When it comes to the clustering and RDMA stack Apple’s introducing the competition isnt 16 lanes of PCIe 5, it’s NDR Infiniband (which it beats) and XDR Infiniband (which is about 40% faster but also isnt heavily deployed anywhere yet and also costs a fortune)
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What's Happening With the Mac Pro?
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The Thunderbolt 5 to PCIe expansion boxes already exist from third parties. I suspect Apple will just leave this market to the third parties.
Echo II DV T5 Desktop (Thunderbolt 5 to PCIe Card Expansion System) - SONNETTECH
Desktop 2-slot, dual Thunderbolt interface Thunderbolt 5 expansion system for high-bandwidth DV I/O PCIe cards. For Thunderbolt 5, 4, and 3 computers.
www.sonnettech.com
I suspect you're right, but a PCIe enclosure styled like the Mac Pro would be hawtThe Thunderbolt 5 to PCIe expansion boxes already exist from third parties. I suspect Apple will just leave this market to the third parties.
Echo II DV T5 Desktop (Thunderbolt 5 to PCIe Card Expansion System) - SONNETTECH
Desktop 2-slot, dual Thunderbolt interface Thunderbolt 5 expansion system for high-bandwidth DV I/O PCIe cards. For Thunderbolt 5, 4, and 3 computers.
People seem to forget that the MacPro is the only Mac "Made in America". The flak they would get from the current administration if they pulled the plug on that Texas factory would be huge. Sure that Texas factory only makes maybe 3 MacPro's a day, but it's still "Made in the USA" and the Cheeto loves it.
I could imagine a Mac Pro being somewhat based on the Studio Max but taller and include high end interface "slots" for specialized gear from audio to industry video to gaming. All available at sell or with after market products that meet the specs required. Similar for additional storage where perhaps solid state in multiples are optioned and in some instances, RAID ready. All that I said could be done outside of the box as it were, but far more efficient if directly interfaced with new high end specs. Perhaps the main board would have two or more chipsets to process and at least one to arbitrate or silicon with extended functionality in a chip group.
Who is using macOS for industrial or defense/aerospace applications?Apple's rack mount MacPro with PCI slots is still a good choice for music-creation/commercial/industrial/defense-aerospace applications.
People seem to forget that the MacPro is the only Mac "Made in America". The flak they would get from the current administration if they pulled the plug on that Texas factory would be huge. Sure that Texas factory only makes maybe 3 MacPro's a day, but it's still "Made in the USA" and the Cheeto loves it.
New Mac Pro Has 'Product of Thailand' Label, Final Assembly Still in USA
Apple's new Mac Pro has a "Product of Thailand" label, but final assembly of the desktop computer still takes place in the U.S., according to an FCC filing. We have been informed that the new Mac Pro is assembled at the same Austin, Texas facility where it has been assembled since 2013, and...
www.macrumors.com
Apple spent the money to develop the chassis prior to transition to Apple Silicon. I realize that the R&D costs for the Mac Pro probably weren’t much money for a company like Apple, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just put the AI server chips they’re developing into this chassis and call it a day. It would serve their pro customers well and probably not cost much to do. If the rumors of chips with 2x, 4x, and 8x the number of CPU and GPU cores as the current M3 Ultra prove accurate, these chips would outperform any current Threadripper chip on benchmarks. Surely, they would be expensive, but so is high-end hardware from AMD and Nvidia, and if Apple is building these chips anyway, the added cost to offer them to customers would likely be minimal.
Adding support for eGPUs (it is possible), or offering their own standalone GPUs, as is rumored, would allow some expandability. They could revisit the possibility of adding an eGPU to their displays. Past Mac Pros allowed dual CPUs. That could be revisited, too.
Upgradable memory would be the last piece of the puzzle. Some would appreciate the ability to add memory on top of the integrated unified memory, even if it doesn’t perform as well.
Adding support for eGPUs (it is possible), or offering their own standalone GPUs, as is rumored, would allow some expandability. They could revisit the possibility of adding an eGPU to their displays. Past Mac Pros allowed dual CPUs. That could be revisited, too.
Upgradable memory would be the last piece of the puzzle. Some would appreciate the ability to add memory on top of the integrated unified memory, even if it doesn’t perform as well.
People seem to forget that the MacPro is the only Mac "Made in America". The flak they would get from the current administration if they pulled the plug on that Texas factory would be huge. Sure that Texas factory only makes maybe 3 MacPro's a day, but it's still "Made in the USA" and the Cheeto loves it.
I've been hearing/reading that for 10 years, kinda like the Mac Pro too. Suddenly things are looking up for the Pro! Maybe we'll get that Mac Pro revamp soon or under a Trump third term! 🤣
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What is it we learn from history? Answer: not much it seems…
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro.
Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost replaced the Mac Pro.
Apple is working on an M5 Ultra chip that will come out next year, but Bloomberg says the company is only planning to use it in the Mac Studio, and not in an updated Mac Pro. Apple has no plans to update the Mac Pro in 2026 in a "significant way." If we are truly at the end for the Mac Pro, will we see Apple discontinue it when the next-generation Mac Studio launches?
The current Mac Studio has a newer, higher-end M3 Ultra chip that supports more CPU cores, more GPU cores, more maximum storage (16TB vs. 8TB), and more maximum unified memory (512GB vs. 192GB). The Mac Studio can support up to four 8K displays, while the Mac Pro is limited to three, and the Mac Pro doesn't have Thunderbolt 5.
