Apple WWDC 2013: Completely New Mac Pro Unveiled

The Mac Pro was given a “grand introduction” at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, Calif., this morning, accompanied by heavy bass and flashing lights.

The device is glossy and cylindrical in up-close shots and looks nothing like an average Mac Pro.

“Can’t innovate any more? My ass!” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

In addition to a completely redesigned appearance, the new Mac Pro is packing extremely impressive specs. Schiller detailed that the device contains a 12-core, 256-bit Intel Xeon E5 processor and 1,866MHz DDR3 RAM capable of 60GB/s data transmission. This doubles the performance and RAM of the the last-generation Mac Pro, and also includes PCIe-based Flash with 1.25 GBps reads, and 1.0 GBps writers.

We will see the new Thunderbolt 2 interface, which will be up to twice as fast as Thunderbolt 1. Not only will the new Mac Pro support up to six ported devices, but will also be backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1.

Apple has also beefed up the graphics cards on the new Mac Pro, with new workstation-grade dual AMD FirePro GPUs that are 2.5 times faster than those of the previous generation Mac Pro and also include 384-bit memory buses, 528 GBps total bandwidth, and supports 4K displays.

"Video editors, musicians, graphic designers count on Mac Pro to get their work done," Schiller said. "We didn't just want to make another version of the same old desktop idea that everyone had."

Having completely streamlined the new Mac Pro, it stands at a fraction of the size of its predecessor. Schiller describes it as less than one-eighth the volume of the previous Mac Pro. The back features a port for gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports and six Thunderbolt ports, which illuminate for easy accessibility.

Culminating reports of the new Mac production facility, which will be located in Texas, Schiller announced that the Mac Pro will be designed and built in the U.S.

Currently, price and release date remain unknown, but we expect, whenever it is released, the new Mac Pro will cost a pretty penny.