| So long, and thanks for all the FLOPs. Image: Apple |
Apple has discontinued the Mac Pro, removing the desktop computer from its website and telling 9to5Mac that there aren’t any plans to replace it. This marks an end of an era, as the company is no longer selling a large computer with internal PCI-e slots that could be used to expand its capabilities, after decades of offering that kind of halo-tier product.
This leaves the Mac Studio as the top-end desktop that Apple sells, though anyone paying attention to the Mac lineup knows that it kind of was already. The now-discontinued Mac Pro was announced in 2019, outfitted with an Intel processor. Just under a year later, Apple started transitioning to using its own chips for the Mac lineup, eventually updating the Pro to use its top-end M2 Ultra chip in 2023.
Announced alongside it, though, was the Studio, a much smaller computer with that same chip. And while the Mac Pro’s modularity had provided it some distinct advantages in the pre-Apple Silicon era – the ability to add in third-party GPUs for extra horsepower, or to upgrade the RAM or storage with third-party options – those disappeared with the M2.
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| The M2 Mac Pro looks almost empty; there are PCIe slots, sure, but no massive banks to slot RAM into, nowhere to put hard drives, no big graphics card taking up a few slots. Image: Apple |
Essentially, the Studio and the Pro were the same computer, except one was a lot bigger and more expensive, and its PCI-e slots were only useful in very niche situations. People wondered what the point of the Pro was in the era of the studio, and predicted that Apple would give up on the larger desktop eventually. Those fears were essentially confirmed in 2025, when Apple updated the Mac Studio to add its latest chips, leaving the Pro to languish.
Was it complete overkill for any photographer, and most videographers? Almost certainly.
As someone who grew up as a computer enthusiast, it’s a little sad to see the world’s largest computer company give up on this concept and form factor. Was it the most powerful computer out there? Absolutely not. Was it complete overkill for any photographer, and most videographers? Almost certainly. But it was aspirational; a modular, upgradable computer that showed that Apple still cared about the niche of enthusiasts willing to pay for something they could tinker with.
That is, of course, remembering the Mac Pro of the past, because the M2 Ultra-equipped model didn’t fill that role either. This week’s discontinuation essentially feels like a formality; Apple is finally admitting that there hasn’t really been a reason to buy a Mac Pro in a while.
PS: When the Mac Pro was launched in 2019, it was launched alongside the Pro Display XDR, a monitor that was recently replaced by the Studio Display XDR. The Studio’s dethroning of the Pro continues.