The Mac Pro is the latest Intel Mac in the lineup, but it doesn’t look like Apple saved the best for last. Following reports that the chip won’t be as fast as expected and the RAM won’t be upgradeable, Mark Gurman’s latest rumor throws a bucket of cold water on another expected feature: graphics card support.
According to a tweet from Gurman, who recently leaked several Mac Pro details, Apple’s silicon Mac Pro “may lack user-upgradable GPUs.” Along with CPU performance, support for RAM and GPU upgrades are two of the main reasons users choose to spend $5,999+ for the Modular Tower.
It’s yet another blow to the Mac Pro, which looks less impressive with every passing rumor. Here is a summary of the news of the last few weeks:
- Rather than the M2 Extreme chip that was rumored last year, the Mac Pro is expected to have an M2 Ultra chip with a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU compared to the 20-core CPU and GPU to 64 cores of the M1 Ultra.
- Like the rest of Apple’s chips, the Mac Pro’s processor will use unified memory built into the system-on-chip and therefore cannot be upgraded like the current model.
- Apple’s silicon Mac Pro will have the same design as the Intel model despite significant internal changes.
And now it wouldn’t have an upgradable GPU either. According to Gurman, storage will be “the primary user-upgradable component in the new Mac Pro” and the biggest difference between the M2 Ultra in the Mac Pro and the M1 Ultra in the Mac Studio will be “performance thanks to more cooling”.
If the inside of the case is as empty as reports indicate, there will be plenty of space for additional cooling. We just hope Apple still sells a Wheels kit that costs more than a Mac mini.
