ARM Mac Pro - WWDC 2023

[Algr]

Is it a stopgap Mac Pro helping to transition a design to an Apple Silicon one?

It's been two and a half years since the M1 was announced. If they were developing anything better they would have it out by now.

 

[deconstruct60]

It's really lame that they keep comparing stuff to "Intel Macs". Those Macs were behind Intel PCs when they first came out.

The Xeon W-3200 series was exactly current in Intel's product catalog when the Mac Pro 2019 came out. The Xeon W-3300 series didn't appear until way too late to be useful for Apple.

The history of the Xeon W-3x00 2x00 series is on this page:

Intel® Xeon® W Processor Product Specifications

Intel® Xeon® W Processor product listing with links to detailed product features and specifications.

ark.intel.com

W-3235 Q2 '19
W-3335 Q3 '21 (**)
W5-3435 Q1 '23

If talking about single threaded drag racing speed at max Turbo power perhaps. But something with x64 PCI-e v3 lanes coming off the CPU package and > 128GB ECC RAM support; there wasn't anything else in workstation class in 2019. And wasn't anything 'better' until well after 2020. ( even most very large player vendors in workstation space skipped 3300 series. It was a power sucking 'dog' in lots of ' individual user on single app with blended single/multiple threading ' respects). If the 3335 had come in very early 2020 and had the TDP of the w5-2435 Apple might have waited and used that. However, that only happened in some other alternative universe where Intel has their 'stuff together'. This one they didn't.

Did AMD have something better in 2019. Somewhat, but that isn't a "Intel PC" . If meant "x86-64 PC" then maybe. Probably there was that AMD was only mildly then coming out of their 'piss on Thunderbolt' funk which basically tanked them from being viable as a Mac SoC. One last x86_64 hoorah before Apple Silicon it makes about zero sense to 'change horses' just for a one-and-done product on the tiny fringe of the product line.


** P.S. that Q3 '21 for the 3300 was almost 'paper launch' . there were no volume quantities backstopping that.