Mac Pro

Tim Cook praises ‘American manufacturing expertise’ and AppleCare staff

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 6, 2014

Apple's boss Tim Cook was photographed looking over the shoulder of a factory worker helping assemble a Mac Pro at Apple's manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. The CEO tweeted out the image on his Twitter account as part of Apple's ongoing effort to promote bringing back (some) manufacturing jobs to the United States.

"Watching the Mac Pro come together in Austin yesterday, thanks to a team loaded with American manufacturing expertise," reads the tweet.

Although the new Mac Pro is not actually 'Made in USA', much of assembly work happens at the Austin plant in which Apple poured in about $100 million...

Apple details 4K hardware support in OS X 10.9.3

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 16, 2014

Perhaps the key headline feature of the newly-released OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 is proper support for external 4K monitors. Previously, Mavericks would render text, icons and other user interface elements as-is, so everything appeared tiny due to the densely packed pixels on 4K monitors.

OS X 10.9.3 uses pixel-doubling to enable a true Retina experience where the size of the user interface does not change, it's just a lot sharper because OS X has a lot more pixels per square inch to work with.

Apple has now refreshed its support document with detailed information regarding compatible 4K monitors, display modes, video interfaces and Macs...

Mac Pro’s CPU upgradeability confirmed

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 3, 2014

Despite what some would call a steep asking price, Apple's desktop powerhouse - the new Mac Pro - has been universally regarded by reviewers as the dream machine for content creators who desperately wanted a reasonably priced monster workstation that would make real-time 4K video editing a reality. And despite scarce availability - online orders slipped to February and in-store availability is not expected before March - the new Mac Pro never ceases to amaze us.

Some power users have voiced their concern that Apple would, as is often its wont, lock down the system to allow only for memory upgrades. As it turns out, the new Mac Pro is one of Apple's most expandable Macs, if not the most expandable one.

A teardown analysis by iFixIt has revealed a socketed Intel CPU, accessible RAM and no proprietary Torx screws (go figure!), giving the workstation an eight out of ten for repairability.

Earlier in the week, Other World Computing (OWC) has confirmed that the Mac Pro's Intel Xeon E5 processor was socketed and removable. Today, the OWC team said it's successfully swapped the stock CPU with an eight-core Xeon E5–2667 V2 chip not offered as the Online Apple Store's built-to-order option...

How to use your new Mac Pro on its side

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

So you've shelled north of $3,000 for a brand spanking new Mac Pro so you could edit 4K video in real-time and I imagine that, as a bonus, the machine would help declutter your desktop due to its drastically reduced footprint (MacWorld has a nice gallery comparing the system to every day objects).

If for some reason you prefer to use your Mac Pro on its side instead of its default upright position, you can do so because Apple's engineers have designed a fan system to support cooling in both orientations, provided you follow the company's guidelines listed in a newly published support document...

Apple says new Mac Pro uses 68% less energy than previous generation

Cody Lee ∙ January 2, 2014

We all know that Apple's new Mac Pro is smaller than its predecessor, and in most instances more powerful, but did you know that it's also far more green as well? The Cupertino company released an Environmental Report today on its latest desktop saying just that.

According to the report, the new Mac Pro uses less than half of the allowed energy limit under Energy Star requirements, thanks to its various power-efficient components. And it also requires 68% less power than the previous-generation Mac Pro while in idle mode...

Good news, tinkerers: Mac Pro’s CPU is removable

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 27, 2013

Quick, what's more painful than dropping anywhere between $3,000 to $20,000 on Apple's juicy new Mac Pro? Being unable to perform a DIY upgrade of the computer's main processor to a faster Intel chip down the road, of course! But worry not as a quick teardown has confirmed an upgradeable CPU so tinkerers and creative pros around the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Other World Computing, a U.S. company which has been in the business of selling various after-market upgrades for Apple products since 1998, has tore apart the new Mac Pro to reveal a socketed Intel Xeon E5 chip, potentially allowing for future upgrades...

Reviews agree: the new Mac Pro is a dream desktop with some serious oomph for pros

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

Apple's radical new Mac Pro went on sale last week and despite critics slamming it for Apple's high asking price (although it isn’t more than you’d pay for a similarly configured Windows PC), shipping estimates for the re-engineered pro desktop slipped to February 2014 just hours after release, indicating pent-up demand among creative professionals.

Though baseline configurations of the Texas-built machine started shipping to first customers yesterday, those who purchased built-to-order machines will have to wait a month or so. Meanwhile, first Mac Pro reviews have hit the web and the verdict is unanimous: this is every video editor/creative pro's dream machine...

Mac Pro shipping estimates slip to February 2014 hours after release

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 19, 2013

Wow, that was fast - just hours after its radical new pro desktop, the Mac Pro, went on sale this morning, shipping estimates on the Online Apple Store have slipped to as far back as February 2014. Apple's new pro desktop is being assembled in Austin, Texas, where its cylindrically-shapped enclosure is also being manufactured.

Apple originally quoted shipping estimates of "by December 30" for stock configurations, but now all stock and build-to-order configurations show a new estimate of February 2014...

Apple’s new Mac Pro is now available for order

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

As promised yesterday, Apple's all-new Mac Pro desktop computer is now available for order via the company's website. Ready-made models are shipping right now by December 30 and upgraded versions are showing 'available to ship' dates in January.

The new Mac Pro comes in two flavors: a $2999 model equipped with a 3.7 GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of flash storage, and a $3999 model with a 3.5 GHz 6-core E5 chip, 16 GB of RAM, and a better graphics card...

Apple optimized Final Cut Pro, Compressor, Motion and Logic Pro apps for Mac Pro and 4K

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

When Apple teased its new Mac Pro at WWDC a few months ago, the company's marketing honcho Phil Schiller put up a slide showing a guy in an editing room in front of three huge 4K monitors, all hooked up to the machine. "You could be that guy," he quipped, provoking a laughter from the audience.

Schiller also said Apple was working on a Final Cut Pro update optimized for the Mac Pro's powerful dual AMD FirePro graphics and he wasn't lying: just as the new Mac Pro launched on the online Apple Store this morning, Apple followed up by pushing updates to Final Cut Pro, Compressor, Motion and its other pro apps, all optimized for the Mac Pro's hardware and with 4K content, 4K monitoring support via Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI on select Mac computers and a whole bunch of additions and performance enhancements...

Apple announces its radical new Mac Pro will be available starting tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 18, 2013

Apple has announced this morning that its radical new pro desktop, the beautifully cylindrically shaped Mac Pro, will be available starting tomorrow, Thursday, December 19.

The dream desktop for creative pros packs in enough oomph to drive up to three external displays, each at whopping 4K resolution, courtesy of dual AMD FirePro graphics chips with up to 6GB of VRAM.

It also includes the latest Intel Xeon E5 processors, up to 64GB of RAM and up to 1TB of PCI Express solid state storage...

Nest founder Tony Faddell spotted with Jony Ive’s (RED) Mac Pro

Cody Lee ∙ December 11, 2013

Remember last month when we told you that Jony Ive's one-of-a-kind Mac Pro sold for nearly $1 million at his Product (RED) auction? And do you remember thinking who in the world would pay that much money for a computer? Well it looks like the answer is Tony Faddell.

Photographer Kevin Abosch posted a handful of tweets this afternoon with photos of the 'father of the iPod' and Nest founder posing next to the (RED) Mac Pro, as well as the solid gold EarPods from the same auction. The two items combined sold for close to $1.5 million...