If I had to guess , I ’d say Apple sold few than 1,000 Mac Pros last year . Between the long hold for Apple silicon , the reaching of theMac Studio , and the deficiency of meaningful upgrades , Apple ’s most expensive Mac belike only betray to the most desperate or incognizant Apple buyers .
That was n’t supposed to be the case . When John Ternus tease the Apple atomic number 14 Mac Pro for “ another day ” at Apple ’s Peek Performance outcome last March , he seemed to give a nod and a wink to the most fanciful rumors of a machine significantly great than the just - announce Mac Studio and its massive M1 Ultra chipping . Fast - forward 10 months , and we ’re still waiting for theApple atomic number 14 Mac Proto arrive .
The safest bet would be the new Mac Pro arriving at WWDC , where the past three models made their entry in2006,2013 , and2019 . Apple likes to make a freehanded splash with its Mac Pro , and the WWDC keynote is the perfect spot to do it , with a captive audience of user ready and willing to spend $ 5,999 on a Mac “ designed for professional who want theultimatein CPU performance . ”
However , while there ’s little doubt that the new Mac Pro will again take its rightful position at the top of the Mac Great Pyramid , the pep pill gains might not be anywhere well-nigh as impressive as former models . When the M1 Ultra brought a whopping 20 - core central processor and 64 - heart GPU to theMac Studio , hearsay began twirl of an “ Extreme ” microprocessor chip with an insane 48 CPU nub and 152 computer graphic essence , more than twice as powerful as the upper - oddment Mac Studio . It would be the ultimate display of Apple silicon ’s military posture and usher in a new Mac Pro genesis that has few if any peers . Now , areport by Mark Gurman of Bloombergclaims that Apple has canceled the workstation - class “ Extreme ” chip and will settle for a slightly souped - up extremist processor instead .
That ’s still tight , mind you , but the difference between it and the Mac Studio – even if it stays with an M1 microprocessor chip for another year – won’t be as orotund as we hop . So if the Mac Pro is n’t the libertine Mac you could purchase now and the new manakin wo n’t be importantly quicker when it launch later this year , why does it even survive ?
Identity crisis
harmonise to Gurman ’s report , the Mac Pro will feature an M2 Ultra processor with a 24 - marrow C.P.U. and 76 - core GPU , the same showcase pattern as the current model , and “ slots ” for depot , graphics , culture medium , and networking cards but not retention . ( It ’s not entirely clear how art enlargement would crop with Apple ’s organisation - on - chip , but Gurman had antecedently report that the Mac Pro would have “ well-to-do expandability for extra memory , ” so it ’s possible his source is wrong on the support for graphics cards . ) Expansion is obviously crucial for the Mac Pro , but with the 40Gb / s pep pill of Thunderbolt , internal raise are n’t as important anymore . And the lack of aftermarket RAM upgrade mean Apple does n’t make any Macs with substance abuser - upgradable memory .
But the larger dubiousness is , what ’s the identicalness of the Mac Pro ? Over the past decade or so , the Mac Pro has consistently been Apple ’s most groundbreaking and powerful background political machine , from the fascinating yet frustrative cylinder to the current model ’s state - of - the - graphics thermal computer architecture and $ 699 wheels . As the Apple atomic number 14 modulation has rolled on , however , the Mac Pro has become less and less relevant and worthy of its price , and it ’s in desperate need of a rejuvenation , one that we strike was on the way .
The Mac Studio is as fast as a Mac Pro and can tally under a Studio Display .
Willis Lai / Foundry
But if the new mannikin is only a little faster than the Mac Studio and a little more expandable than , say , the MacBook Pro , it ’s not really a Mac Pro is it ? Over the course of the Apple silicon transition , Apple has alreadykilled the iMac Proand the27 - column inch iMacwithout so much as a farewell , and the Mac Pro seems to correspond the same logic : a vestige of an previous epoch that does n’t live up to its own bequest . After the 24 - inch iMac and MacBook Pro take impressive redesigns to accompany their new chip , I adopt the first Apple silicon Mac Pro would be something basal and rotatory , needing age of evolution and a right introduction to cap the modulation .
After all , that ’s what the Mac Proshouldbe . If it ’s not , again I ask , is it really a Mac Pro ?
I had previously mused that the Mac Studio was a stop - opening auto intend to fill the space between Mac Pro update , but now I ’m not so sure . I assumed the Apple silicon Mac Pro would be nothing short of a breakthrough , with a new class of processor , a radically new form cistron , and a new identity that put it back on the map . Apple had an opportunity to screw up our judgment with the design and speed of the Mac Pro and take its MPX modules to the next horizontal surface , but if it does n’t , mayhap the Mac Studioisall the pro Mac we need .
Assuming the cost of the Apple silicon Mac Pro remains at $ 5,999 and is only about 30 percent quicker than a maxed - out Mac Studio , it ’s difficult to see why anyone would drop another $ 1,000 for a larger case and internal enlargement . Apple already sells the Mac Studio with “ breakthrough operation , a wide range of connectivity for peripheral , and a modular organization to create the consummate setup , ” so if the Mac Pro does n’t bring a massive leap in performance , intent , and expandability , who do both need to be ?
We might not ever get that answer . Based on the Mac Pro ’s update cadence , the model that Apple released this year will belike still be around in three years . If Apple has a hard metre justify its world now , how is it going to look in 2026 ? If the rumor are correct and Apple wanted the Mac Pro to be something much bigger than it ’s exit to be , maybe it ’s good to only take out it from the lineup rather than keep its name and nothing else .
