Can You Upgrade the Parts of A New Mac Pro?

I’m enamored with the new Apple Mac Pro.  If you have been visiting this site for a while you know that one of the computers I own is a Mac Pro (2008 model) which still runs perfectly and performs really well.  And one of the reasons that it’s still such an excellent computer is because it’s super easy to upgrade.  In fact, since I got my Mac Pro in the summer of 2008, I’ve upgraded its RAM, video card (GPU), and storage capacity (even added a solid state drive).

The inside of the Mac Pro case is clean–seriously, not a single cable in sight and easy to get around.  Perhaps one of the best things about the Mac Pro is the dedicated RAM boards and slide-in hard drive bays.  Anyway, now that new brand new Mac Pro is out and being delivered to people, I did some research as to the upgradability of the newer Mac Pro’s and it turns out, everything is upgradable.  So yes, you can upgrade the RAM, SSD, video card (GPU), and processor (CPU) (though the processor takes the most work to get to).

While you may not find yourself needing to upgrade your new Mac Pro right away, it may be a worthwhile thing to know in the future.  In terms of where to buy hardware for a Mac Pro (or really any Mac), I like and recommend OWC  (OWC is a very reputable vendor of hardware — I’ve used them several times).

It’s also worth noting that if you want to save a few bucks, you can purchase a RAM upgrade for your Mac Pro from OWC instead of buying it from Apple.  The only thing is, you will need to install the RAM upgrade yourself.

So again, the answer is yes, you can upgrade most of the components in the new Mac Pro. If you are going to perform an upgrade always be sure to take proper precautions and ground yourself before working inside a computer.  The last thing you want to do is fry a $3,000+ computer.

Did you get a new Mac Pro? How do you like it?

Update: After doing further research it appears you can also upgrade the processor.  I’ve updated the post to reflect this new information.