Apple's new Mac Pro will cost $2,999, gets December release date

Apple surprised the world when it previewed the new cylindrical Mac Pro at WWDC 2013, and yesterday Apple announce that it will be released in December. The entry-level model will cost $2,999 and will come with a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processor, 12GB of DRAM, dual AMD FirePro D300 graphics chips with 2GB VRAM each, and 256GB of SSD. The machine is being assembled in the US, Apple said today.

Credit : Apple

We’ve also known it would come loaded with an Intel Xeon E5 CPU with up to a dozen cores, a pair of AMD FirePro graphics cards standard, super-fast solid-state storage drives, and a half-dozen Thunderbolt 2 ports. Plenty of firepower for video-editing, heavy image work, and music production.

Credit : Apple

The central column of the new Mac Pro is a triangular vent that wicks heat from the memory and CPUs, which are attached to its outer skin. That heat is then sucked up through the top of the machine and thrown out the top.

Credit : Apple

The back of the device is a dense cluster of ports, and softly shifting the computer around on the desk was enough to trigger the lit-up port guides that will help you guide cords into their proper receptacles.

Other than the demo situations, it’s hard to say a whole lot about the performance of the devices, so we’ll have to wait until we get a review unit in hand to make any statements about the innards. But the industrial design is certainly striking and exhibits at least some initial evidence that Apple’s thermal design is working as intended.