4 Reasons the Apple Silicon Mac Pro Is Not Worth Your Money
Apple announced the long-awaited Apple silicon-powered Mac Pro at WWDC 2023. Despite the Mac Pro finally switching over from Intel to Apple silicon, the desktop is a bit of a letdown and arguably a hard sell to many professionals considering a desktop Mac.
Below, we’ll discuss why the Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip isn’t worth purchasing over other Macs in Apple’s lineup.
1. Same Old Design
Despite the Mac Pro moving away from Intel processors and now using Apple silicon, the 2023 refresh didn’t bring a new design, which is disappointing.
The Mac Pro is still a large, heavy aluminum and stainless steel tower. Therefore, it’s still hard to move around a professional space if needed unless you purchase the optional wheels for a whopping $400.
The Mac Pro could have greatly benefited from a redesign—possibly making it slightly more compact—since Apple silicon has allowed for designs such as the M1 iMac and Mac Studio to exist.
2. Same Performance as the M2 Ultra Mac Studio
Surprisingly, the Mac Pro doesn’t offer more power than the M2 Ultra Mac Studio. It includes the sameM2 Ultra chip configurations, which means you can expect similar performance for CPU and GPU tasks.
The similarities also extend to the maximum amount ofunified memorythe Mac Pro can hold. It maxes out at 192GB of memory, just like the Mac Studio. And you even get the same 8TB SSD storage option on both desktops.
Besides the cooling system, the main difference between the internals of the machines is that the Mac Pro has PCIe slots, allowing you to add PCIe expansion cards for specific professional workflows.
Even though the Mac Pro used to offer the most power for professionals, that isn’t the case anymore when it comes to the CPU, GPU, and RAM options. It doesn’t make much sense to purchase the Mac Pro if performance is your main reason for wanting to buy Apple’s desktop tower.
3. You Can’t Upgrade the RAM or Graphics Yourself
One of the majorbenefits of getting the previous Mac Pro over other Mac desktopsis that system components were user-upgradeable. However, you can’t upgrade the RAM, CPU, or GPU after the initial purchase since DIY upgrades are not possible with Apple silicon. This means that when you purchase the Mac Pro, you’re stuck with the configuration you selected.
You can still add PCIe cards by opening the machine using the handle on the top of the case, but the ability to open the computer is now less beneficial. Despite Apple silicon being a game changer for the Mac by delivering incredible performance over Intel, professionals will miss out on being able to upgrade the machine down the road.
4. It’s Very Expensive
Apple silicon Macs offer significant value for their performance and battery life, but there is no getting around the fact that the Mac Pro is overpriced. While the $6,999 starting configuration with M2 Ultra, 64GB of unified memory, and 1TB SSD is certainly better than its predecessor with Intel Xeon W CPU, Radeon Pro W5500X GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD, it costs $1,000 more.
Moreover, things take a turn for the computer’s value when you consider the price of the Mac Studio. When you comparethe Mac Studio against the Mac Pro, the M2 Ultra configuration features the same specifications for $3,000 less. The fact that you can get the same performance for less makes the Mac Pro far less appealing.
The Mac Pro Is a Very Niche Product
Even though the Mac Pro is a powerhouse, it arguably isn’t worth the price unless you really need a Mac with PCIe slots. The Mac Pro could have benefited from an Apple silicon redesign or a higher-end M2 chip specific to the Mac Pro, but unfortunately, we didn’t get either this time.
If you’re not sold on the Mac Pro but want a powerful Mac desktop, there are multiple reasons to choose the Mac Studio as your next computer.
The Mac Studio is probably not for the average user, but we’ll give you all the reasons to buy one if you’re on the fence.
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