Apple unveiled “one last chip” in the M1 family, the M1 Ultra, building on what has already been a powerhouse line of processors.
The M1 is based on the same A-Series chips that have powered the iPhone and iPad for years, but scaled up to handle the demands of desktop computing.
According to Apple’s Johny Srouji, the M1 Ultra features something the company has never talked about before…UltraFusion. This is Apple’s way of connecting two processor dies, a method that is much faster than the traditional way of simply joining two dies on the same motherboard.
The M1 Ultra supports up to 128 GB of Unified memory, and has a 20-core CPU. The cores include 16 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores. In addition, the Ultra features a 64-core GPU.
The Ultra’s design helps it offer 90% higher performance than leading PC chips at similar power levels. Put another way, the chip can deliver comparable performance while using 100W less power. Similarly, the Ultra’s GPU provides the same performance as leading GPUs on one-third the power, or the same performance as the very best GPUs while consuming 200W less power.
The new chip will be used in an all new Mac, the Mac Studio. The Mac Studio looks very much like two Mac minis stacked on top of each other. The new computer is designed to offer the power and connectivity professional users need. When paired with the M1 Ultra, the Mac Studio is 60% faster than the Mac Pro with the 28-core Xeon option.
