The Mac Studio review unit that Apple sent us to test this year is, put simply, kind of outrageous. It has an M5 Ultra chip with a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU, 256GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage and costs $12,299. This thing is not for your typical content creation workloads. It’s for AI developers and some of the most demanding 3D visual effects houses out there. 

Frankly, our usual benchmarks aren’t cutting it.

The latest version of Apple’s most powerful computer begins shipping today with new chips and prices that extend even further into the stratosphere. The new Mac Studio uses the same design that’s been with us since 2022, replete with ultra-fast ports both front and back, now kitted out with either an M5 Max or M5 Ultra chip, compared to the M4 Max or M3 Ultra of last year’s model. 

The M5 Max model starts at a relatively modest $2,499 with an 18-core CPU / 32-core GPU, 36GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. We’ve tested an M5 Max already, in the MacBook Pro, where it starts at $4,099 with the same amount of memory and 2TB of storage (the equivalent Mac Studio costs $3,299). The M5 Ultra is another beast altogether. It starts at $5,499 with 30 CPU cores, 64 GPU cores, 96GB of memory and 1TB of storage. 

I’ve only had my hands on the new Mac Studio as well as a pair of the latest Mac Minis for a handful of days. That’s enough time to adequately test the M6 and M5 Pro chips in the Mac Mini, and to run our standard benchmarks on the M5 Ultra — but not enough time to seriously challenge it. 

Conveniently, we still have the similarly specced M3 Ultra Mac Studio from last year — though it was only $8,099 at the time. Aside from CPU core count and architecture, they’re nearly the same, which makes them easy to compare.

The M5 Ultra Mac Studio is around 30 percent faster than our similarly configured M3 Ultra in both single-core and multicore synthetic CPU tests. It varies more in graphics tests, but some, like the new Geekbench 7 OpenCL test, also saw around a 30 percent uplift. And a heftier GPU rendering test like Cinebench scored 63 percent higher.

I’ve never tested anything this fast before. The storage speeds are off the proverbial charts. It renders the classroom test in Blender faster than I can tie my shoes. Our Premiere 4K video export test, which yields an MP4 file of about 1.7GB, is done in about 40 seconds. I can’t get up from my desk and get a cup of coffee that fast without risking a serious burn.

Apple is talking a big game about the M5 Ultra being “a monumental step for AI.” I don’t normally run local AI stuff (I just don’t find generative AI and LLM stuff very useful for my work — and I’ve tried). But I want to give it a serious go, so I’m open to suggestions. I’ve already reached out to our great Verge audience for ideas, and I appreciate all of you who commented. (Yes, even those of you with the “Can it run DOOM” jokes. I see you, and it never gets old. I mean, it does. But it doesn’t. I love DOOM.)

How long is this going to take me? Hopefully not very long, but it’s going to be a busy couple of months. Google is announcing its whole new line of Googlebook laptops at exactly the same time this article publishes. And there’s a Microsoft event coming up next week that sounds a whole lot like it’ll jumpstart Nvidia’s RTX Spark initiative. There’s never a drought of laptops to test, but this Techtember and Techtober seems like a deluge that’s about to engulf Your Friendly Neighborhood Laptop Reviewer.

I know, I know; “So many cool computers to test, what a burden.” Truly, it is a very exciting time for computers. An expensive one, for sure, but I don’t think the space has ever been this dynamic. So I’ll do my best to get back to you when I’ve got something cool to share about the M5 Ultra Mac Studio. Feel free to drop more ideas and tips in the comments here. Or email me or DM me on Bluesky if you’ve got suggestions you’d like to share. I also accept words of encouragement and compliments. 🙂

The M5 Ultra Mac Studio is a powerful machine. Let’s see if we can find its limits. Stay tuned.

Anamanaguchi, the band consisting of Peter Berkman, James DeVito, Luke Silas, and Ary Warnaar, are most known for their chiptune music. Like me, you might have first heard them in game soundtracks like 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game or know of their collaboration with Hatsune Miku (which even made its way into Fortnite). They’ve gone through different eras of breakneck chiptune beats and dance-y pop songs, but their 2025 album Anyway took an indie rock departure — written at the American Football house and filled with fuzzy guitars.

