We have more evidence that it’s time for Apple to release a new version of the Mac Pro. why? It’s been smoked out in benchmarks and by devices at a tenth of that price.
The M2 Mac mini was tested in single-core and multi-core operation and compared to the Intel-based Mac Pro. Naturally, the news is all bad for the expensive 2019 workstation.
Gregg’s gadget twitter posted two very straightforward sets of benchmark results, one for the M2 Mac mini and one for the Intel-based Mac Pro. The Mac mini outperformed the workstation in both single-core and multi-core tests.
Unfortunately, we only know the results of one example, so it’s possible that the Mac mini loses to the Mac Pro in various tests. However, in our Geekbench 5 test, the Mac mini scored 1,944 single-core and 8,790 multi-core, while the Intel Mac Pro managed only 1,019 and 8,037 respectively. This is a big blow for the 2019 Mac Pro.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an M2 chip completely destroy a Mac Pro. Similar benchmark results emerged last summer, with the 13-inch MacBook Pro taking center stage. This laptop outperformed the Mac Pro despite being about $5,000 cheaper. Comparing the Mac mini and Mac Pro, the Mac mini costs just $600 for the base configuration, a tenth of the Mac Pro, so the price difference is even greater.
Apple’s blazing workstations of 2019 run on Intel hardware and still sell for $6,000 today. That’s a hell of a price, but at the time it was one powerful computer set up to support all the resource-intensive tasks like video editing and rendering. It’s been over three years since then, and it’s safe to say that buying a Mac Pro no longer makes sense.
If you want a new workstation PC, what can you do? Buy a Mac mini instead, or wait for Apple to release the long-awaited Mac Pro running on its own M2 silicon. Assuming it has the M2 Ultra chip, it should be the king of Apple’s entire lineup.
Editor’s pick