Unconventionally, Apple showed a sneak peek into the future of its pro desktop line at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2013 – the next generation Mac Pro. Designed around a unified thermal core, the new Mac Pro features the next generation Intel Xeon processors, dual-workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-based flash storage, ultra-fast ECC memory; all encased in a remarkable 9.9-inch tall package.
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,” taunted Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, much to the amusement of the crowd, as he unraveled the latest and most radical Mac Pro yet.
Radical it certainly is. The dramatic new design is one-eighth of the volume of the current Mac Pro desktop tower. This is possible with the revolutionary thermal core that allows the desktop to efficiently share its entire thermal capacity across all processors. Its revolutionary design allows for optimal air flow and heat dissipation, running on a single fan.
Don’t let its good looks fool you, though. Powering the Mac Pro are next generation Intel Xeon E5 processors with up to 12 core configurations, delivering double the floating point performance.
With dual AMD FirePro workstation-class GPUs, the Mac Pro delivers up to 2.5 times faster graphics processing performance compared to the current Mac Pro – a whopping 7 teraflops of computing power.
In terms of storage, the PCIe-based flash storage is up to 10 times faster than conventional hard drives and includes four-channel ECC DDR3 RAM running at 1866Mhz. That’s 60GBps of memory bandwidth. What can you do with that kind of bandwidth? How about editing a full-resolution 4K video while simultaneously rendering effects in the background?
The next generation Mac Pro has six Thunderbolt 2 ports (delivering 20Gbps bandwidth to each device) that supports up to six daisy-chained devices. The compact tower also features all-new three-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.
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Pros may cite lack of internal expansion ports in the next generation Mac Pro but Apple has commonly foregone expandability for compact design and low-noise usage. The new chassis brings back memories of the Power Mac G4 Cube with its award-winning compact design that left hardcore pros wanting more in terms of expansion.
The next generation Mac Pro is intriguing peek into Apple’s future line of desktop Macs and will certainly be a foundation of more exciting things to come from the Cupertino company. The Mac Pro is expected to come later this year.
For more about the new Mac Pro, visit http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/
