Mac Pro 2019 – first look: Apple's desktop designed to never leave you wanting

[sincity]

The Mac Pro 2019 is the Apple computer that's designed to never leave you wanting. Unless, of course, you're at Apple WWDC 2019 and yearn to actually touch it.

We got a first look at the new Mac desktop replacement for the Mac Pro 2013, and this revision allows for modular upgrades, just in case having up to a 28-core Xeon processor isn't enough for you down the line.

The Mac Pro 2019 is built for the future, and looks like it came from the future. lt has a shrunken stainless steel space frame that brings it back to form as a Mac tower. The front and back are filled with uniquely styled vent holes.

The power and design come together when you open up the computer from the top. You can lift off the aluminum housing for 360-degree access to nearly every component.

There's a new Pro Display XDR with a matching holy design on back. The front has a 32-inch Retina 6K display (the world's first), and the next level in high-dynamic range (HDR), what Apple calls Extreme Dynamic Range (or XDR).

No surprise, the Mac Pro's companion screen is separate purchase, as are the color-tweaked keyboard, mouse and trackpad – but that's always been the case with Mac Pro configurations. It's going to be an investment for everything.

That's why Apple is targeting the Mac Pro 2019 for production crews and serious creators. It's not for the faint of heart. Let's explore the pricing, but also the design and power.

Mac Pro 2019 release date and price

What's a few more months for the new Mac Pro when we've been waiting for several years to get our hands on this desktop computer?

Apple announced the Mac Pro 2019 release date for "fall 2019," meaning that it'll be here between September and November. Apple has favored October for a lot of previous computer launches, and that falls into this release window.

The Mac Pro price is $5,999 (about £4,730, AU$8.720), and that's for the base model with an 8-core Intel Xeon processor (CPU), Radeon 580X graphics processor (GPU) and 32GB of ECC memory (RAM). 

Remember, the Pro Display XDR – at $4,999 (about £394, AU$715) – is a separate purchase, as is the Pro Stand at $999 (about £788, AU$1,431) and VESA Mount Adapter is $199 (about £157, AU$285).

Mac Pro 2019 specs and performance

When it comes to specifications, Apple is taking a no-holds barred approach, and has crammed in some seriously impressive hardware into the body of the new Mac Pro.

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zS458mNEfEwUtP7Ujr5mWD.jpg

The rear view of both the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR.

The base model comes with a new 8-core Intel Xeon processor, which should give plenty of oomph for multitasking. The Xeon line of CPUs are designed for professional workstations – and this can be configured to a Xeon processor with an astounding 28 cores. The more cores, the better it can handle multiple tasks at once – so the processor powering the new Mac Pro will undoubtedly take even the most strenuous creative tasks in its stride.

As with Apple’s other prosumer computer – the iMac Pro –  the Mac Pro features an AMD graphics card – starting with the Radeon Pro 580X and up to the Radeon Pro Vega II, which features 32GB of high-bandwidth memory – 1TB/s to be precise. That makes it the highest memory bandwidth of any GPU.

If that’s not enough, you can also kit it out with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo – which features two Vega II GPUs for a total of 64GB of memory – making it the world’s most powerful graphics card.

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UbP4sx74c2JjeSvvqTuiPD.jpg

The removable lid and shell via the semi-circle handle.

These GPUs are fitted into the Apple MPX Module, which easily slots into the Mac Pro, offering quiet operation while being kept cool by the Mac Pro’s own cooling system. Impressively, the Mac Pro can have two MPX Modules installed at once, so if you have the need  – and the budget – you can install two Vega II Duos for a crazy 128GB of video memory and 56 teraflops of graphics performance.

This kind of graphical grunt will crush most video encoding and rendering tasks – even at resolutions of 8K and above. While we’d love to image what the gaming performance of this level of firepower is like, this is going to be purely of interest to video professionals that need to render ultra-high resolution footage quickly.

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/J7oQBQyGub37KkieKu9BPD.jpg

Not a bad look for Apple's newest professional gear.

Memory-wise, the Mac Pro supports six-channel memory and comes with 12 slots, which allows you to install up to 1.5TB of RAM. Again, this makes it a workstation that’s designed to excel at multitasking. PCI Express slots also make a comeback, with eight in total, which will offer plenty of options to expand the Mac Pro’s capabilities in the future.

These specs certainly sound impressive on paper (if, perhaps, a little overkill for most people), and we look forward to seeing how the Mac Pro really performs in a full review.

• Here's what Mac Pro will run on: macOS Catalina

Images Credit: TechRadar

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/vanOVyx3UTg