While it looks like Apple has totally forgotten about the Mac Pro it sells, this isn’t the case. As MacRumors reports, Apple is launching a repair program for video issues on some of these computers.
Apple has determined that graphics cards in some late 2013 Mac Pros, manufactured between February 8, 2015 and April 11, 2015, may cause distorted video, no video, system instability, freezing, restarts, shut downs, or may prevent system start up.
Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will repair eligible Mac Pro models affected by the video issues free of charge. Customers can book an appointment with the Genius Bar at an Apple Store or visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider to determine if their Mac Pro is eligible for coverage.
I bought the trashcan Mac Pro back in June, 2014, but didn’t keep it very long. It was a wonderful computer, but when the retina iMac was released a few months later, I decided that I wanted a better display than what Apple was offering; their old Thunderbolt Display, which was decidedly non-retina.
But I should note that when I first got the Mac Pro, it didn’t work well. It was unstable, and system startup was very slow. At one point, I timed the startup, and it took 9 minutes. The problem had something to do with one of the busses on the connector panel, and that may have been related to this video issue. Apple exchanged the Mac Pro quickly, since it didn’t work correctly out of the box.
I should add that when I bought the 5K iMac, I had expected it to be easy to sell the Mac Pro. It wasn’t; it was the most difficult Mac I’ve ever sold, and I took quite a hit on the price. Apple has given up on the Mac Pro now, not having updated it since its release over two years ago, and I guess we’ll probably never see another computer like this from the company.