio with M4 Max is an absolute Photoshop beast.

Bar chart titled "Pugetbench Photoshop v1 - Category Scores" with scores for General (blue) and Filter (red) tasks. Features various Mac models. Higher scores are better, with categories scored up to around 175.

However, the picture didn’t change with the new test. The M3 Ultra is genuinely worse in Photoshop benchmarks than the M4 Max despite being the generally more powerful machine.

Heck, the Mac mini with M4 Pro, which is less expensive than the Mac Studio with M4 Max and way less money than the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra, performs better than the M3 Ultra in Photoshop. Not by a large margin, but it is better. The Mac mini punches above its weight in many areas, including Photoshop.

Adobe Premiere Pro

In Adobe Premiere Pro, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra shows up in a big way yet again, mirroring its performance in Adobe Lightroom.

Bar graph comparing overall scores of various devices in Pugetbench Premiere. Devices include MacBook Pro, Asus ProArt, Maingear, Razer Blade, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and M4 Ultra. Mac Pro M1 Max scores highest, M4 MacBook Air lowest. — When it comes to Adobe Premiere Pro, however, the M3 Ultra’s massive GPU performance is well utilized. We have a new best Premiere Pro performer.

Bar chart comparing PugetBench Premiere Pro scores for various devices. Categories include LongGOP, Intraframe, RAW, and GPU Effects. Scores vary, with the MacBook Pro M1 Max leading in most categories.

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is the best machine we’ve tested in Premiere Pro, delivering the best overall score we’ve seen and the best category scores in all but GPU Effects, where only the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate and its RTX 4070 GPU won out.

The Mac Studio with M4 Max is also an incredible performer and is now our second-best Mac yet. It delivers significant improvements over the MacBook Pro with M3 Max we reviewed in 2023 and, thanks to better cooling, surpasses the otherwise identical M4 Max-powered MacBook Pro we reviewed last fall.

DaVinci Resolve

The story is the same in DaVinci Resolve, with the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra becoming the first computer we’ve tested since adding Resolve to our benchmarks to break the 10,000 mark. It did one better, even, hitting a whopping 11,049, beating the previous leader, the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra, by nearly 2,000 points.

Bar chart showing PugetBench DaVinci Resolve scores for different Apple devices, comparing LongGOP, Interframe, RAW, GPU Effects, Fusion, and All Scores. Devices include M1 and M2 models, with scores ranging approximately from 10 to 180. — The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is exceptionally good across the board in Resolve.

Driving this incredible performance are absurdly high LongGOP, Intraframe, RAW, and GPU Effects scores. The Mac Studio with M4 Max comes quite close to the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra in terms of its Fusion and AI scores, although it trails significantly in the other four categories.

Apple Mac Studio with M3 Ultra: Performance Takeaways

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is an interesting machine in terms of performance. In many ways, it is undoubtedly the most powerful Mac to date and lives up to Apple’s lofty billing.

However, not every use case takes full advantage of the available power. While Lightroom, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve clearly do, Photoshop doesn’t. This makes broad advice challenging because Apple’s most powerful Mac might not be the most powerful for you.

It is challenging to recommend the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra to all but the most hardcore video editors. The results show that the Mac Studio with M4 Max is almost as good as the M3 Ultra machine in Lightroom, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve. The difference between the two is not so significant that making the leap to M3 Ultra is an obviously smart move.

For photographers, the Mac Studio with M4 Max is not only a better value, it’s a better machine, period. Much like we wrote when reviewing the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra in June 2023, the M3 Ultra is not worth it if you work primarily in Adobe Photoshop. The M3 Ultra’s CPU performance is excellent but not always as great as the M4 Max. This makes sense because the M3 Ultra is two M3 Max chips fused together, and the M4 Max is better than the M3 Max. The fact there are two of them doesn’t help in CPU-limited situations like Photoshop.

A person working at a desk with a computer displaying a photo editing program. The screen shows an aerial image of a bridge and island. There's a camera, external drive, and mug on the desk.

An Excellent Computer at a Steep Price

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is a mighty machine no matter how you slice it. Sure, it is not the absolute best in every situation — the Mac Studio with M4 Max has its number in some scenarios.

However, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is Apple’s best desktop for high-end video work. It is essentially silent, even when pushed to its limits during benchmarks. It gets warm, but never hot. The M3 Ultra Mac Studio also has a whopping six Thunderbolt 5 ports, two more than the Mac Studio with M4 Max, which could matter for specific power users.

It remains a relatively small professional desktop computer, has amazing I/O, and is silent. What’s not to love?

Mac Studio with M3 Ultra: The Best Choice for Video Editors and a Tough Sell for Photographers

As tested, the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is $8,099, although identical performance could be achieved for $7,099. In either case, that’s a lot of money to spend. For heavy video editors, it is perhaps a justifiable expense. The M3 Ultra is better than the Mac Studio with M4 Max but at roughly double the price.

However, the gap between M3 Ultra and M4 Max is practically nonexistent in Lightroom. In Photoshop, the Mac Studio with M4 Max is notably better.

There’s no doubt whatsoever that the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is an impressive machine. I suppose I just expected it to be more impressive than it is for photographers. Perhaps that was an unrealistic expectation, but it’s a sticking point Apple itself has created by splitting its current flagship desktop computer line across two generations of Apple M-series chips.

A desktop setup featuring a Mac Studio on a wooden desk, accompanied by a sleek keyboard and a small digital camera in the background. The computer screen displays vibrant icons, suggesting a macOS interface. — Photographers may want to strongly consider the Mac Studio with M4 Max or perhaps even a Mac mini with M4 Pro. Hybrid creators will be hard-pressed to extract enough additional performance from the M3 Ultra Mac Studio to justify its expense.

Yes, the M3 Ultra is a new chip, but it is built on what is now technically old architecture. The M4 Max is better in some situations and it’s hard not to imagine what might have been had Apple fused two of them together for its “fastest Mac ever” instead of the M3 Max chips.

The Mac Studio lineup is more confusing than ever because of this decision to go cross-gen. Still, one thing is undeniably straightforward, nearly everyone should go for the Mac Studio with M4 Max, especially photographers. Highly demanding video editors with a big budget may find the M3 Ultra worth the high cost, but I’m hard-pressed to believe that nearly everyone wouldn’t be happy with the Mac Studio with M4 Max and find worthwhile things to spend their savings on.

Are There Alternatives?

The Mac mini with M4 Pro is a great option for many photographers. It has a pair of back Thunderbolt 5 ports, delivers excellent performance in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and is significantly more affordable.

The Mac Studio with M4 Max is well worth considering for hybrid creators and videographers. Its performance is excellent, the price is right, and it has four Thunderbolt 5 ports and robust display support.

A desktop setup featuring a large monitor with a colorful gradient screen, a compact silver computer, and a keyboard. A vintage Nikon camera sits to the left on a wooden shelf. The setting is minimalistic and organized. — The Mac Studio with M4 Max is a very compelling option for many creative enthusiasts and professionals.

If you need PCIe expansion, the languishing Mac Pro remains an option, but one I would not recommend.

On the PC side, the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate is a great desktop machine that is super easy to upgrade, unlike all of Apple’s M-series offerings. There are many other great machines out there, but throwing in the latest Intel or AMD Ryzen processors plus an Nvidia RTX 4000-series or 5000-series GPU will get you far.

Should You Buy It?

The new Mac Studio? Yes, it’s a fantastic machine. But should you buy the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra? No, unless you are willing to pay dearly for slightly better video editing performance. Everyone else should go for the Mac Studio with M4 Max instead.