The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II MPX module is the same $2,200 it was when Apple introduced it, and that’s a tough pill to swallow. There’s a premium on new components, but the egregious pricing comes from older MPX modules.

With a modular system like the Mac Pro offers, users are limited not only by the modules Apple decides to sell, but also the prices Apple decides to set. These graphics cards can vastly outclass Apple’s silicon, and they come with validated drivers for creative pros. A Radeon Pro Vega II MPX module costs more than a Mac Studio with the M1 Max, and that GPU is coming up on three years old. That’s that’s the same price as a Mac Studio with an M1 Max AND a Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra. The flagship Radeon W6900X MPX module will run you $6,000. With the Mac Studio and M1 Ultra chip in the mix, the pricing balance has shifted toward buying a new machine. A big reason to go modular is price instead of buying a whole new Mac, you can just slot in a new MPX module. It’s hard to argue in favor of MPX when multiple modules cost more than the Mac Studio. Pricing applies Modular for these prices? No thanks.

The Mac Pro hasn’t produced much fruit with MPX, though, which is important to remember for machines that cost upwards of $50,000.Īnd it’s even more important when a $4,000 machine can offer better performance. The Mac Studio isn’t modular, and in nearly all cases, I’d argue that some modularity is better than none. With two years separating the first major addition to the range, Pro users are often stuck waiting for an upgrade, even if it’s available for other machines. For one, Apple doesn’t offer any MPX modules for Nvidia graphics cards, and users are limited to whatever MPX modules Apple wants to release. There are still a number of other issues. PCIe support certainly helps the Mac Pro, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a modular machine. Users can always slot in their own PCIe cards, too, so you can use a graphics card you like or a PCIe expansion card (as long as it draws less than 300 watts). Apple seemed to abandon the idea by mid-2021 before introducing a range of new MPX modules for AMD’s latest Radeon Pro graphics cards. It’s a great concept, but it hasn’t exactly held up. MPX modules are essentially closed boxes that you can slot into the Mac Pro to upgrade it or add more functionality.

In response to years of complaints from creative pros, Apple decided to make the Mac Pro modular using Mac Pro Expansion Modules (MPX). When Apple announced the Mac Pro in 2019, it was a revelation.

Given how poorly the Mac Pro has held up over the past few years, it’s a good thing that the Mac Studio didn’t adopt its modular approach. The Mac Pro made it look like Apple was committing to modular designs, but the Mac Studio shows that the company may be abandoning that philosophy.

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