The new Mac Pro could still be an M2-powered beast
Apple is increasingly looking for mistakes its expected deadline of 2022 for completing the transition to using proprietary silicon processors throughout Mac product line, with the Mac Pro for business being last.
When highlighted (opens in new tab) from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, pioneered the path to Mac Pros powered by Apple’s custom M-series chip, which would allow iOS apps to run natively in macOS and otherwise result in higher performance gains and lower power consumption difficult way.
The reasons given for the delay include shifting production to avoid additional tariffs on Chinese-made goods and the continued redesign of M-chips to record an “Extreme” variantand fears of skyrocketing costs for customers.
Mac Pro M2 lag
As touched on by Gurman, Apple plans to shift its high-end line jobs to apple silicon began to introduce its M1 chip in 2020.
Plans were made for a unique processor that would combine the power of either two or four M1 Max chips, at the time the most powerful chip available in the Macbook Pro line, in two configurations of the Mac Pro product.
The Mac computer line hasn’t capitalized on simplicity, however, and the dual M1 Max chip that became known as the M1 Ultra was eventually introduced with the Mac Studio, a line marketed for creatives and others focused on resource-intensive processes are dependent .
An M2 Ultra chip that promises additional performance gains is reportedly in development, but is hoping for another M2 extreme Chip, which Gurman speculates would likely have offered “up to 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores” if four M2 Max chips were clipped together, seems dead in the water in his opinion.
The biggest obstacles to running Mac Pros seem to be production costs and customer costs.
The complexity of the architecture of Apple’s most powerful chip, which would give Mac Pros their unique selling proposition, is expensive enough without shifting production to Texas during the Trump presidency.
The two main reasons for the move were Apple’s avoidance of increased tariffs on Chinese imports and maintaining a public commitment to growing the U.S. economy — both pointing to a PR exercise and one that will cost them the ability to painlessly switch their own silicon .
Gurman claims that an M2 Extreme version of a Mac Pro would “probably” cost “at least” $10,000 per unit, which wouldn’t be economical even regardless of a prolonged recession.
Conjecture aside, the Mac Pro is in a difficult place as a product. It has to offer better performance than any other Mac, which is made difficult by the existence of the Mac Studio, but it’s a niche offering that’s only particularly relevant to business users who need the extra power.
For now, only Intel-powered Mac Pros are still available. There will likely be another entry in the line, but it may not appear for some time and it’s still not powered solely by Apple’s own silicon.
https://www.techradar.com/news/the-new-mac-pro-could-still-be-an-m2-powered-beast The new Mac Pro could still be an M2-powered beast
