To Boldly Pro (Where No Mac Has Gone in a While)

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The wait is finally over. Just 6 years since the release of the last Mac Pro, lovingly dubbed The Trashcan, Apple has announced a brand new Mac Pro that harkens back to the original 2006 version. The new Mac Pro pays fromage to the cheese-grater design of its predecessor, but there's nothing cheesy under the hood. In fact, the Mac Pro announced at WWDC marks a significant turning point in Apple's quest to win back the post-production and VFX professionals.

Until recently, Apple had been under fire from critics who have accused them of abandoning the pro community in favor of iOS updates and talking emojis-but the tide is changing, and it seems like Apple is finally ready to make bold moves in a direction other than mobile. Four major hardware updates and several significant improvements to Final Cut Pro X and ProRes later, we can see a renewed commitment to creative pros. There's no question that the new Mac Pro is going to have a lasting impact in post houses and studios around the world, the same way that Xsan, Final Cut Pro 7, and the original Mac Pro have.

Insane I/O

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One of the main design principles of the new Mac Pro is expansion, and one of the things we're most excited for is the new Mac Pro's I/O specs. The system touts an impressive total of eight PCI Express card expansion slots, two MPX bays which can be used as four PCIe slots, three full-length PCIe slots, and one half-length. By default, the system will ship with two USB 3 ports, four Thunderbolt 3 ports, and two 10Gigabit Base-T Ethernet ports. If you saw our post after the last iMac Pro release, you know we're thrilled to see more native 10Gb Ethernet support. For one, it makes it incredibly simple to connect to a shared storage server, and it means you'll never have to buy another Thunderbolt chassis.

Apple highlighted some incredibly demanding workflows during WWDC. Those workflows are not only demanding on the workstation hardware like the CPU and GPU but on network bandwidth as well. Many pro workflows require files and projects to be shared on a high speed, secure, and centralized storage server so that multiple users can access media from any workstation. In some cases, like 8K editorial or 4K finishing and color grading, 10Gigabit Ethernet just isn't fast enough-that's when those PCIe slots will really come in handy. By adding a 25, 40, 50, or even 100Gb expansion, you'll be able to get more Ethernet bandwidth (more on this later in the article) to support the demanding workflows made possible with the new Mac Pro.

Back in Rack

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We got a little nostalgic when we saw that the Mac Pro will be rack-mountable (RIP Xserve). Although it's not a new idea, it highlights that Apple is serious about providing a workstation that meets the requirements of many high-end post-production and visual effects shops. Rack mounting the Mac Pro can make high-speed networking easier by bringing it closer to your switch, facilitate improved power and cooling infrastructure, and enable shops to take advantage of third-party data centers where they can offload rendering to Mac Pros in the cloud.

data-src=https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-1024x512.jpg alt=Diagram showing Mac Pro, iMac Pro, and Mac Mini workstations directly connected to an EVO server over 10Gb and 25Gb Ethernet. width=1024 height=512 class=lazyload size-large wp-image-7616 data-srcset=https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-200x100.jpg 200w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-300x150.jpg 300w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-400x200.jpg 400w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-600x300.jpg 600w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-768x384.jpg 768w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-800x400.jpg 800w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram-1200x600.jpg 1200w, https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Mac-Pro-Shared-Storage-10Gb-Diagram.jpg 1270w data-sizes=(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px />Diagram showing Mac Pro, iMac Pro, and Mac Mini workstations directly connected to an EVO server over 10Gb and 25Gb Ethernet.

ProRes RAW in the SpotlightProRes, one of Apple's most significant contributions to the pro market, got a lot of attention during WWDC 2019. The new Mac Pro is capable of playing back up to three streams of 8K ProRes RAW, a performance benchmark that continuously popped up during the presentation. This was one of the most interesting points of the announcement, not just because it highlights the sheer power of the Mac Pro hardware, but because of what it says about the state of the industry. We're entering an era where it's possible for shared storage and workstation hardware to support native 4K, 6K, and even 8K post-production. The focus on ProRes RAW also had implications beyond just the Mac Pro and gave us a glimpse into what the supporting ecosystem might look like.

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