Watch and listen as a rack-mountable Mac Pro is unboxed and stress tested

Neil Parfitt and Mac Pro
Neil Parfitt and Mac Pro (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Mac Pro is offered in rack-mountable form.
  • Music professionals are one group the machine is suited to.
  • Two new videos show on being unboxed and tested.

Apple's Mac Pro has been available for a few weeks and while the buzz is starting to die down, some of us can't get enough of that big hunk of metal. And if you fall into that category you're going to enjoy watching a rack-mountable Mac Pro being unboxed and then put through its paces. So, this is for you.

The Mac Pro in question belongs to music professional Neil Parfitt. His new Mac Pro will take pride of place in his rack at home and in the first unboxing video we get to see exactly what kit the machine will replace. We also get a good look at the rack rails that Apple offers for, you know, mounting the thing in a rack.

In the second video, we're treated to proof that you can indeed remove to lid on the rack-mountable Mac Pro while it's powered on, unlike the standard model. We also hear how the Mac runs its fans at almost 100% when the lid is off, presumably to try and deal with the lack of airflow control. It's a great example that shows just how quiet a Mac Pro is during normal use, too.

Finally, Parfitt puts the Mac Pro through its paces by throwing tons of audio tracks at it while adding multiple plugins and filters. Predictably, it didn't miss a beat. I say predictably because these are the specs; a 28-core CPU, a 1TB SSD, and 384GB of RAM.

Most people don't need a Mac Pro, and even fewer need one that can be mounted in a rack. But this is a great chance to gaze upon a machine that starts at $6,499. Even if it just makes me want one even more.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.