Apple began selling the Mac Studio with 512GB of memory on 28 October, delivering on its promise of a "late October" arrival. The option works only on the top M5 Ultra build, with a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU. The M5 Max version stays capped at 128GB. No further date is pending: the 512GB configuration can be ordered now and is shipping, and the option appears in Apple's online configurator once the top chip is selected.
The price is steep. The top M5 Ultra starts at $6,799 in the US and the memory upgrade adds $15,500, so the cheapest 512GB machine costs $22,299. Smaller storage steps are cheaper, at $500 for 2TB and $1,500 for 4TB, but adding 16TB, a $7,500 upgrade, takes it to $29,799. The machine's graphics and CPU gains are modest next to the memory story: Apple claims 1.8 times the graphics and 1.3 times the CPU performance of the M3 Ultra. The 512GB option costs $11,500 more than the 256GB one on the same chip, and Macworld points out that two 256GB M5 Ultra machines with 1TB drives cost $21,598 together, about $700 less, and give 512GB between them.
The Apple online store's configurator with the M5 Ultra and 512GB memory option selected
Image: Macworld
Apple announced the machine on 25 August with pre-orders open. The 96GB and 256GB models shipped on 22 September, with the base M5 Ultra at $5,499 and the M5 Max at $2,499. Apple had dropped the previous generation's 512GB option in March 2026 amid a memory chip shortage. MacRumors had said in August to expect a US price well above $10,000 for the 512GB model, and Macworld treats the final figure as new-car money. Outlets disagree on timing: MacRumors says the new option arrived right on schedule, while Macworld says it was held back about a month behind the other configurations.
About the Mac Studio
The Mac Studio is Apple's small professional desktop workstation, sold above the Mac mini and iMac and built on Apple's M-series chips. Apple announced it on 8 March 2022 alongside the Studio Display, with the first models on sale on 18 March 2022 using the M1 Max or M1 Ultra.
It was updated with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips on 5 June 2023 at WWDC. The March 2025 refresh paired an M4 Max with an M3 Ultra and offered up to 512GB of memory, but Apple removed that 512GB option in March 2026 and the 256GB option in May 2026, likely over the memory shortage.
The point of the memory is local AI work. Apple pitches the large unified memory for running substantial open-weight models entirely on the device. It claims up to 4.3 times the peak AI compute of the M3 Ultra, with Neural Accelerators in every GPU core, and promotes its MLX framework and a new Core AI framework for local training and deployment. Thunderbolt 5 gives 120Gb/s of bandwidth, and storage uses PCIe Gen 6 at up to twice the previous speed. Apple also says four Mac Studios clustered over Thunderbolt 5 can run distributed AI inference up to three times faster than a single one.
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