The Apple silicon era has not been kind to the Mac Pro, and the target market for Apple’s most niche machine shrank even more today.However, it’s always darkest before the dawn, and that may be the case for this Mac workstation.Table of contentsA brief history of the Mac ProThe Mac Studio strikesApple silicon Mac Pro stumbles onto the sceneThe expensive sad trombone of MacsMac Studio versus Mac ProMac Pro hope A brief history of the Mac Pro It’s hard to be a Mac Pro.
The product name dates back to 2006 when the Power Mac G5, equipped with a PowerPC chip, was replaced with a desktop tower of the same design that used an Intel processor.In 2013, Apple released the much smaller cylindrical Mac Pro that proved to be as cursed as it was beautiful.Apple returned to a more machined version of desktop tower design in 2019, throwing away the so-called trash can design for an approach that valued both form and function.
Paired with the 6K Retina resolution 32-inch Apple Pro Display XDR, the Mac Pro returned to its throne as the most powerful machine in Apple’s lineup.Apple even sold storage and GPU upgrades that could be added separately.A year later, the Apple silicon transition began.
The Mac Studio strikes Apple’s M1 processor raised the performance floor compared to Intel chips.The first Apple silicon chip that powered the Mac was greatly beneficial for the MacBook Air and iMac.Cooler M1 performance allowed Apple to remove the laptop’s fan without compromising performance.
Meanwhile, the iMac undertook a redesign that more closely resembled a giant iPad than an all-in-one desktop.Apple later introduced M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that powered the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks.Each chip introduced a higher performance ceiling for Apple silicon.
In 2022, Apple introduced an all-new desktop workstation.The Mac Studio debuted alongside the M1 Ultra chip — basically two M1 Max chips combined.While this dramatically raised the performance ceiling for Apple silicon, it also made the three-year-old Intel Mac Pro seem like a forgotten machine once again.
Meanwhile, there was hope for an M2 Extreme chip with even higher performance to appear in an Apple silicon Mac Pro.In reality, manufacturing such a chip likely proved too costly for such a niche computer.Apple silicon Mac Pro stumbles onto the scene In 2023, the first Apple silicon Mac Pro finally replaced the 2019 Intel Mac Pro.
However, this was no return to the glory days of the decade before the previous decade.Instead, the Mac Pro used the same M2 Ultra chip as the second-generation Mac Studio.Apple silicon includes the CPU, GPU, and RAM in a single package, removing the option to throw additional RAM and GPU performance at the Mac Pro over time.
With performance literally matched, Mac Pro had only one thing over Mac Studio at this point: ports and PCIe slots.But with Apple silicon, these PCIe slots can’t be used to upgrade GPU performance with graphics cards.Like with every other Apple silicon Mac, GPU power is determined at the time of purchase when you configure the number of GPU cores.
Apple’s description of what the Mac Pro PCIe slots can be used for is narrow: The press release for the M2 Ultra Mac Pro pointed to audio and video professionals with internal expansion needs when explaining the product’s purchase: The expensive sad trombone of Macs Nearly two years later, the Mac Pro has managed to slip into even more niche territory.That’s because Apple updated the Mac Studio today with a mildly awkward chip selection.Starting today, you can order a Mac Studio with either an M4 Max chip or an all-new M3 Ultra chip.
Yes, M4 sounds newer than M3, but the comparison is really between a single M4 Max chip and two M3 Max chips.The new Mac Studio is the first and only machine with the M3 Ultra chip, once again giving it the title of most powerful Mac ever.The Mac Pro, with its seven PCIe slots, remains on the M2 Ultra chip.
Mac Studio versus Mac Pro Comparing the M3 Ultra to the M2 Ultra is essentially the same as comparing the Mac Studio to the Mac Pro for now.This comparison is really not favorable to the Mac Pro.At a high level, the M3 Ultra Mac Studio can be configured with up to 1.5x faster CPU performance and 2x faster GPU performance than the Mac Pro.
RAM, which is crucial with running local AI models, is even more of a dramatic compare.We’ve charted the top specs for each machine to compare.The Mac Pro is still the champion of ports at least.
Mac Pro hope So how could the M3 Ultra Mac Studio possibly be good news for the Mac Pro? The answer requires a generous amount of hope for Mac Pro fans.Patience too, but a prerequisite for being a Mac Pro fan is taking the long view.Keeping the Mac Pro on the M2 Ultra chip while updating the Mac Studio to the M3 Ultra chip does set up a future scenario for the Mac Pro to reclaim its throne as the most powerful Mac yet again.
Apple could keep the Mac Studio on the M3 Ultra and save the M4 Ultra exclusively for the Mac Pro.One caveat is that Apple seems to indicate that it may not make an Ultra version of each chip generation.That’s at least how Apple explains the Mac Studio having M4 Max and M3 Ultra options.
I choose to believe that’s just a convenient answer to an awkward marketing issue.Then comes the more philosophical question.Is it actually better for customers to have a more powerful Mac Pro if it means holding back the Mac Studio in the future? Say the Mac Pro does get updated to an M4 Ultra chip in the future.
Why wouldn’t the Mac Studio also get the M4 Ultra then as well? Mac Pro fans don’t argue that the Mac Studio should be less powerful.They argue that the Mac Pro has a case designed to handle higher thermal conditions than the Mac Studio — the kind of thermal conditions created by even higher performance output.Best Apple accessories Wireless CarPlay adapter iPhone MagSafe battery USB-C iPhone charger Apple AirTag AirPods 4 AirPods Pro 2 Apple Pencil Pro Follow Zac Hall on X, and listen to Runtime with co-host Sophia Tung on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
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