They’re also a band that’s terminally online and very plugged into the video game scene as well as the weirder sides of the internet — just listen to Peter and Luke’s guest spot on the Panic World podcast talking about Etsy witches.

Anamanaguchi has a new single, “Yeah I Guess,” continuing in the musical direction of Anyway. And if it’s a precursor to a new album dropping soon, I’m sure I’ll be looping it endlessly just as I did the tracks “Magnet,” “Fall Away,” and “Valley of Silence.” (Seriously, I’ve at times had Anyway set on repeat for hours straight.)

Not only did all four members of Anamanaguchi agree to answer our weekly questionnaire, but they answered all our questions.

What is your most indispensable tool?

Luke Silas: I think my most used tool is Ableton Live Operator, it is simple and powerful and can make basic things happen incredibly quickly. I usually open it up just for writing or getting ideas down, but more often than not the sounds I get with it tend to make it to the final product!

Which is the most underappreciated?

Ary Warnaar: Built-in laptop mic and cellphone mic aren’t exactly slept on, but def underappreciated. They’re great for just getting ideas down fast, but now they sound so good that I find myself not even re-recording what I thought would be “scratch” vocals.

Peter Berkman: Right now it’s the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S. Best mouse I’ve ever had. It has a sideways scroll. It has a button to switch between notched and smooth scroll wheel. The click is satisfying but still really quiet. It’s really sensitive & responsive on whatever surface I happen to have it on. It feels really good in my hand. It charges directly into a USB-C port without external batteries so it gets to look like a mouse with a tail after it’s worked really hard. When I’m at a different computer, or if I’m on a laptop having to use a trackpad, I feel like I’ve lost so much gestural fidelity. I love the keyboard but let’s be real Douglas Engelbart cooked when he invented the mouse. But he didn’t have the recipe of the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S and he didn’t even live to see it. The LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S wasn’t even invented until June 2022. I have seen two friends recently using the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S and I say “Hey man that’s the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S” I use that thing too.

James DeVito: Lately it’s been an app called “Amphetamine” that keeps your computer from going to sleep for a set amount of time. It’s great when starting an export/render or other task that may take a while and then being able to throw my laptop in my bag and have it work while I head elsewhere… Just gotta make sure the laptop doesn’t ’splode in your bag from overheating.

LS: I love metronomes! Strengthening time is so important, and getting more comfortable with a metronome means you get to play around with time more confidently! I would love people to love metronomes the way I do!

What is the first app you install on a new phone or computer?

LS: Probably Discord? Let’s say Discord.

What is one thing you wish you could change about your phone?

AW: Would kill to get a normal 1/8-inch headphone out again. I’ve been constantly replacing dongles ever since Apple ditched the headphone out. Because they break or or get misplaced. Frustrating and wasteful.

JD: A wise friend of mine once taught me to increase the key-repeat on my computer beyond what is normally allowed via the UI. It feels insane at first but your hand/brain coordination catches up with the speed eventually and then you can tttttttttttttttype and deleeeeeeete things so much quicker.

LS: The only thing I’d like to add to my iPhone SE is a USB port so I can type with a keyboard because I suck at typing on my phone.

What sites do you have pinned to your tab bar?

LS: I have never done this before! I probably should!!

PB: There’s a new radio aggregator called vvorldwide.com. It’s amazing. It’s like having a radio dial in your car except it pools the feeds from NTS, The Lot, dublab, KEXP, loads of different places from all over the world. It’s one of those products that’s like: Wow. Why did nobody think to make this before? It’s so useful, lightweight, and beautiful. It’s amazing to me how detached from reality and human use the big companies are (and have been for a long time). It’s one of those refreshing things you see, it reminds me of The Unfinished Revolution by Michael Dertouzos. You can just build things you want to see!

JD: Gmail 🙁

How many tabs do you have open right now?

PB: Tab grouping from Firefox has become an artform for me. I don’t see tabs anymore just folders of memory I can recall like a PSX save file.

LS: 46 and 31 between two windows. Too goddamn many. Most of them are meant to be shared with others or read/watched, every weekend I do a cleanout but there are truthfully a few that have been sitting for months. I can’t be the only one.

JD: I like when Chrome on my phone stops displaying the number of open tabs and just shows a smiley face 🙂

Which social media platform do you use the most?

