All the Mac news from WWDC 2023: Mac Pro, Mac Studio, and M2 Ultra

During Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC 2023) Monday, the company announced several software updates and products, including the two most powerful computers Apple has made, the latest versions of the Mac Pro and Mac Studio.  

During what Apple CEO Tim Cook called “some of our biggest announcements ever at WWDC,” the tech giant also unveiled the completion of the Mac lineup’s transition to Apple Silicon.

“Transitioning to Apple silicon, this performance enables us to create new system we could only dream about in the past,” John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, said during the event. 

Here’s what to know about all of the new Macs and chips announced during WWDC.

15-inch MacBook Air

After a lot of rumors and questions of when it was coming, Apple finally unveiled a 15-inch MacBook Air during WWDC on Monday. It’s a larger model to follow the 13-inch version that was launched last year, dubbed the world’s best selling laptop by Ternus during the event.

The 15.4-inch screen on the MacBook Air features 500 nits of brightness, rich and vibrant images, a 1080p camera and 3-microphone array, and six speakers, including four woofers for improved sound.

Originally set to debut with the 13-inch version, the 15-inch MacBook Air features a thin, solid design at only 11.5mm thickness and 3.3lbs in weight. It comes in four finishes: starlight, space gray, silver, and midnight.

Also: Boost your security and productivity with the top Mac apps

Apple is calling this “the world’s best 15-inch laptop,” comparing its performance to the best-selling PC laptops of its size available. Apple says the 15-inch MacBook Air is twice as fast as a 15-inch PC, features twice the resolution in the display (which is also 25% brighter), boasts 50% longer battery life at up to 18 hours, and is 40% thinner and half a pound lighter than a PC.

The 15-inch MacBook Air also features MagSafe charging and two thunderbolt ports, and will start at $1299. It will be available to order today and will start shipping next week.

The 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip is priced at $1099.

M2 Ultra 

The brand new M2 Ultra chip was announced during WWDC 2023, and comes to join the M2 Max that was showcased last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Replacing the M1 Ultra chip that is included in the 2022 Mac Studio, the M2 Ultra chip will feature 24 CPU cores, including 16 high-performance and eight efficiency cores, and up to 76-core GPU.

For comparison, last year’s M1 Ultra has a 20-core CPU with up to 64 graphics cores.

In what Apple called “a monster of a chip,” the M2 Ultra features 192GB of unified memory, capable of training “massive machine learning workloads like large transformer models,” according to Apple. It’s the company’s largest and most capable chip to date.

Mac Pro

At WWDC, Apple also announced an all-new Mac Pro, now fully transitioned to Apple Silicon. The Mac Pro will start at $6999 and includes the powerful M2 Ultra chip.

During the event, Apple said video transcoding and 3D simulation are three times faster with the new Mac Pro, enabling it to do things that were’t possible before.

The new Mac Pro has eight thunderbolt ports, two HDMI ports and six open PCIe gen 4 slots, and is powerful enough to support up to six Pro Displays XDRs. Its video processing capabilities make it up to seven times faster than the Intel-based Mac Pro.

Mac Studio

Apple just launched a new version of the Mac Studio, the company’s most powerful Mac, aimed at professionals and built with Apple’s latest and most powerful chipset. 

Also: Comparing the best Macs: Is a MacBook or Mac Studio right for you?

The new, second-generation Mac Studio will retail for $1999 and boasts features like the M2 Max chip, which is 25% faster than the M1 Max, allowing for 50% faster video processing in software like DaVinci Resolve, support for up to 22 streams of 8K pro res video, up to six Pro Displays XDRs, and up to 240Hz frame rate.

The company plans to make it available for purchase Monday with shipping beginning next week.