Apple Inc. can count a number of successes over the last decade, but as the company is about to release a complete revamp of the Apple Mac Pro desktop computer, can it turn it into yet another golden cow for the cash-laden company? The Mac Pro features a smaller, never-before-seen, cylindrical form factor, one-eighth the size of its predecessor, the Mac Pro tower released back in 2006.

The former Apple Mac Pro was an exceptionally large computer,even by desktop computer standards. Compared to that, the new version is miniscule, measuring only 9.9 in (25 cm) high, 6.6 in (17 cm) in diameter, and weighing in at just 11 lb (5 kg).

Apart from its attention-grabbing design, its black tube-like apparition,  the Apple Mac Pro features a sleeve of powerful new technology delivering up to a whopping seven teraflops of computing power. At the core of this powerhouse is an Intel Xeon E5 processor that comes in either a quad-core, or 6-Core configuration, the former starting at $2,999, and the faster 6-core configuration at $3,999.

The Apple Mac Pro also boasts dual graphics processors, either two AMD FirePro D300 cards with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM each, or the slightly more powerful AMD FirePro D500 with 3 GB GDDR5 in the 6-core version. However, both versions are configurable to an even more powerful card, the AMD FirePro D700, which boasts a whopping 6 GB of GDDR5; it is this card which can reach up to 7 teraflops performance.

The memory is a powerful DDR3 ECC at 1866 MHz which starts at either 12 GB or 16 GB RAM. It is possible to upgrade the memory in any of the two configurations to a total of 64 GB RAM.

Connectivity-wise, the Apple Mac Pro can connect up to three 4K displays or six thunderbolt displays, featuring six thunderbolt ports. It also has four USB 3.0 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, optical audio output, headphone mini-jack, and built-in speaker.

Release date is set for tomorrow, Dec. 19, 2013.

As can be expected, with the steep starting price even for the less powerful quad-core version, Apple is aiming their computer at the high-end of the market. In a presentation, Apple suggested it will be very useful for professional or semi-professional music producers, videographers, and photographers.

Find out more about the Mac Pro on Apple's website.