The Mac Pro is one of the few remaining Intel-handicapped Macs with no Apple Silicon replacement on the market, even it’s past the two-year deadline that CEO Tim Cook originally set for the upgrade.
Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reports that Apple continues to work on a new version of the Mac Pro, alongside other as-yet-unreplaced Intel Macs like the higher-end Mac mini and the 27-inch iMac, but that a planned “M2 Extreme” chip that would have powered the Apple Silicon Mac Pro has “likely” been canceled… Apple supposedly plans to ship the new Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra chip inside and focus on “easy expandability for additional memory, storage, and other components” to help the Mac Pro stand out from the existing Mac Studio.
Waiting for news in the face of uncertainty isn’t new to Mac Pro holdouts; it has been a constant for the last decade-plus. It has been a very long time since the Mac Pro was updated on anything close to a predictable cadence… At this point, I’d like Apple to decide: either commit to a consistent strategy or vision for the Mac Pro and its place in the lineup or retire it.
The Mac Studio is probably the single best argument against the continued existence of the Mac Pro. It’s the first truly new Mac design of the Apple Silicon era, and it takes full advantage of the M1 (and soon, hopefully, the M2) series’ performance and power efficiency. It’s small, it’s incredibly efficient, it runs relatively cool and quiet, and it manages to outperform maxed-out 2019 Mac Pro configurations in many workloads for less money.
MacDailyNews Take: No. There’s still a need for a professional Mac that is focused on “easy expandability for additional memory, storage, and other components.” Although, we concede that this may very well be the last new “Mac Pro” we’ll see (until Apple rebrands a future-generation Mac Studio as “Mac Pro”).
See also:
• DaVinci Resolve 18 offers 30x faster playback on Apple’s M1 Ultra Mac Studio – April 19, 2022
• Apple’s Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is an absolute powerhouse – April 6, 2022
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The studio is a rehashed Mac mini. Its not an argument, it’s an admission of failure. It’s a Mac mini plus. It’s less expandable than a Mac mini. Heck why not tell pros to just go f themselves if that’s what they think a pro is. The trashcan was more expandable. Apple is so g”green” it wants to sell disposable machines. Like iMacs where you get to throw away perfectly useable screens because you can just upgrade the machines ram or storage to still be usable. Apple promotes e waste with these stupid designs.
not being able to upgrade a part doesn’t mean it’s not “pro”
this aint radio shack
Ah yes… the $5,000 to $50,000 disposable….
Are you for real?
Very fitting points. Clearly shows Apple penchant for creating (hiding within) the aesthetics/optics…while acting w/ contradiction. Not at all uncommon in the “eco-sphere.” COP26; prime example.
Less expandable than a Mac Mini how exactly? I happen to have both an M1 Mac Mini and a Mac Studio so I’d love to hear your answer.
Apple entirely dropping the Mac Pro line would be one of the dumbest things Apple could ever do.
1. Apple needs a flagship line where Apple pushes the envelope. People need to see that Apple can still wow the public in its machines’ capabilities.
2. A set of professionals need machines that are customizable through PCIe cards or other expansion capabilities that Thunderbolt (even the rumored 120 Gbps version) won’t address.
3. There are many, many things that the Mac Studio cannot do with its very limited upgradability that a properly designed and implemented Mac Pro will be able to do.
4. People that can’t get #1 or #2 will go to Linux or Windows machines then their entire line will go that way. Fewer and fewer professionals will have a desktop/workstation machine that is Windows or Linux based then still have a Mac laptop for travel purposes.
5. The general public will believe even more than they do now that Apple does not build “real” computers, just niche machines that are for “those” people.
6. People will see the lack of a competing system to those HP and Dell gray or black desktop boxes as a failing of Apple.
For these and many other reasons Apple needs to maintain a full line of computers: NUC equivalents, all-in-ones, light laptops, workhorse laptops, AND workstation class machines.
Even though I love my Mac Studio and have no need for a Mac Pro, there are those who do so I completely agree with you.