After going through lots of software announcements, including tvOS, watchOS, iOS 13, and iPadOS, Apple kicked off its Mac section of WWDC 2019 on Monday with the introduction of the Mac desktop we’ve been waiting for, the brand new, powerful, upgradeable, Mac Pro.
Apple promised professionals not too long ago a Mac Pro that would be a lot more upgradeable than the latest model, and Apple finally delivered.
We’re looking at a Mac Pro design that looks a lot like older models — gone is the trash can Mac Pro of the recent past. The best thing about it, however, is the fact that the desktop packs quite a punch, and you’ll be able to upgrade it whenever you need it.
The stainless steel frame contains an Intel Xeon processor that goes all the way up to 28 cores, as well as a “massive heatsink” to deal with all that extra power needs. Other specs include up to 1.5TB of RAM, 8 internal PCI slots, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Yes, there’s a headphone jack on the Mac Pro.
When it comes to the graphics card, we’re looking at an x16 PCIe MPX Module that can support up to 500 watts of power. And you can add two of these to your Mac Pro.
A new “Afterburner” card processes 6 billion pixels per second, which means you’re getting three streams at 8K or 12 streams of 4K video.
When it comes to the power supply, we’re looking at 1.4kW, while the coolers move some 300 cubic feet per minute to keep this beast cool. In regular conditions, it should be louder than a MacBook Pro.
Finally, if you need portability, this baby comes on wheels, so you can move it around the house with ease.
As expected, plenty of software companies will support the Mac Pro out of the gate, including Adobe, Autodesk, Sefi, Blackmagic, SideFX, Red, Epic, Avid, Unity, Pixar, Maxon, to name just a few.
In addition to packing as much computing power as possible inside the Mac Pro, Apple also unveiled a brand new display explicitly created for the new desktop. The 32-inch LCD Retina 6K (6016 x 3384 resolution, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio) display has the same design as the Mac Pro, perfectly complementing it. That lattice pattern actually helps cool the display, so that it can stay at 1000 nits at full-screen brightness “indefinitely.” As expected, this display will put other screens to shame, featuring LEDs that are calibrated at the factory, each one modulated based on content. Additional modulators will further help it control the light, and that’s where all the cooling will help with.
Apple calls it the Pro Display XDR, because extreme sounds better than High Display HDR.
The base Mac Pro packs an 8-core processor, 32GB of memory, Radeon Pro 580X graphics, and 256GB SSD, and it’ll cost $5,999 when it launches this fall. The Pro Display XDR will cost an additional $4,999. Other accessories will cost you extra, including a $999 stand that you’ll probably want to buy. All of them will be available this fall, of course.
