We are entering May and still no Mac Pro, Apple should just hold out for the M5 give the GPU side of the M5 is owing to bring significant improvements which would be attractive to make perspective Mac Pro buyers.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's 2025 M4 Mac Pro: What to Expect
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I still think the Mac Pro will either be the first M5 gen chip or a new M4 or M3 Extreme to differentiate
M3 Extreme is super unlikely. Apple got enough flack for the M3 Ultra, and I expect they barely got the "Ultra" version out, let alone a "Quadra" version.
M4 Quadra could definitely still happen.
I think it is absurdly unlikely that we'll ever see an M* generation introduced on any models other than:
- iPad
- MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro
I'm not sure I agree, given they didnt do an M4 Ultra and explicitly told reporters that "not every chip gen gets an ultra" I think an M3 extreme is *far* more likely than an M4 Extreme. I know I put in my comment as a possibility, but I think it's a remote one. Server and high end workstation chips lagging a gen behind consumer and lower end workstation chips and taking the hit of slower single core speeds for higher multi-core ones (and in this case GPU too) is very common, an M3 Extreme would fit that model, it wouldnt surprise me all that much.
I still think the first of the M5 gen is more likely though in terms of new chips
to be pessimistic the absolute most likely historically is the exact same offerings as the studio, I just think Apple may try to differentiate this year, we'll see
More cores (CPU. GPU, & NPU) are a good thing, which is what an Extreme chip would allow; but where Apple really needs to improve their desktop workstation chips is the GPU, and the GPU cores in the M4 and the theoretical M5 chips should be an improvement on the M3 GPU cores...?
I think we might see some sort of Extreme chip; whether it is a quad Max, a dual (or quad) Hidra, or a MCM dealio; with either the M5 series or the M6 series...?
Whatever/whenever it shows up, please place it in an all-new Mac Pro Cube chassis for me, Tim Apple...! ;^p
I think we might see some sort of Extreme chip; whether it is a quad Max, a dual (or quad) Hidra, or a MCM dealio; with either the M5 series or the M6 series...?
Whatever/whenever it shows up, please place it in an all-new Mac Pro Cube chassis for me, Tim Apple...! ;^p
I'd say that depends on what the Extreme is. Is it a 2x2 grid of M4 Maxes? Then indeed that seems unlikely. Why would they not make a 1x2 M4 Ultra, but then do make a 2x2 M4 Extreme?
But if the Extreme is different enough, and not just two Ultras next to each other, it could be more likely.
Plus, why release the M3 Extreme just months after the M3 Ultra? Apple's approach typically would be to hold out.
Rapidly diminishing returns, especially with CPU cores. The intersection of "is heavily parallelized, but also does not run on the GPU" isn't big.
Let alone, how many display controllers, media engines, secure enclaves, etc...
The fixed scaling unit was always going to be a problem with Apple's monolithic shared designs, and Apple knew it.
The M* Pro and M* Max becoming different designs in the M3 generation was Apple scaling up their design work to try and over come it.
While the M* Quadra could come out any time, I suspect we'll have to wait until Apple moves to heterogeneous chiplets (this feels like a matter of "when not if").
I'm definitely holding out for the M5. Maybe it will be released or redesigned before the release of MacOS Nomad:
Attachments
Looking like the M5 will be more efficient and have a 10-15% CPU improvement, but the graphics components of it are going to be substantial. It should also be much better for AI and probably bring some big improvements when it comes to Thunderbolt 5. I have a base M4 Mac Mini with 24GB of RAM which will last me years to come, but the performance gains from the M1 to the M4 have not been as dramatic as if I had waited for the M5.
Sure, but those cores probably add little to the cost.