Apple's Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra chip. The figures here are Apple's, reviewers' and owners', and each one says whose it is.
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 to 18 weeks, 1 to 15 January 2027 | Apple's quote for the full M5 Ultra chip, in the UK and the US, and the dates that gives13 September 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio wait times: 16 to 18 weeks for the full chip | apple.com | store price |
| 6 to 7 weeks | The smaller M5 Ultra chip with 256GB, in the US13 September 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio wait times: 16 to 18 weeks for the full chip | apple.com | Apple's store |
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58.4 to 94.2 tok/s | Tokens a second on code, before the recipe and after10 October 2026, in Four DGX Sparks twice as fast at ordinary writing: the recipe, and a real session | my own test | measured by me |
| 28.2 to 60.4 tok/s | Tokens a second on a short answer, before and after10 October 2026, in Four DGX Sparks twice as fast at ordinary writing: the recipe, and a real session | my own test | measured by me |
| 110.7 against 65.2 tok/s | Tokens a second in total with four requests at once, against the week before10 October 2026, in Four DGX Sparks twice as fast at ordinary writing: the recipe, and a real session | my own test | measured by me |
| 33.8 tok/s on prose, 58.4 on code | The same model writing on my four DGX Sparks, the middle of six runs3 October 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio vs my four DGX Sparks: the same model | my own test | measured by me |
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90.3 tok/s on prose, 3,426 tok/s reading | The recipe author's own figures on his four DGX Sparks10 October 2026, in Four DGX Sparks twice as fast at ordinary writing: the recipe, and a real session | the recipe's page on GitHub | an owner's report |
These are other people's figures on their own machines, with their own settings. I have not checked them and they should not be set side by side with mine.
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 tok/s | MacStories' test of the same model on a Mac Studio10 October 2026, in Four DGX Sparks twice as fast at ordinary writing: the recipe, and a real session | MacStories, as quoted in episode 7 | a reviewer's test |
| 41 tok/s | GLM 5.3 Flash writing on the 256GB M5 Ultra Mac Studio3 October 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio vs my four DGX Sparks: the same model | macstories.net | a reviewer's test |
| 1,107 tok/s on a 13,639-token prompt | The Mac Studio reading a prompt3 October 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio vs my four DGX Sparks: the same model | macstories.net | a reviewer's test |
| No answer | The Mac Studio on a 258,025-token prompt3 October 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio vs my four DGX Sparks: the same model | macstories.net | a reviewer's test |
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 512GB and 1.2TB/s | Memory and memory bandwidth of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio28 September 2026, in Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB, and Apple's 3x cluster claim checked | apple.com | Apple's claim |
| 3 times | A cluster of Studios against a single Studio28 September 2026, in Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB, and Apple's 3x cluster claim checked | apple.com | Apple's claim |
| A 32K-token prompt on a 72B model, 4 machines against 1 | How Apple measured that 3x, from its footnote28 September 2026, in Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB, and Apple's 3x cluster claim checked | apple.com | the maker's claim |
| 1.2TB/s against 273GB/s | Memory bandwidth of the M5 Ultra against a DGX Spark13 September 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio wait times: 16 to 18 weeks for the full chip | apple.com | the maker's claim |
| 273 GB/s | One DGX Spark's memory bandwidth1 September 2026, in Two DGX Sparks or a Mac Studio Ultra: the same 256GB, the numbers side by side | see the story | the maker's claim |
| 819 GB/s | The M3 Ultra Mac Studio's memory bandwidth1 September 2026, in Two DGX Sparks or a Mac Studio Ultra: the same 256GB, the numbers side by side | see the story | the maker's claim |
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 to 12 weeks | The wait AppleInsider reported for a fully specified Mac Studio13 September 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio wait times: 16 to 18 weeks for the full chip | appleinsider.com | reported |
| £5,499 and 1.2TB/s | The M5 Ultra's base price and memory bandwidth1 September 2026, in Two DGX Sparks or a Mac Studio Ultra: the same 256GB, the numbers side by side | see the story | reported |
| Figure | What it is | From | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,257 tok/s, 2.04 times | My four DGX Sparks reading a prompt, against the Mac Studio3 October 2026, in M5 Ultra Mac Studio vs my four DGX Sparks: the same model | 2,257 divided by 1,107 | my own maths |
| $21,996 | Four Studios at the starting price for the M5 Ultra28 September 2026, in Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB, and Apple's 3x cluster claim checked | 4 times $5,499 | my own maths |
I moved my four DGX Sparks to a recipe that another owner published on GitHub, and ordinary writing roughly doubled on the same hardware and the same model. The recipe is only a few weeks old, and these are one owner's figures from one cluster.
MacStories tested GLM 5.3 Flash, the model my cluster runs, on a 256GB M5 Ultra Mac Studio, in a review I had missed. One Mac Studio writes about as fast as my four DGX Sparks and my Sparks read a prompt 2.04 times as fast, but the comparison is a rough one.
Apple says its latest Mac Studio can hold 512GB of memory in one box, the same as my whole cluster of four DGX Sparks, and that a cluster of Studios runs AI up to 3x faster than one. I looked up how Apple measured that, and I would wait for independent measurements before ordering.
On 11 September Apple's own store was quoting 16 to 18 weeks for any Mac Studio with the full M5 Ultra chip, which meant January. The 512GB option, the one Mac that could hold a four bit build of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, could not be ordered at all.
A buyer with two new DGX Sparks asked on Reddit whether to send them back now that Apple had announced the M5 Ultra Mac Studio. I put my own cluster's numbers next to what Mac Studio owners measure, and I think the answer depends on the work: short questions suit the Mac, and agents and long documents suit the Sparks.