The Mac Pro SSD user upgrades come in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB sizes. The order page notes that the 1TB upgrade retails for $600, the 2TB kit sells for $1000, with the 4TB kit coming in at $1600. The 8TB upgrade retails for $2800.
When initially purchased, 1TB of storage is a $400 premium versus 256GB. The larger 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB configurations add $800, $1400, and $2600, respectively
The purchase page notes that “software reinstallation requires a second Mac running Apple Configurator 2 and a USB-C cable. Compatible with Mac Pro (2019),” suggesting that a Time Machine backup or similar may not be sufficient to move to the upgraded drives. AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for more information on what this means to the end-user.
Mac Pro owners could already expand their storage by purchasing third-party components, but that expansion had to use a PCIe slot, rather than replacing the SSD directly. This is the first time Apple has offered an official kit for upgrading the machine’s SSD. It’s also a little surprising to see from Apple even though the Mac Pro is a machine that’s meant to be expanded and customized, Apple doesn’t often encourage people to tinker with their devices. These kits are meant to be installed by the customer themselves. Instructions will be available on Apple’s website.
Apple introduced one other Mac upgrade today: a new GPU option for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. That model now offers an upgrade to the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, a new high-end option that’s significantly pricier than what was already offered. It’s either a $700 or $800 upcharge, depending on which tier of the MacBook Pro you’re buying.
The 5600M is an upgrade over the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, which was previously the top-of-the-line option offered on the 16-inch model. Both units come with 8GB of memory, but the 5600M uses faster HBM2 memory, rather than the GDDR6 memory on the 5500M. Apple says the new GPU options should offer 75 percent faster performance than the 5500M when configured with 4GB of GDDR6.
