36 Macworld • March 2021BUYING GUIDE
programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
designed for video production.
According to Apple, Afterburner can
handle up to six streams of 8K ProRes
RAW video at 30fps; up to 23 streams
of 4K ProRes RAW video at 30fps;
and up to 16 streams of 4K ProRes
422 video at 30fps.How do I connect stuff? To connect
external devices, the Mac Pro has two
USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt
3 ports on the back of the machine.
The top of the Mac Pro has two
Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Inside the Mac Pro, there are 8
PCI Express expansion slots. You
can install up to two
MPX modules, or up
to four PCI Express
cards. There is also
three full-length
PCI Express gen 3
slots (one x16 slot
and two x8 slots).
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
come built in on the
new Mac Pro. The
back of the machine
also has two 10Gb
Ethernet jacks.How fast is it?
Apple says that theMac Pro is a “designed in pursuit of
performance”, capable of handling
8K video editing, 3D applications,
software development, and other
production-oriented tasks.
Apple’s Mac Pro website shows
only benchmarks for the highest-
end 28-core model. They claim the
Mac Pro provides three times the
performance in ProRes transcoding
over the previous 12-core Mac Pro
using Final Cut Pro X. Apple also
says you’ll see more than triple the
performance in task performed in
Adobe Photoshop 2020, Autodesk
Maya, Logic Pro X, MATLAB and
Wolfram Mathematica.The Mac Pro is designed for the most demanding users.36 Macworld • March 2021BUYING GUIDE
programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
designed for video production.
According to Apple, Afterburner can
handle up to six streams of 8K ProRes
RAW video at 30fps; up to 23 streams
of 4K ProRes RAW video at 30fps;
and up to 16 streams of 4K ProRes
422 video at 30fps.How do I connect stuff? To connect
external devices, the Mac Pro has two
USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt
3 ports on the back of the machine.
The top of the Mac Pro has two
Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Inside the Mac Pro, there are 8
PCI Express expansion slots. You
can install up to two
MPX modules, or up
to four PCI Express
cards. There is also
three full-length
PCI Express gen 3
slots (one x16 slot
and two x8 slots).
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
come built in on the
new Mac Pro. The
back of the machine
also has two 10Gb
Ethernet jacks.How fast is it?
Apple says that theMac Pro is a “designed in pursuit of
performance”, capable of handling
8K video editing, 3D applications,
software development, and other
production-oriented tasks.
Apple’s Mac Pro website shows
only benchmarks for the highest-
end 28-core model. They claim the
Mac Pro provides three times the
performance in ProRes transcoding
over the previous 12-core Mac Pro
using Final Cut Pro X. Apple also
says you’ll see more than triple the
performance in task performed in
Adobe Photoshop 2020, Autodesk
Maya, Logic Pro X, MATLAB and
Wolfram Mathematica.The Mac Pro is designed for the most demanding users.