Professional storage and networking accessory company Sonnet Technologies today announced a pair of solutions for Mac Studio users who are looking to rack mount their machines alongside other components.
The RackMac Studio is a 3U rackmount enclosure measuring 9.5 inches deep that can support a pair of Mac Studio units while preserving access to the front ports and offering front access to a USB-A port and the power button for each machine right from the front of the enclosure. Space beneath the Mac Studio units can also be used to house small peripherals like bus-powered external SSDs. It will be priced at $449.99 and will be available starting the week of October 24.
The xMac Studio is a larger enclosure that still measures 3U high but 16.5 inches deep and which can pair a single Mac Studio with Sonnet's Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion systems. The enclosure is available in three configurations for maximum flexibility: with either an Echo I or Echo III module or without a module in case you want to reuse an existing one. All versions also include a four-port USB-A hub fed from the Mac Studio, as well as a front-mounted power button and space underneath for small peripherals.
The Echo I module includes a single x16 PCIe slot for one full-height, full-length card, a single 40Gbps Thunderbolt port, dual fans, and a 400W power supply, while the Echo III module bumps that up to three PCIe slots (one x16 and two x8) and two Thunderbolt ports. The version without an expansion module will be priced at $549.99, while the Echo I version will be priced at $1,249.99 and the Echo III version will be priced at $1,649.99. The xMac Studio systems will begin shipping the week of September 26.
Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times.
The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said.
While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone.
iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
Friday November 14, 2025 3:23 pm PST by Juli Clover
Most of Apple's Macs are slated to get M5 chips across 2026, and there's a possibility we'll even see the first M6 chips toward the end of the year. Updates are planned for everything from the MacBook Air to the Mac Studio.
MacBook Air (Early 2026)
The MacBook Air will be one of the first Macs to get a 2026 refresh, with an update planned for the first few months of the year. The MacBook...
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account.
In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose.
Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Sunday November 16, 2025 6:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that Tesla plans to add Apple CarPlay support to its vehicles "in the coming months."
This is easily the biggest news for the regular version of CarPlay in years, should Tesla actually follow through with offering the system in its vehicles.
As noted by Gurman, this would be a stunning reversal for Tesla and its CEO Elon ...
Has anyone been able to get GPUs working with M1 Macs via Thunderbolt to PCIe bridges?
There are zero 3rd parth GPU drivers for macOS on M-seires. In fact, there is not even an DriverKit API for "Graphics" at all for 3rd party drivers. There is a PCI-e DriverKit API. So there are already more than several cards that work. Apple has provide not even a long term abstraction on how to get 3rd party GPUs working with Apple Silicon. It has been three WWDCs (2020 , 2021 , 2022 ) and nothing.
I would not hold my breath waiting on one. Intel's current purgatory on jacked up , immature GPU drivers is only even more evidence about why Apple probably is in zero hurry to provide one. Just getting the Apple GPU driver family smoothly flushed over a much wider breadth of performance implementations and a large set of 3rd party controlled applications fully updated on optimizations is a huge task.
I have used the xMac 2013 MacPro version of this with PCI expansion and currently using the Mac Mini version of this with my M1 Mini and BlackMagic Decklink Duo 2. They are rock solid. I have been holding off on getting a Studio until Sonnet made a solution for it.
Looks good and is something I would do but the price is hilarious.
How is it hilarious? The price is nothing to the professionals who will be purchasing it. If you're able to afford a Mac Studio, surely you are able to afford this, or at least be able to get the work, to then be able to afford this. Surely this was not made for the hobbyist.
