As promised, Apple has released the new Mac Pro 7,1 new-style cheese-grater today with a base price of $5,999. More importantly, we can now see the different pricing options in the build-to-order section.
In this article, we take a first look at the official Apple pricing and spec an appropriate Pro Tools computer as well as see what the price is if you have everything…
We start with the Base Model 2019 Mac Pro…
The base model priced at $5,999 comes with…
3.5GHz 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz
32GB (4x8GB) of DDR4 ECC memory
Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory
256GB SSD storage
Stainless steel frame with feet
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - US English
A Power Cord
A USB-C to Lightning cable
But what about all the other options…
Processor Options
You will need to select the 24-core or 28-core Intel Xeon processor if you want to maximise the memory in your Mac Pro to 1.5TB.
Compared to our estimated pricing back in June 2019, our research suggested that the 28 Core 2.5GHz processor would cost $7543, with the 16-core model coming in at $1999, so not that far from the actual price Apple is asking…
Memory Options
Note that the 1.5TB memory option requires a 24-core or 28-core processor.
Comparing the Apple price with the prices our research produced in June 2019, for the maximum 1.5TB we found examples of the Crucial Memory CT128G4ZFJ426S memory module with a price of just over $2,000 per 128GB card making a total $24,000 for the maximum 1.5TB, with Apple charging $25,000.
Graphics Options
AMD Radeon Pro 580X
36 compute units, 2304 stream processors
8GB of GDDR5 memory
Up to 5.6 teraflops single precision
Two HDMI 2.0 ports on card
Four DisplayPort connections routed to system to support internal Thunderbolt 3 ports
Support for up to six 4K displays, two 5K displays, or two Pro Display XDRs
Half-height MPX Module fits in an MPX bay and enables PCIe slot 2 for additional expansion
AMD Radeon Pro Vega II
64 compute units, 4096 stream processors
32GB of HBM2 memory with 1TB/s memory bandwidth
Up to 14.2 teraflops single precision or 28.4 teraflops half precision
Infinity Fabric Link connection enables two Vega II GPUs to connect at up to 84GB/s
Four Thunderbolt 3 ports and one HDMI 2.0 port on card
Two DisplayPort connections routed to system to support internal Thunderbolt 3 ports
Support for up to six 4K displays, three 5K displays, or two Pro Display XDRs
Full-height MPX Module fills an MPX bay and uses extra power and PCIe bandwidth
AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo
Two Vega II GPUs, each with 64 compute units and 4096 stream processors
64GB of HBM2 memory (32GB per GPU), each with 1TB/s memory bandwidth
Up to 28.4 teraflops single precision or 56.8 teraflops half precision
Onboard Infinity Fabric Link connection connects the two Vega II GPUs at up to 84GB/s
Four Thunderbolt 3 ports and one HDMI 2.0 port on card
Four DisplayPort connections routed to system to support internal Thunderbolt 3 ports
Support for up to eight 4K displays, four 5K displays, or four Pro Display XDRs
Full-height MPX Module fills an MPX bay and uses extra power and PCIe bandwidth
The base-model 2019 Mac Pro comes with the AMD Radeon Pro 580X GPU with 8GB of video memory and will be more than capable of handling the display requirements for any Pro Tools system.
For real graphics power users, likely to be people using the Mac Pro for high-end video editing and production, The Radeon Pro Vega II GPU will be a special MPX Module, which comes with its own Thunderbolt connection and a maximum power consumption of 500 watts per sled. Each MPX Module has a large heat sink and doesn't contain any extra fans, to help to keep the noise down. Instead, there are three giant fans behind the Mac Pro's front grille designed to keep the entire interior cool, including the GPU modules, all of which means that Apple is claiming that the new Mac Pro will be quieter than the iMac Pro.
Each MPX Module can be configured with one or two Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, and each Mac Pro can hold up to two MPX Modules. With two GPUs in an MPX Module, there is a special graphics option that Apple calls a "Radeon Pro Vega II Duo," which is an Apple exclusive dual-GPU Radeon. All of this means, assuming you have the budget, that it will be possible to buy a Mac Pro with four discrete GPUs with a combined 256 graphics compute units and 128GB of video memory. As to cost, with regard to the graphics cards, there is very little to go on.
Back in June 2019, as to cost, with regard to the graphics cards there was very little to go on. We saw one site use the price of a pro-grade Nvidia Quadro RTX 6000, which costs around $6300 and then go onto suggest that Apple’s AMD solution could cost at least $12,000 for the whole quad-GPU package. In fact, the dual AMD option comes out at $10,800!
