Apple launches $5999 Mac Pro with up to 28-core processor and 1.5TB of RAM
The Mac Pro was launched alongside a new 6K Pro Display XDR monitor costing $4999
Apple has finally launched a new, high-end Mac Pro with an up to 28-core processor and support for up to 1.5TB of RAM - and a price tag starting at $5999.
The all-new device was launched by Apple CEO Tim Cook and head of hardware John Ternus at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2019 on Monday. The company also launched a new Pro Display XDR monitor to go along with new Mac Pro.
The Apple 2019 Mac Pro features Intel Xeon processors with up to 28 cores, up to 4TB of SSD storage, and up to 1.5TB of RAM. It has eight internal PCI expansion slots providing a surprising level of configurability and expansion for an Apple computer. Four of these slots are double wide, three are single wide, while one is 'half length'.
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The new design of the Mac Pro includes a stainless steel 'cheese grater' frame, covered with removable box, enabling easier access to its internals and making it easier to upgrade compared to earlier models. The housing comes with an exclusive lattice pattern (cheese grater), which helps maximise airflow and noiseless operation.
Apple says the new Mac Pro is assisted by heavy-duty cooling, which enables the processor to run "fully unconstrained all the time."
In addition, Apple's 2019 Mac Pro is equipped with a new accelerator card, called Apple Afterburner, that the company claims can decode simultaneously up to 12 streams of 4K RAW video and up to three streams of 8K RAW video in real time. The accelerator card, Apple claims, is capable of processing six billion pixels per second.
The graphics capabilities of the top-of-the-range Mac Pros will be underpinned by AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, built on TSMC's 7nm process technology.
"Equipped with Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, the new Mac Pro delivers the computational horsepower and memory bandwidth to power ultra-high screen resolutions and help dramatically accelerate compute and content creation workloads, enabling creative professionals to focus on unleashing their creativity and delivering amazing results," said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Radeon Technologies Group at AMD.
In the US, the 2019 Apple Mac Pro will be launched later this year at a starting price of $5,999. That will be around the same in pounds sterling, including VAT. At that price, users will be offered an octa-core Intel Xeon CPU, 32GB RAM, a paltry 256GB SSD storage (considering the price), and somewhat humdrum Radeon Pro 580X graphics.
Apple's new Pro Display XDR with a 32-inch 6K display will also be launched later this year, starting at $4,999. The screen of the Pro Display XDR boasts a glass with "nano-texture". It offers a 6016 x 3384 pixel resolution, with 1,600-nit peak brightness.
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