The long-awaited Mac Pro desktop will finally debut at a big March event, according to a tipster. As will a Mac mini powered by Apple’s M2 chip.
Plus, Apple is apparently getting ready to knock people’s socks off, as three MacBooks are also supposedly on the agenda for the event — including a 15-inch MacBook Air.
Get ready for the 2023 Mac Pro and Mac mini
Apple broke with tradition and introduced no new Macs in the last quarter of 2022. None. And the company reportedly has built up a logjam of new hardware that’s going to come bursting out at an Apple event in March. At least, that’s what long-time tipster LeaksApplePro claimed Thursday in a report on HowToiSolve.
The highlight of the event supposedly will be the Apple silicon-powered Mac Pro, a powerful desktop geared toward professionals. This has been long anticipated, as the most-recent version of the Mac Pro arrived in 2019, before Apple began its two-year mission to transition its computer lineup to its own chips rather than Intel processors.
However, the computer will have to depend on an Apple M2 Ultra processor, as the more powerful “M2 Extreme” chip reportedly has been canceled. The Ultra will top out at 24 CPU cores, 76 GPU cores and 192GB of RAM.
To compensate, the 2023 Mac Pro will be “cheaper and more efficient” than the earlier version, according to LeaksApplePro. The current model starts at $6,000.
Speaking of cheaper, Apple reportedly plans to introduce another long-awaited desktop at the as-yet-unannounced March event: a Mac mini with an Apple M2 processor. The tiny computer got its last update (including an Apple M1 chip) in 2020, so there’s definitively pent-up demand.
The M2 processor should bring a nice speed boost over the M1, just as it did for the 2022 MacBook Air.
There has been no definitive word about a redesign of either the 2023 Mac Pro or Mac mini. It’s possible both will stick with the same general form factor, other than a chip change.
3 new MacBooks at the Apple March event, too
LeaksApplePro also claims that all three of the MacBooks that have been the subject of recent leaks will be unveiled at the Apple March event as well. Perhaps the standout is a 15-inch MacBook Air (which might even go up to 15.5 inches).
Rumors of 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models upgraded with faster versions of the M2 have been circulating for months. These are expected to employ the Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, but use the same design as the 2021 versions of these macOS notebooks.
The trustworthiness of any tip depends on the source, of course. LeaksApplePro has provided solid info in the past, like an accurate image of third-gen AirPods months before their release.
If LeaksApplePro is on the nose with this latest rumor, the March Apple event will be an epic one for Mac fans.
