Story perspectives

Mac Studio M5 Ultra Launches in U.S., Scores 52,185

By Drooid · Sep 21, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Apple launched the Mac Studio M5 Ultra desktop in the United States.
The base model starts at $5,499 and includes a 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 96 GB RAM, 1 TB storage.
Geekbench 7 multi-core testing gave the M5 Ultra 52,185 points, beating the older M3 Ultra’s 39,145.
Sustained disk speeds reached 14 GB/s write and 11 GB/s read, matching PCIe 5.0 maximum performance.
A 4K Premiere export of a 1.7 GB file completed in about 40 seconds.

History

Historical Context

In 2006, Apple announced the transition to Intel Core Duo processors, delivering up to 2 GHz performance and ending the PowerPC era. Intel supplied 1.5 billion chips that year, and the first Intel-based iMac sold for $1,299, a 30 % price increase over its PowerPC predecessor. Today's Mac Studio M5 Ultra echoes that shift, replacing Intel with Apple-designed silicon while offering a 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and a $5,499 starting price. The 2006 migration proved that in-house processor design can accelerate benchmarks, foreshadowing Apple’s current dominance in professional content-creation markets.

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Story summary

Apple launched the Mac Studio M5 Ultra desktop in the United States.
The base model starts at $5,499 and includes a 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 96 GB RAM, 1 TB storage.
Geekbench 7 multi-core testing gave the M5 Ultra 52,185 points, beating the older M3 Ultra’s 39,145.
Sustained disk speeds reached 14 GB/s write and 11 GB/s read, matching PCIe 5.0 maximum performance.
A 4K Premiere export of a 1.7 GB file completed in about 40 seconds.

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