Apple offers sneak peek at new cylindrical Mac Pro assembled in the USA
In a rare move, Apple offered a sneak preview of a "Mac unlike any we've ever made," sporting a new, smaller cylindrical design powerful enough to drive three 4K-resolution displays.
"Can't innovate anymore, my ass," Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller quipped after showing off a video of the new hardware, prompting loud cheers from the Worldwide Developers Conference. The new machine will be assembled in America.
The professional-grade machine will arrive later this year with next-generation Intel Xeon processors with up to 12 cores. It will feature the fastest ECC memory ever seen in a Mac with 60 GBps bandwidth.
The desktop also features dual workstation GPUs powered by AMD FirePro. That will allow up to 2 and a half times faster than the graphics of the last generation, capable of driving three 4K resolution displays on the new high-end machine.
Internal storage will be PCIe flash, with 1.25GBps reads, 1.0GBps writes. The system will also feature Thunderbolt 2 support with 20 Gbps throughput, 6 devices per port, and backward compatible with Thunderbolt 1.
The new Mac Pro is one-eighth the volume of the previous generation. Giving it easy portability, the entire top of the new Pro is a handle, while ports are all organized on the back.
"Can't innovate anymore, my ass," Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller quipped after showing off a video of the new hardware, prompting loud cheers from the Worldwide Developers Conference. The new machine will be assembled in America.
The professional-grade machine will arrive later this year with next-generation Intel Xeon processors with up to 12 cores. It will feature the fastest ECC memory ever seen in a Mac with 60 GBps bandwidth.
The desktop also features dual workstation GPUs powered by AMD FirePro. That will allow up to 2 and a half times faster than the graphics of the last generation, capable of driving three 4K resolution displays on the new high-end machine.
Internal storage will be PCIe flash, with 1.25GBps reads, 1.0GBps writes. The system will also feature Thunderbolt 2 support with 20 Gbps throughput, 6 devices per port, and backward compatible with Thunderbolt 1.
The new Mac Pro is one-eighth the volume of the previous generation. Giving it easy portability, the entire top of the new Pro is a handle, while ports are all organized on the back.
Comments
That case...
Uhm...
Yes... That case.
I will say, they pretty much kicked everyone's ideas of what the new one will look like right out the door. A single central cooling unit inside a cylinder is actually quite brilliant.
But eww, that case.
Outside of software (iOS or OS X), it's unusual for Apple to announce hardware and then say "coming later".
I think they're trying to appease professionals instead of leaving them out in the cold at WWDC and announcing it later. I want to see the Pixar demo tomorrow running in this machine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
Disappointed. Scaled down for all the wrong reasons.
Why does it need to be bigger?
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
THOSE SPECS.
That case...
Uhm...
Yes... That case.
I will say, they pretty much kicked everyone's ideas of what the new one will look like right out the door. A single central cooling unit inside a cylinder is actually quite brilliant.
But eww, that case.
It doesn't look finalized.
Pretty sure it will be gorgeous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
Disappointed. Scaled down for all the wrong reasons.
The specs of the machine are brilliant. FirePro graphics card are nothing to sneer at on any level.
But that case is definitely something to raise an eyebrow at. How the hell are you supposed to upgrade the graphics cards in future?
(The Keynote stream had 6 Firewire 2 ports)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pendergast
It doesn't look finalized.
Pretty sure it will be gorgeous.
Maybe it'll be like when you see pictures of cars. The Kia Pro_Cee'd looks cheap and boring in pictures but looks amazing and very upmarket in person. Hopefully the MacPro will be like the Kia; it looks odd in pictures but amazing in person.
On a side note, the graphics of the thing make it look a bit like a retro super computer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
THOSE SPECS.
That case...
Uhm...
Yes... That case.
I will say, they pretty much kicked everyone's ideas of what the new one will look like right out the door. A single central cooling unit inside a cylinder is actually quite brilliant.
But eww, that case.
If only they scaled it up 3:2 and allowed one to plug-n-play different GPGPU daughter cards. I'd love to purchase a separate daughter card that had non-FirePro GPGPU dual Processors on it to swap in and out for different needs. Or a separate daughter card to add 2 additional GPGPUs and let the OS manage their computing via OS X and activate them for OpenCL/OpenGL on the fly. That would have allowed a new definition of plug-n-play and expansion.
All storage expansion via Thunderbolt 2 for any serious performance is nauseating.
Cost just went through the roof.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
The specs of the machine are brilliant. FirePro graphics card are nothing to sneer at on any level.
But that case is definitely something to raise an eyebrow at. How the hell are you supposed to upgrade the graphics cards in future?
Great cards for specific market segment. Still highly expensive.
I was expexting the new Mac-Pro to be a re-birth of the Cube updated for the 21st century - this though is more interesting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
How the hell are you supposed to upgrade the graphics cards in future?
Have you paid attention to Apple in the past few years?
Seriously though- I'd wait for a tear down before complaining or worrying.
No word as to when except later this year? Price? Although if one asks the price I guess one can't afford it. Is it a computer or a work of art? Questions, questions.
I hope this comes with a hose and attachments.
Dyson may be suing soon for design infringement...
Looks like internal storage is also a victim here. Not sure if traditional pros that might also use PCI cards will be happy. At least it has the performance and latest chips!
I hope it is not black. Nearly everything electric at my office and home seems to be black colored. The nice thing about Apple products was that they stood out. And given I keep my desktops under my desk, this will blend in nicely with my small trash can and not in a good way.