One device we weren’t necessarily expecting to see make an appearance at WWDC 2023 was the Mac Pro, but that didn’t stop Apple from giving the desktop a major upgrade during the annual software event.
The new Mac Pro was announced alongside the Mac Studio (2023) at the June 5th event, with the biggest update being that both desktops can now be configured with the new ultra-powerful M2 Ultra chipset.
Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about the Mac Pro (2023)…
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Release date
The Mac Pro is available to order today with devices shipping out from Tuesday June 13.
Price
The Mac Pro is available in both tower and rack-mounted enclosures, with prices for the Mac Pro (Tower Enclosure) starting at £7199 and the Mac Pro (Rack Enclosure) starting at £7699.
That’s quite a bit more than the previous Intel-powered Mac Pro, which had a starting price of around £6000/$6000.
Specs and Performance
Inarguably, the biggest update coming to the Mac Pro in 2023 is the M2 Ultra chip.
Not only does the addition make the desktop up to 3x faster than the previous-generation Intel-based model, but it also marks the final Mac device to make the jump to Apple Silicon since Apple first announced it would be shifting away from Intel three years ago.
The Mac Pro combines the performance of the most powerful Apple chip available right now with PCIe expansion, giving the Mac additional versatility.
“The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro join our other pro systems to give our users the most powerful and capable lineup of pro products that Apple has ever offered”, said senior VP of hardware engineering John Ternus.
The M2 Ultra in the Mac Pro has a 24-core CPU, an up to 76-core GPU, a 32-core Neural Engine and double the memory and SSD storage compared to the last Intel-based Mac Pro. More specifically, the Mac Pro (2023) can also be configured with up to 192GB of unified memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, meaning the desktop can process particularly demanding workloads.
According to Apple, the device has the performance of seven Afterburner cards built in.
The device also features the same media engine as the Mac Studio (2023) and, like the Mac Studio, is capable of playing up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes video at a time.
The Mac Pro features seven PCIe expansion slots to allow users to customise their systems. This includes six open expansion slots that support Gen 4 for 2x faster performance.
When it comes to connectivity, there are eight Thunderbolt 4 ports (twice as many as before), three USB-A ports, two higher-bandwidth HDMI ports that support 8K resolution and up to 240Hz frame rates, two 10GB Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.
Finally, the desktop supports up to six Pro Display XDR monitors, along with wireless connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
