The new Mac Pro is now available to order, but the thing that everyone is getting hung up on is the optional wheels, which will cost you an extra $100 per wheel. That's right, if you select 'stainless steel frame with wheels' rather than 'with feet' (generously offered for free), you'll see your checkout total jump up by $400, £360 or AU$640.
When the machine was first announced, Apple released some price info that was as jaw-dropping as the specs on offer. The machine alone costs $4,999 at the very least. And if you want a stand for your monitor, that'll set you back an extra $999. Now it seems that if you want to move this understandably heavy machine around without putting your back out, you'll need to shell out another $400.
Nice wheels (Image credit: Apple)
We'll concede that the Mac Pro is not a machine aimed at most creatives. You're not going to stumble upon one in your average designer's home office – it's very much geared at rich companies, along with the ludicrously expensive Pro Display XDR monitor. However, if you did decide to shell out the $6k for the cheapest model available, you'd only be getting 256GB of storage and 32GB RAM. That's not going to be enough for many designers' needs – take a look at our guide to the best computers for graphic designers to see just how out of whack this is with the rest of the market.
Want to bump up that RAM? You're going to need some serious capital. Raising those 32 gigabytes to 1.5 terabytes will set you back an extra $25,000. In fact, someone's done some maths and figured out that for the top-spec version, you'll need to pay over $52,000. Phew. When you put it like that, $400 for some wheels seems pretty reasonable, doesn't it?
Read more about the Mac Pro on Apple's website, or see below for some more affordable options from Apple.
Ruth spent a couple of years as Deputy Editor of Creative Bloq, and has also either worked on or written for almost all of the site's former and current print titles, from Computer Arts to ImagineFX. She now spends her days reviewing mattresses and hiking boots as the Outdoors and Wellness editor at T3.com, but continues to write about design on a freelance basis in her spare time.
