In the same weekend that Apple will answer the wishes of many fans of the MacBook Air, it is also reported that the potential of the Mac Pro will be reduced, with the cancellation of one of the most powerful options.
While a bigger screen on the MacBook Air will be welcomed by many at the lower end of Apple’s macOS notebook portfolio, the decisions that have created good news for geekery aren’t so rosy at the top end of the portfolio. Mark Gurman reports:
“It’s likely that the company ditched this high-end configuration, which may disappoint Apple’s most demanding users: photographers, editors, and programmers who value this kind of computing power. The company made the decision both to the complexity and cost of producing a processor. It’s basically four M2 Max chips fused together.”
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 3: The new Mac Pro is on display during the 2019 Apple Worldwide… [+] Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center on June 3, 2019 in San Jose, California. WWDC will last until June 7. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Apple’s previous approach used performance as the main differentiator across the portfolio. With the weaker Intel chips powering the cheaper MacBook Air laptops, stepping up to the ridiculous power available in the Mac Pro, it was a simple approach that was almost forced onto macOS machines by the demands of the x86 platform .
Under these circumstances, the Mac Pro, at the top of the portfolio, was clearly sold on the power available and rightly so… just as the MacBook Air was sold on the balance of power along with the portability
Now, the Mac platform as a whole is in a new world, where Apple Silicon’s advantages have changed the nature of the wallet. The MacBook Air is still the king of MacOS machine portability, but now it has the power to go with it. There are far fewer compromises with ARM-based chipsets than with Intel.
And that puts the Mac Pro in an awkward spot. It’s being sold as the most powerful, most capable and most flexible Mac you can buy. I have no doubt that in raw numbers, the Mac Pro will be “the best Mac Apple can make,” but that statement is open to interpretation.
We already knew the Mac Pro was coming late. Now we know that Apple has reduced the final performance that many expected.
Now read more about Apple’s plans for the bigger MacBook Air…