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Cylinder Mac Pro Q&A - Updated May 2, 2017
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What are all the differences between the "Late 2013" Mac Pro models and the "Mid-2012" Mac Pro models that they replaced?
On April 4, 2017, Apple made modest changes to the "Late 2013" Mac Pro lineup. This Q&A has been updated subsequently.
There are many differences between the "Late 2013" Mac Pro models -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 3.7, "Six Core" 3.5, "Eight Core" 3.0, and "Twelve Core" 2.7 -- and the "Mid-2012" Mac Pro models -- the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 3.2, "Six Core" 3.33, "Twelve Core" 2.4, "Twelve Core" 2.66, and "Twelve Core" 3.06 -- that they replaced. In fact, the two lines have little in common.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (Left - Tower Mac Pro, Front; Right - Cylinder Mac Pro, Back)
Ideological Differences
It is obvious with a quick glance at the two systems side-by-side that they look quite different from one another. However, perhaps the most important difference may not be entirely obvious from appearance alone.
In the company press release, Apple heralds the "Late 2013" Mac Pro as "the most radical Mac ever" and throws out such descriptive terms as a "reimagined" and "reinvented" Mac for professional users. This is not entirely hyperbole, either.
The "Mid-2012" Mac Pro shares the same large case design as earlier Mac Pro models -- with a removable panel on the side and an assortment of hard drive bays and optical drive bays as well as expansion slots for significant and easy internal expansion. Likewise, this Mac Pro can directly trace its lineage back to the externally similar Power Mac G5, and then to the "fold down door on the side" Power Mac G3 and Power Mac G4 models all the way back to the Quadra 900, the first Mac with a tower case design.
The "Late 2013" Mac Pro, with its small cylinder case and limited internal expansion apart from memory and storage -- but many high speed ports for external expansion -- has little in common with earlier Mac Pro models and instead in some ways is more of a massively turbo charged Mac mini or Power Mac G4 Cube than a "true" Mac Pro descendant.
External & Connectivity Differences
As the above promotional photos make clear, the "Late 2013" Mac Pro is much smaller than its predecessors and has much more advanced connectivity.
Specifically, the "Late 2013" Mac Pro uses a small cylinder case design that is only 9.9 inches tall and 6.6 inches in diameter and weighs a mere 11 pounds. In person, the case is a glossy dark silver or "Space Gray" color and looks almost black in low light. By contrast, earlier Mac Pro models are silver with a matte finish and are a comparatively massive 20.1 inches tall, 8.1 inches wide, and 18.7 inches deep, and weigh nearly 40 pounds in their stock configuration (and can weigh notably more when fully loaded).
The "Mid-2012" Mac Pro line has five USB 2.0 ports (two on the front and three on the back), four Firewire "800" ports (two on the front and two on the back), dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, and with the default graphics card, two Mini DisplayPorts and a dual-link DVI port. 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR are standard, too.
The "Late 2013" Mac Pro line, on the other hand, has four USB 3.0 ports, no Firewire "800" ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports and a HDMI 1.4 UltraHD port. Wireless connectivity consists of 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0. All of these ports are on the rear of the system, but the icons automatically illuminate when you rotate the system toward you to connect a peripheral.
Identification Differences
There is no mistaking the "Mid-2012" and "Late 2013" Mac Pro models for one another. However, the "Mid-2012" Mac Pro can be difficult to differentiate from earlier models. Consequently, unique identifiers are quite useful.
The "Mid-2012" Mac Pro models share the A1289 Model Number and the MacPro5,1 Model Identifier with earlier systems, but can be uniquely identified externally by the 2629 EMC Number, which is on the rear of the case in small type.
The "Late 2013" Mac Pro models can be collectively identified externally by the A1481 Model Number listed along the outer edge of the bottom metal plate as well as the also external 2630 EMC Number. In software, the "Late 2013" Mac Pro models can be collectively identified by the MacPro6,1 Model Identifier.
EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup feature additionally can identify the "Mid-2012" and "Late 2013" Mac Pro models by their serial numbers.
More information about specific identifiers is provided in EveryMac.com's extensive Mac Identification section.
Internal Differences
Other than Xeon processors (of different generations), the "Mid-2012" and "Late 2013" Mac Pro models have little in common internally.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (Left - Mac Pro Side Panel Off; Right - Cover Off)
The large "Mid-2012" Mac Pro models have one or two "Nehalem" or "Westmere" Xeon processors, four or eight 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM (PC3-10600) RAM slots, a single default ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card, four 3.5" Serial ATA 2.0 (3 Gb/s) drive bays for hard drives or SSDs, two 5.25" optical drive bays, and four full-length PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 expansion slots (two x16 and two x4).
By contrast, the diminutive "Late 2013" Mac Pro models have a single "Ivy Bridge-EP" Xeon processor, four 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM (PC3-15000) RAM slots, two default AMD FirePro D300 or D500 graphics processors, and a single "blade" PCIe-based SSD. It does not have traditional drive bays or PCIe expansion slots.
OS X Support Differences
OS X support is quite different between the "Mid-2012" Mac Pro and "Late 2013" Mac Pro models, as well.
Unusually, the "Mid-2012" models initially had OS X 10.7.4 "Lion" pre-installed, but also are capable of booting Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard." These models additionally support later versions of the Mac operating system, including the current macOS Sierra (10.12), although not all features are supported.
