Apple today introduced the all-new Mac Pro, a completely redesigned workstation for pros who push the limits of what a Mac can do, and unveiled Apple Pro Display XDR, a new pro display. Designed for maximum performance, expansion and configurability, the all-new Mac Pro features workstation-class Xeon processors up to 28 cores, a high-performance memory system with a massive 1.5TB capacity, eight PCIe expansion slots and a graphics architecture featuring the world’s most powerful graphics card. It also introduces Apple Afterburner, a game-changing accelerator card that enables playback of three streams of 8K ProRes RAW video simultaneously.
Pro Display XDR features a massive 32-inch Retina 6K display with P3 wide and 10-bit colour, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a super-wide viewing angle, all at a breakthrough price point.
“We designed Mac Pro for users who require a modular system with extreme performance, expansion and configurability. With its powerful Xeon processors, massive memory capacity, pioneering GPU architecture, PCIe expansion, Afterburner accelerator card and jaw-dropping design, the new Mac Pro is a monster that will enable pros to do their life’s best work,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Pro Display XDR is the world’s best pro display and the perfect companion to the all-new Mac Pro. With Retina 6K resolution, gorgeous colour, extreme brightness and contrast ratio, and a highly functional design, Pro Display XDR delivers the most comprehensive set of features ever offered on any display at this price point.”
Tremendous Processor Power and Massive Bandwidth
Designed for customers who demand the ultimate in CPU performance — for workflows like production rendering, playing hundreds of virtual instruments or simulating an app on a dozen iOS devices at once — Mac Pro features powerful Xeon processors up to 28 cores, with 64 PCI Express lanes. It also provides over 300W of power along with a state-of-the-art thermal architecture to allow the processor to run fully unconstrained all the time.
Enormous Memory Capacity and Expansion
For pros working with the largest projects, analysing huge data sets or running multiple pro applications, Mac Pro provides enormous memory capacity to meet needs as they grow. Featuring a six-channel memory architecture and 12 physical DIMM slots, the new Mac Pro allows for a massive 1.5TB of memory. And with eight PCI Express expansion slots, which is twice that of the previous-generation Mac Pro tower, pros can customise and expand their system in ways never before possible in a single workstation.
World’s Most Powerful Graphics Architecture
For pros animating 3D film assets, compositing 8K scenes and building complex 3D environments, graphics performance is more important than ever. That is why Mac Pro features up to 56 teraflops of graphics performance in a single system. Its groundbreaking graphics expansion architecture, the Apple MPX Module, features Thunderbolt integration and over 500W of power, both firsts for any graphics card. And for super quiet operation, the MPX Module is cooled by the Mac Pro system thermals.
Mac Pro graphics options start with the Radeon Pro 580X. Mac Pro debuts the Radeon Pro Vega II, featuring up to 14 teraflops of compute performance and 32GB of memory with 1TB/s of memory bandwidth. Mac Pro also introduces Radeon Pro Vega II Duo, which features two Vega II GPUs for 28 teraflops of graphics performance and 64GB of memory, making it the world’s most powerful graphics card. Mac Pro can accommodate two MPX Modules so customers can use two Vega II Duos for 56 teraflops of graphics performance and 128GB of video memory.
Introducing Apple Afterburner, a Game-Changing Accelerator Card
The new Mac Pro debuts Afterburner, featuring a programmable ASIC capable of decoding up to 6.3 billion pixels per second. With Afterburner, video editors using high-res cameras that require the conversion of native file formats into proxies for easy editing can now use native formats right from the camera and decode up to three streams of 8K ProRes RAW video and 12 streams of 4K ProRes RAW video in real time, virtually eliminating proxy workflows.
Modular Enclosure with 360-Degree Access
The design of the new Mac Pro starts with a stainless-steel space frame with an aluminium housing that lifts off for 360-degree access to the entire system. The frame provides a foundation for modularity and flexibility, and incorporates smooth handles for easily moving Mac Pro around the studio. The housing also features a new lattice pattern to maximise airflow and quiet operation. For customers who want to rack mount their Mac Pro in edit bays or machine rooms, an optimised version for rack deployment will be available this spring.
Performance to Transform the Pro Workflow
With up to 28 core Xeon processors, 56 teraflops of graphics performance and the groundbreaking Afterburner card, the new Mac Pro delivers performance that will transform pro workflows. A number of developers are seeing amazing results that have never been possible in a single workstation.
- Blackmagic Design brings full CPU and multi-GPU accelerated 8K real-time editing, effects and colour correction in ProRes 4444 for the first time on any system.
- Avid can enable support for up to six HDX cards, resulting in more IO, increased voice count and two times the real-time DSP processing than any other system can achieve in Pro Tools.
- Maxon’s Cinema 4D is seeing 20 percent faster GPU render performance when compared to a Windows workstation maxed out with three NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 graphics cards.
For additional performance results for the all-new Mac Pro, see apple.com/au/mac-pro
Pro Display XDR Features Largest Retina Display Ever
Featuring a 32-inch LCD panel with a 6016 x 3384 Retina 6K resolution with more than 20 million pixels, Pro Display XDR delivers a super-sharp, high-resolution viewing experience with nearly 40 percent more screen real estate than a Retina 5K display. With a P3 wide colour gamut and true 10-bit colour for over 1 billion colours, pros will have a more true-to-life viewing experience — critical for video and photo editing, 3D animation or colour grading. Pro Display XDR also features the industry’s best polariser technology, delivering a superwide, colour-accurate, off-axis viewing angle, so now multiple people can view more accurate content simultaneously. To manage reflected light, Pro Display XDR has an industry-leading anti-reflective coating and offers an innovative new matte option called nano-texture, with glass etched at the nanometer level for low reflectivity and less glare.
Pro Display XDR uses a direct backlighting system with a large array of LEDs that produce 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness. With an advanced thermal system that uses its aluminium lattice pattern as a heat sink, Pro Display XDR can sustain 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness indefinitely, something that has never been possible before on a display with this resolution. And with an amazing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, images will have the brightest specular highlights, super dark blacks and all the details in between.
Stunning, Flexible and Modular Design for the Way Pros Work
With edge-to-edge glass and narrow, 9-millimetre borders in a stunning, aluminium enclosure, Pro Display XDR features a highly functional and flexible design. The Pro Stand has an intricately engineered arm that perfectly counterbalances the display so it feels virtually weightless, allowing users to easily place it into position. The Pro Stand provides both tilt and height adjustment, and also allows Pro Display XDR to rotate into portrait mode, perfect for tasks like retouching photos, designing a web page or writing code. Easily removable, the Pro Stand quickly attaches and detaches so it is easy to take on location. For pros with unique mounting requirements, a VESA mount adapter is interchangeable with the Pro Stand. With a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, Pro Display XDR connects seamlessly to the Mac product line, including the new Mac Pro, which supports up to six displays.
