Here’s how much you’ll pay for Apple’s new MacBook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro

You know it’s a busy WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) when Apple has to cram a new MacBook Air, Mac Studio, Mac Pro and the anticipated M2 Ultra processing chip into a single press release.

What took up most of the keynote? Well, first of all there are some exciting updates coming to iOS 17 for iPhone, iPadOS 17, and WatchOS 10. Oh, and there was also the Apple Vision Pro; Apple’s long-rumoured mixed reality headset that’s either a revolution in mobile computing or a total flop that was revealed a little too late. One thing’s for sure, there are simply too many takes.

But we’re not here to contribute to the growing mound of Vision Pro takes, we’re here to talk about the overshadowed Mac products revealed at WWDC this year. Let’s jump right in with the new 15-inch MacBook Air

Apple finally revealed a 15-inch MacBook Air this year. For years, one tradeoff of the lighter MacBook Air has been the smaller 13-inch display; a positive for some.

Arriving June, the MacBook Air 15 is almost identical to the 13-inch MacBook Air. Other than the larger 15.3-inch display and improved sound system (six speakers with force-cancelling woofers,) this year’s MacBook Air isn’t an essential upgrade, but a somewhat affordable alternative to the more expensive MacBook Pro line. It even comes in all the existing MacBook Air colours; Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray and Silver.

The 15-inch M2 MacBook Air starts at $2,199 in Australia for the 256GB SSD model. You’ll pay an extra $300 ($2,499) to double the SSD storage to 512GB, an extra $600 for 512GB and an extra $1,200 for 2TB. Here’s a breakdown of MacBook Air 15 pricing:

Opting for the 15-inch MacBook Air over the 13 will only cost you $400 more. The M2 13-inch still starts at $1,799 while the 13-inch M1 MacBook (which this article was written on) is the cheapest of the range at $1,499.

Next up there’s the new Mac Studio models. Now available in M2 Max and M2 Multra, the second-generation continues to be a powerhouse upgrade to the compact Mac Mini.

The headline upgrades here are the M2 Max and all-new M2 Ultra processors inside. Apple claims the M2 Max is 50% faster than the previous Mac Studio. Some examples of the M2 Max’s improvements in practice include 50% faster rendering in After Effects, and 25% faster performance in Xcode. And the Mac Studio M2 Ultra doubles the performance of M2 Max; up to three times faster than the previous Mac Studio M1 Ultra. Examples of the M2 Max’s capabilities include 3x faster rendering in the 3D design program Octane, and 50% faster video processing in DaVinci Resolve.

The new Mac Studios also support 8K resolution and 240Hz refresh rates thanks to an updated high-bandwidth HDMI port. They also support WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10GB Ethernet port, two USB-A ports on the rear and an SD-card slot and two USB-C ports on the front.

As with the Mac Pro, the Mac Studio is aimed at professionals rather than the average consumer and is priced accordingly.

The Apple Mac Studio M2 Max starts at $3,299; that comes with 32GB unified memory and 512GB SSD storage. The Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra starts at $6,599, which comes with 64GB unified memory and 1TB of internal SSD storage.

Here’s a full breakdown of Mac Studio pricing in Australia.

The old Apple Cheese Grater; the infamously expensive Mac Pro. It’s been four years since Apple first introduced the luxurious Mac Pro, and in 2023, it’s only become more outlandish.

Sure, the Mac Pro is aimed at businesses with the kind disposable cash to fork out for such ludicrously-priced machines (businesses like NBCUniversal who won’t even agree to pay their writers a liveable wage,) but now it’s packing the new M2 Ultra SoC. Surely that’s worth one third of the average Australian’s yearly salary?

It’s a rough time to put such a high price on expediting labour; especially in the arts sector. Paying through the nose to eliminate the sweet few minutes creatives have to catch their breath. Maybe we just hand AI the keys and stop spending too much money on fancy tech altogether.

Anyway, here’s a list of prices I’d never be able to afford for something that’s going to be replaced in a few years anyway.

If you’ve made it this far through the article, you already know that the Mac Pro is going to cost you a fortune. Honestly, the Mac Pro makes the Vision Pro look like a Happy Meal toy. The Mac Pro Tower starts at $11,999 but can cost over $20,000 if you want the most storage, both the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, the highest performance and… wheels. Yeah, wheels are still going to cost you $600. In the words of Kendall Roy, it's enough to make you lose faith in capitalism.

Here’s a breakdown of the Mac Pro pricing. We’re not even going to the effort of listing out the additional costs involved with a racked Mac Pro model, but it will essentially cost you an additional $1,000 across the board.