By Dan Moren
June 30, 2019 9:08 AM PT
The Back Page: Semi-Pro
Since the announcement of the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR at this month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, we here at Apple have been listening closely to the reactions of our customers. Our team has been busy reading every blog post, listening to every podcast, even sifting through every twee—wait a second, they weren’t working at all, were they?!
Ahem. As I was saying, our goal is to make sure that you, our customers, are as happy with our products as we are. Your surprise and delight is our priority, and if something’s not meeting your expectations, we want to fix that. Along those lines, we’ve heard one overarching piece of feedback about the new Mac Pro that we simply can’t ignore anymore, and so we’re here to address that.
The price.
I get it: innovation doesn’t come cheap. One can’t just throw a bunch of components in a rubbish bin and sell it for several thousand dollars, right?
The all-new Mac Pro and the Pro Display XDR were designed for creative professionals who need the best performance in a Mac, which is why it’s packed to the gills with state of the art components that make it the most powerful Mac we’ve ever shipped. But we understand that for some enthusiasts, it’s simply too expensive.
So today we’re introducing two budget-conscious options for those who want the power and prestige our professional devices offer, but at a price point that won’t break the bank.
First up is the Mac Pro Lite. We jokingly refer to it as the “Shoebox,” but that’s only because we’ve replaced the Mac Pro’s metal enclosure with a shoebox. Cardboard, as it turns out, is the ideal material to provide adequate ventilation to the components. The box was custom designed in partnership with Nike, and Jony carefully cut each hole himself with a pair of safety scissors, ensuring a handcrafted feel. There’s never been an easier-to-upgrade Mac—just pull off the shoebox lid and you have access to all the components. No screws, no latches, no problem. Need to expand? Just buy any other standard shoebox—shoes optional—and stack it on top. Couldn’t be easier.
Now, for those who crave the image and credibility that a Mac Pro brings, we have a different product: the all-new Mac Tro, short for “Trojan Horse”. Now, it might look identical to a Mac Pro, but that’s kind of the point. While the Mac Tro has the same exterior, it’s made from lower grade aluminum. Pop the top off and you’ll find the same three fan system inside the Mac Pro and…well, that’s it. There’s nothing else in there. The Mac Tro is the perfect accessory to sit alongside your iMac or iMac Pro to make it look like you’ve got a Mac Pro using an old iMac as a display. We even throw in a Thunderbolt cable (non-functional) that you can run from one to the other to provide a seamless illusion. People will be suitably impressed, and nobody needs to know that you can get by just fine with an iMac!
Finally, we’re also offering a standalone display to connect to your iMac, Mac mini, or MacBook. We know not everyone needs the amazing levels of fidelity that the Pro Display XDR can handle, so we’ve created the Apple Display, a high-quality flat display made with the latest in cathode ray tube technology.
Seriously, we had to find something to do with all those eMacs.
Now, as I said, price was an overriding factor in launching these products, and we realize that some of our customers are in cost-sensitive situations. So when the Mac Pro Lite and the Mac Pro Troy arrive in September alongside the Mac Pro, they’ll cost a very reasonable $4999 and $2999 respectively, you don’t even want to know what the display costs.
Oh, and wheels are $750 for a set of four. Goodbye!
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]