I never expected that just upgrading the memory would cost an extra NT$542,500—that’s outrageously expensive. Apple announced the new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips in August, and at the time it said it would support up to 512GB of unified memory, but when it went on sale in September, that capacity was not offered as an option; the M5 Ultra maxed out at 256GB.
Earlier, Apple finally announced the price of the 512GB version and opened orders. On Taiwan’s official website, configuring 512GB of memory brings the minimum total for a Mac Studio to NT$787,900, approaching NT$790,000. If memory prices keep rising like this, we might see a Mac Studio costing over NT$1 million in the future.
512GB of memory is only available on the top-spec M5 Ultra, with an option surcharge of NT$542,500 and a minimum full-system price of NT$787,900.
Apple earlier made the 512GB unified memory option for Mac Studio available in its online store. This capacity is limited to the top-spec M5 Ultra with a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU. I actually went through the configuration process once: the 512GB memory upgrade costs NT$542,500, bringing the total price of the machine to a minimum of NT$787,900. Orders currently indicate a wait of 10–12 weeks, which means that if you order now, it might not start arriving until January next year:
The new Mac Studio has two chip options: M5 Max and M5 Ultra.
The M5 Max features an 18-core CPU, with GPU options of 32 cores and 40 cores, and memory starting at 36GB and up to 128GB. The M5 Ultra comes in two configurations: a 30-core CPU/64-core GPU and a 36-core CPU/80-core GPU, with memory starting at 96GB.
On the official website, if you select 512GB of memory, you’ll be required to choose the 36-core version of the M5 Ultra chip; no other versions are offered:
The following are the memory capacities available for each chip configuration:
| Chip configuration | CPU | GPU | Optional memory | Memory bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M5 Max | 18-core | 32 or 40 cores | Starting at 36GB, up to 128GB | Up to 614GB/s |
| M5 Ultra | 30 cores | 64 cores | 96GB、256GB | 1.2TB/s※ |
| M5 Ultra (top-spec) | 36 cores | 80 cores | 96GB、256GB、512GB | 1.2TB/s |
Although the starting price of the M5 Ultra on Apple’s Taiwan official website is NT$199,900, this is the base model with a 30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 96GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. If you want to select 512GB, the first step is to add NT$45,500 to upgrade to the 36-core version, and the second step is to add NT$542,500 to upgrade the memory from 96GB to 512GB, bringing the total price to nearly NT$790,000.
| Optional items | Taiwan prices |
|---|---|
| M5 Ultra Mac Studio starting price (30-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 96GB, 1TB) | NT$199,900 |
| Upgrade to 36-core CPU / 80-core GPU | +NT$45,500 |
| Memory upgrade from 96GB to 512GB | +NT$542,500 |
| Lowest full-system price for 512GB (1TB storage) | NT$787,900 |
| Reference: RAM upgrade from 96GB to 256GB | +NT$140,000 |
| Reference: Storage 1TB upgraded to 16TB | +NT$262,500 |
512GB unified memory is finally officially available, giving those planning to use Mac Studio to run local AI models, large audio/video projects, and research computing a better option. However, the starting price of NT$787,900 is already at the budget level of studio or enterprise procurement.
Source: KOCPC Chinese