Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven 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 cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. 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 its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2013. During the announcement, Apple's Phil Schiller infamously remarked "Can't innovate anymore, my ass." The comment was directed at 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. Many 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 brand new trashcan ‌Mac Pro‌ from Apple, with no upgrades coming to the device during the preceding six years.

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 the Mac Studio.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Pro (Neutral)
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Top Rated Comments

karnac Avatar
10 months ago
I picked up the 12 core D700 model for $300 on Facebook marketplace. Took it apart and redid all the thermal paste. It’s a solid secondary machine and also the coolest Mac I own. I think it’s a really unique and aesthetically pleasing computer. Gives me joy to see it every time I walk into my office.
Score: 68 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CalMin Avatar
10 months ago
This was a design that needed Apple silicon before Apple silicon existed. It was still form over function - but I remember being really excited about it until saw the price. And even then - if I had the need I would have bought one.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Keebler Avatar
10 months ago
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked it. I bought one a couple years later and it was fantastic for editing photos and video. It was super quiet. I never had any problems with mine.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macvicta Avatar
10 months ago
11 years already? Man, time flies. And the older you get, the faster it moves.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kwikdeth Avatar
10 months ago
I've been saying it for years, it would have been more successful if they launched it as a new product line instead of a Mac pro replacement. Like the spot the Mac Studio holds now.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agent4797 Avatar
10 months ago
I really wish this form makes a comeback with apple silicon, it is so gorgeous and unique
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)