Coming soon:
Radeon Pro W5700X with 16GB of GDDR6 memory
Two Radeon Pro W5700X with 16GB of GDDR6 memory each
Storage Options
The Mac Pro ships with flash storage. The entry-level model offers a 256GB SSD and is ‘configurable’ to a 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB SSD. With PCI Express NVMe solid-state drive options, the new Mac Pro will offer considerably faster storage than the current Mac Pro trash can. In 2013, the NVMe-protocol SSDs, which offer throughput speeds of approximately 3,500 MBps, simply did not exist. All of which means that the 256GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB of storage in the new Mac Pro will be considerably faster than the 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB options offered in its predecessor.
The data on Mac Pro will be protected by the Apple T2 Security Chip with its Secure Enclave coprocessor. This will encrypt storage and offer secure boot capabilities. It may be that this feature means that the storage options will not be user-configurable. This will mean that you will either decide on your boot drive size when you order your Mac Pro and live with it or have to take it to an approved Apple Service Centre to have Apple upgrade your boot drive.
When we researched the possible option pricing for the 2019 Mac Pro, we used the pricing at the time for the iMac Pro, the base model comes with 1TB of storage. It’s an extra $600 to upgrade that to 2TB and $2400 to upgrade to 4TB. Somewhat bizarrely the 2019 Mac Pro model only comes with 256GB, whereas the iMac pro we looked at back in June started a more sensible 1TB.
Coming soon:
8TB SSD storage
Apple Afterburner Option
Feet Or Wheels
Magic Mouse Or Trackpad
The 2019 Mac Pro comes with silver-and-black input devices. The matching trackpad can only be purchased with your Mac Pro.
What About The Rack Mount Option?
Apple is listing the Rack Mount Option as “Coming Soon” but they have announced that the rackmount base model will be $6,499 so an extra $500 for the rackmount option.
More Support And Help From Apple On The New Mac Pro
Apple also has produced a support document outlining all the user replaceable and upgradeable parts in the Mac Pro, including the memory, PCIe cards, Apple I/O card, power supply, SSD, and wheels.
Note that the SSDs are not user replacement or upgradeable.
Apple advises users that damage caused by failing to follow Apple’s instructions on replacing components in the Mac Pro is not covered by Apple's warranty.
What About A Suitable Mac Pro 7,1 Specced For Pro Tools?
How Does This Compare With Our Predicted Pricing in June 2019?
The simple answer is very close. Back in June 2019 we priced up 2 options using the published price of the base model of $5,999 and then added component pricing to that to arrive at a price estimate for our two options.
For the basic model, we selected the 12-core processor and for the Superior option, we went for the 16-core processor.
For RAM we chose 96GB for the basic option and 192GB for the Superior option. using the prices from the Crucial memory US website.
For the startup drive storage, we have based it on the Apple pricing from the current iMac Pro pricing on Apple’s US website.
For media storage, we chose an OWC Tempo PCI-e card that supports 2 x 2.5” SSDs. For the Basic option, we selected two 1TB OWC Mercury Extreme SSDs and for the Superior option, we selected two 2TB OWC Mercury Extreme SSDs just for an example.
The graphics card we selected for both options was the AMD Radeon Pro 580X which is included in the base model from Apple.
Looking at the actual pricing now published on Apple US site, the Basic option without the additional storage comes in at $8,799. When you add 2 x 1TB OWC SSDs and the Tempo Card at $539 the total actual price comes to $9,338, instead of our predicted price of $9,190.
Moving onto the Superior option, our predicted price with the 2 x 2TB additional storage and the Temmpo card was $12,657. The actual Apple price without the additional storage is $12,399 and with the additional storage the actual price comes out at $13,398.
So both prices were slightly under what we predicted.
What About A fully Loaded Mac Pro?
2.5GHz 28‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
1.5TB (12x128GB) of DDR4 ECC memory
Two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo with 2x32GB of HBM2 memory each
4TB SSD storage
Apple Afterburner card
Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2
Total price $52,748.
What Do You Think?
There you have it. An appropriately specced Mac Pro 7,1 for Pro Tools that will take 6 HDX cards could be just under $10,000, depending on exactly which options you go for, with the fully fitted version coming in at just under $53K.
What do you make of that? Will you be buying a new 2019 Mac Pro? If so which spec will you be choosing?
Do share your thought in the comments below…