The 'Trashcan' Mac Pro: Remembering One of Apple's Most Controversial Designs Nine Years Later

Nine years ago today, Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro, one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontent with the Mac lineup.

A polished aluminum cylinder that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" is what led to the redesign of the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro's components were mounted around a central thermal dissipation core, cooled by a single fan that pulled air from under the case, through the core, and out the top. Even during intense operations, the fan could keep the Mac very quiet.

The radical redesign of the Mac Pro was announced at the event. Phil Schiller remarked "Can't innovate, my ass". The comment was directed at armchair critics who said that Apple had largely abandoned its pro user base and was out of ideas.

According to Apple, the new Mac Pro offered twice the performance of the previous generation while taking up less than a quarter of the volume. Seven Teraflops of computing power is what the Mac Pro can deliver.

The design was ambitious, but users were not happy with the way expansion had to be served outside of the box. The lack of internal slots in the Mac Pro made it difficult for professional users to add graphics and memory.

The device couldn't adapt to changing trends. As recently as 2019, it was possible to buy a trashcan Mac Pro from Apple, with no upgrades coming to the device during the six years since its release.

Days since Phil Schiller said “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass” and revealed a new Mac Pro: 1,351 Days since the last Mac Pro update: 1,351 — Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) February 20, 2017

Apple made a rare admission of the product's failure during a meeting with reporters in April of last year. Apple's full mea culpa came in the form of yet another Mac Pro redesign which took the machine back to a highly modular tower form factor.

What the Mac Pro set out to achieve, a small, powerful computer for professionals, with external expansion only, lives on and has been executed more effectively by the Mac studio.