If you are a hardware enthusiast and you happened to have purchased Apple’s new Mac Pro desktop, you’ll be pleased to know that the processor powering Apple’s new Mac Pro appears to be removal, meaning that future upgrades of the CPU could be a possibility. A closer look at the internal parts of Apple’s late 2013 Mac Pro revealed that the Intel Xeon processor found inside the Mac Pro is socketed and can be removed from the system should a user choose to do so.
On its other systems, Apple in recent users has chosen to avoid catering to users who may be interested in upgrading their computers, even for the company’s professional-grade MacBook Pro lineup. Decisions such as permanently soldering in RAM have been a point of frustration for many, though the decisions have allowed Apple to pursue thinner and more portable designs. The cylindrical Mac Pro this year has a volume just one eight that of the desktop’s cube-styled predecessor. The drastic reduction in size in this case has apparently not come at the cost of upgradeability, on at least a few of the fronts.
In addition to the socketed CPU, RAM in the new systems also appears to be user-upgradeable, as Apple has opted to use traditional RAM slots. That being said, even though the Mac Pro has some user-replaceable components, it also has a custom-designed graphics card to fit in the case, as well as a proprietary interface for its flash-based hard drives. It’s possible that third-party accessory makers could potentially develop compatible hardware in the future, but there is still a question as to whether the parts, as well as any user-inserted CPUs, would be compatible with Apple’s OS X operating system.
Furthermore, the small size of the new Mac Pro prevents users from adding additional internal components such as multiple hard drives. Apple has instead opted to allow expansion through the use of external peripherals instead. To that end, the Mac Pro sports six high-speed Thunderbolt 2 ports, allowing a number of bandwidth-consuming accessories to be plugged into the machine. It also sports four USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet inputs, and an HDMI 1.4 video output, leaving Apple’s new Mac Pro to be the “most expandable Mac yet.”
How do you feel about the possibility of being able to replace parts in a Mac Pro?
Source: Other World Computing via AppleInsider
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