At the end of the Mac Studio presentation from Apple, they gave a cheeky hint that the Mac Pro was next on their list to get the Apple Silicon love. So what can we expect in the new Silicon powered Mac Pro?
Will Apple Use The M1 Chips?
Over the last year, there have been several predictions about how Apple will upscale the Silicon architecture for the mighty Mac Pro.
Back in November 2021, we reported on how Apple could join their chips together to create what we called at that time an M1 Max Duo chip. It turned out the rumours were correct and Apple did indeed join two M1 Max chips together to create what they now call the M1 Ultra.
However, the concept of joining two chips together was just the start, as the same predictions also talked about the possibility to join more than two chips together. It’s possible the new Mac Pro could feature a chip that is two Ultra chips combined, in effect four M1 Max chips as one mega chip.
Writing in his Power On email Mark Gurman from Bloomberg writes;
“During and after the keynote, the company dropped a couple of pieces information regarding the rest of its Apple Silicon lineup:
1. The M1 Ultra will be its last M1 chip.
2. The 27-inch iMac is being discontinued.
3. A fresh Mac Pro, the last Mac to transition to Apple Silicon, is coming later (they had to say this to avoid people believing the Mac Studio was its new high-end machine).”
He goes on to write;
“Some viewers took this to mean there would be no new iMac Pro with chips on par with the MacBook Pro or Mac Studio. I don’t think that’s the case. I still strongly believe a larger iMac with Apple’s pro chips is in development—but I don’t think it, nor the next Mac Pro, are coming anytime soon.
The company’s statement is still technically true: The Mac Pro will be the last new Mac to get Apple Silicon. That’s because the iMac Pro doesn’t actually exist as a product. How can Apple update something that isn’t available? The Intel 27-inch iMac was just discontinued, and the previous iMac Pro was killed off a year ago.”
It appears that Apple will make the next Silicon transition M2 based. Starting with the MacBook Air running on the next generation M2 chip, then move onto similar scaling on the M2 chips, possibly the M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra, powering the next generation of Macs.
What To Expect On The Mac Pro
Mark Gurman continues his prediction as;
“The simplest explanation is that Apple could roll out a Mac Pro with an M1 Ultra as well as a dual M1 Ultra without giving that higher-power chip a new name. Apple had been working on a new Mac Pro that features double the performance of the M1 Ultra, leading to 40 CPU cores and 128 graphics cores.
The other possibility is that Apple is holding off on the new Mac Pro until the M2 Ultra and a dual M2 Ultra are ready. Let’s call that double M2 Ultra “the M2 Extreme.” With that in mind, here are my expectations for Apple’s next slate of chips:
- M2: eight CPU cores and nine or 10 graphics cores
- M2 Pro: 12 CPU cores and 16 graphics cores
- M2 Max: 12 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores
- M2 Ultra: 24 CPU cores and 48 or 64 graphics cores
- M2 Extreme: 48 CPU cores and 96 or 128 graphics cores
Holding off on launching a new Mac Pro until the M2 line is ready would make sense. That’s because low-power M2 Macs are likely to hit before the first Mac Pro. It wouldn’t be a great marketing exercise for the M1-based Mac Pro to drop after M2 machines, but stranger things have happened.”
Apple Silicon Mac Pro Expandability
Now here’s the complicated part of the Apple Silicon Mac Pro equation. Apple’s new chips are based on SoC (System on Chip) meaning things like memory and graphics are now part of the main chip. The current Mac Pro has a scalable architecture, meaning all parts of the system such as memory and graphics are scaleable using separate components and cards. Up until now, these have been the conventional building blocks of making powerful computers… Apple changed all of that when they embraced the System on a chip design concept.
Given the current strategy, the next Mac Pro could use a hybrid of both. Memory and graphics performance handled by the main SoC with expandability provided using the PCI Express slots. We discuss the possible scenarios on an upcoming podcast with technology specialist Mark Wherry.
Early tests are showing the SoC graphics performance of the M1 Ultra outperforming the Mac Pro.
The Verge said this;
“My first stop was Becca Farsace, our video director who edited the entire video review of the Mac Studio and Studio Display (which you should go watch if you haven't already) on our Studio unit. I watched her work in Premiere and Media Encoder for hours, and even to my amateur eyes, it was clear that the Studio was flying. It was miles better than our two-year-old Mac Pro (which Becca uses for most of her work) at basically everything.
