What do we do about Mac Pro?

In all the excitement about Apple's new MacBook Pro computers, we have forgotten an obscure member of the Macintosh family: The Mac Pro.

I haven't looked carefully at the specifications, but it seems that the new MacBook Pro, equipped with the M1 Max processor and lots of memory, surpasses the performance of the Mac Pro computer.

And thinking about the Mac Pro, it seems that Apple has created a bit of a problem for itself. Or at least for the Mac Pro computer.

The Mac Pro is the one computer in Apple's product line that offers expansion slots. The other computers (MacBook, Mac Mini, and iMac) are slotless. The M1 versions of those computers are 'fixed' in that they cannot be upgraded with new hardware. What you buy is what you get... for the life of the computer.

Apple's system-on-a-chip design of the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max integrate everything into that chip. There are no off-chip functions. It contains CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and a handful of extra things. Computers based on M1 designs have no expansion slots.

But the Mac Pro still has expansion slots, slots that don't play well with system-on-chip designs.

What does Apple do about the Mac Pro?

I see three possible futures:

First, Apple may design an M1 system chip that supports expansion slots. I see little point to this, as the primary use of expansion slots is for GPUs, and Apple's integrated GPU provides superior performance. One would do better to purchase a MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip.

Second, Apple may keep the Mac Pro with its current arrangement, either with an Intel processor or an ARM processor, and the expansion slots for external GPU cards. But I see little point to this, for the same reason as above: the MacBook Pro with the M1 Max processor is the better deal.

A third possibility is that Apple designs a new system-chip for the Mac Pro, one that doesn't support expansion slots but provides performance that surpasses the M1 Max. Such a design would be quite similar to the Mac Mini: a small, non-expandable block that requires keyboard, mouse, and display. (The Mac Mini Pro? The Mac Mini Max?)

That last option is equivalent to Apple discontinuing the Mac Pro. I think that is a definite possibility. The new M1 Max system-chip may be enough for even the hungriest of power users. The Mac Mini may be the new Mac Pro.