The 'Trashcan' Mac Pro: Remembering One of Apple's Most Controversial Designs Nine Years Later

Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro nine years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup.

mac pro creativity

The redesign took the ‌Mac Pro‌ in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylinder that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan." All of the ‌Mac Pro‌'s components were mounted around a central thermal dissipation core, cooled by a single fan that pulled air from under the case, through the core, and out the top. The fan could spin more slowly than smaller fans and keep the Mac extremely quiet, even during intense operations.

Apple announced the radically redesigned ‌Mac Pro‌ at WWDC in 2013. During the announcement, Apple's Phil Schiller infamously remarked "Can't innovate anymore, my ass." The comment was directed at armchair critics who pointed at the previous ‌Mac Pro‌'s lack of updates and claimed Apple had largely abandoned its pro user base and was out of ideas.

schiller mac pro‌Phil Schiller‌ unveiling the redesigned ‌Mac Pro‌ in 2013

Apple said that the new ‌Mac Pro‌ offered twice the overall performance of the previous generation while taking up less than one-eighth of the volume, thanks to its unified thermal core. The ‌Mac Pro‌ twinned Intel Xeon processors with dual AMD FirePro workstation GPUs, enabling it to deliver seven teraflops of computing power.

While the striking design was undoubtedly ambitious, users were unhappy with the way that almost all expansion had to be served externally by Thunderbolt 2 ports. Professional users who were reliant on powerful hardware could not get past the ‌Mac Pro‌'s lack of internal slots to add graphics cards and memory.

The result was a device that was unable to adapt to changing hardware trends. Even Apple seemed unsure how to offer a meaningful hardware update for the ‌Mac Pro‌ – as recently as 2019, it was possible to buy a trashcan ‌Mac Pro‌ from Apple, with no upgrades coming to the device during the six years since its release.

This led Apple to make a rare admission of the product's failure during a meeting with reporters in April 2017, explaining in detail why the device didn't succeed in the way it had hoped. In 2019, Apple's full mea culpa came in the form of yet another ‌Mac Pro‌ redesign, which took the machine back to a highly modular tower form factor with eight PCIe slots and three impeller fans.

Yet in many respects, what the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌ set out to achieve – a small, powerful computer for professionals, with external expansion only – lives on and has been executed more effectively by 2022's Mac Studio.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac Pro

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More

Monday May 12, 2025 10:06 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5, the fifth updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 come a little over a month after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The iOS 18.5 update has a...
tvOS 18 Feature

Apple Releases tvOS 18.5

Monday May 12, 2025 10:01 am PDT by
Apple today released tvOS 18.5, the latest version of the tvOS operating system. tvOS 18.5 comes a little over a month after the launch of tvOS 18.4, and it is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models. tvOS 18.5 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌Apple TV‌ owners who have...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

WSJ: Apple Weighing Price Hikes for iPhone 17 Lineup Without Blaming Tariffs

Monday May 12, 2025 3:36 am PDT by
Apple is considering raising prices for its upcoming iPhone 17 models set to release this fall, according to people familiar with the matter cited by The Wall Street Journal. The company reportedly aims to pair the potential price hikes with new features and design changes to justify the increased cost to consumers, rather than attributing them to U.S. tariffs on goods from China. The...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Expected This Week With These New Features

Monday May 12, 2025 7:20 am PDT by
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple is expected to release iOS 18.5 to the general public this week. While the software update is relatively minor, it still includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.5. Pride Wallpaper Apple recently announced its 2025 Pride Collection, including a new Apple Watch band, watch face,...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.5

Monday May 12, 2025 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.5, the fifth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched last September. macOS Sequoia 15.5 comes a little over a month after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.4. Mac users can download the ‌‌‌macOS Sequoia 15.5‌‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run ...
Mayday Calendar

Apple Acquisition Hints at Upgraded Calendar App on iOS 19 or Beyond

Friday May 9, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple acquired Canadian startup Mayday Labs in April 2024, according to a European Commission listing, spotted by French blog MacGeneration. The acquisition had not received widespread attention from tech publications until now. Apple is legally required to report certain acquisitions to the European Commission, under the terms of the EU's Digital Markets Act. Mayday Labs founder Jeremy...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

20th Anniversary iPhone Will Be Mostly Glass With All-Screen Design

Monday May 12, 2025 2:52 am PDT by
Apple will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone X in 2027 by launching a mostly glass, curved iPhone without any cutouts in the display, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said the all-screen device will arrive later in 2027, suggesting a fall release. The model will be preceded by Apple's first foldable iPhone, claims the reporter....

Top Rated Comments

pdaholic Avatar
31 months ago
We all joked about it, but secretly we all felt the design was pretty cool ?.
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nozuka Avatar
31 months ago
IMHO great product engineering wise.

Sadly not what the target customers needed.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
moshind Avatar
31 months ago
I remember the announcement, and even though I don't have the needs of a PRO, I wanted one for myself, even today i still like this design.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NightFox Avatar
31 months ago
Loved mine, the only thing it was missing was the hiss of compressed air and maybe a bit of dry ice smoke when you slid the case open.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
31 months ago
basically what mac studio became, minus the controversial shape
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
steve09090 Avatar
31 months ago
At least they were trying and didn’t produce a beige machine like the other mob do.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)