Imagine this: an alternate earth, with alternate economics, influences, design teams, and whatnot. In this alternate universe, Apple unveiled the Mac Studio in 2006, alongside the first generation of Intel Macs.

The Mac Studio was released as an answer for a more powerful small form factor/ITX workstation, a step up from the Mac mini. In this universe, the Power Mac G4 cube never fell by the wayside. People saw the value in a compact Mac with strong GPU/CPU performance, which offers more expandability than an iMac/Mac mini, yet costing less than a comparable Power Mac.

The final ‘Cube of this alternate universe sold as a Dual CPU 1.67 Ghz G4, with a DVD-DLSD “Dual-layer” DVD drive, 1 GB of PC-4200 533 MHz DDR2, a 160GB HDD, and an AGP-based ATI Radeon X850XT. In a move as controversial as the release of the G4 cube itself, Apple chose to price the G4 cube at $1299 as opposed to $1599 in our timeline.

This model stayed in the Mac lineup with relatively low popularity despite initial hype. Receiving yearly spec changes during the PowerPC era, the G4 Cube then morphed into a Mac Studio once the perfect storm was brewing. On February 21, 2001, the base configuration cube was dropped to just $999.

In 2003, Apple had promised the PowerPC G5 chip would reach 3 GHz, and as 2005 rolled around, this didn’t end up happening. While the Power Mac G5 was comparatively faster than an iMac G5 and other PowerPC Macs, it didn’t accomplish the price to performance ratio expected by customers.

This prompted Apple to create a new product targeted at creative professionals at a lower cost, as a concession to soften the reality: those who had spent many thousands on their “current” Power Mac G5’s will soon be without software support at all. There’s a good chance this model had no place to be in 2006, hence, why we didn’t see one.

It’s easy to make conclusions in hindsight, but the incentives were certainly there to imagine what a preemptive solution could have looked like.. if all the stars aligned to make it so.

What’s new

The Late 2006 Mac Studio uses the same Chipset found in the Mac Pro, but uses a different type of Xeon from the ULV/LV “low voltage” range to maintain thermals in such a small enclosed space. The memory bus is at 1066 MHz, maxes out at 8 GB (Can be 16GB if you flash Mac Studio 2,1 firmware onto here and upgrade to OS X Mavericks), features a discrete ITX-sized PCI-Express GPU, and starts with a 160GB hard drive.

Above: What a Mac Studio would have looked like in person (click to enlarge).

Details

• Announced September 6th, 2006
• Part No: MS130 (Xeon UV-5128 1.86 GHz)
  • MS131 (Xeon UV-5138 2.13 GHz)
• Apple model number: A- (EMC -)
  Model ID: MacStudio1,1
  • (MacStudio1,2 for Xeon UV-5148)
• Model No: A1208a; Apple uses a taller version of the original Apple TV case.
• Latest EFI Boot ROM: EFI 1.1.9

Mac OS

• Requires Mac OS X 10.4.10 to 10.7 Lion; Internal GPU can be replaced to support Mac OS X 10.8 to 10.11.6 El Capitan.
  ,
• The 2006 Mac Studio cannot be upgraded past OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan due to the lack of SSE 4.2 in Woodcrest CPUs.
  .
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatibility
  • Grand Central Dispatch is supported.
  • 64-bit software is supported.

Core System

• Intel Xeon LV5128 ($1599): 1.86 GHz, 1 GB 1066 MHz DDR2 DIMM (2x 512MB)
  • 65nm Woodcrest Q2 ’06, 40W TDP, 4MB L2, T-case is 58c.
    .
• Intel Xeon LV5138 ($1799): 2.13 GHz, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR2 DIMM (2x 512MB)
  • 65nm Woodcrest Q2 ’06, 35W TDP, 4MB L2, T-case is 70.8c.
    .
• Intel Xeon LV5148 ($2199): 2.33 GHz, 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR2 DIMM (2x 512MB)
  • 65nm Woodcrest Q2 ’06, 40W TDP, 4MB L2, T-case is 58c.
  • This was a BTO/CTO option, which also carries a separate model identifier: MacStudio1,2

Video

• Full-sized PCIe v1.1 slot – for desktop sized GPUs.
  • Apple offered a configuration without the optical drive, to accommodate more room for a double-wide GPU. Users may also remove their own DVD drive, however, this BTO option comes without the DVD slot up front.
    .
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT with 256 MB RAM
  • Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT with 512 MB RAM optional (add $199)
  • ATI Radeon X1900 XTwith 512 MB RAM optional (add $349)
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512 MB RAM optional (add $599)
    .
• Video out: DVI, Mini-DVI

Drives

• Hard drive: 160 Serial ATA 7200 rpm standard, up to 2 drives
  • 250 GB / 500 GB drive options
  • 250 GB / 500 GB Second HDD options
    .
• Optical drive bus: UltraATA
  .
• SuperDrive DL: writes DVD±R discs at up to 8x speed, DL at 2.4x; DVD±RW at 4x; reads DVDs at up to 8x; writes CD-R discs at up to 24x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x, reads CDs at up to 24x

Expansion

• USB 2.0: 5 ports
• FireWire 400 ports: 1
• FireWire 800 ports: 1
• Ethernet: 10/100/gigabit
• WiFi: 802.11g AirPort Extreme built in
• Bluetooth 2.0: standard
• IR receiver: supports Apple Remote (included)
• no internal modem; external USB modem available
• Microphone: (Input port)
• 3.5mm Headphone jack
• Power supply: 219W external power supply
• PRAM battery: 3V CR2032 lithium

Physical

• Dimensions: 4.76″ x 7.7″ x 7.7″
• Weight: 11.4 lb.

Upgrades

• While the Mac Studio ships with Xeons, they are incompatible with the Quad-Core models due to TDP constraints. Users have successfully upgraded theirs to dual core x51xx Woodcrest Xeons, but the Studio does not boot with a x53xx Xeon as they draw too much power.
  • Warning: DO NOT Attempt to boot with an X5355 CPU specifically as this CPU is known to cause a PSU short even by attempting to press the on button.
    .
• Memory Expandable up to 16 GB when flashed to a MacStudio2,1 ROM.
• 2x 2.5″ SATA Ports