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M5 Ultra is featured in recent coverage regarding local AI model execution on Apple desktop hardware. Reports examine how networked desktop systems handle Meta models locally without cloud services.
Apple has begun selling the Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM, exclusive to the top M5 Ultra chip. The upgrade costs $15,500 extra, pushing the starting price to $22,299, with units shipping late November.
Apple and Meta teamed up to run the 816-billion-parameter Muse Spark Open AI model on linked M5 Ultra Mac Studios via Thunderbolt 5, though the required memory setups carry five-figure price tags.
Meta has released Muse Spark Open — a new open-weight AI model built for desktop agentic work — and says it runs best on Apple’s Mac Studio with M5 Ultra chip.
Apple's desktop lineup has a new M6 Mac Mini and M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio models, according to Wired's testing, while the iMac remains unchanged since 2024 with an M4 chip starting at $1,499.