Tue, 05 Mar 2013 New Mac Pro 'could offer 8TB SSD', claims report, 'launch in April' states another

Apple is said to be developing a 2TB solid state drive for a new Mac Pro. That's the latest rumour about the new Mac Pro. Another rumour points to an April launch date. 

Bright Side of News (BSN) reports that Apple could be developing a two terabyte solid state drive for inclusion in the next Mac Pro. That site suggests that the Mac Pro could maz out at 8TB SSD. See also: Mac Pro : The Mac that time forgot

According to the site, in a tour of a Chinese factory they saw "an initial run of Solid State drives bearing a logo which is very recognizable in the West - Apple Inc."

"From the looks of it, the 2TB drives used industry standard 3.5” form factor, full height (just like your regular 3.5” spinning drive) and a SATA connector (not SAS or some proprietary port)," claims BSN. 

"Seeing a 2TB Solid State Drive with an Apple logo on it opens very large ground for speculation", suggests the site, predicting that Apple could use it in the 2013 Mac Pro refresh, alongside Ivy Bridge-E processors.

These processors, BSN notes, may not be seen until the end of the year, however. Although, as BSN notes, Apple has previously secured exclusivity from Intel when it came to "several generations of Xeon processors".

The site claims that future Mac Pros would be capable of holding 8TB of solid state storage per workstation. The current Mac Pro can be configured with up to 8TB of storage in the form of 7200-rpm hard drives. Currently the maximum SSD capacity is just 512GB.

New Mac Pro to launch in April

Another report is claiming that Apple will release a new Mac Pro in April. "Our San Francisco Bay Area source has just informed T-GAAP.com that the time will be early April 2013," writes T-GAAP.

That site thinks the "timing makes sense" because "April is the beginning of Apple's third financial quarter". It also notes that it would be close to NAB.

Apple has said that a new professional Mac will arrive this year. The company has recently had to remove the Mac Pro from sale in Europe after an amendment to the IEC 60950-1 regulation increased requirements around electrical port protection and the fan guards in the system.

Last year Apple announced a 'new' Mac Pro during WWDC. Complaints that the update was so minor lead the company to later remove the 'New' claim and CEO Tim Cook responded to concerns that Apple would retire the professional Mac in an email with the suggestion that a new Mac Pro would arrive later this year. "Our Pro customers like you are really important to us. Although we didn't have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today's event, don't worry as we're working on something really great for later next year. We also updated the current model today," wrote Cook.

You can read our compilation of Mac Pro rumours here.

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