It's simple. Every time you use the App Store or even check for a software upgrade on older OS versions, they receive data about your computer including what OS version it's running. Otherwise, it wouldn't know what software updates to offer you. They use this to keep track of how many are using what version of the operating system.
I think in 2008 the Macbook Pro was the peak of notebook technology (beyond the desktop in a notebook type "gaming" laptops). But the "desktop" Macs have LAGGED in GPU support for a long time now. You have been able to get a decent GPU once in awhile for previous versions of the Mac Pro, but it was so sporadic, you couldn't count on staying up to date for graphics. Really, not since the PowerMac (back when you could just flash many cards to run on the Mac that had a driver and pay the same price even) have Macs really had the latest GPUs and of course back then they used different CPUs (PPC) than Windows machines so it was harder to compare them tit for tat.
I mean if I wanted to build the ultimate PC that runs both OS X and Windows (the latter for gaming mostly) what Mac would I buy from Apple? THAT is what I'm talking about. There is no truly "great" Mac for gaming (even running Windows) because Apple puts mobile GPUs in their so-called "desktops" save the Mac Pro and it uses a Pro GPU that isn't designed for gaming either. You could get gaming cards for the previous Mac Pro, but as I said they weren't updated often and they never offered SLI type options except in Windows.
My point is that shouldn't the "best OS" have the best capabilities in ALL areas? Apple has never paid much attention to graphics since the 1990s except in iOS. They STILL don't have OpenGL up to date. They regularly refuse to cooperate with gaming companies to improve the OS for gaming, let alone improve their drivers...like EVER. In the Windows world, you get driver efficiency updates all the time direct from NVidia and AMD. It's one of the reasons (along with OpenGL always being behind and often having to be translated from DirectX) that games run slower in OS X on the same machine. It COULD be fixed by Apple. They've got more money than Microsoft so it shouldn't be an issue for them these days in terms of resources like they might have feigned a dozen years ago. They simply have no interest in providing POWER computers anymore.
I personally think the new Mac Pro was a pet project of Ive's or someone to make some futuristic looking thing (maybe to go along with the "spaceship" campus) and somehow I doubt the trend of ignoring the Mac Pro for years at at time will change. In other words, don't expect the Mac Pro to get regular updates. I would expect more iMacs like the 5k. At least IT has a good mobile GPU but it's not because they suddenly care about performance. It's only because it's practically NECESSARY to run that 5k display (i.e. they do seem obsessed with "RETINA" monikers. That's funny since I used to own a "Retina" GPU card for my Amiga 3000 at one point in the mid 90s. I wonder if they bought the name or it just never got renewed.
How much effort would it take Apple to get a regular non-XEON motherboard adapted from the current Mac Pro and put a standard GPU slot on it that can use modern PC graphics cards (maybe even two with SLI support)? Not hard at all. The Mac Pro case would make a kick-arse gaming box at its size and quiet operation. With a top notch card a good desktop i7 quad, the box could sell like hotcakes around the $2k mark, even to people that only want to run Windows. It'd be like a gaming cube but a gaming cylinder. I'd buy one. I won't buy the current Mac Pro. It's not what I'm looking for.
Basically, the ONLY option to get a truly POWERFUL consumer desktop "Mac" is to build a Hackintosh and that is SAD as there is simply no reason Apple couldn't make a high-end consumer Mac and even re-use the same case as the Mac Pro (i.e. the PowerMacs all had similar cases). The ONLY expansion card slot you NEED in a high-end gaming computer is the GPU slot and the Mac Pro already has those, but not the right kind and the XEON is overkill for gaming (especially price wise). Build it and they will come. There's no reason why Macs couldn't make headway into the gaming market if Apple offered better hardware, improved drivers and kept OpenGL up-to-date and in the mean time Windows would run games full tilt. Personally, I hate booting into Windows so I'd be all for a gaming solution on the Mac. The Mac doesn't need EVERY game ported. It only needs the really good ones. Break that mold and the rest would follow, but not with the OS going to hell and the "desktop" Macs being virtual TOYS compare to REAL desktops.
I bring up gaming since I do like to game, but more powerful GPUs are helpful to all kinds of areas of software, not just gaming. The iMac 5k doesn't have a Pro GPU, but it makes a good gaming GPU AND it still works well enough for many Pros as well given the other specs and the 5k screen.
Meanwhile, I just looked at a Lenovo Yoga3 Pad Pro II computer that has a built-in video PROJECTOR for only $799. I go on business trips for weeks at a time sometimes and frankly that would be awesome to have in a dark hotel room instead of whatever crap TV they offer. Why don't we see some more innovations like that in Macs or even iPads these days? I thought Apple was supposed to be an innovator? The GUI of Macbooks (via OS X) was the one bright spot, but they seem intent on screwing that up lately.
