Photo Credit: Jeandré Badenhorst/techTography
Estimated Reading Time: 7m30s
Do you have R768,000 or $52,000 laying around? If you do, and you will still have enough money to eat and pay rent, pay off the monthly car instalment and insurance and your medical insurance, even then, don’t buy a maxed-out Mac Pro. Is the Mac Pro worth it for the average Joe? Surprisingly it’s not even worth it for the pros.
Availability
Apple commenced orders for the new Mac Pro on the 10th of December. Delivery will be between 27 December 2019 and 3 January 2020 (for paid delivery) and between 2-7 January 2020 for free delivery. Shipping for the free delivery option takes 2-3 weeks. Apple doesn’t give the option to pick up your brand new Mac Pro at Apple Stores.
Cost
Base Model
The base model starts at around R87,000 or $5,999. Intel’s 3.5GHz 8-core Xenon W processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz powers this model, together with 32GB (4x 8GB) DDR4 ECC memory, 256GB SSD storage and the Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Luckily, peripherals are included. Apple’s Magic Mouse 2 and its Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad will ship with your Mac Pro.
Upgrades
The tables below show the additional amount you pay for each upgrade. Prices as of 13 December 2019 from Apple.com.
CPU
From Apple.com: Select the 24-core or 28-core Intel Xeon processor if you want to maximize the memory in your Mac Pro to 1.5TB.
| CPU | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| 3.5GHz 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz | – | – |
| 3.3GHz 12‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz | R14,500 | $1,000 |
| 3.2GHz 16‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz | R29,000 | $2,000 |
| 2.7GHz 24‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz | R87,000 | $6,000 |
| 2.5GHz 28‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz | R101,500 | $7,000 |
Memory
From Apple.com: The 1.5TB memory option requires a 24-core or 28-core processor.
| RAM | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| 32GB (4x8GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | – | – |
| 48GB (6x8GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R4,500 | $300 |
| 96GB (6x16GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R14,500 | $1,000 |
| 192GB (6x32GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R43,500 | $3,000 |
| 384GB (6x64GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R87,000 | $6,000 |
| 768GB (6x128GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R203,000 | $14,000 |
| 768GB (12x64GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R145,000 | $10,000 |
| 1.5TB (12x128GB) of DDR4 ECC memory | R362,500 | $25,000 |
Graphics Card
From Apple.com: Coming soon:
- Radeon Pro W5700X with 16GB of GDDR6 memory
- Two Radeon Pro W5700X with 16GB of GDDR6 memory each
| Card | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory | – | – |
| Radeon Pro Vega II with 32GB of HBM2 memory | R35,000 | $2,400 |
| Two Radeon Pro Vega II with 32GB of HBM2 memory each | R75,500 | $5,200 |
| Radeon Pro Vega II Duo with 2x32GB of HBM2 memory | R75,500 | $5,200 |
| Two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo with 2x32GB of HBM2 memory each | R156,500 | $10,800 |
SSD Storage
From Apple.com: Coming soon:
- 8TB SSD storage
| Drive | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| 256GB SSD storage | – | – |
| 1TB SSD storage | R6,000 | $400 |
| 2TB SSD storage | R11,500 | $800 |
| 4TB SSD storage | R20,500 | $1,400 |
Apple Afterburner
From Apple.com: To get even better video performance for the most demanding workflows, consider upgrading your Mac Pro with Apple Afterburner, a PCIe accelerator card that offloads the decoding of ProRes and ProRes RAW video codecs in Final Cut Pro X, QuickTime Player X, and supported third-party applications.
If you purchase Afterburner for your Mac Pro, it will come preinstalled in PCI Express slot 5 (x16) to enable maximum performance.
| Card | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| None | – | – |
| Apple Afterburner card | R29,000 | $2,000 |
Wheels
From Apple.com: Customize your Mac Pro to have a stainless steel frame with wheels, which is ideal for moving your Mac Pro quickly and easily without having to lift it. Configuring your Mac Pro with wheels makes it about an inch taller than the frame with feet.
| Wheels | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Stainless steel frame with feet | – | – |
| Stainless steel frame with wheels | R6,000 | $400 |
Magic mouse or Trackpad
From Apple.com: Mac Pro comes with silver-and-black input devices. The matching trackpad can only be purchased with your Mac Pro.
