What just happened? At WWDC 2023, Apple announced a ton of new hardware products, including the much-awaited Vision Pro mixed-reality headset that people have been talking about for years. Alongside that, the company unveiled a host of Macs, including a 15-inch MacBook Air, a new Mac Pro desktop tower powered by the all-new M2 Ultra chip, and the second-generation Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra.

The new Mac Studio has the same design and form factor as the first-generation model, but with multiple hardware upgrades. To start off, the device is available in two avatars, one powered by the M2 Max chip and another by the M2 Ultra. Apple claims that the M2 Ultra Mac Studio is "up to three times faster" than the M1 Ultra model launched last year, and up to six times faster than the top-end 27-inch Intel iMac.

The M2 Max has a 12-core CPU, a 30- or 38-core GPU, support for up to 96 GB of RAM, 400GB/s of memory bandwidth, and a 16-core neural engine, while the M2 Ultra is essentially two M2 Max chips fused together to deliver double the firepower. It has a 24-core CPU, 60- or 76-core GPU, support for up to 192GB of RAM, and 800GB/s of memory bandwidth. It also has a 32-core neural engine and 134 billion transistors.

Connectivity options in both models include a high-bandwidth HDMI port that supports up to an 8K 240Hz display, as well as 4x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2x USB-A ports, a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone socket at the back.

On the front, you get 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports and an SDXC card slot. The device also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. The M2 Ultra Mac Studio supports up to six Pro Display XDRs.

The upgraded hardware should result in noticeably faster performance in apps. According to Apple, 3D rendering in Octane will be up to three times faster with the M2 Ultra compared to last year's M1 Ultra model, while DaVinci Resolve should see 50 percent faster video processing speeds.

You can already order the new Mac Studio from Apple's website, and it will be available in stores from June 13. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the M2 Max model, while the M2 Ultra variant starts at $3,999. A fully maxed-out M2 Ultra version with the 38-core GPU, 192GB RAM, and 8TB SSD will cost you a cool $8,799, and that's without Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro pre-installed.