HOW IT’S DONE
Mac Pro 2019
The Mac is back and more Pro than ever, throwing away the “trash can” design in favor of something that resembles a computer. Its appearance may hark back to 2006’s original, but can it compare in the repairability department?
MAJOR TECH SPECS
■ Eight-core Intel Xeon with 24.5MB of L3 cache and a 4.0GHz max turbo frequency
■ 32GB (four 8 GB modules) of 2,666MHz DDR4 ECC memory
■ AMD Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM
■ 256GB PCIe-based flash storage module
■ 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0
KEY FINDINGS
■ We brought plenty of tools, but so far all we need is our fingers. Informative dots tell us the handle rotates, and with ease. The housing slides off with little effort. Inside, we get a peek at the familiar-looking locking mechanism. A closer look reveals pogo pins under the power button that correspond to contacts on the housing. Removing the housing breaks the connection, cutting the power. Neat!
■ Unfazed by the ominous array of black modules in the case, we pull the first switch we can find, and voilà! Up pops the first memory cover, revealing two of the four sticks of RAM that came with our model (there’s room for eight more). Still no tools required – if you have opposable thumbs, you can replace this RAM. The cherry on top is the diagram on the insides of the RAM covers, showing which DIMM slots to populate with different amounts of memory.
■ The I/O boards are held in place by Phillips thumbscrews and can be loosened (and tightened) by hand. All PCIe cards are locked in place by a single switch that moves a rail with hooks on it that secure anything in their path.
■ The I/O board, video card, and power supply all come out from the same side of the case. We stop to admire all the numbers indicating the order of operations. The power supply is the last easily removable module to come out. It’s held in place with a single T8 Torx screw.
■ Let’s take a look at the custom AMD Radeon Pro 580X video card module: When you pull the release latch, it engages two rollers on the other side, which undock the card and push it away from the motherboard. Unlike the module itself, the silicon inside does not come out with a clever lever. A few screws are hidden under a giant sticker on the cooling fins, and we have to carefully disengage the lever mechanism before we can finally pull out the card.
■ Removing the blower fan housing reveals a tiny SSD. We’re happy to see a modular SSD, but not happy knowing it’s bound to the T2 chip, so user-replacements are a no-go. That said, there are plenty of other ways to add storage.
■ Repairability Score: 9 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair). Basic repairs or upgrades can be done with standard or no tools. Major components are modular and use industry-standard sockets and interfaces, making replacements or upgrades a snap. Apple provides some step numbers and diagrams on the device, and publishes free manuals for some repairs. The SSD cards are modular, but custom-made by Apple, complicating replacement. If you need a replacement that’s not on Apple’s limited list of approved repairs, you’ll likely pay a dizzying price.