Marques Brownlee highlights obvious flaw with Apple’s $50,000 Mac Pro

Calum Patterson

Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee has completed a full review of Apple’s new Mac Pro, but has pointed out one of its major flaws which many prospective buyers might not think about at all – the wheels.

After using a very high spec model of the Mac Pro for a few months, which set him back over $42,000, Brownlee was generally full of praise for the machine.

He was impressed by the attention to detail and the raw performance, but did warn that very few people would ever need such a powerful machine. However, there was one major flaw that he also pointed out.

Mac Pro case being removed by Marques Brownlee
Brownlee complete a pretty thorough examination of the Mac Pro.

These Mac Pros are mainly targeted towards professional workflows, as the name implies. They are the kind of computers that would be used by movie editors and animators, rather than just a personal desktop.

Because they may be used in a more industrial setting, Apple has an option for wheels, allowing the large Mac Pro to be moved around an office or studio space more conveniently.

But, these wheels also have a major downside. Because there is no locking mechanism, any slight slant on the surface will cause the $40,000+ Mac Pro to simply roll around.

Other users on Twitter were quick to mock the overlooked design choice, with Jonothan Ive’s parody account joking that Apple will sell Mac Pro buyers a wedge to stop it rolling away, for only $999 per wheel.

Fellow YouTuber Linus Tech Tips joked that the lack of a wheel lock was actually a deliberate choice, all part of Apple’s pursuit of a “frictionless design.”

Of course, there are much more serious considerations to think of when spending tens of thousands on a computer, beyond just the wheels.

Brownlee’s full review goes into more detail about the positives and negatives of the pricey machine, and who, if anyone, should actually buy one.

The machine is lightning quick, as is to be expected and is fully modular too, allowing for easy access to the parts and greater upgradability than is typical for a Mac.

Hopefully, though, Apple’s next iteration might come with a locking mechanism for the wheels, just to save anyone’s $40,000 desktop rolling right off the desk itself.