Some very brief thoughts on the new Mac Pro

With how much of a spectator sport Apple event coverage has become¹, it’s hard to know how much my thoughts and feelings on the event are my own, and just how much is influenced from takes in the community.

Twelve years ago and firmly rooted in the Apple is too expensive camp, I remember friends and I in high school computing classes visiting the Apple website, maxing out configurations of the old cheese grater Mac Pro, and gawking at the resultant $20,000 AUD prices² — lol! Apple so expensive!

And indeed their products were expensive, and still are³.

But that Mac Pro was never targeted at me then as a high school student.

Six years ago, Apple unveiled the trash can Mac Pro, backing themselves into a thermal corner in the process.

I’d just started working at Pin Payments, and the sentiment in the office was, “gotta have it”. Which inevitably meant I remained on my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, and the other office computers continued being 11” MacBook Airs for another few years. The new Mac Pro was still not for me.

The six year era—during which the trash can Mac Pro went from being new and shiny to an ill-conceived product, languishing without upgrades—came to an abrupt end earlier this week.

The new Mac Pro looks really good, and I have high hopes for it being a viable machine long term.

But all these years later, and it’s still not for me.