Overview
- Apple opened U.S. ordering for the 512GB Mac Studio on Wednesday, October 28, making the long‑promised option available with pre‑orders and first shipments expected in early December.
- The 512GB configuration is only offered on the M5 Ultra model and requires the higher‑end 36‑core CPU and 80‑core GPU build rather than the M5 Max, which remains capped at 128GB.
- A base Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM starts at $22,299 and a fully maxed single machine with a 16TB SSD can reach $29,799.
- Reports differ on the pure memory upgrade cost, with outlets calculating an added $11,500 to move from 256GB to 512GB while another headline frames the upgrade as $15,500, reflecting different comparison points.
- Some buyers can save roughly $700 by buying two M5 Ultra machines with 256GB each instead of one 512GB unit, but that approach adds a second SoC and requires software or networking work to split workloads for large AI or compute tasks.