LS: Staying detached from social media tends to be better for my mental health on the day-to-day, but scrolling following on Twitter is the easiest way for me to stay connected to games or news still. Instagram stresses me out lately more than ever before. YouTube definitely counts and I do love it very much, but shorts are a rare treat; I tend to watch long-form stuff mostly or have different content with no dialogue on a second monitor, like either a video game longplay or lots of restoration or cooking videos.

What is your happy place online?

AW: Facebook marketplace. Specifically low-balling “I know what I got” type mfs. No one ever accepts my offers, but I think it’s important to keep people humble, and long term, I’d like to think that I’m contributing to keeping the prices low for the next buyers.

PB: I’ve just discovered clothes. So I’m hunting a lot on places like Grailed or Depop or whatever. It’s a lot like the way I treat musical equipment on Reverb. It’s fun to sell stuff and buy stuff… when it’s equal amounts it feels more like barter and temporary sharing.

LS: Video game speedruns! Twitch streams like GDQ or RPG Limit Break are very comforting to me and a very sweet community of fun personalities.

What is your favorite gadget you’ve ever owned?

JD: 3D printers. I’ve been 3D printing for a long time now, and it’s gotten so so so much more reliable/easy at this point. The fact that I can design a bracket etc. for stage production and have it in hand within an hour really is the future.

LS: I’m going to say my Game Boy counts for this question. I use it less for sound design than I used to, but I bought new flash cartridges recently for the first time in years, and I’m ready to get cooking with it again very soon! It’s a perfect little self-contained workstation.

Which was the most disappointing?

LS: I’ve bought a few different effects plugins that tend to have some distinct effects but end up not giving me what I’m looking for, or feel far too specific to a use case for me to reach for generally speaking. I’ve found more exciting results from stacking and tweaking stock effects than I have reaching for dedicated single-use stuff.

PB: I’m not gonna hate on here… but they exist.

What game do you have the fondest memories of?

PB: Return of the Obra Dinn was so much fun. Any game that feels like detective work is the kinda thing that gets me going, and instantly creates a moment of excitement for me that stays frozen that I can always go back to. I think about playing [the original] Resident Evil for the first time, the first three Phoenix Wright games: I can tell you everything about where I was and what I was feeling when I first played those games. It’s not even a nostalgia based thing. I played Parasite Eve II for the first time two years ago and it was an instant deep love.

LS: I think my favorite video game of all time is Chrono Trigger. It was a world I really wished I could experience in real life and the atmosphere of every place you go is special to me. I have been trying to rip off Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu every time I write for the last 30 years. It’s the first game I think of when I want to start a new playthrough of something familiar to me!

Which tech trend do you wish would go away?

AW: I don’t like forced two step authentication or even worse, the upper case + number + symbol extra long type passwords. Like if I want my password to just be the letter “a,” that’s on me. I’m comfortable with that choice. I’m comfortable with that level of vulnerability. Shit maybe I don’t even want a password sometimes. Just leave it all out there for the people.

LS: Using AI to make music! Blue check accounts on twitter talking about using AI to make music! Write your own fucking music, have fun learning a skill that will continue to give and build and bloom until the day you die!!!

What is one thing you wish you had created?

LS: “Show Me Love” by Robin S. is a perfect song, and every time I hear it I think “God, I wish that could have been mine.” The combination of the M1 organ, that 909 groove, and Robin S.’ top line is like a simple meal where the right ingredients add up to something far greater than the sum of their parts; a perfect BLT, a chocolate/vanilla/peanut butter milkshake, the freshest sushi you’ve ever eaten.

JD: The Black Eyed Peas performed at the 2020 VMAs and they all had light up crotches that sync’d up to the show. Why the f didn’t they call me to do that?

What creation are you most proud of?

PB: Going back and listening to our album Anyway always surprises me. I love it so much. I think it’s the kinda thing that people who didn’t get it will eventually come around on. Sleeper classic even for me ha.

LS: I think the song “Really Like To” from our latest album Anyway is a song that accomplishes a lot of the things I want to when writing for the band! It’s loud and fast, has fun drum parts, fun to sing along to, and I got to do an ambient section at the end; I like showing it to people as an indication of where we’re at right now.

