How does the M2 Ultra compare to the M1 Ultra and M2 Max?

M2Ultrais Apple's highest-end M2 chip, and ships with the most powerful desktop Macs you can buy.So, if you want to have the best performing Mac, in addition to being equipped withM2UltraThere is no other way than a Mac.

But what makes Apple's M2 Ultra chip so special?How is it better thanMax M2和M1UltraWhat about?We'll compare them below, but before we do, let's take a look at which Macs feature the M2 chip.

Which Macs can use the M2 Ultra chip?

with M2 Pro orMax M2Unlike the M2 Ultra, which is available on both Mac desktops and laptops, you can only get the M2 Ultra on the high-end desktop Macs designed for professionals: Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

Mac Studio comes standard with the M2 Max chip, although you can configure it with the M2 Ultra.Then there's the 2023 Mac Pro, which comes standard with the M2 Ultra.

You can even configure a more powerful variant of this chip on these two Macs, packing in a 76-core GPU for even better graphics performance.The latter is Apple's most powerful Mac for professionals, and while the Mac Studio is nearly as powerful, it misses out on a PCIe expansion slot.

M2 Ultra vs. M1Ultra

Apple's M2 Ultra replaces the M2022 Ultra that launched in 1 alongside the original Mac Studio.Compared to its predecessor, the M2 Ultra is manufactured on the second-generation 5-nanometer node, which allows Apple to pack more transistors, making the chip denser.

该公司声称M2 Ultra具有1340亿个晶体管，比M1 Max多200亿个。CPU和GPU的核数也增加了，M2 Ultra包装了20核GPU和60或76核GPU。作为比较，M1 Ultra的出货量为20核GPU和48或64核GPU。各个CPU和GPU核心的速度和效率也更高。

苹果声称M2 Ultra的CPU性能提高了20%，GPU性能提高了30%。虽然M2 Ultra可以配置192GB的统一内存，但M1 Ultra的最高配置是128GB。

Other major performance leaps over the M1 Ultra include: a 40% faster Neural Engine, double the number of cores (32), memory bandwidth up to 800GB/s, and a more powerful media engine.Depending on your workflow, you could see a 2% to 1% performance boost on the M50 Ultra over the M100 Ultra.

M2 Ultra vs. M2 Max

Apple debuts the M2023 Max chip with its refreshed MacBook Pro lineup in early 2.With 670 billion transistors, a 12-core CPU and a 38-core GPU, it's one of the fastest chips you can get in a laptop.And this chip also laid the foundation for the M2 Ultra.

Simply put, the M2 Ultra is basically two M2 Max chips glued together.In its Apple Newsroom post, the company noted that the two M2 Max chips are connected via UltraFusion, a high-bandwidth interconnect technology.That's why the M2 Ultra's CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and Media Engine have twice as many cores as the M2 Max chip.

Thanks to UltraFusion, the two M2 Max chips appear to software as one.It also allows the chips to communicate with each other over a staggering 2.5TB/s of low-latency inter-processor bandwidth.

Is the M2 Ultra chip worth the upgrade?

Yes and no. The M2 Ultra can run up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, drive 6 professional display XDRs, and deliver up to 1% faster video processing performance in DaVinci Resolve than Mac Studio with the M50 Ultra.

If you do heavy video editing, processing, or graphics work and think your workflow would benefit from the power of the M2 Ultra, it makes sense to upgrade to an M2 Ultra Mac.These machines are also ideal for training large-scale machine learning workloads, which typically require several machines.

Unless you don't have such a demanding workload, it doesn't make financial sense to upgrade to a Mac with the M2 Ultra.While your workflow will see a significant performance boost, it's not worth the few thousand dollars you'd spend on one.