| Mouse or Trackpad | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Magic Mouse 2 | – | – |
| Magic Trackpad 2 | R700 | $50 |
| Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2 | R2,150 | $149 |
Keyboard
From Apple.com: Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad – US English
Pre-Installed Software
| Software | Increase in Rand | Increase in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| None | – | – |
| Final Cut Pro X | R4,500 | $299.99 |
| Logic Pro X | R3,000 | $199.99 |
Pro Display XDR
From Apple.com: 32-inch Retina 6K. Astonishing colour accuracy. Superwide viewing angle. And Extreme Dynamic Range.
| Screen Type | Price in Rand | Price in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Standard glass | R72,500 | $4,999 |
| Nano-texture glass | R87,000 | $5,999 |
Pro Stand
From Apple.com: Height, tilt, rotation — it’s completely adjustable. Stable without taking up much space. And easy to move between landscape and portrait, making it perfect for any type of work.
Ships with a 2m Power cord, 2m Apple Thunderbolt 3 Pro Cable and Polishing cloth
| Stand | Price in Rand | Price in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Pro Stand | R14,500 | $999 |
From Apple.com: Attach your Pro Display XDR to any VESA-compatible 100 by 100 mm wall mount, desk mount, stand, or articulating arm.
| Mount | Price in Rand | Price in Dollar |
|---|---|---|
| VESA Mount Adapter | R3,000 | $199 |
Box Contents
- Mac Pro
- Power cord
- USB-C to Lightning Cable
- Magic Mouse 2
- Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
as on Apple.com
Max-Config
Now let’s get a little crazy. Take a look at the following specs:
- 2.5GHz 28‑core Intel Xeon W processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
- 1.5TB (12x128GB) of DDR4 ECC memory
- Two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo with 2x32GB of HBM2 memory each
- 4TB SSD storage
- Apple Afterburner card
- Stainless steel frame with wheels
- Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2
- Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad – US English
- Final Cut Pro X
- Logic Pro X
- Pro Display XDR: Nano-texture glass
- Pro Stand
Adding up all of the components in the list above lands us at a whopping R874,150 or $60,245.98.
Comparison to the above
In South Africa, the price of a Mac Pro, maxed in specs, will cost you round about the same as a brand new entry-level Land Cruiser Prado 3.0D TX 4X4 or an Audi Q5 45 TFSI Sport Quattro Black Edition.
A three-bedroom townhouse in Langenhovenpark in Bloemfontein and a two-bedroom apartment in Blouberg Sands, according to Pam Golding on the 14th of December 2019.
What do the Pros think?
If you buy the maxed-out config as shown in this article, you will have a computer that can do lightning-fast processing. But is that really necessary?
Marques Brownlee, one of the first from the public arena to lay hands on the long-awaited Mac Pro, called a configuration of just over R435,000 or $30,000 the “sweet spot“. He said that he would possibly buy this version, perhaps even with more RAM. He works with ultra-high-res RAW video on a regular basis and relies on both GPU and CPU performance.
Photographer and filmmaker Vincent Laforet got the configuration with a 16-core CPU, 192GB RAM, and two maxed-out Radeon Vega II GPUs, with a price tag of around $25,000. He exported 8K material on Davinci Resolve. The software is relatively new to using Metal, Apple’s platform for graphics rendering, but according to him, the results were impressive.
Bonus for Small Businesses and Apple Cardholders
From Apple.com:
- If you’re a professional with a small business, you may qualify for special pricing and other benefits. Sign up here.
- Get 6% Daily Cash back when you buy from Apple and pay with Apple Card until December 31. More information
Conclusion
With all this exploding information in your brain now, take a few moments to process and decide whether a Mac Pro is a must-have or a nice-to-have. If you can’t process fast enough, buy a Mac Pro to help you with that ;-).
Disclaimer:
R/$ as per Investing.com, 13 December 2019 at 18:10.
Amounts rounded to nearest R 500.
Magic Mouse and Trackpad rounded to nearest R 50.
Does NOT include Import Tax.
Car and Property Prices as on 14 December 2019
