More than a decade ago, Apple introduced what the majority of readers would agree, was one of the most ‘coolest’ looking products, and that is without considering its functionality. The 2013 Mac Pro was by far, one of the technology giant’s most iconic designs for its workstation-class machines, but due to the reasons that have been discussed an innumerable number of times, the company re-introduced the tower design with its Apple Silicon, and has placed the ‘trash can’ form factor into its vintage list of products.
The ‘trash can’ Mac Pro is now more than 12 years old, and given the Apple Silicon’s power efficiency, there is no reason why it cannot re-introduce this design
It took a while for the Mac Pro to be added to Apple’s vintage product list, and that is because this workstation kept on selling for such a long time that it took 12 years after the machine’s inception for it to be added to the aforementioned list. Typically, the Cupertino firm adds products to its list just five years after its first sale begins, but an exception was made for the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro.
For those who do not know, any Apple product added to the company’s vintage product list will still have its parts sold and can be serviced, with the only condition being that its components are still sold at an authorized outlet. After the 5-year vintage period has ended, Apple adds those products to its ‘obsolete’ list, which is typically more than seven years.
In the case of the Mac Pro, the machine was not discontinued until 2019 and was replaced by the ‘cheese grater’ design, which was more than capable of handling the power-hungry and significantly powerful Intel Xeon processors. Despite mesmerizing the crowd, not to mention Apple’s then-SVP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller dropping his iconic ‘can’t innovate anymore, my ass’ during the announcement, the Mac Pro turned out to be a massive disappointment.
Getting past its unique form factor, the workstation’s thermal capabilities were deemed inadequate, with owners unable to utilize the hardware’s full potential due to the lack of cooling. Additionally, users could hardly upgrade the components on the machine, which was one of the essential features present on the previous-generation design. Apple’s current SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, eventually admitted that the company designed a product that put itself in a thermal corner.
Fortunately, the company could explore bringing this design back with the arrival of the highly efficient Apple Silicon, which does not even come close to the power envelope of hardware found in the Mac Pro. After all, components such as RAM are already baked into the chipset, with the graphics processor integrated into the die, meaning that this is possible, but will it happen? Only time will tell.
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