When you want to plan to buy a machine like this, you need to know more about the technology. Same thing for windows 11 support (which is already not native on 7.1 so we can assume that the AMD RX 7900 will not be 7.1 compatible) and external GPUs.
Pretty likely that one contributing reason why Apple doesn't do forward looking roadmap discussions is because sometimes folks do not even listen when they do. Apple made statements that virtualization was the only Windows path two years ago .... and yet still in the mode where folks are looking for what they want to hear instead of what Apple said.
Furthermore, Apple only allows virtualiztaion layered on top of their hypervisor framework on Apple Silicon. So some 3rd party VM software marker doesn't call the shots of basic functionality. Apple is doing it.
Apple is not technically supporting any other 'native' OS other than macOS. [ They are not stopping the hackery that AShai Linux is doing but they are not providing support ( support service agreement) either. ]
Apple completely walked away from EFI/UEFI (and any semblance of old school BIOS. ). The native, 'raw iron', boot foundation that Apple is using is iBoot (iPhone) based. And they are not looking back (aspects of UEFI security they grumbled about even when back in the Intel era that lead to T2 and other measures). The virtual machine framework can have a virtual UEFI attached. If need Arm+UEFI boot that is the parth they laid out two years ago.
Similarly, Apple has announced several years ago that kernel extensions were deprecated (on the way out and stop working in future). They introduced a new DriverKit API for constructing drivers. That abstraction hierarchy has PCI-e card elements , but not a specific subclass for display GPUs (like the old IOKIt API had). Even if there ever were drivers for 3rd party GPUs they wouldn't be rolled out the same way as before. So off the shelf retail cards working like they did isn't particularly well grounded. Apple is not promoting that in any way. Apple said at the DriverKit introduction ( WWDC 2019) that it was incomplete and they would flush it out over the next couple of years. Well, we are past 'next couple of years'. (2019 + 4 years is 2023. )
The off-the-shelf amd RX 7900 cards boot off of what firmware? UEFI. Is UEFI present? No. What is the mystery you are pondering at this point? The path to UEFI on Apple Silicon is via a virtual machine with a virtual UEFI implementation.
Drivers for AMD GPU cards? The official GPU support matrix introduced at WWDC 2020 had only Apple GPU in it for GPU drivers. Given Zero information to long term plan with? So a July 2020 plan with no 3rd party GPU elements in the matrix for 2021 , 2022 would have been 'off base' how? WWDC 2021 came and went no change. WWDC 2022 came and went no change. So a reasonable plan for 2023 would be beyond inference ?
Apple has laid out about a $500-700 gap between the M1 Pro and M1 Max. They have laid out a $1,400 gap between the M1 Max and M1 Ultra. So there is no way to plot a trend line to what a "double ultra " would cost. 700 , 1400 , x x-- is some deep dark mystery? Apple's pricing for SSD is not uniform across M-series products? Apple's pricing for Memory is not uniform across M-series products ?
Apple should make a keynote quickly devoted to Apple Silicon chips and the mac Pro (as well as the replacement for the mac mini intel).
The M1 , M1 Pro/Max , and M1 Ultra all had 'keynote' presentations.
Apple isn't going to run a "please buy my chip" presentation exactly like AMD and Intel do. There is no rational reason why they should exactly 'mimic' the presentation framework of those two. Apple is in a completely different business. Apple sells completed systems. The other two sell components for systems. The latter has to convince system vendors to buy and incorporate their chips into the general market systems. Apple's SoC team doesn't have to complete. Neither are they going to directly sell the SoC to anyone.
For the Mac Pro some people try to position that Apple is in the 'container' / 'bare bones system' business. I highly doubt Apple looks at the Mac Pro completely that way. It is likely primarily still viewed as a completed system sale. One with more options than the other Macs in the line up , but as a system 'first' and 'options' as a 2nd or 3rd level feature.
Last two Mac Pro iterations Apple has done a 6 month "sneak peak" at the next Mac Pro. It would not hurt their "not discussion future products" policy to continue that just for the Mac Pro. It is a system that has optional components to fit inside. Doing extensive components validations with draconian NDA is likely pretty hopeless of not producing any leaks. The "delight and surprise our customers" notion should get dialed back substantially. [ There is such a ginormous supply chain around the iPhone it really doesn't happen there either. Too many people in the 'secret' group and leaks are bound to pop out. ]
But tit-for-tat , feature war battles with Intel and AMD (and Nvidia ) with competing roadmaps .... that isn't likely to happen at all.
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