tech

The Mac Pro: A Masterclass in Being Fashionably (and Fatally) Late

Nathan Binding

29 Mar 2026 — 2 min read

Let’s be honest: Apple’s handling of the Mac Pro over the last decade has been a complete and utter shambles. For years, the "Pro" moniker stood for something specifically, the ability to open a case and stick a new card in without needing a degree in thermal dynamics. But then, Apple decided they knew better than the people actually doing the work. They spent so long "innovating" themselves into a corner that by the time they delivered a solution, the rest of the world had already packed up and moved house.

The Escalation: From Trashcans to Spats

It all started going pear-shaped when they fell out with Nvidia. Imagine being a pro user and suddenly being told your workflow is a casualty of a corporate tiff.

Then came the "trashcan" Mac Pro - a sleek, glossy bit of kit that looked lovely on a mahogany desk but was essentially a thermal prison. You couldn't upgrade a thing. It was rubbish, plain and simple.

While Apple was busy falling out with Intel and dreaming up the next big "cheese grater" design (which I loved), the pros did something Apple didn't expect: they adapted. We bought external enclosures, we rigged up Thunderbolt expansion, and we learned to live without the "Big Tower." By the time the M-series chips arrived, the game had changed.

The Mac Studio turned up - a tiny, silver brick that could outrun the old lorries without breaking a sweat and suddenly, the massive Mac Pro looked like a dinosaur in a tracksuit. We also realised that space really is king - look how clean my desk looks without that thing on it.

The Lorry is Dead

The Mac Pro was once the customisable vintage lorry of the tech world. It was heavy, it was loud, but it got the job done. But now? We’ve got compact electric vans (the Mac Studio) that carry the same load for half the price and a fraction of the footprint.

Apple took so long to fix their "Pro" problem that they accidentally made the solution redundant. The M5 Ultra is looming, the Studio Display is the new standard, and the traditional desktop tower is officially headed for the scrapheap.

Is there actually any reason left to buy a tower, or are we all just holding onto the dream of PCIe slots out of pure nostalgia?

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The Midnight Tax - Reclaiming My Time After Dark

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