Apple today showed a sneak peek into the future of the pro desktop with a first look at the next generation Mac Pro. Designed around a revolutionary unified thermal core, the Mac Pro introduces a completely new pro desktop architecture and design that is optimized for performance inside and out. With next generation Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-based flash storage, and ultra-fast ECC memory, the new 9.9-inch tall Mac Pro packs an amazing amount of power into an incredibly small package.
“With the latest Xeon processors, dual FirePro GPUs, ECC memory, PCIe-based flash and Thunderbolt 2, all built around a revolutionary thermal core, the next generation Mac Pro is the most radical Mac yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in the press release. “All this performance and expandability is packed into a dramatic new design that’s one-eighth the volume, and best of all, it will be assembled here in the USA.”
The next generation Mac Pro is architected around an ingenious unified thermal core that allows the desktop to efficiently share its entire thermal capacity across all the processors. The result is a pro desktop with breakthrough performance packed into a design that is one-eighth the volume of the current Mac Pro. Next generation Intel Xeon E5 processors with up to 12 core configurations deliver double the floating point performance. With two AMD FirePro workstation-class GPUs, the all-new Mac Pro is up to 2.5 times faster than the current Mac Pro and delivers up to an amazing 7 teraflops of compute power. The new Mac Pro also features PCIe-based flash storage that is up to 10 times faster than conventional desktop hard drives and includes the latest four-channel ECC DDR3 memory running at 1866 MHz to deliver up to 60GBps of memory bandwidth.* With all that power, the new Mac Pro lets you seamlessly edit full-resolution 4K video while simultaneously rendering effects in the background.
The next generation Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever built. With six Thunderbolt 2 ports that can deliver up to 20Gbps of bandwidth to each external device, Mac Pro is perfect for connecting to external storage, multiple PCI expansion chassis, audio and video breakout boxes, and the latest external displays, including 4K desktop displays. Each of the six Thunderbolt 2 ports supports up to six daisy-chained devices, giving you the ability to connect up to 36 high-performance peripherals. Thunderbolt 2 is completely backwards compatible with existing Thunderbolt peripherals, and allows you to transfer data between Macs faster and easier than ever.
The next generation Mac Pro will be available later this year. To learn more, visit www.apple.com/mac-pro.
*Performance claims are based on technical specifications of preproduction Mac Pro hardware as of June 2013.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Pure genius.
I’m already designing R2D2 styled legs for that thing 😀
this is a prank, right?
One word… WOW!
When I first heard rumors of this enclosed, expand on the outside type unit, I was skeptical. Might have even poo-pooed the idea.
I take it all back. This thing is COOL.
Apple had stuck with the previous Power Mac G5/Mac Pro design, mostly unchanged, for nearly a decade previously. When they finally decide to change it, we get…this. I suppose it was the logical progression from the old aluminum monolith design, but it’s curious, to say the least. G4 Cube pt. 2 meets the TAM subwoofer, or something else entirely?
Oh, and call me curious, but how has the adoption rate for Thunderbolt 1 been? Has it fully eclipsed Firewire 400/800, or is it lagging behind? Has there been any use of it outside of the Mac community? Haven’t seen much for TB peripherals outside of Apple Stores.
We had the Cube, now we have the Tube!!!
GM-
So how many are you going to buy?
You have been bitching for quite awhile now about the lack of Mac Pros and your NEED to upgrade and buy several computers.
Serious or Serial FUDster?
“Lack if innovation my ass” WWDC quote of the day!
A great line.
And delivered with just the right mix of humour and contempt.
“architected”? Really? That is not a word. “designed” is the word you were searching for. Architect is a person. Architecture is an object. Architected is not a verb.
http://www.architected-solutions.com
I realize they are using it as a name rather than as a verb, sort of.
All of the cat vs rumba videos will now be replaced with the cat curled up on top the mac pro reacting to the mac pro power being turned on….
He’ll have to move my bowl of croissants first.
It’s tubular man like the big waves at Mavericks… HANG TEN!
Way too cool looking to put under the desk. Incredible power in such a small package, way more power than I need for what I do. Apple genius though, now that I have seen it I want one. I remember when the iPhone came out, I kept saying that I would never get one, then I actually set one up for a client. Next day I had one, been hooked ever since. Same with the MacBook Air, a beautiful machine to look at, use and support. Betting this will be the same.
Unless I didn’t see it in all the postings, I think everyone missed the obvious. My very first thought was, cut the top off, set it in some greenery and you have what looks like the Apple Mothership. It would be interesting to know if Steve had his hand in this before his passing.
Looks amazing, but I have to ask: is this thing. . . dare I say it. . . PLASTIC?!? Wouldn’t that be a huge step backwards?
If you read Apple’s site the enclosure and the heat sink appear to be aluminum
Ah, good to know… thanks.
A rocket engine to go with the mother-ship …. complementary design as usual!
This will just not do. I has a GLOSSY finish !!
…it
Form follows function. It looks like a nuclear cooling stack. Cooling capability to support serious processing power. Think outside the box, dudes !
Expandability ≠ an incredibly number of chained Thunderbolt devices, unless somehow all the classic professional expandability applies as well. So far the number of Thunderbolt external devices is minimal with expensive prices. Hopefully that will change soon. I’m also unaware (please enlighten me) of a solution for expanding with the latest, fastest video cards via Thunderbolt. Then there is the lack of ability to add other technology externals without a Thunderbolt box around it. The spiderweb of external devices can no doubt be nicely stacked, but it’s a return to a mess of cables on the desktop, not a sign of progress. And what’s the point of the cute spinning-the-box feature if you have even one device physically connected to it. That cuteness factor is short lived. Then there is the already blatantly obvious insult-ability of the design.
IMHO this is a potentially very kewl new desktop Mac device that is the big brother of the Mac Mini. But it’s not a ‘Pro’ machine for one and all. It’s a compromise that will be brilliant for some and an annoyance for others.
Whatever it is, the inner design is brilliant and beautiful. I very much like it despite the wanting Pro functionality. Yes, I may well be putting plastic flowers into the top to make it look like a flower vase. But I suspect it will make a great computing war horse as well.
My one concern in all the upgrades that Apple has been doing to all their lines has been storage space – a phrase I’ve used on several other comment threads is “storage space is king.” I remember when the rumors were that they were going to eliminate hard disks on the MBPs, and we were going to go down from a highest option of 750GB (which I currently have) to 512GB. Fortunately, that didn’t happen – the retina display MBP now allows up to 768GB SSD (although the previous gen MBP now allows you to go up to 1TB hard drive).
With this new Mac Pro moving towards eliminating the HDD option altogether, I can see the writing on the wall for hard drives in Apple’s computers, but if there’s one line where they can afford to do so, this is it. Sure, in the previous Mac Pro, you could get up to 8TB total of storage space (4x2TB hard drives) but I remember maxing out your specs on a Mac Pro could easily cost you over 13k – so if you’re going to spend that kind of money, I’m sure you could spend it on getting that sort of storage space in Thunderbolt drives.
What does this portend for the future? I don’t know, but I hope this strategy does more to lower the costs of SSD to make it affordable for all of us before those of us using the iMac or MBP lines find ourselves having to cut our GBs because of what’s available in the market.
I thought these pictures was a joke first… It looks like some Borg thingy but it is probably because it is so far from what one expected.
It looks kinda cool. This is really a “designed” computer. Nice.
You should see my external expansion units!
I think this unit will be priced aggressively and we will be pleasantly surprised.
Think of the cost of materials, storage and shipping of the current version compared to this new, compact Mac Pro. It will be far easier to make, store and ship.