Skip to main content

Apple’s new Mac Pro delivers on a years-old promise

Apple

Apple finally debuted an updated Mac Pro during WWDC 2023, giving the machine its first update since 2019. The new desktop is powered by the M2 Ultra processor, which Apple also announced during the event.

Sporting a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU, Apple says the new Mac Pro is a massive upgrade over older Intel Mac Pro machines. In addition to a chip upgrade, the Mac Pro comes with six open PCIe Gen 4 slots for expansion, along with dual 10-Gigabit Ethernet. The machine has seven PCIe Gen 4 slots total, but one is occupied by the Mac Pro Afterburner card.

Mac Pro one pager.
Apple

The updated Mac Pro will be available to purchase today, and Apple says units will start shipping next week. This was the final Mac still using older Intel processors, and as Apple noted, the update completes the company’s transition to its own chips. Apple originally promised it would transition all Macs to its own chips within two years, and although the Mac Pro slightly falls behind that mark, it’s close.

Compared to the last Intel-based Mac, Apple says the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is three times faster at video transcoding and 3D simulations, and it’s capable of ingesting 24 4K camera feeds in real-time.

Apple Mac Pro presented at WWDC 2023.
Apple

In addition to upping the power, Apple also brought the connectivity of the Mac Pro into 2023. The machine supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, and it comes with eight Thunderbolt 4 ports capable of driving up to six Pro Display XDRs. Although most aspects of the machine have been updated, Apple is keeping the same design as the previous model, including the rack-mountable option.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Roach
Senior Staff Writer, Computing
Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
No, Apple won’t launch a $99 MacBook for this simple reason
Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air on a desk, with macOS Sonoma running on its display.

Earlier this week, DigiTimes reported (via MacRumors) that Apple was working on a bargain-basement MacBook in order to better compete with Chromebooks. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s an interesting theory -- except it’s almost certainly baloney.

On the face of it, it seems believable. After all, Google is doing very well in the education market, cramming as many Chromebooks into classrooms as it physically can. Why wouldn’t Apple want to get a slice of the pie?

Read more
Apple’s ‘foundational’ Vision Pro tool was secretly built 6 years ago
Apple Vision Pro provides virtual screens for your Mac.

Long before Apple’s Vision Pro headset made its debut, there was rampant speculation that the company’s wider augmented reality (AR) efforts were part of a larger project toward building the then-mysterious device. Now, it seems that at least one of those technologies was built with Vision Pro in mind.

I recently interviewed Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, and Steve Sinclair, senior director of product marketing for Apple Vision Pro, to find out how the company courted developers while prepping the headset. In the course of that interview, Sinclair shed some light on how Vision Pro intertwined with the company’s ARKit developer framework.

Read more
Exclusive: How Apple inspired creators to take a risk on its $3,500 Vision Pro
A person wearing Apple's Vision Pro headset.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset hasn’t launched yet, but already it’s become one of the most hotly debated devices on the planet. Whether you think it’s the most exciting gadget in years or a potential waste of time and money, chances are Apple has got you talking about it.

The company has a lot riding on its first new product category since the Apple Watch, but it clearly can’t succeed if developers aren’t interested in building apps for it. After all, opening the Vision Pro’s app store to the sound of crickets chirping wouldn’t leave a good impression.

Read more