Mark Gurman and Debby Wu, in a report about Apple getting ready to pull the plug on Intel starting with next week’s event:
The company is already at work on a redesigned iMac, the company’s all-in-one desktop, and a new Mac Pro model, Apple’s highest-end desktop, other people familiar with the company’s plans said.
Apple engineers are currently developing a new Mac Pro that looks like the current design at about half the size. It’s unclear if that Mac will replace the current Mac Pro or if it’s an additional model. Apple’s chip designs could help the company reduce the size of its computers due to increased power efficiency, but the current Mac Pro is large, in part, to fit components like additional storage drives and graphics chips.
The Intel Xeon doesn’t take up very much space inside the 2019 Mac Pro; the space is mostly dedicated to the 8 slots inside. We already know that Apple Silicon Macs will run with Apple’s own GPUs, and there are reports that the Apple Silicon builds of macOS Big Sur do not include drivers for any AMD GPUs.
With all of that in mind, I can’t help but guess that a smaller Mac Pro would be the result of Apple being able to ship GPUs that don’t require the massive passive cooling found on the current MPX modules.
Then again, why would Apple re-develop the Mac Pro so soon after shipping it?
This back and forth is why it’s so much fun to follow the Mac right now. I’m genuinely excited over what we’re about to see out of Apple.