Studio M1 Max vs Studio M1 Ultra
Among other differences are the 2 front ports
M1 Max has 2 x USB-C
M1 Ultra has 2 x Thunderbolt 4
What does Thunderbolt 4 do that USB-C can't?
Mac Studio
Question marked as
From the Tech Specs:
On front (M1 Max):
- Two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s)
On front (M1 Ultra):
- Two Thunderbolt 4 ports (up to 40Gb/s)
Thunderbolt is a better interface, but the bottom line from most people is speed. Do you need to connect something on the front that transfers data at 40Gb/s or just 10Gb/s. If you don't know that you'll need that type of transfer rate on the front panel, you probably don't need the Thunderbolt ports on the front. It seems odd that Apple isn't putting full USB4 on those ports, though.
You can also push video through Thunderbolt, but the tech specs do not indicate if the two ports on the front are full Thunderbolt/DisplayPort/USB, but I can't imagine they are not.
