With the launch of the brand new Mac Professional, Apple has lastly accomplished the transition to Apple silicon throughout all the Mac lineup. Over the previous decade, Apple has solely launched three new Mac Execs and the most recent model begins at $6,999 – the best beginning worth of any Mac Professional mannequin up to now – making it all of the extra necessary to contemplate if now is an effective time to improve or even when an older mannequin will suffice in your wants.
The 2023 Mac Professional is the primary of its form to function Apple silicon and all earlier fashions had Intel processors. Whereas the machine loses assist for eGPUs, it’s round twice as highly effective because the earlier top-tier Mac Professional whereas sustaining a principally modular design with seven PCIe slots. Even so, some first-time Mac Professional clients or customers of the 2013 mannequin might be able to acquire a 2019 Mac Professional second-hand or from a third-party retailer for a considerably lower cost, so it will likely be necessary to weigh up precisely what was added with every new model of the machine.
See the breakdown beneath for every new function, change, and enchancment that was added with every Mac Professional in comparison with its direct predecessor:
Mac Professional (Apple silicon Tower, 2023)
- Apple M2 Extremely chip
- 24-core CPU
- As much as 76-core GPU
- As much as 192GB unified reminiscence
- Non-upgradeable reminiscence
- Devoted media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW with two video decode engines, 4 video encode engines, and 4 ProRes encode and decode engines
- 32-core Neural Engine
- Seven PCI Categorical enlargement slots
- Eight Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports
- Three USB-A ports
- 3.5 mm headphone jack with superior assist for high-impedance headphones
- HDMI 2.1 port with assist for multichannel audio output
- Assist for as much as eight 4K shows, six 6K shows, or three 8K shows
- 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Weighs 37.2 kilos (16.86 kg) as tower or 37.9 kilos (17.21 kg) as rack
- Begins at $6,999
Mac Professional (Intel Tower, 2019)
- Silver tower design with lattice sample and three impeller followers
- Intel Xeon W processor
- As much as 28-core CPU
- As much as AMD Radeon Professional W6800X Duo GPU with 120 whole compute items
- As much as 1.5TB reminiscence
- As much as 8TB storage
- Eight PCI Categorical enlargement slots
- As much as 12 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
- Two USB 3 ports
- Twin 10 Gb Ethernet
- As much as two HDMI 2.0 ports
- Assist for as much as 12 4K shows, six 5K shows, or six Professional Show XDRs
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Weighs 39.7 kilos (18.0 kg) as tower or 38.8 kilos (17.6 kg) as rack
- Began at $5,999
Mac Professional (Intel Cylinder, 2013)
- Area Black cylindrical design with thermal core, single impeller fan, and illuminated ports
- Intel Xeon E5 processor
- As much as 12-core CPU
- As much as Twin AMD FirePro D700 GPU with 64 whole compute items
- As much as 64GB reminiscence
- Consumer-upgradeable reminiscence
- As much as 1TB storage
- Six Thunderbolt 2 ports
- 4 USB 3 ports
- Twin Gigabit Ethernet
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- HDMI 1.4 Extremely HD port
- Assist for as much as three dual-cable 5K shows or six Thunderbolt shows
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi 5
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Weighs 11 kilos (4.9 kg)
- Began at $2,999
Improve to the 2023 Mac Professional?
In most workflows, the M2 Extremely chip ought to supply an enormous efficiency enchancment over the Intel Xeon W processors provided within the 2019 Mac Professional, particularly in CPU-intensive duties. Early benchmarks point out that it delivers round two-times quicker general CPU efficiency than the quickest Intel-based Mac Professional with a 28-core Xeon W processor.
For machine studying processes, the 2023 Mac Professional has a big benefit with the M2 Extremely’s 32-core Neural Engine. Likewise, its devoted media engine presents appreciable advantages in video enhancing workflows.
The brand new Mac Professional can assist 8K exterior shows for the primary time. It additionally has newer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth specs, in addition to two USB-A ports and assist for high-impedance headphones.
When you’re in search of a high-end, future-proof machine that harnesses the perfect obtainable efficiency with Apple silicon, in addition to its extra fashionable specs, it will likely be price choosing the brand new Mac Professional.
…Or Stick With the 2019 Mac Professional?
Not all 2013 or 2019 Mac Professional customers ought to improve to the 2023 mannequin. Most notably, the 2019 Mac Professional options an Intel chip. Whereas assist for Apple silicon is now a lot better in skilled workflows than it was upon its launch in 2020, some area of interest purposes and legacy software program should still work higher on an Intel structure. Likewise, some customers could want to dual-boot Home windows by way of Boot Camp and this isn’t potential on the brand new Mac Professional.
When you require assist for added graphics playing cards, solely Intel-based Macs can assist this. This implies the brand new Mac Professional’s PCIe slots are solely helpful for issues like digital sign processing (DSP) playing cards, serial digital interface (SDI) I/O playing cards, extra networking, and built-in storage, so when you want eGPUs, the 2019 Mac Professional remains to be your only option.
The brand new Mac Professional maxes out at 192GB of reminiscence. The earlier mannequin supported virtually eight occasions this quantity, so when you want huge quantities of reminiscence, the 2019 mannequin remains to be higher in your functions. Equally, the 2019 mannequin’s reminiscence is user-upgradeable. The 2019 Mac Professional helps 4 extra 4K shows than the 2023 mannequin and it additionally has 4 extra Thunderbolt ports, which can be necessary concerns for some customers.
Therefore, for the best worth, the 2019 Mac Professional should still be higher for some customers. That being mentioned, you will need to keep in mind that Apple has now moved away from Intel-based machines solely. Sooner or later sooner or later, Intel-based Macs are prone to lose assist for the most recent model of macOS, so if you’re a consumer that particularly wants 2019 Mac Professional options like eGPU assist or an Intel structure, the 2019 Mac Professional could solely have the ability to assist out for therefore lengthy and it could be necessary to take a look at greater modifications to assist your workflow in the long run.
The 2013 Mac Professional solely helps updates as much as macOS 12 Monterey, that means it misses out on all the new options added in macOS Ventura and macOS Sonoma. These nonetheless utilizing the 2013 Mac Professional ought to positively think about upgrading, and each the 2019 or 2023 Mac Professional fashions are viable choices. Alternatively, if in case you have bought used to the 2013 Mac Professional’s lack of PCIe slots and reliance on wired peripherals, the Mac Studio could also be a greater possibility, beginning at simply $1,999.