[www.macworld.com]

Same chip as the Mac Studio, same design as the previous Mac Pro, no user-upgradable RAM:

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Now, in his January 8 Power On newsletter, Gurman confirms that the 48-core CPU, 152-core GPU Mac Pro “has been canceled.” Instead, Apple will release a Mac Pro featuring the M2 Ultra–a newer version of the same chip used in the Mac Studio.

Gurman goes on to question why customers would choose to purchase the Mac Pro with M2 Ultra rather than the cheaper Mac Studio with the same processor. It’s a fair question, especially since Gurman indicates the new model will “look identical to the 2019 model” and probably not be as expandable. He reports that the new model will lack user-upgradeable RAM due to the unified memory being built a physical part of the M2 system-on-chip but will have “slots” for storage, graphics, media and networking cards.

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I guess I’m feeling somewhat validated in my recent purchase of a Studio.

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-Bill

The same number of cores as the studio? The same max ram as a studio?
It’s expandable in other ways, just not the ram.

Sounds like it's for folks who need the additional graphics cores.

Setting up a new Mac Studio for a client this month, can't wait to see what model they ordered!

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You know, I'm surprised that Apple's not at least including an "external RAM bus" - I get that Apple Silicon includes RAM in the chiplet packaging, but with the Mac Pro you've got the space - and existing models have the slot. Add a PCIe interconnect bus (maybe the AMD infinity fabric) and give users the option to add that RAM as a huge RAMdisk if nothing else...

So is this thing going to allow me to connect standard SATA optical drives and PCIe SSDs? Can Apple Silicon Macs even use optical disks? With Apple's track record I wouldn't be surprised if support for optical media on Apple silicon was buggy as all get out - or at least 100% reliant on Rosetta x86 emulation.

Regardless, it'll be well outside of my price range. But I'm not sure which professionals would want a non-expandable "professional" rig.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised Apple isn't setting up the CPU package to be upgradeable... Rather than buying a whole new Mac just drop in the latest M# chip package.

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g=

I have a feeling the MacPro will have "Second Level RAM"

User upgradable.

Not as fast as the unified memory.

Faster than the SSD.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


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Hi everyone,

I think the issue is less about sheer horsepower and more about internal expandability, upgradeability and the ability to use existing internal options such as PCIe cards. You can do that with the Mac Pro. You can't do that with a Mac Studio.

The only way to "expand" or "upgrade" the Mac Studio is via external options, i.e. directly connected thunderbolt devices, USB devices, Thunderbolt expansion options such as expansion chassis, etc. Some of those options are very costly.

Robert

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Robert M
Hi everyone,

I think the issue is less about sheer horsepower and more about internal expandability, upgradeability and the ability to use existing internal options such as PCIe cards. You can do that with the Mac Pro. You can't do that with a Mac Studio.

The only way to "expand" or "upgrade" the Mac Studio is via external options, i.e. directly connected thunderbolt devices, USB devices, Thunderbolt expansion options such as expansion chassis, etc. Some of those options are very costly.

Robert

Yes, perhaps an internal thunderbolt connector?

Hopefully not some entirely new proprietary interconnect, although that at least could be justification for a higher price point.

Mike,

I doubt it. The article said it'll have the same internals as the existing Mac Pro. The difference will be in the processor (which also changes the RAM). Everything else about it will be the same... So, I'm betting a couple of flavors of the M2 Ultra with options for X amount of RAM. The same proprietary SSD modules and the same PCIe slots. The slots might be upgraded to a newer generation of PCIe.

One of the PCIe slots has a card that provides USB 3 and Thunderbolt 3 ports. I bet those will be upgraded to all Thunderbolt 4 ports and the Thunderbolt 3 ports that are on other parts of the machine will be upgraded to Thunderbolt 4, all of which will support Thunderbolt and various iterations of USB (3.1 Gen 1, 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.2, USB 4, etc).

'course, the Mac Pro with an M chip will likely still be way more expensive than the price of a Mac Studio with a Thunderbolt chassis for some PCIe cards. Similar in speed or, I'm betting, more powerful and with far more internal upgradeability. And, as usual, Apple will make you pay up the wazoo for it.

Robert

How many makers of PCIe cards have made a commitment to provide drivers that will work on macOS and in an Apple Silicon system? That is going to be the biggest holdup for anyone wanting to purchase and use a Mac Pro with M2 processors.

So far I have only seen a very few, and that does not include video cards from AMD or Intel. Apple has cut most ties with Nvidia, so that possible source of video cards is out already. Apple even announced early on that the Apple Silicon systems would not support non-Apple GPUs. If they announced any change in that policy I missed it.

And this article from Pro Tools Expert yesterday:
[www.pro-tools-expert.com]

Every new MP article I read makes me happy I decided to buy my 2019 MP refurb 12 core back in early 2020.

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JoeM

The fully customizable Mac Pro was always going to be the hardest machine for Apple to reach via its own silicon. Power management is not a big deal. Size is not an issue. And Apple needs to work with non-Apple partners.

I am also not a likely customer.

But if this means there is no iMac Pro with Apple silicon, I will be sad.

It's obsolete because it's waaaaaaaay too expensive, and you can get the job done with a studio.

It's perfect for this forum then...a new Apple product that everyone is disappointed in.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

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davester
It's perfect for this forum then...a new Apple product that everyone is disappointed in.

And it's not even out yet!!

Beleaguered!

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