Apple has discontinued the Mac Pro. The venerable desktop computer lasted twenty years and served as the flagship model in the company’s lineup for most of its lifespan. After this the company has removed the product from its website.
The Mac Pro was first launched in 2006 as a replacement for the then-flagship Power Mac G5. Similar to its predecessor, the Mac Pro was a desktop tower PC with a modular design that allowed the user to replace the CPU, memory, optical and storage drives, and PCI expansion cards.
The basic format of the Mac Pro remained unchanged until 2012, even as it began to become outdated. Then, in 2013, Apple announced the controversial redesign, which has since been dubbed the Trashcan Mac. This model abandoned the modularity of previous tower designs for a more compact but largely integrated component design, where the only upgradeable components were memory and storage. This model was also eventually abandoned by the company, which was later revealed to be due to thermal limitations of the design, which prevented upgrades to more powerful components.
In 2019, Apple introduced the third and final major redesign of the Mac Pro. This model reverted to the modular nature of its ancestors, in which everything except the CPU could be replaced by the user. This revision was one of the last computers released by Apple with Intel CPUs, as the company began the transition to its in-house ARM-based M-series chips.
The Mac Pro received an M-series update in 2023 with the switch to the M2 Ultra, which would ultimately be the last update it received in its lifetime. Even though modularity was unchanged, the switch to the M-series chip limited the types of devices that could be plugged into the PCI expansion slot, which reduced the computer’s appeal to enthusiasts. Ultimately, it was replaced by the Mac Studio as the most powerful computer in Apple’s lineup, as the Mac Pro received no further updates. The Studio now remains the flagship desktop computer in Apple’s current range.
According to Mark Gurman, Apple has been planning to discontinue the Mac Pro for some time. This shouldn’t really be a surprise, as the product no longer serves any purpose in the company’s lineup. It was a big, expensive piece of metal with a lot of empty space inside that couldn’t really be filled with anything and no real audience to speak of. Apple has also clearly moved on from the concept of modularity and upgradeability in its computers, and an honest-to-goodness Mac Pro would be the opposite of a modern Mac. It’s no wonder the company let this hang around for years and wanted it gone.
But when computers come and go, the Mac Pro will remain a legend for its timeless aesthetics, effortless modularity and performance. A true industry icon who definitely deserved better.