While Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is an event all about Apple’s latest software updates, it has also traditionally brought us some new additions or updates to Apple’s Mac line up. This year was no exception to this, and what we got was beyond what we could have imagined. The MacBook Air received a minor updates to its internals, and the Mac Pro, well that’s a whole other story.
Introducing the new Mac Pro
But first, a little context for just how huge the Mac Pro announcement is. Owners of Mac Pro have been waiting a very, very long time for a substantial update on the design front. The Mac Pro’s case has remained essentially unchanged since it was first introduced in 2006, and even that was virtually identical to its predecessor the Power Mac G5, which was first shown off way back in 2003. In this time, Apple have shown off so many other designs – The launch of the MacBook Air, radically thin iMacs and Retina MacBook Pros, a whole bunch of iPhones, iPads and countless iPods, yet the Mac Pro seemed destined to remain looking how it did while all the aforementioned products were lavished with beautiful new designs and stylish updates.
In terms of raw computing power, this was never an issue as even Mac Pros as far back as 2009 still outgun even the latest 2012 iMacs, but still Mac Pro owners have felt a bit like their awesome tower was being left a little by the wayside. That’s all about to change, starting now. The new Mac Pro is such a paradigm shift, that I’m still trying to comprehend the scale of the overhaul. Recently, most of Apple’s updates to its Mac line up have been about making them thinner, while keeping the same basic shape. That process could not be further from what we have witnessed with the update to the Mac Pro.
What's changed? - Design
So what exactly has happened to the Mac Pro? It has been completely overhauled in terms of design and its internals. It is no long longer the traditional cuboidal, traditional “PC Tower”, but is rather best described as a cylindrical column - a bit like a gas canister you might have for a BBQ. It’s also small, much smaller than the previous generation – Apple describes its volume as being an eighth of the size in terms of volume, and comparing the two side by side, it’s easy to see.
The new Mac Pro is just 9.9” tall, so could comfortably sit on top of your desk without hogging space. It’s quite amazing to think that something so small could be twice as powerful as the previous generation Mac Pros. It’s no longer the classic brushed aluminium silver we're so used to seeing, but rather a shiny piano black , which gives it a very modern look.
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Customising the new Mac Pro
Customising the new Mac ProThis size, while being impressive, also poses a lot of questions as well. The Mac Pro was beloved by, well Pros as they could customise it not just when buying, but whenever they needed.
Flipping one lever allowed complete access to the RAM, drive bays and expansion cards. This is not the case with the new Mac Pro, all expandability is to be external. This is achieved with some pretty impressive I/O on the back, which contains plenty of USB, HDMI and Thunderbolt ports which enable you add all the monitors, drives and soon graphics expansions you may ever need. The new Thunderbolt 2 spec allows up to 20GBps bandwidth which should be enough for each and every peripheral needed. As a neat touch, the Mac pro will illuminate the back to show you these ports when it notices motion near them. What this will mean is that serious customisation of the unit's hardware will have to be done at the Apple checkout stage but hey, what's another couple of hundred quid when you spending £2000 anyway?!
Mac Pro Hardware
The Mac Pro crams a lot of tech inside its shell, and to keep it cool it is all wrapped and joined by one large unified thermal core which spreads the heat from all the individual chips around the machine to minimise heat. This is topped off by one very large fan at the top of the machine, which should keep things at a nice, workable temperature while keeping the machine quite quiet. It’s also been given a major boost to the internals, which upgraded processors and state of the art RAM which should give unparalleled performance in a consumer machine. To top off the internals, there are two AMD FirePro graphics cards, which offer the amazing ability to add up to three 4K monitors when they eventually see a full release worldwide in the next year or two.
Release date and pricing
The Mac Pro is scheduled to be coming out later this year, and price wise, we’re probably looking at least two to three thousand pounds, this is a ridiculously powerful machine and is not going to be by any means cheap.
What do you think about this radical new re-design and would a £2000 price tag put you off such a striking piece of technology? Let us know in the comments below.
