Contrary to previous beliefs, Apple has proven that it hasn’t forgotten the Mac Pro. In fact, the Cupertino giant is breathing new life into its most powerful computer by equipping it with the cutting-edge M2 Ultra chipset. During the recent WWDC 2023 event held in Cupertino, California, Apple made waves with the introduction of the latest Mac Pro model. This release marks the first major revamp in four years for the workstation. Although the Mac Pro maintains its distinctive cheese-grater-like design, Apple has ditched the Intel chipset in favour of its more efficient and powerful Arm-powered Silicon.
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Apple announced the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro | Image: Apple
The new Mac Pro takes performance to the next level with its remarkable hardware specifications, which when combined with Apple’s incredible software optimisation, ensures seamless integration across the entire Apple ecosystem, maximising productivity and creativity for professionals. It features a 24-core CPU paired with an up to 76 cores GPU. As if that weren’t enough, the Mac Pro also incorporates a 32-core Neural Engine (NPU) for enhanced processing capabilities.
Moreover, the machine can be customised with an astonishing 192GB of memory, boasting an impressive 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth as well as a total of seven in-built Afterburner cards. The base configuration of the new Mac Pro includes 64GB of memory and a 1TB SSD storage capacity.
Image: Apple
The Mac Pro is a connectivity powerhouse, boasting a generous array of ports and slots to accommodate all your expansion needs. It comes with seven PCIe expansion slots, including six open slots that support gen 4. Additionally, the Mac Pro is equipped with eight built-in Thunderbolt 4 ports (six on the rear and two on the top), providing lightning-fast data transfer capabilities.
It supports up to six Pro Display XDRs, allowing you to connect multiple displays simultaneously. Furthermore, it features Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for seamless wireless connectivity. Beyond that, the Mac Pro includes three USB-A ports, two “higher bandwidth” HDMI ports capable of supporting up to 8K resolution and up to 240Hz frame rates, two 10Gb Ethernet ports for ultra-fast networking, and a headphone jack for your audio needs.
Image: Apple
During the big announcement, John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering said, “The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro with Apple silicon are the two most powerful Macs we’ve ever made. Mac Studio has been a breakthrough for pros everywhere, and it’s at the heart of hundreds of thousands of home and pro studios across the world. Today, it gets even better with M2 Max and the new M2 Ultra, featuring even more performance and enhanced connectivity.”
He added: “And for those users who need the versatility of internal expansion, Mac Pro combines PCIe slots with our most powerful chip. The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro join our other pro systems to give our users the most powerful and capable lineup of pro products that Apple has ever offered.”
Available in both tower and rack-mounted enclosures, Mac Pro (Tower Enclosure) starts at AUD$11,999 while the Mac Pro (Rack Enclosure) starts at AUD$12,999. Additional configure-to-order options are available on Apple’s website.
Image: Apple