The Mac Pro has fallen behind, and the gap will only increase with the launch of an M5 Ultra Mac Studio. The only benefit that the Mac Pro offers over the Mac Studio is PCIe expansion slots. It's heavier, bulkier, and more expensive than the Mac Studio when comparing equivalent RAM and storage. For most people, there's no reason to choose a Mac Pro over a Mac Studio, but some of Apple's high-end customers still need the space for things like RED capture cards and specialized audio interfaces.
Over the years, Apple has struggled with meeting the needs of pro users who want a desktop. The now-infamous "trash can" Mac Pro that came out in 2013 prioritized design over functionality, and the machine ended up being a failure. Apple was criticized for misunderstanding its pro user base because there was no space for internal upgrades like additional GPUs.
Apple was never able to update the trash can Mac Pro because it wasn't thermally capable of supporting rapidly evolving GPUs. In 2019, Apple unveiled a modular Mac Pro that had a more traditional enclosure able to support expansion with eight PCIe slots and three impeller fans. Apple did update the Mac Pro a couple of times after that, but it has once again been sidelined.
Apple is still selling the M2 Ultra version of the Mac Pro and it hasn't been discontinued or removed from the company's website. Until it's officially discontinued, there's a chance we could get another Mac Pro at some point in the future, but it doesn't sound like 2026 will be the year.
Article Link: What's Happening With the Mac Pro?
I like my Mac Pro M2 bought from Apple’s refurbished store.
Attachments
Companies that develop systems/products for those markets. I've designed/developed a few in the past.
Perhaps ironically, but according to estimates by CIRP, the Mac Pro was actually the second most-popular desktop model in the line-up in 2023, making up ~3% of total Mac shipments to the iMac's ~4% and the ~1% each of the Mac mini and Mac Studio.
I just don’t understand this. Due to organizational redundancy, Apple should have LESS overhead for a niche product than a smaller company.
I really don’t think local LLM development is one of the niches that Apple is targeting. Their aim is delivering the benefits of LLMs to consumers.
Apple’s markets are consumer, prosumer, and professional devices - in the sense of the individual creative professional working in photography, video, film, music, animation and application / game development.
Since 2020, Macs are not intrinsically expandable in the old sense, because the SoC brings all or most of the hardware inside - CPU, GPU, neural processing, plus a lot of the functions that would normally be found in a motherboard’s chipset.
As a 30+ year professional Mac user, I really don’t miss expansion slots, and nothing I do today requires one. At most, if I were to buy into Universal Audio’s DSP plugin ecosystem, I’d buy a Thunderbolt Octo Satellite box.
Honestly I just want future Mac Studios and/or displays to have more built-in I/O, and easily expandable internal storage (4x NVME SSDs).
I would really love not having to buy extra docks, dongles, and switchers to plug in my modest collection of devices and share my monitor with a work PC.
Apple’s markets are consumer, prosumer, and professional devices - in the sense of the individual creative professional working in photography, video, film, music, animation and application / game development.
Since 2020, Macs are not intrinsically expandable in the old sense, because the SoC brings all or most of the hardware inside - CPU, GPU, neural processing, plus a lot of the functions that would normally be found in a motherboard’s chipset.
As a 30+ year professional Mac user, I really don’t miss expansion slots, and nothing I do today requires one. At most, if I were to buy into Universal Audio’s DSP plugin ecosystem, I’d buy a Thunderbolt Octo Satellite box.
Honestly I just want future Mac Studios and/or displays to have more built-in I/O, and easily expandable internal storage (4x NVME SSDs).
I would really love not having to buy extra docks, dongles, and switchers to plug in my modest collection of devices and share my monitor with a work PC.
But you're not actually using the Mac for say an aerospace application, just to design a product for an aerospace application, did I get that right? What software are you using? I know Apple has some foothold in architecture for example, but I never really saw it being used for industrial CAD (which doesn't mean much of course).
Great opportunity for Unix and PC makers. High end Mac desktops have always been far too expensive and comparatively hobbled next to Windows PC’s and the huge aftermarket. Thankfully Apple are still doing enough to keep everyday Mac users and professional creatives in the ecosystem, especially with iPhone pro video capabilities and iPad Pro as drawcard devices. I haven’t been to the dark side in home computing since an ill fated and short lived Windows 95 HP bloatware desktop in the mid ‘90’s put me off MS for life. For casual gaming a console is an easy solution when a Mac doesn’t cut it.
Overpriced hardware that needs to go away or Apple should make it more modular and out a more powerful chip in that hardware. Otherwise get rid of it and rename the Studio to Pro.
Its only still available because they still have many laying around collecting dust in warehouses. Same thing happened to the HomePod. They will discontinue or release a new one if most of the parts are sold. That is how Tim operates for years now and why design never changes.
Would make more sense to just call it Mac Pro then. Mac Studio Pro sound like a Samsung name. Only thing missing is some random number.
That's correct.
Software that ran the systems was MacOS. Special cards and software were developed and used for accelerated signal processing. Our customers at the time who purchased our systems were the end users.
As an aside... At the time, years ago, Apple had a special group whose purpose was to help customers who wanted to use Apple computers for their developed products that would be sold and used by their customers.