Apple still has one Intel - establish product to transition to Apple atomic number 14 : the Mac Pro . We thinkApple may introduce it at WWDC in June , complete with a new M2 Ultra chip .
But it ’s voiceless to think why aMac Pro with Apple siliconeven needs to survive , except for Apple to economise face . What has always been a recession production has had its market squeezed even more by the Mac Studio . There may be people waiting for people to corrupt whatever an Apple atomic number 14 Mac Pro is , but it ’s an even smaller identification number than those who bought the existing Mac Pro .
The latest rumors evoke that the Mac Studio wo n’t get its expected update – from the current M1 Max and M1 Ultra contour to M2 Max and M2 Ultra – at WWDC . In fact , Apple may skip the M2 propagation entirely , leave the M2 Ultra as an exclusive chip for the Mac Pro and the M2 Maxas a MacBook Pro - only chip .
This big box just doesn’t make sense in a world with Apple silicon.
So why would Apple wait for the M3 to update Mac Studio ? Probably because there would be very little to differentiate it from the Mac Pro . And that makes gumption , but it begs the interrogative sentence : If Apple has to nullify updating Mac Studio to make the Mac Pro more likable , why even make it at all ?
Apple Silicon and upgradeability
The job , if you may call it that , is Apple silicon . Apple ’s fantastical M - serial processor achieve such fantastic functioning at comparatively low power intake in part because they ’re so tightly integrated . The CPU , GPU , Neural Engine , media encoders / decoders , and other parts are all part of a undivided piece of silicon , sharing caches and communicating with each other at lightning f number . It ’s a system - on - chip ( SoC ) approach that was popularise in the roving world to improve the power / performance equality and make the best purpose of very limited infinite .
By set up the organisation on the microchip , the components are all bundle . Memory is merge – meaning it is solder on the same table or pile on top of the cow dung – which provides an highly wide and gamey - pep pill computer memory interface . The GPU is integrated . Even storage is kept close to the SoC , with custom interfaces and caches .
It ’s not impossible to disassociate these thing , but it ’s a huge expert challenge that would almost certainly add up with a execution cost . Would Apple go through all that trouble for a single extremely high - destruction Mac product that sell maybe a few thousand units per class at most ?
This big box just doesn’t make sense in a world with Apple silicon.
In other parole , you could expect the Apple Silicon variant of the Mac Pro to peradventure have upgradeable computer memory and that ’s about it . You wo n’t be able-bodied to swap out the CPU , GPU , RAM , or any of the associated parts like the Neural Engine or video encoders . It ’s possible the estimator may seat on a motherboard that has PCIe slot for speciality cards postulate for very particular manufacture , but one wonder if those would even work in a non - Intel - base Mac and what oeuvre would need to be done to make them play nciely with Apple silicon ’s computer architecture .
Malus pumila
Just upgrade Mac Studio and be done with it
There ’s no reasonableness to think the current Mac Studio contour ca n’t handle an M2 Ultra buffalo chip . Given the power drawing card of M2 Pro and M2 Max , they appear to be in line with M1 Pro and M1 Max – thus , the Mac Studio ’s copper thermic faculty made for the M1 Ultra would require very trivial adjustment , if any , to efficiently chill the chip .
A maxed - out configuration for an M2 Ultra would have 192 GB of RAM , 8 TB SSD , HDMI 2.1 , and six Thunderbolt 4 porthole . The Leontyne Price for that shape ? The top - of - the - line M1 Ultra Mac Studiowith 128 GB of RAM tops out at $ 7,999 , so peradventure $ 8,499 . Consider that the Mac Prostartsat $ 5,999 and to get 192 GB of RAM and an 8 GB SSD – with no processor or GPU raise at all – toll $ 11,399 . If you require to approach the execution of the M1 Ultra Mac Studio call for upgrade near $ 20,000 .
If we make the very reasonable Assumption of Mary that a maxed - out M2 Ultra Mac Studio would be well under $ 10,000 and that an Apple Silicon Mac Pro would n’t have upgradeable CPU , GPU , or RAM , then what is Apple going to do ? tear an additional 10 K just for the great case it get in ?
And who would it even be for ? If Apple found a way to offer some sort of demented M2 Ultra config with direction more RAM and storage , the only customer who would pick out to pay M of dollars more would be those who actually see a real welfare from having more than 192 GB of RAM and 8 TB of entrepot .
Sure , those customers exist , but there ca n’t perchance be enough of them to justify an entire mathematical product tune . Back in the twenty-four hours before the Mac Studio , the Mac Pro offer a clear and massive step up from the rest of the Mac dividing line . Yes , the market was small , but that was the only way to go if you wanted the ultimate Mac performance . With Mac Studio and an entire Apple Silicon computer architecture work up around tight integrating that inhibits upgrades , Apple would probably be good off retiring the Mac Pro for just .