Becca was able to play 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2 footage from a Sony FX3 at full resolution in Adobe Premiere Pro at 4x speed with no proxies. It was lightning fast. On any other machine, she'd have had to be in half-resolution at most. There was also no lag between hitting the spacebar and stopping playback when playing footage at 2x or 4x speed, something she finds to be a big annoyance on the Mac Pro.”
Given this, it’s likely that graphics will now be handle by the SoC and the Afterburner accelerator will be unecessary.
There had been some rumours suggesting a half height Mac Pro. That could be the new Mac Studio we now have, or the next incarnation of the Mac Pro, given that some of the expansion slots will be less necessary.
However, speaking to TechCrunch, Tom Boger, Vice President of Mac & iPad Product Marketing at Apple said.
“Our philosophy was not at all to take a Mac Mini and scale it up, it was ‘we know we’re working on this M1 Ultra chip and we want to bring it to those users who want performance and conductivity and a modular system. And let’s allow it to live right on people’s desks so it’s within easy reach. And that’s what we delivered.”
He goes on to say;
“We’re talking about how many screens you can have of 8k, or that you can do an Atmos mix in 96k audio, and the performance meter is hitting 30%. And the other very consistent thing we’re seeing is that you don’t need a super-expensive facility and long-term rent. We’re seeing incredible productions being done from a desk or the corner of a desk, and it’s pretty inspiring.”
With the new performance numbers Apple are achieving from the Mac Studio it means that some of the existing components in the Mac Pro are less necessary to get the same kind of performance. However, pro facilities need connectivity to other parts of their eco-system and hardware. So Apple are unlikely to make the next Mac Pro a Super Mac Studio form factor, and far more likely to keep the current format of the Mac Pro as the building block for a monster of a computer.
What we have learnt so far from the Apple Silicon journey is that this new thinking allows computers to be more powerful than conventional concepts, whilst consuming less power. The new designs enable them to operate at lower temperatures, which at best reduces fan noise considerably or even eliminate fan noise altogether.
Apple Silicon Mac Pro Pricing?
Apple are aware of the large price tag of the current Mac Pro, the new Mac Studio has been created to address that. In the same interview with TechCrunch they say;
“That’s definitely an argument worth having about a roughly $3,000 work tool that is, by every measure, one of the most powerful consumer computers ever made. It’s a bit harder once that price tag hits $20,000. The truth is that, while we all love to imagine ourselves in the seat of one of those crazy powerful Mac Pros, the audience for that machine is vanishingly small when you compare it to the iPhone, iMac or iPad. For that audience, the price tag is not really a big factor. For the rest of us, it kills the dream.”
At this point it’s hard to nail down the expected price of the next generation of Mac Pro computers, however, we can make some assumptions using comparisons of pricing based on the other Intel to Silicon Mac changes.
MacBook Air
The last Intel MacBook Air to ship was the Intel I7, 1.2, 8GB ram, 512GB SSD and sold for $1449.
The new M1 MacBook Air, Apple M1 chip with 8‑core CPU, 8‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine, 8GB unified memory, 512GB SSD storage sells for $1249. A $200 price reduction.
MacBook Pro
The last Intel high spec MacBook Pro to ship was the MacBook Pro 16-Inch "Core i9" 2.4, featuring 16GB ram, 512GB SSD and sold for $3499.
The new MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD sells for $2499, with the M1 Max version selling for $3499. The Intel version with 1TB SSD cost $3699. A $200 price reduction.
Mac mini
The last high-end Mac mini to ship was the Mac mini "Core i7" 3.2 (Late 2018), fully loaded it came with 16Gb, 512SSD and sold for $1299.
The new Mac mini M1, Apple M1 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 512GB storage sells for $899. A $400 price reduction.
iMac
The last Intel iMac was the iMac 24-Inch "Core 2 Duo" 3.06 (Early 2009). This was the highest spec iMac in the 24” configuration. This featured 4gb RAM, 1TB storage and sold for $2199.
The new Silicon Mac is 8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU, with 1TB Storage and 8GB unified memory sells for $1899. A $400 price reduction.
As you can see, Mac users are getting more Mac for their money with the new Apple Silicon architecture.
Given this pattern of pricing, the new Mac Pro should be a lower price than the current Intel Mac Pro.
How much less buyers will pay is hard to say, but somewhere around $500 dollars cheaper for the base model is our best guess. Of course, this is speculation based on current information, so watch this space.
Summary
As more details emerge we’ll keep you updated about the new Mac Pro, but given the rollout of Apple Macs powered by their M1 series of chips expect something VERY special in the new Mac Pro.