As promised, Apple started selling its radically redesigned Mac Pro on Thursday, but if you're hoping to have one on your desk before the end of the year, think again. Instead of showing deliveries in December, Apple's website is showing the new Mac model only as available to ship by December 30, hinting that inventory may be very limited.
Want a new Mac Pro before the end of the year? Good luck.
Apple announced yesterday that it would begin selling the new Mac Pro today, which kept with the company's promise that the new model would be available before the end of the year.
The new Mac Pro sports a completely redsigned compact cylinder design. It includes 4-core, 6-core, or 8-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, up to 64GB RAM and 1TB PCIe solid state storage, AMD's FirePro graphics with up to 6GB RAM, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB 3 ports, built-in HDMI video out, optical and analog audio out, support for up to four 4K high resolution displays or six Thunderbolt displays, and 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. It doesn't, however, include a keyboard and mouse.
Apple is building the Mac Pro in Austin, Texas, instead of factories in China or Taiwan. The Austin production facility is very likely limited in comparison to the overseas factories that make Apple's other products, which could play into the computer's limited availability. Apple could also be dealing with part availability issues since it looks like nearly every component is custom designed.
Pricing on the Mac Pro starts at US$2,999 and tops out at $9,599 with build-to-order options. That money will get you plenty of horse power, but for now it doesn't look like there's much of a chance it'll get you a new Mac before the end of the year.
Update: Within a few hours of the Mac Pro going on sale, Apple pushed the ship date out to February. That means if you really want the new model you'll have to be patient. Very patient.