Apple Boosts 8K Processing
NHK has previously confirmed to us that 8K editing is possible with older MacBooks, but now Apple has updated its Mac Pro high end workstation with its M2 Ultra chip which can support 22 streams of 8K ProRes playback. The performance is said to be dramatically higher than the previous Intel-based Apple Pro. Apple added this note:
Testing conducted by Apple in April and May 2023 using pre-production Mac Pro systems with Apple M2 Ultra, 24-core CPU, 76-core GPU, 192GB of RAM, and 8TB SSD. Prerelease Final Cut Pro 10.6.6 tested using a 1-minute picture-in-picture project with 22 streams of Apple ProRes 422 video at 8192×4320 resolution and 30 frames per second. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro can support up to three 8K 60Hz displays.
The Mac Studio was also updated with two versions:
- M2 Max chip with support for two displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with 8K resolution at 60Hz. The M2 Max-based model supports 10 streams of 8K ProRes 4:2:2 60Hz playback
- M2 Ultra chip with three displays with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz and the same 22 streams as the Mac Pro
