Nearly all of Apple’s Macs have transitioned to homegrown Apple Silicon, erasing the company’s dependence on Intel processors. However, there is still one holdout left: the Mac Pro. The current generation Mac Pro was launched in 2019 and hasn’t seen any meaningful updates since then. However, a new version is on the way that will finally make the transition to Apple Silicon. 

Earlier this month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested that the new Mac Pro would support modular graphics courtesy of an expansion port on the motherboard. However, Gurman reversed that claim yesterday, suggesting that the Mac Pros “may lack user upgradeable GPUs.” Apple’s current Mac Pro is powered by Intel Xeon processors and AMD Radeon Pro W6000X Series RDNA2 graphics cards. No explanation was given for this pullback from his initial reporting, but that’s not the only bad news.

Gurman further states that the new Mac Pro won’t support external GPUs. If this reporting is accurate, customers should think carefully about their future graphics needs at the time of purchase. In this case, the new Mac Pro’s GPU will allegedly be available in up to a 76-core configuration or double what’s available with the maxed-out M2 Max SoC available on the new 2023 MacBook Pros.

We already knew that the Mac Pro would lack user-replaceable RAM, so adding the GPU to the mix will be a bitter pill to swallow for Apple enthusiasts. However, Mac Pro customers will still have the option to upgrade their SSD storage via two internal slots or external Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The limited upgrade options for the Mac Pro will make for an interesting comparison with the similarly upgrade-averse Mac Studio. The Mac Studio is currently available with M1 Max and M1 Ultra SoCs, and will likely soon receive upgrades to M2 Max and M2 Ultra SoCs. It’s possible that Apple could reserve the high-end 76-core versions of the M2 Ultra for the Mac Pro.   

The Mac Studio starts at $1,999 with a M1 Max SoC ($3,999 with a M1 Ultra), while the Mac Pro starts at $5,999. The Mac Pro costs nearly $54,000 fully decked out with a 28-core Xeon W processor, 1.5B of DDR4 memory, dual Radeon Pro W690X GPUs, an Afterburner card and an 8TB SSD.