New Mac Pro With M2 Ultra Chip Might Launch This Spring Alongside macOS 13.3

[Skytouch]

Think different, right?

A consumer grade product is now worthy of the label 'Pro' just because Apple says so and you make excuses for Apple?

WHY?

👍 I think Mac Studio has reshaped the Mac market to the extent that Apple must rethink its Intel-era commitment to the 2019 Mac Pro platform, and arguably its marketing of Mini and other Macs as well. Should Mac Mini and Mac Mini Pro be separated? What if Apple defines three clear market segments as follows:

--- Consumer Mac

• Mini Mx (not Pro) This could be the rumored multicolor Mini. It's the low-cost entry to Mac.
• Macbook Air Mx (not Pro)
• iMac Mx (not Pro)

--- Business Mac

• Macbook Pro Mx Pro
• iMac Pro Mx Pro
• Apple Business Display
• A new, smaller Apple Mobile Display (based on Mx iPad Pro / sidecar?)

--- Studio Mac

• Studio Mini (Mini Mx Pro)
• Studio Max (Studio Mx Max)
• Studio Ultra (New Mac Pro Mx Ultra with a new design)
• Studio Mobile (Macbook Pro Mx Max)
• Apple Professional Display

People of course can mix and match from these segments, but marketing can be better focused.

E.g. no need to market an Apple display for consumers; A Mini Mx buyer either has a display or buys a low-cost 3rd party display, or an Apple Display if they want to. Assuming 3nm technology, consumer products can be all fan-less. Selling points = low cost, lightweight, planet friendly, travel friendly, no noise.

Business products can focus on mobile workers (laptop options) with just one iMac Pro model for office desktops.

Studio products can cover the range from hobbyist to commercial, with emphasis on audio, music, video, graphics, design, photography, FX and rendering applications. For all Studio products, it would be great if Apple bundles for free what's currently in the Pro Apps Bundle for Education (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage). This is effectively zero cost to Apple and clearly differentiates the product category. Apple can reasonably build this into Studio Mac prices as they currently do for all bundled software + macOS; it's already part of the value in how Apple markets products.

A fourth category - Developers - can pull from any of these products and market more through vertical channels that are specific to developers, e.g. WWDC community.

As always, opinions are my own. 🤓

 

[Johnny Jackhammer]

You comment as if the issue is one of control, but it is not. The issue is advancing technology and the reality that frequently baked-in tech (e.g. Unified Memory Architecture) provides huge performance improvements that due to physics are simply not possible from any plug-in approach.

Note however that I do expect Apple to also at some point make slower modular solution(s) available in MPs.

You just repeated exactly what I said in my comment AND Apple is all about control!

 

[atonaldenim]

I would guess it’s announced at WWDC in June, like the 2019 Mac Pro was. It’s running an unreleased OS now (with special secret features like GPU expansion maybe?) doesn’t mean it’ll launch when that OS update does.

Unless maybe there is an earlier announcement of the AR glasses, maybe they’re announced together. Not holding my breath for that one though.

Since macOS 13.3 is now a Release Candidate, what do you think? Will we be seeing a new Mac Pro in the next few weeks?

To quote the original article, they were speculating Apple could “introduce the Mac Pro at a spring event, shortly before releasing macOS 13.3 with support for the computer.”

A commenter (that I can’t find now) disagreed with my guess that Mac Pro would come at WWDC, with the good point that if macOS 13.3 contained Mac Pro support code, then it could give away any secret new features if the software was released before the hardware was announced.

The only secret feature in the current OS betas I’ve heard about is the mysterious ComputeModule, that seems to be a device that can run iOS.

My money says that’s not Mac Pro related, and that we’ll see Mac Pro announced at WWDC. Any fresh evidence for a spring release?