Apple Working on Redesigned Mac Pro With Smaller Form Factor and Apple Silicon Chip

[CJ Dorschel]

Third redesign in a row with no updates in between? Great job, Apple.

I really don't know where their heads are at with the Macs these days. Why can't they make a modular desktop with internal expansion capabilities (drive bays, PCI slots, and memory) and a CHOICE OF GRAPHICS CARD VENDOR that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Seriously, $6k for a nearly empty chassis??

The Mac Pro used to be a be-all-do-all machine. An enthusiast could get one for an attainable amount ($2500 to $3k for a mid-range, anyone?) and know they could upgrade a component in a couple years to keep it relevant, while a pro (or a rich person) could configure one out the wazoo and have the fastest computer in their county for the next six months. Further, they could be configured for any use case -- gaming, music production, video production, 3D rendering, high performance CPU, or any combo of those. Now, unless you are a video pro, forget it, there are much more cost-effective options on the PC side.

And the iMac (pro or regular)? Not an option. 1/3 of the cost of those machines is the expensive screen that is going to get thrown away in three years because the other components are obsolete.

So frustrating. This is why I haven't updated since my cMP 4,1 (flashed and CPU upgraded).

1000000% agree!

 

[StrangeNoises]

or you use it to further kick performance ...

Both! Targeted at different segments

 

[whatdoesthefoxsay]

Why smaller? No one who buys this gives a crap how big or small it is? It just doesn't make sense.

 

[cknibbs]

Half the size... half the price? Lol

 

[avkills]

I am going to mention that my Phanteks ATX case is actually larger than the Mac Pro case. Th only way I can see this volume reduction working is in height, unless they kill all the PCI expansion. But what I think it will be is a AS Mac Pro that is half height or 75% height, with only 1 MPX slot, and maybe 2 free full length plus the half length IO card. Making any other sort of tower design where MPX is no longer an option would be stupid on Apple's part.

Now where are my MPX Big Navi cards...

 

[baryon]

The Mac Pro: redesigned, yet again, so that there can never be a reliable market for 3rd party expansions.

 

[rmoliv]

Theo why release the current one? People have spent thousands of dollars just to have na outdated machine in one year time.

 

[JosephAW]

is it the Mac Pro mini

or the Mac mini Pro?

It’s the extra regular Mac Pro.

 

[Duncan-UK]

Since it’s smaller, can it have a unicycle wheel to save on costs?

Yes but as it would be a special wheel that will be $1,299, or “only 12 99“ as Apple like to say it as if it’s just under $13.

 

[ascender]

Presumably this will be a lower-cost model - a modular, cheaper, mini tower Mac Pro. Which is exactly what people have been wanting right?

 

[ScreenSavers]

Oh no... remember last time they made the Mac Pro smaller? Great machine but no expandability at all.

 

[F150Terp]

I would take one at half the size for $2999 if it spec'd out as the following:
8x DIMM slots max of 1TB RAM
2x GPU slots
2x Full-Length PCI Express Ten 3 slots
1x 512GB Apple SSD module base
4x Thunderbolt 3 ports
2x 10Gb Ethernet ports

Me too !

 

[Arm64MyMac]

Can't wait!

 

[gnasher729]

I feel bad for the people that dropped over 50K for one of the Intel models.

Half of that they dropped on 1.5TB RAM. Guess what 1.5TB RAM costs with a Dell workstation. The same.
Half of rest goes on 8TB SSD, and a 6K monitor.

Don't look at the maximum price tag. Look at what you pay for what you need.

 

[gnasher729]

Wait for it..

Class Action Time!!!!

The new smaller thinner Mac Pro .. is bending when my cat sits on it.

LOL

So you own an elephant and named it "cat"?

 

[ojfl]

I am unsure it was necessary to have a smaller form factor. For the MacPro, they could actually launch it soon and use the capabilities of SMP of ARM and do a four-processor motherboard. Keep it the way it is with the same PCIe slots. I would like that. Even a two-processor probably would satisfy our needs at home and a lower price point would be good as well.

