As a part of Apple’s transition to Apple Silicon, the corporate is difficult at work on a brand new Mac Professional behind closed doorways at Apple Park – and rumours recommend it’ll be impressively quick.
Whereas it wasn’t revealed by the tip of 2022 as anticipated, whispers recommend we don’t have for much longer to attend for the reveal of the brand new final desktop Mac. Right here’s all there may be to know in regards to the new Mac Professional (2023) proper now, together with launch date rumours and leaked specs.
When will the brand new Mac Professional be launched?
Apple is protecting tight-lipped on the discharge date of the brand new Mac Professional, however we do know that the Mac Professional has fallen delayed in response to Apple’s preliminary plan to transition its complete Mac vary to Apple Silicon by the tip of 2022.
This makes the truth that Apple took the shocking step of teasing the discharge of the Mac Professional at its March 2022 occasion much more shocking. Speaking in regards to the transition to Apple Silicon, Tim Cook dinner teased that the brand new Studio “be a part of[s] the remainder of our Mac lineup, making out transition practically full, with only one extra product to go, Mac Professional. However that’s for an additional day.”
Whereas it appeared like a WWDC launch might be doable, largely because of tweets from concept artist Ian Zelbo, it didn’t occur – though the MacBook Air 2022 with M2 did.
It was an identical story at Apple’s September occasion that noticed the announcement of the iPhone 14 vary alongside numerous fashions of Apple Watch and AirPods Professional 2.
So when precisely will the Mac Professional make an look? It’s 2023 now, in any case.
In keeping with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, we don’t have for much longer to attend. Taking to Twitter in mid-January 2023, the reporter means that Apple is presently testing a brand new Mac Professional operating macOS 13.3. Given the truth that macOS 11.3 was launched in April 2021 and macOS 12.3 adopted in March 2022, it’s probably that macOS 13.3 will probably be launched in March or April.
This might coincide with the reveal of the brand new Mac Professional, with the discharge of the software program and the high-end hardcore on the identical time. It’s what Apple tends to do with iPhones and iOS, and Apple Watch and watchOS, so it’s not an alien concept.
With that stated, we’ll probably see the announcement and subsequent reveal of the brand new Mac Professional someday in Spring 2023.
How a lot will the brand new Mac Professional price?
The Mac Professional sits fairly as the most costly Mac that Apple makes, with the present base mannequin beginning at £5,499/$5,999 and going all the best way as much as an eye-watering £47,079/$52,199 for the top-spec mannequin.
After all, it’s not a Mac for most people. It’s designed for film studios, animation studios and different big-budget inventive companies, making the worth slightly extra comprehensible.
These hoping for a discount in worth with the Mac Professional (2023) will probably be dissatisfied; whereas different Apple Silicon upgrades aren’t any dearer than their Intel counterparts, they’re not any cheaper both. Meaning the brand new Mac Professional will probably launch at across the identical £5,499/$5,999 as the present mannequin, however we’ll replace this part if we hear otherwise.
What to anticipate from the Mac Professional (2023)
Whereas we’re nonetheless a while away from the potential launch of the brand new Mac Professional, the hearsay mill is already churning away, giving us an concept of what to anticipate from the next-gen package.
Apple Silicon chipset
The primary driving issue behind the subsequent Mac Professional replace is the transition to Apple Silicon, so it’s secure to say that the brand new Mac Professional will sport an Apple-made chipset – and rumours recommend it’ll far surpass the capabilities of the M1 Professional and M1 Max chipsets within the redesigned MacBook Professional vary.
Whereas Bloomberg claimed that Apple was initially engaged on a devoted high-end “M2 Excessive” chipset with 48 CPU cores and 152 GPU cores, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman steered in January 2023 that Apple has scrapped plans for the M2 excessive amongst “complexity and price considerations.
As a substitute, in response to the reporter, the brand new Mac Professional will sport a brand new M2 Extremely chipset, together with a design that permits customers to improve elements like RAM and storage at a later date – basically a return to the OG Mac Professional idea.
The M2 Extremely is alleged to help as much as 24 CPU cores, 76 GPU cores and 192GB of unified RAM – although the latter is kind of the downgrade in comparison with the 1.5TB of RAM supported by the present mannequin. There’s additionally concern over GPU efficiency contemplating the present mannequin can home as much as 4 inside graphics playing cards.
There’s no phrase but on RAM and SSD choices, however that’ll probably come as we creep ever nearer to its launch.
An overhauled design
Apple’s present Mac Professional was launched to basic ridicule again in 2019, with many web memes evaluating the high-end Mac to a cheese grater. With that also comparatively recent in our minds, absolutely Apple would need to overhaul the design to one thing rather less… cheese-grater-y this time round.
Whereas early rumours indicated that this might be the case – hit-and-miss leaker Jon Prosser claimed Apple was engaged on a Mac Mini-esque design – subsequent rumours recommend we’re going to see a way more acquainted design with the subsequent Mac Professional.
In keeping with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the brand new Mac Professional will retain an identical design because it gives “straightforward expandability for added reminiscence, storage and different elements”, although the adoption of Apple Silicon suggests it might be barely smaller than its predecessor.