Eh. This product designer thinks otherwise: http://atomicdelights.com/blog/how-apple-makes-the-mac-pro
In the period from 1984-89 I watched pick & place circuit board assembly, pick & place robotics, robotic polishers, robotic bead blasters and spray painters operate in local machine shops, automotive plants and electronics manufactures.
I've never worked in a shop that punched out cylinders, but I'm sure that the process they are using for punching out the cylinder from a block of aluminum is how beer cans get made.
It's not amazing.
"Most metal stampings go through one or two die tools to produce the final shape. With the Mac Pro though, the challenge is to produce a massive amount of plastic deformation without tearing, rippling or deforming the perfect cylindrical surface."
and, below the figure:
"The results of the first (of between 4 and 5) deep draw stamping operations. Notice how the Mac Pro part is nowhere near the final length."
As I'm sure you know, there's a big difference between a single-use aluminium can, which is both small and thin, and a large part like this, which has to have both structural stability, very high dimensional tolerances, and a good surface finish. That said, you obviously know more about this than I do, so maybe you can comment on the quotes from the article?