According to an exclusive story from 9to5Mac, Apple is gearing up to unveil its all-new Mac desktop that will sit between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro. If you’re a long-time Apple fan, this might sound familiar to you. Back in 2000, Apple debuted the Power Mac G4 Cube, and it was touted as a machine that combines the simplicity of the iMac and the power of the Power Mac.
For a while, rumors have pointed to a smaller Mac Pro that Apple would offer alongside the upcoming Mac Pro with Apple Silicon. If this machine does get announced next week at the “Peek Performance” event, then we certainly hope that this would be the spiritual successor of the Power Mac G4 Cube.
Based on the source, the new Mac Studio will be basically a more advanced version of the Mac mini, but with much more powerful hardware. Apple has been working on two prototypes of the said machine – one with an M1 Max chip found in the 2021 MacBook Pro and one with an upcoming flagship M1-class chip, possibly with 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores. We could even see improved modularity, similar to that of the current Mac Pro as the current Mac mini is rather limited in terms of upgradability.
Finally, the source indicates that this machine will replace the higher-end Intel-based Mac mini, which was last updated in October 2018. Announcing this device next week will give Apple time to develop the upcoming Mac Pro with Apple Silicon chip. Apple has a lot of things up its sleeves when it comes to finishing the transition to Apple Silicon for its Mac, including updating the higher-end desktop machines.
What do you think about this elusive all-new Mac Studio product category? Let us know in the comments below.
