Following the appearance of Geekbench 6 speed tests for the M2 Ultra Mac Studio on June 9, MacRumors spotted the first benchmarks for the similarly equipped Mac Pro. And as expected, it’s really fast.
The “Mac14.8” (with the M2 Ultra processor and 64GB of RAM, a standard Mac Pro configuration that starts at $6,999) appeared in Geekbench’s database on June 13. It scored 2,794 in the single-core test and a phenomenal 21,453 in multi-core. For comparison, the Mac Studio with the less capable M2 Max, which we just reviewed, scored 15,081 in multi-core, itself a blockbuster performance. The all-new MacBook Air M2, meanwhile, scored 10,030.
Foundry
Given that the Mac Pro exists in its own little niche, however, it may be more relevant to compare the new Pro’s numbers with those of its immediate predecessor, the latest Intel-based Mac Pro. We’ve never run benchmarks on this machine, but MacRumors helpfully notes that its top configuration (one with a 28-core Xeon W processor, starting at $12,999) scored 10,390 in Geekbench’s multi-core test. It’s been four years, sure, but more than double the performance for 54% of the price is a decent step up in anyone’s book.
By the way, Geekbench scores don’t list machines by their mainstream brand, but it’s an open secret that “Mac14.8” stands for the 2023 Mac Pro, just like “Mac14.4” stands for the new Mac Studio. (However, Apple hasn’t publicly acknowledged this; at the time of writing its ID page, the most recent model is the 2019 Mac Pro, also known as “MacPro7.1”.) Both machines show up in Geekbench’s database with the M2 Ultra, and only Pro and Studio can get this chip… at least for now.
The new Mac Pro, as noted, starts at $6,999 and comes with the M2 Ultra as standard. It’s available for purchase now from Apple’s online store.