JD: Anyway as well — the entire process was so collaborative throughout. A lot of really great memories writing at the house and recording at Tarbox Road Studios.

Which are you least proud of?

LS: In 2023 I tried to get good at baking cookies, and in the process made a batch of not only the worst cookies I’ve ever had, but some of the worst food I have ever experienced. They looked great, but on a first bite tasted like absolutely nothing and had a texture of chewing damp sand, and on a second bite a bitter taste began to crawl across my tongue that practically gagged me. The only other human who tasted them was my next-door neighbor, just so I could have a witness to the crime that I’d committed. To this day I’m still not sure how I fucked up that bad, and I’ll never forget that taste.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

AW: When I was a kid I met Steve Lukather, the guitarist of Toto, and I told him I wanted to be a guitarist in a band when I grow up. He told me that if I wanted to get the girls I had to either lift weights or get good at guitar solos. I’ve done neither and I’ve been suspicious of all advice ever since. 

PB: My dad told me to “never give up” when I was playing Zelda in my basement as a kid. It gave me a big affinity for puzzles, very encouraging. My dad still gives me important advice at all the big moments in my life — I am very grateful to have him.

LS: Progress, not perfection.

What is your current obsession?

PB: Investigating criminal networks of the 1990s! More of a hobby than an obsession.

LS: I’ve unfortunately found myself going further down the rabbit hole of Deltarune theory videos. I don’t buy into the majority of the speculation shared, but I love the game and there is lots of incredible insight shared into the design of it and aspects of it mechanically and narratively that I didn’t even realize I was missing.

What do you do when you need to focus?

AW: Modafinil. Jk lol, I try not to force focusing and just let it be a byproduct of inspiration/motivation. I wait for the focus to come. If I’m having trouble focusing on something then I probably shouldn’t be doing it. Like driving a car. And if you attach rituals to focus it just invites the possibility of not being able to focus without said rituals.

LS: I wait until about 8pm, charge my phone on the other side of my studio, get a large cup of black coffee, put on my second monitor a very long playthrough of a game I’m already familiar with (most recent one was Grandia II), and keep my door shut as long as possible.

What do you do when you’re feeling stuck?

LS: Take a walk down the Venice boardwalk, get a two-dollar salad from Chairman Mao’s, and eat while listening to music and watching people skate at the Venice bowl.

PB: It’s very important to fuck off for a minute. I will go out to a Smash tournament in the Dallas area. There’s a very lively scene that’s super competitive and full of great people. I can always go back from that feeling fresh.

When was the last time you went somewhere without your phone?

PB: My phone’s dead half the time so it’s a moment that can happen anytime.

LS: I legitimately don’t remember and that depresses me!! I don’t like that!!

What’s the last piece of physical media you bought?

LS: About a month ago I picked up a used copy of Only Theatre of Pain by Christian Death at Headline Records, great shop I’ve been going to since I was a kid!

JD: I recently bought a record of a band called “Schlong” at Permanent Records in LA. I love finding stuff that isn’t available on streaming. It can be really easy to get complacent with what’s available online but there’s so much out there in the real world!!!

What do you think is worth splurging on?

LS: I think the most consistent answer for me is special meals. Something unique in another country, or something really special to which I don’t get to treat myself often. It’s always food!

AW: Vacation/travel/time off/adventure etc… I wish it wasn’t considered so much of a splurge. The same way you wouldn’t really call going on a hike a splurge, but in a world where just existing can be expensive, I think it’s something that’s tremendously good for the ~soul~, and worth regularly “splurging” some time/money on. I want to talk to my friends about what cool missions they went on this summer, not what new shoes they bought or whatever. 

PB: Gonna agree 100% with Ary. The value of travel can’t be overemphasized.

What would the tagline for your biopic be?

AW: “If you cant handle him at his fastest, you don’t deserve him at his furiousest”

JD: “Better to waste than to have not” 

PB: “You know he had to do it to em”

LS: “Life is Hectic.”

What’s the last GIF or meme you used?

PB: I’m very GIF-averse. There’s something about it that feels like wearing someone’s skin. But here’s a pic I like.

AW:

LS:

Correction September 19th, 2026: This story originally stated that Anyway was recorded at the American Football house. It was written there, but recorded elsewhere.