 

[gaximus]

Third redesign in a row with no updates in between? Great job, Apple.

We don't know if this is a redesign or a new product.

 

[fernelius]

Since it’s smaller, can it have a unicycle wheel to save on costs?

Actually, this will be an extra-cost feature. The perpetual machine/gyroscope and atheistically pleasing move to simplicity will offer substantial reductions in environmental footprint. The footprint/wheelprint will be 1/4th that previously experienced.

 

[Peperino]

I guess that realized that they were not selling that many, due to the high price tag.

 

[jimbobb24]

WOW, that will be huge. People have been clamoring for this as far as I can remember.

I for one would love the expandability at a more reasonable price. Please also bring a 5k display option that will not break the bank.

The price will not be any more reasonable.

 

[martinX]

I feel bad for the people that dropped over 50K for one of the Intel models.

Two types of people I've seen that have done that:

1. Audio and video creators who stuff the MacPro full of gear they use every day and will use it until it can't be used any more.
2. YouTubers who kept telling us that it was too expensive and no-one will buy it, meaning that it was too much computer for what they themselves needed. And then they bought one anyway, put zero PCI cards in it and watched as its performance was overtaken by the 2020 iMac.

 

[kwikdeth]

The Mac Pro will be one of the last to go to AS, they'll want to avoid what happened with the Mac Pro 1,1 where it was actually slower than the machine it replaced, the Quad G5.

 

[nol2001]

I wonder how far into the process for the current Mac Pro did they decide this ARM replacement would be coming?

 

[mannyvel]

The problem with the Mac Pro is going to be drivers, as it always is. Those need to be native, and that'll take forever. The generic stuff (usb cards, network cards, nvme, etc) should be fine, but anything specialized will need vendor support. Good luck.

That said, my Mac Pro 5,1 has video cards, WiFi/BT, and USB 3, so all those should be fine (assuming there are video drivers, that is). My cards extend the longevity of the product, they don't extend the product.

 

[deconstruct60]

Two types of people I've seen that have done that:

1. Audio and video creators who stuff the MacPro full of gear they use every day and will use it until it can't be used any more.

Full ( as in most of the slots ) then yeah this "half sized " model is a problem.

1. YouTubers who kept telling us that it was too expensive and no-one will buy it, meaning that it was too much computer for what they themselves needed. And then they bought one anyway, put zero PCI cards in it and watched as its performance was overtaken by the 2020 iMac.

If Apple went down to 3-4 slots: One MPX bay ( two x16 or one x16 and one x8) , one x4 I/O Card slot, (and maybe on single width x16 slot [ like slot 5 in Mac Pro 2019 targeting the Afterburner card or a slim PCI-e M.2 Chassis holder card ] ) . That would be path to cutting the size of the box in half.

Delete one MPX bay ( two double wide slots gone ). Toss slots 5-7 ( or 6-7 ) and 2-3 slot widths gone. That whole middle zone's Fan can be tossed. ( so that is about 1/3 there). if Apple tossed the internal SATA and internal USB . Even more could be tossed.

If Apple builds an iMac SoC that can support one or two x16 lanes for a discrete GPU than Apple could just reuse it again here. Which would also means they might be able to punt even longer on doing a full sizes workstation class SoC. Claim this "half sizesd" Mac Pro is the Mac Pro for transition and so done with the transition.


After reading the Bloomberg article it somewhat smells like Apple might be dropping down to just 2 SoCs for the whole mack line up. Maybe just 3. That won't be the same breadth of products. Would be more so like iPhone where attached different screens and "stuff" to the same processor to do different products.


If Apple keeps the macOS 11 x86 updates coming the "big container" users above wlll just keep working with the large model Mac Pro. Apple will go back into Rip van Winkle mode for 5-7 years in that specific target market.