By Dan Moren

March 8, 2022 11:42 AM PT

Peek Performance: A few details Apple didn’t discuss onstage

Note: This story has not been updated since 2022.

As always, the facts come fast and furious at an Apple event, so some details about its latest products fall through the cracks. Others, the company chooses not to dish out, leaving instead for its press releases and product pages.

Here are a few things that you might not have caught in the initial barrage.

Inside baseball

Apple’s new venture with Major League Baseball, “Friday Night Baseball” will be available without an Apple TV+ subscription for the time being, but according to the company’s press release, it will eventually require viewers to pony up.

“Friday Night Baseball” will be available on Apple TV+ — and, for a limited time, without the need for a subscription.¹

However, Friday Night Baseball won’t be the only baseball content Apple’s providing. There’s also a live show airing every weeknight, “MLB Big Inning”, featuring highlights and glimpses of games. Plus, there’s a 24/7 livestream with replays, classic games, and more, as well as on-demand content.

Can’t stand it

Apple’s new Studio Display looks impressive, but depending on how you want to mount it, it could cost a little bit more.

Either the standard tilt stand or a VESA mount option will be included in that base $1599 price, but if you want the fancier height-adjustable stand, it’ll boost the price $400 to $1999. (Still a fraction of the cost of the $999 Pro Stand for the Pro Display XDR, so I guess Apple’s been improving the cost-efficiency of its stand technology.)

Oh, and the nano-texture option on the glass to reduce glare will cost an additional $300 over the display’s base price.

Your Studio, your way

$1999 isn’t a bad intro-level price for the Mac Studio: for that, you get an M1 Max processor with a 10-core CPU and 24-core GPU.

Jumping to a 32-core GPU will cost you $200, and from there you’ll have to make the move to the M1 Ultra, with a 20-core CPU and 48-core GPU for $1400. The higher powered 64-core GPU M1 Ultra will really ratchet up the cost, by $2400.

RAM options aren’t for the faint of heart either. The base model has 32GB of unified memory, with an option to pay $400 for 64GB.

Going higher than that, to 128GB, requires the M1 Ultra chip and will set you back $1200 from the base model. (Obviously, it’s a little cheaper if you start with the M1 Ultra model.)

The base model also comes with a 512GB SSD, with options to upgrade to 1TB for $200, 2TB for $600, 4TB for $1200, or $2400 for 8TB.

The only other key difference between M1 Max and M1 Ultra models are that the former has only USB-C ports on the front, as opposed to the latter which features Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The $3999 model, by comparison, starts with an M1 Ultra, 64GB of memory, and 1TB SSD.

And in case you’re wondering what the most expensive model would be, maxing out the high-end model will take you to $7999—and that’s without keyboard, pointing device, or display.

27 ways to say goodbye

At the end of the event, Apple senior vice president of hardware, John Ternus, made an interesting pronouncement:

They join the rest of our incredible Mac lineup with Apple silicon, making our transition nearly complete, with just one more product to go: Mac Pro. But that is for another day.

It’s an interesting statement, given that many had expected a replacement for the 27-inch iMac to appear at some point. And Ternus’s statement doesn’t preclude it—there’s every possibility Apple could roll one out in the coming months, treating it as nothing more than an expansion of the existing iMac line. (Though it would be harder to imagine it being branded as an “iMac Pro” then, as many have predicted.)

However, as the dust of the event cleared, the existing 27-inch iMac was nowhere to be found: it’s no longer displayed on the Mac section, nor is it obviously available for purchase on Apple’s website. Putting it in the Compare tool shows no price, nor Buy button.

So is there a replacement on the way? We’ll probably have to wait until June—at least—to find out.

Updated at 4:37pm Eastern to clarify the status of Friday Night Baseball.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]

If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.