Apple has just lifted the veil on the new Mac Pro. No design change, but a boosted M2 Ultra chip. Obviously, Apple did not wait very long to actually start its keynote. After a new 15-inch MacBook Air, Apple has just announced two new desktop Macs. The most important announcement is undoubtedly the arrival of the all-new Mac Pro, scheduled for next week.
The very last Mac Pro dates back to 2019. With this new generation, Apple has favored an overhaul of the machine’s performance rather than a new design. It is indeed the same desktop computer, offered in a tower, but with a brand new chip: the M2 Ultra.
As expected, performance is even better than with the M1 Ultra chip. Consisting of two soldered M2 Max chips, the M2 Ultra is 20% faster than its predecessor’s CPU, and has a 30% faster GPU. The 32 cores of the Neural Engine are 40% more powerful and faster than on the M1 Ultra.
And, icing on the cake, Apple did not hesitate to put forward its chip to the detriment of the iMac Intel. “The Mac Pro M2 Ultra is 7x faster than the most powerful iMac equipped with an Intel chip”, Apple will tell us during the conference. It will also be possible to configure the machine to reach up to 192GB of RAM memory.
Connectivity level, Apple has integrated 8 Thunderbolt ports into the machine and 6 free slots for PCI, and expansion cards for the motherboard. Two HDMI ports will be offered, and the machine will be able to display up to 6 Pro Display XDR screens at the same time. WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 will finally be there
A Mac Studio is much the same
For its part, the range of Mac Studio is also updated, with a device equipped with the same M2 Ultra chip. The performances are the same as those of the Mac Pro, except that the machine will obviously be less expensive and that certain performances, such as the GPU, will be 6 times faster (and not 7x) than on the Intel iMac.
Both machines can be pre-ordered tonight and will be sold next week. The Mac Studio will be sold for $1,999, while the Mac Pro will start at $6,999, knowing that it will be necessary to count on a screen to be purchased separately.