The brand new Mac Professional coming later this 12 months is predicted to function the identical spacious modular design because the 2019 mannequin, however with contemporary issues over its lack of upgradeability surfacing, some customers are starting to marvel what the transition away from Intel structure really means for Apple’s strongest Mac.

The present Intel Mac Professional that Apple sells is standard with inventive professionals due to its modular, extremely upgradeable design. It accepts Xeon processors with as much as 28 cores and 64 PCI Categorical lanes, and as much as 1.5TB of high-performance reminiscence. It additionally has eight PCIe enlargement slots, whereas the APX Modules might be configured with six totally different GPUs. All the elements might be upgraded after buy.

On condition that Apple’s high-end M2 Excessive chip has reportedly been cancelled, the brand new Mac Professional is predicted to function a brand new M2 Extremely chip, which is actually two ‌M2 Max‌ chips linked collectively,‌ that includes as much as a 24-core CPU, as much as a 76-core GPU, and at the very least 192GB of unified reminiscence.

However it’s simply this unified structure that’s elevating doubts in regards to the Mac Professional’s modularity amongst potential homeowners. Earlier this month, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman revealed that not like the present Intel-based ‌Mac Professional‌, the upcoming mannequin won’t function user-upgradeable RAM as a result of the reminiscence is tied on to the M2 Extremely’s motherboard.

Now, Gurman has seemingly doubled down on this limitation of Apple’s unified structure by suggesting that the subsequent Mac Professional “could lack consumer upgradeable GPUs” along with non-upgradeable RAM. As he factors out: “Proper now Apple Silicon Macs do not assist exterior GPUs and it’s important to use no matter configuration you purchase on Apple’s web site.”

Aside from house for media and networking playing cards, that leaves solely storage as the primary user-upgradeable element within the Mac Professional. As for the seemingly massive empty house that may stay within the unchanging tower case, Gurman suggests it might accommodate a bigger cooling system, which might differentiate it from the Mac Studio by affording considerably quicker efficiency.

It is value noting that as regards to non-upgradeable GPUs, Gurman seems to be reaching this conclusion primarily based on logical reasoning somewhat than particular insider info. But when it seems that he’s appropriate, it might dissuade would-be patrons from investing a lot cash in a machine that doesn’t provide the identical future-proofing expandability.

The ‌Mac Professional‌ presently begins at $5,999, with the potential to cost it as much as over $52,000 in customized configurations. The bottom mannequin Apple silicon ‌Mac Professional‌ with the ‌M2‌ Extremely is sort of sure to price greater than the high-end ‌Mac Studio‌ with the ‌M1 Extremely‌, which begins at $3,999.

Apple has already teased the launch of the primary Apple silicon Mac Professional, so it’s undoubtedly coming whatever the rumors. Certainly, Apple is already testing one of many new ‌Mac Professional‌ fashions, and it’s working macOS Ventura 13.3, an up to date model of ‌macOS Ventura‌ popping out later this 12 months. Timing sensible, ‌macOS Ventura‌ 13.3 is predicted to return out round March or April, so we might additionally see the ‌Mac Professional‌ launch on this timeframe.