You No Longer Need to Buy a Desktop Computer to Get the Most Out of Your Mac

These days, we have the luxury of choice when it comes to computers, especially Macs: if all you do is light work, browsing the Internet, and consuming content, you won’t have to spend much money at all on a very capable Mac. On the other hand, if your job or hobby is demanding, there is a Mac that can meet your computing power needs, the only limitation being your budget.

Desktop computers have long been the choice for power lovers.

For those looking for pure power, the traditional advice is to choose a desktop computer. Laptops can be workhorses, and Apple has proven that with the M-series MacBook Pro. But only the Mac Studio and Mac Pro have M2 Ultra , a combination of two M2 Max chips that potentially doubles the performance you’d expect from an M2 Max machine.

It’s clear why desktop computers have long been the best choice for getting the best performance from your computer: Desktop computers, by definition, live on your desk (or at least in one stationary position), constantly connected to power. This way, you can outfit a desktop computer with things that aren’t practical for a laptop, such as larger cooling fans, larger CPUs and GPUs, and additional memory.

Laptops, on the other hand, need to be portable. This means they are built into a smaller chassis, significantly limiting the size of the equipment. Additionally, you need to think about both battery size and lifespan: a battery that’s too small won’t last long, and even a powerful battery will drain quickly if the hardware is too demanding. It’s a delicate balance that has pushed avid users towards desktop computers.

You can now get maximum Apple power in your MacBook

However, Apple’s latest MacBook Pro could be a game changer for Apple users. As part of its “Scary Fast” event on Monday , the company introduced three new M-series chips for the MacBook Pro : M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max. Apple has made big claims about the performance of the M3, especially the larger M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, but mostly in comparison to the M1 line. Apple says the M3 Max’s GPU is 50% faster than the M1 Max’s and the CPU is 80% faster. This is great progress in just two years.

While these laptops appear to be the most powerful Apple has ever made, professionals may still be swayed by the M2 Ultra Mac Studio or Mac Pro. After all, in the Mac world, the desktop is as good as it gets, right? So if you want the best of the best, you might think you’ll have to ditch laptops entirely. Not so much.

According to MacRumors , the first tests of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max have appeared on Geekbench. The results are astounding: the highest single-core score recorded was 3,151 , while the highest recorded multi-core score was 21,084 . Geekbench lists the average single-core M2 Ultra processor score on the Mac Pro as 2760, and on the Mac Studio as 2767 or 2803, depending on the model. The Mac Pro multi-core test averaged 21,182, while the Mac Studio averaged 21,316.

The results show that the M3 Max is faster than the M2 Ultra in single-core performance, and almost as fast as some M2 Ultra chips in multi-core performance. The Mac Studio with the M2 Ultra beats the M3 Max by a couple hundred points, which is significant , but doesn’t seem like much of an advantage when you take other considerations into account.

First of all, the MacBook Pro is portable . You can take a laptop and use that power anywhere (up to 22 hours, according to Apple), while a desktop Mac has to, well, sit on your desk. Plus, there’s the matter of price: the M3 Max MacBook Pro starts at $3,499, and the M2 Ultra Mac Studio starts at $3,999. You save $500, plus your computer comes with a built-in screen, keyboard, and trackpad. The studio requires that you already have these add-ons or have spent money to get them. (If you need even more power, there’s an even more powerful M3 Max configuration that adds two cores to the CPU and 10 cores to the GPU. This gives the MacBook Pro the same $3,999 as the Studio, but again, you save on other ways.) The Mac Pro costs a whopping $6,999, but for that you get a computer tower with expandable slots, so that’s a slightly different story.

If you don’t need that level of customization and versatility, it looks like Apple has done something special with the M3 Max. At $3,499, it’s still a very expensive computer, but when you consider the combination of enormous power and convenience, it’s great to see desktop-level performance in such a portable form factor.