Apple has finally launched a device that was long overdue, the Mac Pro. But this time it does not look like a garbage can, but one that looks like a big cheese grater.

The new Mac Pro is built inside a steel case, with wheals (optional), in which you will find a 1.4KW power supply, powering a 28 core Intel Xeon processor, a CPU that eats on its own around 300W. You may ask what is this enormous power supply used for then? Well the Mac Pro’s motherboard comes with 8 PCI-Express expansion slots, which allows the installation of many expansion cards, therefor you need power!

Some of these expansion cards, are video cards, Apple announcing with this occasion their own graphics expansion module, called MPX. MPX includes either a Radeon Pro 580X, or a Radeon VII Pro, or even two of these graphics chips soldered together and connected via Infinity Fabric. This module comes with passive cooling and you can even use two of these bad boys inside the Mac Pro, offering an insane amount of graphics processing power.

But this is not all. Apple presented their own board for video editing in the form of FPGA. This card can decode in real time 3 8K streams, or 12 4K streams, allowing you to add special effects during the playback of the project. Now that is amazing. The Mac Pro comes with a variety of connectivity options, such as one audio jack, two Thunderbolt 3 ports and two 10Gb LAN ports.

With the Mac Pro, there is also a new 32 inch 6k (6016x3384) monitor that opens a new standard for Apple called Extreme Dynamic Range. The new monitor, called Pro Display XDR, can play constantly a 1000 nits level of lights, but it is also capable of reaching 1600 nits. This means that HDR has reached a new level, making it possible for reach content display to be processed and delivered in exquisite details. The two Thunderbold ports from the Mac Pro allows 3 such monitors to be connected. Just imagine the possibilities!

With the Mac Pro, Apple has built their own rotating stand plus a VESA mount for the monitor, which can be purchased separately, but don’t think they come in cheap. The monitor on it’s own costs about $5000, and there is an even expensive version which includes a layer of sculpted glass that reduces light reflection and this one costs $6000.

As for to the Mac Pro itself, the lowest version of it comes with just an 8 cores Intel Xeon CPU and Radeon RX 580X, costs $6000 and it will be available from autumn of this year. A small part of the content development industry, like Adobe, Unity, Epic or Maxon, already announced their support for this new system.

Apple did something good here, and it returned to the Workstation market with a strong new system. But boy do the prices hit hard. I forgot to mention how much the Pro Stand costs: $999. WOW! So what do you think? Is this new Mac Pro really worth it or you can build something equally powerful or even better at a lower price point? And yes, the answer is yes, as we will discuss in future articles.

Here is how Apple presents their new Mac Pro: