Apple explains why the M1 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio is 2 kilos heavier

When Apple printed the spec sheets for its new Mac Studio pc, folks have been quick to voice their confusion about why on earth the model with the brand new M1 Ultra chip weighed an entire two kilos (virtually a kilogram) greater than the model with the M1 Max. While the M1 Ultra is mainly two M1 Maxes caught collectively, that’s not the rationale for the load distinction, in line with Apple. It seems, it comes all the way down to the steel used within the pc’s thermal programs.

Here’s what the corporate mentioned in an electronic mail to The Verge:

They have the identical 370W energy provide. The extra weight is because of M1 Ultra having a bigger copper thermal module, the place as M1 Max has an aluminum heatsink.

So there we go. Mystery solved. It’s not that the M1 Ultra required a beefier energy provide (which isn’t an unfair assumption) or that the followers are highly effective sufficient to push down the dimensions, as one Twitter user joked. It’s that it’s obtained a heavier steel — at room temperature, copper is 8.96 grams per cubic centimeter, whereas aluminum is a svelte 2.70 grams. That implies that, if the design of the heatsinks is strictly the identical, the copper model can be over 3 times heavier than the aluminum one.

It is value noting that copper isn’t routinely higher than aluminum. It’s actually all about design, as we realized when Sony changed the PS5’s heatsink with a smaller, lighter one, with out accruing a notable efficiency hit. We’ll probably have to attend for somebody to tear the 2 variations of the pc all the way down to see if there are any design adjustments within the Ultra model, however for now, it looks like the M1 Ultra’s added heft might be chalked as much as materials selections.