Technologies
Apple Mac Studio 2023 Review: Still the Creative Choice for Mac
There aren’t many changes to Apple’s midrange desktop. There didn’t need to be.
Like
- Fast and quiet
- Relatively compact
- HDMI 2.1
Don’t like
- M2 Max model has two less Thunderbolt connections than the M2 Ultra
There isn’t a lot to say about the latest generation of the Mac Studio: From a «put it on your desk and use it» perspective, it feels almost exactly like the model that preceded it, with the expected generation-over-generation tweaks we see routinely in laptops and desktops.
In sum, it delivers up to about 20% better performance over the equivalent last-generation M1 chip because it has more CPU and GPU cores, and because of the updated Wi-Fi (from 6 to 6E) and Bluetooth 5.3, it has more stable and potentially much faster wireless. That, plus upgraded HDMI 2.1 — what Apple refers to as «enhanced» HDMI — are certainly important new features, they just don’t change the experience much.
As much as I like the system — and I really do like it quite a lot — it’s a little hard to make a case for the M2 Max model. If you really need CPU and/or GPU power, you’re better off with an Ultra configuration at a not-cheap $4,399 ($3,999 if you lop a terabyte off the storage of our $3,199 test configuration). If you just want the CPU performance and are OK with a decent-ish GPU, the M2 Pro Mac Mini can be had for $1,000 less.
Apple Mac Studio 2023
| Price as reviewed | $3,199, £3,299, AU$5,099 |
|---|---|
| CPU | 3.3GHz Apple M2 Max 12 cores (8P/4E), 16-core Neural |
| Memory | 64GB LPDDR5 unified |
| Graphics | Integrated 38 cores |
| Storage | 2TB Apple SSD, SD card slot |
| Ports | 6x USB-C (2x Thunderbolt 4), 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio |
| Networking | 10Gbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Operating system | MacOS Ventura 13.4 |
| Dimensions | 3.7 x 7.7 x 7.7 in (9.5 x 19.7 x 19.7 cm) |
| Ship date | June 2023 |
Many creative apps, notably photo editing, still tend to use CPU resources more than GPU, and the M2 Pro has the same Neural cores as the M2 Max. And, while the Max handles some basic high-res video editing, you can get away with the cheaper model for 4K, but will probably want to bump up for higher resolutions.
Much also depends on what creative applications you’re using as well as how you’re using them. You’ll see a lot more custom MacOS optimization from, say, DaVinci Resolve than Premiere Pro, so throwing money at the Max over the Pro may not help you. And features that might theoretically benefit from more Neural cores (the Ultra has 2x the Max and below), may not perform the processing locally. For instance, the processing for Photoshop’s new Generative Fill takes place remotely, so your system doesn’t really have to do any heavy lifting.
The Pro also has the same encode/decode accelerators as the Max, while the Ultra has twice as many. And the Ultra configuration has two more Thunderbolt ports — its dual Max processor configuration means another Thunderbolt controller — which is important if you plan on using external drives for that.
03:14
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a group of buyers for whom the M2 Max combination of solid CPU and GPU performance is just right for the money — it’s just easier and probably sufficient to go cheaper or necessary to go pricier.
The upgraded HDMI means it can handle a 4K monitor at a refresh rates of up to 240Hz. It does enable variable refresh rate for monitors that support it, and as with the MacBook Pro you don’t have much control over it; you enable it in MacOS and it’s out of your hands.
Aside from gaming, where it’s key for avoiding artifacts caused by the disconnect between game frame rate and display screen update, one of the main reasons for VRR (ProMotion) is to save power on devices like the iPad and iPhone. That’s not a huge issue for a desktop, so unless you’re gaming you’re better off just setting it to a high but fixed rate and leave it.
The port layout is the same as it’s been since the system launched.
If you do plan on gaming, I’d wait for MacOS 14 Sonoma before committing. Depending on how many game developers take advantage of Apple’s DX11/DX12 emulation so you can run Windows games, and depending on how they perform, you may want to adjust your GPU requirements. At the moment, there aren’t many native Apple silicon games; most are mobile games running on top of Apple’s Rosetta emulator. You can run a virtual Windows machine like Parallels, but I’d probably vote Ultra for that.
Performance
Apple silicon’s performance remains remarkably consistent, in the sense that it’s more or less directly correlated with the number of cores (though that doesn’t mean it’s true for any specific application, because they’re too squidgy when it comes to producing generalizable results).
The 38-core GPU in the Studio’s M2 Max delivers about 20% better Metal performance over the 32-core GPU in the M1 Max, almost entirely because of the increase in the number of cores. For a frame of reference, the 38-core performance puts it roughly comparable to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, at least in one cross-platform benchmark (3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited), but there are a variety of metrics that simply aren’t reflected by that test.
Read more: Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch Review: Finally, Big for Less
Using it, though, we can extrapolate that the M2 Ultra’s 76-core version should provide a little less than twice that of the 38-core M2 Max and fall a little short of the RTX 4070 Ti. One interesting pattern that I see is that the more GPU cores there are the less you get out of each individual core within a given generation and about a 5% increase per core from M1 to M2.
