Apple has changed plans for its high-end Mac Pro hardware, according to a report | Jobs Vox

It’s been two years since Apple announced that its switch from Intel to its own Arm-based silicon would be complete, but the high-end Mac Pro still hasn’t made the switch from Intel.

As ZDNET’s David Gewirtz recently pointed out, the 2019 Mac Pro desktop is now the last Intel machine in Apple’s lineup. It’s doubtful how many people will buy it, but it’s also the only model that supports up to 1.5TB of RAM with expansion slots.

The new 2022 M1 Max or M1 Ultra Mac Studio offers up to 128GB of RAM, while the 2021 Mac Mini comes with up to 16GB of RAM — and neither has expansion slots.

But now Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the Mac Pro has been delayed by feature changes, and he suggests a change in Apple’s plans for its high-end processors — the M2 Ultra and the dual M2 Ultra, which he refers to as the M2. extreme.

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The M2 Ultra chip will support 24 CPU cores, 76 graphics cores and 192 GB of RAM. Gourmand reports that Apple is expected to cancel the M2 Extreme, which would have had 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores.

And he estimates the M2 Extreme version of the Mac Pro will likely start at at least $10,000, making it an extremely niche product and not worth the resources to build. Current Intel-based The Mac Pro starts at $5,999 before configuration.

“The M2 Extreme chip would have doubled that to 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores. But here’s the bad news: the company is likely to drop this top-end configuration, which could disappoint Apple’s most demanding users—photographers, editors, and programmers. Those who value this kind of computing strength”, says Gurman.

He believes the Mac Pro will come with the M2 Ultra chip and will keep expanding the existing model to upgrade memory, storage and other components.