Apple Teases Mac Pro in New Movie Theater Ads

We suppose it make sense for Apple to slap an advertisement or two in movie theaters prior to the showing of a little ol' film about the company's most key influencer – a name that's likely to be associated for with the Apple brand for years upon years, if it's not already etched in permanence.

It's a bit weirder, comments iOS and Mac developer Troy Gaul, to see an advertisement for the next iteration in Apple's Mac Pro line to accompany a Percy Jackson film. Wrong audience, perhaps? Unless little Jimmy is planning to save his allowance for the next 10 years to pick up what's likely to be a fairly pricy Intel Xeon E5-based system.

"Of all devices for Apple to show before a movie... the Mac Pro? Really," tweeted 9to5Mac editor Scott Buscemi.

That's Apple's latest marketing effort – marketing tease, really – for the to-be-released redesign of its Mac Pro. The company is slapping teasers for the cylindrical computer as part of a movie theater advertising push, publishing the fact that the updated system is expected to arrive in fall of this year. We don't have a copy of the movie theater ad, but we've embedded Apple's original teaser from this year's WWDC at the bottom of this post if you'd like a little visual refresh of the unique tweaks Apple's made to the Mac Pro.

While it's unclear as to what Apple's Mac Pro might ultimately cost, be prepared to spend a not-so-insignificant amount if you're interested in picking up one of the systems. It's been widely reported that the raw cost of materials within the system itself – the entry-level edition, as it were – could come in at just around $2,800. Expect the price to skyrocket north for any upgrades to storage, memory, or the system's CPU that potential purchasers might want to pick up.

To ballpark the cost a bit more, a current quad-core version of Apple's Mac Pro starts at $2,499, whereas the 12-core iteration bumps up to $3,799 — and keeps going, depending on the upgrades one selects during the ordering process.

While the full hardware loadout of Apple's new Mac Pro hasn't been confirmed, it's expected that Intel Xeon E5 processors will power the system's brains, with AMD FirePro GPUs handling the graphics and PCI Express-based flash storage taking care of the, er, storage.

As for when Apple might officially debut the Mac Pro in person, the company has two major upcoming opportunities: An iPhone event on September 10 or an iPad event that's likely to be held at some point in the fall, given Apple's typical track record.