As we’ve seen with the M1 generation, multicore CPU performance is almost identical for a given core configuration — in other words, the 12-core M2 Pro’s as fast as the 12-core M2 Max — and about 20% faster than the 10-core M1 Max. Because more cores. Single core speed is up by about 14%. For reference, the CPU performance seems about the same as an Intel Core i7-13700H.
I’ve only had a few days with the system, so I’m still sorting out the various performance nuances. I’m comfortable with the conclusions I’ve drawn thus far — it remains the excellent system it was when it debuted last year — but if necessary may update with more about this particular configuration for creative work and gaming.
Cinebench R23 CPU (multicore)
Cinebench R23 CPU (single core)
3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited
Configurations
| Apple Mac Mini (M2 Pro, 2023) | MacOS Ventura 13.2; Apple M2 Pro (12-core CPU,19-core GPU); 16GB LPDDR5 RAM; 1TB SSD |
|---|---|
| Apple Mac Mini (M2, 2023) | MacOS Ventura 13.2; Apple M2 (8 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores); 8GB LPDDR5 RAM; 256GB SSD |
| Apple Mac Studio (M1 Max, 2022) | MacOS Monterey 12.3; Apple M1 Max (10 CPU cores, 32 GPU cores); 64GB RAM; 2TB SSD |
| Apple Mac Studio (M2 Max, 2023) | MacOS Ventura 13.4; Apple M2 Max (12 CPU cores, 38 GPU cores); 64GB RAM; 2TB SSD |
| Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) | MacOS Monterey 12.4; Apple M1 Pro (10 CPU cores, 16 GPU cores); 32GB LPDDR5 RAM; 1TB SSD |
| Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) | MacOS Monterey 12.4; Apple M1 Max (12 CPU cores, 32 GPU cores); 32GB RAM; 512GB SSD |
| Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2023) | MacOS Ventura 13.2; Apple M2 Pro (12 CPU cores, 19 GPU cores); 32GB LPDDR5 RAM; 1TB SSD |
Technologies
Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Jan. 13, #1669
Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Jan. 13, No. 1,669.
Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, and it might make you hungry. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.
Read more: New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025
Today’s Wordle hints
Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.
Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats
Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.
Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels
Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.
Wordle hint No. 3: First letter
Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.
Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter
Today’s Wordle answer ends with O.
Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning
Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a spicy Cajun stew popular in New Orleans.
TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER
Today’s Wordle answer is GUMBO.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer
Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 12, No. 1,668 was TRIAL.
Recent Wordle answers
Jan. 8, No. 1,664: BLAST
Jan. 9, No. 1,665: EIGHT
Jan. 10, No. 1,666: MANIC
Jan. 11, No. 1,667: QUARK
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.
Some solid starter words to try:
ADIEU
TRAIN
CLOSE
STARE
NOISE
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 13 #681
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Jan. 13, No. 681.
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
It took me a while to figure out the theme for today’s NYT Strands puzzle, but once I did, I thought it was a fun one. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: You need to chill
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Brrrr!
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- GONE, ABLE, TABLE, FOOD, TEEN, LEAF, GOOF, GOOD, SAFE
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- PIZZA, SHERBET, POPSICLES, WAFFLES, VEGETABLES
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is FROZENFOOD. To find it, start with the F that is five letters down on the far-right row, and wind backward.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Toughest Strands puzzles
Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.
#1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.
#2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.
#3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.
Technologies
Anker’s Brand New Soundcore Aerofit Pro 2 Earbuds Are Barely a Week Old and They’re Already $30 Off
The AeroFit line has been one of our go-tos, and the brand-new Pro model is already easier to recommend thanks to a solid deal.
If you’re looking for earbuds that can keep up with your workouts, commutes and everything in between, the Anker AeroFit Pro 2 earbuds are worth a look. This brand-new model just launched last week, combining comfort, open-ear listening and active noise cancellation into one versatile package.
We expect big things from this new model — after all, the AeroFit 2 are one of our favorite earbuds, so this new model is bound to impress. Despite being so new, the AeroFit 2 Pro are already discounted to $150, down $30 from the launch price of $180. You’ll need to use promo code WSTDA3875US when you shop at Anker, giving you a head start on a top-tier open-ear experience.
What’s unique about the AeroFit Pro 2 is that the buds can switch between two forms with a simple adjustment of the ear hooks. That means you get both an open-ear design for breathable comfort and active noise cancellation for focused listening. Those same skin-friendly liquid silicone ear hooks ensure a secure fit that should stay comfortable all day.
Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.
Sound promises to be equally impressive. The earbuds offer studio-grade 11.8mm composite drivers, LDAC technology and dynamic head tracking deliver immersive, theatre-like audio. Four mics with AI call-boosting make your voice come through crystal-clear, even in noisy environments.
If you want to compare models, take a look at our roundup of the best open earbuds for 2026, and the best headphone deals for more savings.
HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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$248 (save $152)
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Why this deal matters
You have the chance to get a brand-new model from a proven line of favorites at a solid discount. With versatile forms, premium sound and top-notch microphones, the AeroFits Pro 2 is a flexible, high-quality option for any listener.
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