The "Late 2013" Mac Pro models, on the other hand, first with OS X 10.9.1 "Mavericks" and fully supports later versions of the Mac operating system, including the current macOS Sierra (10.12).
Comparison Chart
All of the major differences between the default "Mid-2012" and "Late 2013" Mac Pro models -- processors, architecture, configuration, connectivity, expansion, OS X support, identifiers, and price -- are summarized below:
 "Mid-2012" Mac Pro |
 "Late 2013" Mac Pro |
|
|---|---|---|
| Default Processors: | 3.2 GHz 4 Core (W3565) 2.4 GHz 6 Core (E5645) x2 |
3.7 GHz 4 Core (E5-1620v2)* 3.5 GHz 6 Core (E5-1650v2)* |
| L3 Cache: | 8 MB 12 MB x2 |
10 MB 12 MB |
| Standard RAM: | 6 GB 12 GB |
12 GB 16 GB |
| Maximum RAM: | 48 GB 128 GB |
64 GB |
| RAM Type: | 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC (PC3-10600) | 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC (PC3-15000) |
| RAM Slots: | 4, 8 | 4 |
| Standard Video: | ATI Radeon HD 5770 | AMD FirePro D300* AMD FirePro D500* |
| Standard VRAM: | 1 GB | 2 GB* 3 GB * |
| Standard Storage: | 1 TB (Hard Drive) | 256 GB (SSD) |
| Optical Drive: | 18X DL "SuperDrive" | None |
| Drive Bays (Open): | 3 (3.5"), 1 (5.25") | None |
| Exp. Slots (Open): | 3 PCIe (1 x16, 2 x4) | None |
| USB Ports: | 5 (USB 2.0) | 4 (USB 3.0) |
| Firewire Ports: | 4 (Firewire 800) | None |
| Video/Perip. Ports: | 2 Mini DisplayPort 1 DVI (Dual Link) |
6 Thunderbolt 2 1 HDMI (1.4 UltraHD) |
| Wi-Fi: | 802.11a/b/g/n | 802.11ac |
| Bluetooth: | Bluetooth 2.1+EDR | Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Minimum OS X: | Snow Leopard (10.6) | Mavericks (10.9) |
| Original OS X: | Lion (10.7) | Mavericks (10.9) |
| Maximum OS X: | Current | Current |
| Order Numbers: | MD770LL/A MD771LL/A |
ME253LL/A* MD878LL/A |
| Model Number: | A1289 | A1481 |
| EMC Number: | 2629 | 2630 |
| Model Identifier: | MacPro5,1 | MacPro6,1 |
| Case Color: | Silver | Dark Gray |
| Case Finish: | Matte | Glossy |
| Dimensions (In): | 20.1 x 8.1 x 18.7 | 9.9 x 6.6 |
| Weight (Lbs): | 39.9 lbs. | 11 lbs. |
| Intro. Price (US): | US$2499 US$3799 |
US$2999 US$3999 |
| Intro. Price (UK): | £2049 £3099 |
£2499 £3299 |
| Intro. Price (CA): | C$2549 C$3849 |
C$3099 C$4099 |
| Intro. Price (AU): | A$2999 A$4599 |
A$3999 A$5299 |
*On April 4, 2017, Apple quietly discontinued the entry-level Mac Pro "Quad Core" 3.7 model (ME253LL/A) with its 3.7 GHz 4 Core (E5-1620v2) processor and dropped the price of the Mac Pro "Six Core" 3.5 with its 3.5 GHz 6 Core (E5-1650v2) processor to US$2999. Apple also made the Mac Pro "Eight Core" 3.0 with its 3.0 GHz 8 Core Xeon (E5-1680v2) processor a standard configuration with dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics processors and 6 MB of VRAM available for US$3999. Apple assigned a new order number to this now standard 8 Core configuration (MQGG2LL/A).
For introductory pricing in dozens of other countries, see the "Global Prices" on the specs page for each Mac as well as the "By Global Original Prices" section of EveryMac.com.
Comparison Summary
When EveryMac.com first published this Q&A on January 10, 2014, we summarized this comparison with the following:
For users who need as much power as possible, and the external ports meet their expansion needs, the "Late 2013" Mac Pro is a welcomed departure from earlier models. It's not only fast, but also smaller and quieter. For some, the high speed external ports are even preferable to internal expansion as it is possible to put noisy drives as far away as 30 meters (98 feet) from the computer itself (using Thunderbolt cables available from site sponsor OWC and others).
However, for others who need -- or at least prefer -- internal expansion bays and slots, the "Late 2013" Mac Pro is a non-starter. These users no doubt would prefer to continue to use and upgrade an older Mac Pro.
After three years with no updates -- on April 4, 2017 -- in what amounted to essentially an apology from the company, Apple acknowledged that the Cylinder Mac Pro "met the needs of some of our customers, and we know clearly not all of our customers" and that the company intended to work on "completely rethinking the Mac Pro" with a "modular design" scheduled for release sometime after 2017.
EveryMac.com looks forward to the return of more upgradable Mac Pro models and hopes that this mindset will return to Apple's professional notebook designs in the future, as well.
Site sponsor Adorama has new Mac Pro models with free shipping for all. Site sponsor Other World Computing sells used Mac Pro models as well as quality memory, storage, and other upgrades for all Mac Pro models at affordable prices.
Please refer to EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison feature to dynamically compare any Mac Pro model to any other Mac.
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