Apple Marks 20th Anniversary of the Original Mac Pro
Apple is marking the 20th anniversary of the original Mac Pro desktop, which debuted on August 7, 2006, with a starting price of $2,499. Unveiled by then-CEO Steve Jobs at WWDC, the high-end workstation completed Apple's hardware shift from PowerPC to Intel processors in 210 days. The anniversary arrives just five months after Apple officially discontinued the long-running professional desktop series.
Key points
- Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the first-ever Mac Pro desktop on August 7, 2006, at WWDC.
- The flagship workstation debuted with a starting price of $2,499, featuring dual dual-core Intel Xeon processors up to 3.0 GHz.
- Apple stated the new machine delivered up to twice the performance of the preceding Power Mac G5.
- The launch marked the final step in Apple's transition from PowerPC architecture to Intel x86 chips, completed in 210 days.
- The professional-grade tower became a staple for creative industries before being permanently discontinued by Apple five months prior to this anniversary.
Apple is recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Mac Pro, two decades after the high-end workstation was first introduced to the public. Then-CEO Steve Jobs revealed the desktop computer during an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference appearance, positioning it as the ultimate machine for professional creative workloads.
Beginning at a base price of $2,499, the original configuration featured two dual-core Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 3.0 GHz. According to company figures presented at the time, the hardware offered up to double the performance of the Power Mac G5 model it superseded. The release also finalized Apple's architectural migration from PowerPC to Intel x86 processors across its product lineup, accomplishing the transition over a 210-day period.
Over the following two decades, the Mac Pro served as a flagship option for video editors, audio engineers, and other professionals requiring extensive internal expansion and heavy compute capabilities. The milestone anniversary arrives five months after Apple officially discontinued the desktop line, concluding a twenty-year run of workstation hardware.
Sources
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