WIRED's review positions the Mac Studio M5 Ultra as a niche desktop for AI enthusiasts, not a general-purpose workhorse. The reviewer tested a configuration priced around $11,000 with 256GB of unified memory and Apple's first quad-die chip, the M5 Ultra. The review says the machine is extremely targeted, and warns that anyone tired of AI should look away.
Benchmarks in the review show large gains over the M5 Max: 51% faster in Cinebench 2026, 32% faster in GPU tests, and 41% higher in 3DMark Steel Nomad. In gaming, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 160 fps on the M5 Ultra, 61% faster than on the M5 Max. However, WIRED notes the system runs very hot and still cannot compete with Nvidia's best GPUs.
The business angle is Apple's push to court AI developers who want to run models locally instead of relying on cloud services. WIRED says the M5 Ultra can run frontier-level AI models and support agentic AI frameworks on-device. But the review also points out that cheaper AI-focused boxes exist, and the $2,499 M5 Max model delivers the performance of a similarly equipped MacBook Pro for substantially less money.