Analyst claims MacBook Ultra might get up to 512 GB of RAM, courtesy of M5 Ultra SoC

Among other interesting tidbits regarding Apple's future MacBook lineup speculated by Omdia, the firm has also made a rather startling claim.

According to Omdia, the upcoming MacBook Ultra lineup will include a high-end configuration with the beastly M5 Ultra SoC, which will soon be available with up to 512 GB of memory later this October. Clearly, this is quite shocking, considering just how power-hungry the massive 36-core M5 Ultra happens to be.

This is even more confusing, considering that Mark Gurman, for a while now, has repeatedly claimed that the MacBook Ultra will once again focus on thinness. The 14-inch MacBook Pro (starting at $1,850 on Amazon) already struggles to tame the M5 Max, while the 16-inch manages, but not particularly without a fight.

It is possible that Apple may be gearing up to introduce an even larger variant of the MacBook Ultra with an optional M5 Ultra SoC, but considering Apple's obsession with maintaining unplugged performance, the rumor does seem to be wishful thinking at best.

That said, it is not physically impossible for a chunky laptop to house an SoC like the M5 Ultra. Apple silicon is impressively efficient, and the previous M3 Ultra housed in the Mac Studio, has a rated peak power draw of around 270 W. High-end desktop-replacement gaming laptops with Core Ultra 9/Ryzen 9 CPUs and RTX 5090 Laptop GPUs often boast similar power envelopes, such as the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18.

Needless to say, such laptops come with multiple downsides, such as severely degraded performance when unplugged, poor battery life by modern standards, and exceedingly heavy and thick designs. All of which are very unlike Apple.

Analysts with reliable track records have repeatedly stated that the MacBook Ultra will be available with only M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which seems far more likely. But of course, as with any pre-release chatter, Apple's plans may be subject to change.