The Mac Pro is the last Intel Mac in the lineup, but it doesn’t look like Apple did its best all the way through. The latest rumor from Mark Gurman throws a bucket of cold water into another expected feature of his: graphics card support.
Gurman, who recently leaked some Mac Pro details, said in a tweet that Apple Silicon Mac Pros “may not have user-upgradeable GPUs.” Along with speed, support for RAM and GPU upgrades are he two of the main reasons users choose to spend his $5,999 on a modular tower.
This is another blow to the Mac Pro, which has been underwhelming with every rumor. Here’s a rundown of news from the past few weeks:
- Instead of the M2 Extreme chip rumored last year, the Mac Pro is expected to feature an M2 Ultra chip with a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU compared to the M1 Ultra’s 20-core CPU and 64-core GPU.
- Like other chips from Apple, the Mac Pro’s processor uses unified memory built into the system-on-chip, so it can’t be upgraded like current models.
- The Apple silicon Mac Pro will have the same design as the Intel model.
And now, there are reportedly no upgradeable GPUs either. According to Gurman, storage will be “a key component that users can upgrade with the new Mac Pro,” and the biggest difference between the Mac Pro’s M2 Ultra and the Mac Studio’s M1 Ultra will be “performance with more cooling.” .
If the inside of the case is empty as reports show, there’s plenty of room for extra cooling.