We published our first benchmarks of our review model, and the results were in some ways surprising: The eight-core 2013 Mac Pro was only 8 percent faster in our Speedmark 9 benchmark suite than a CTO 2013 iMac maxed out with a quad-core 3.5GHz Core i7 processor, a 3TB Fusion Drive, 8GB of RAM, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M graphics (a $2699 configuration). Once the machine started shipping at the end of the year, reviews started rolling in.ĭan Frakes at Macworld pointed out that the Mac Pro wasn’t always the fastest Mac in the room: In October 2013, Apple gave additional details about the Mac Pro. All of the ports were around the back, with labels that illuminated when the machine was turned around. The Mac Pro could deliver seven teraflops of computing power thanks to those graphic cards and could push 4K external displays.Īll of this technology was packed into a tiny chassis that was just an eighth the volume of the previous design. Every Mac Pro shipped with two AMD FirePro workstation GPUs. Expansion was external via Thunderbolt 2 and its 20 Gbps throughput gone were the internal PCI slots that helped defined Apple’s towers for so long.

The machine was powered by Intel Xeons, coupled with all-Flash, PCIe-based storage and ECC RAM. By being so large, Apple could spin it more slowly than the smaller fans found in other Macs, helping keep the machine quiet, even under load. The internals were built around what Schiller called a “unified thermal core.” It was all cooled by one large fan at the top. It was a push back against critics who were saying Apple had gotten lazy and its products stale.Ī single look at this computer proved them wrong.

After playing a very exciting video showing off the product, Phil Schiller quipped, “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,” as he walked across the stage to applause.

Late 2013 imac therman sensor