Granted, SSDs are amazing fast. But if you need bulk storage (and you want it inside the box), this will be disappointing.
I can understand lack of optical drive on "non-Pro" machines, but for those who produce video having to attach an external drive is just a bit of fugliness that is not needed here. Given that people who typically use Mac Pros tend to work with large data files (and may need to mail them to clients in some form other than electronic), the lack of a built-in optical drive should raise some eyebrows.
No slots? Gee, one thing that has kept Mac Pro units working as long as they have in the past has been the ability to swap in new graphic cards. TB2 may help a little, but it's not quite the same as a 16x PCIe slot. Further, there are other devices people might want to add to a new Mac Pro (or, more likely, pull out of an existing Mac Pro and stick in the new one) that the lack of slots will be problematic.
Cylindrical? Crap! A device that could have been easily rack-mounted would have been much more practical. Even if that wasn't in the cards, cylindrical is going to create space problems on desktops and other rectangular areas where Mac Pros currently set. Someone in Apple's industrial design department should have made this a little more "industrial". Granted, the Mac Pro user is *far* from Apple's demographic (which seems to like "thin is in") but you think they would have done a better job of designing something for the Pro users. Heck, I'd much rather they stuck with the old case. Pro users don't need something that would look good in a museum -- they need something practical. Cylindrical fails that. If this is an example of "can't innovate my ass", I'd prefer less innovation, thank you.
OTOH, the performance does look pretty damn good. Mac Pro users will be forced to upgrade on that point alone.
Does it not support RAID externally?
How does it create space problems? It's a fraction of the size and easily fits within the existing footprint.
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.
It has a broad market of professional uses if it isn't just fixed with Workstation CAD/CAM only GPGPUs. More to the point, by the time this machine comes out, AMD 9000 cards will be out. And by the end of 2014 AMD is moving to Excavator with AMD 9000/10000 GPGPUs via SoC. Meanwhile, this Mac Pro is fixed on its GPGPU capabilities and upgrades.
It's truly a static, fixed market device that does not integrate with pre-existing equipment unless these Pros spend a lot on third party connectivity to interoperate with this new product.
I don't expect this design to last for the next ten years. It'll be modified and the size will expand over time.
I can't think of a reason why a cylinder would even be an advantageous shape.
It's not. The heat dissipation options are at the top and one isn't going to expect much convective heat transfer across the system as the design looks like its a fuel cell.
The case is fine. Especially it's small size. Since all of the storage is going to be external It'll be out of the way. How many times do you really need to touch your physical Mac. I can go weeks. There's no CD's to add in. Do I really need to touch the power button or do I just set up a scheduled start-stop. I just want to hear about the 4K displays. I just hope these machines don;t cost an arm and a Leg. And it's nice that they're made in the USA.
HA HA HA HA HA GET A LOAD OF THIS GUY HE ACTUALLY WANTS TO UPGRADE HIS GRAPHICS HA HA HA HA HA
Seriously, I'm really upset. Now I have to waste $600 on a GTX 680, and it will be the last GPU I can ever get for my model.
Originally Posted by OldCodger73
No word as to when except later this year?
Fall, so before December 21.
Originally Posted by Root Beer
I hope this comes with a hose and attachments.
Dyson may be suing soon for design infringement...
Just leave, please.
Originally Posted by jlandd
Did they put the ports so close to each other that you can't use two adjacent ones?
The ports look further apart than any ports on any other Mac. And since all the plugs for every single one of these type of ports is so small, you're manufacturing an "issue" where there has never been one for any Mac.
Originally Posted by Mike Fix
Apple once again proving they hate professionals.
You, once again proving that Apple has done something completely correct.
The specs of the machine are brilliant. FirePro graphics card are nothing to sneer at on any level.
Doesn't matter when there are known driver issues with the FirePro and some pro apps that AMD is aware of and haven't fixed (ArcGIS, Autodesk, even some issues in CS) but work perfectly fine on the Quadro. And anyone that does CUDA is also now screwed.
Disappointed. Scaled down for all the wrong reasons.
How can you call it scaled down when it is offering well over twice the performance? I really don't understand the big box mentality this machine will significantly out perform the old one and probably in some ways more well more than 2 times. How is that anything less than professional?
Final judgement will have to wait for the actual shipping model but this machine just look very impressive as seen from this over view.
I can't think of a reason why a cylinder would even be an advantageous shape.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
It's not. The heat dissipation options are at the top and one isn't going to expect much convective heat transfer across the system as the design looks like its a fuel cell.
Seems to me that a cylinder, with air intake at the bottom and venting at the top, would have better convection cooling potential with fewer fans. Kinda like one of those charcoal chimneys when you're getting ready to barbeque.
Yeah but that's gonna get stuck under the desk to make room for those multiple 4K monitors anyway.... that's why they added the lights to the ports, it's dark under there.
I think we're going to see upgraded graphics cards done externally through Thunderbolt 2 which is why they decided to debut it here. Just my theory. Apple has historically been trying to keep people from tinkering inside its machines, so by releasing basically a badass Mac Mini with a way to add on externally what you previously would have internally... well that's about par for the course. You can't tinker with the insides, but you can add on more powerful attachments so it's flexible. Fine by me as long as I'm right on this. I have a videocard that would never fit into that little case.
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?
You most likely can't. Upgradeable GPUs will quickly become a thing of the past anyways, I wouldn't get too worked up over it.
With flash HD memory they were able to scale it down tremendously, as well as to not include an optical drive...So I imagine they wanted to really amp up the IO and processing specs hence the smaller form factor. You can just plug in external devices and get fast IO...As far as upgrading it...that will be interesting to see.
I suspect he mis spoke on that one. This is why it is common to have a bit of a delay in the posting of videos to the net, it gives companies a chance to edit for mistakes.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhyde
No slots?
No optical drive?
No support for RAID (hard drives)?
More of a Mac maxi rather than a Mac Pro.
Granted, SSDs are amazing fast. But if you need bulk storage (and you want it inside the box), this will be disappointing.
I can understand lack of optical drive on "non-Pro" machines, but for those who produce video having to attach an external drive is just a bit of fugliness that is not needed here. Given that people who typically use Mac Pros tend to work with large data files (and may need to mail them to clients in some form other than electronic), the lack of a built-in optical drive should raise some eyebrows.
No slots? Gee, one thing that has kept Mac Pro units working as long as they have in the past has been the ability to swap in new graphic cards. TB2 may help a little, but it's not quite the same as a 16x PCIe slot. Further, there are other devices people might want to add to a new Mac Pro (or, more likely, pull out of an existing Mac Pro and stick in the new one) that the lack of slots will be problematic.
Cylindrical? Crap! A device that could have been easily rack-mounted would have been much more practical. Even if that wasn't in the cards, cylindrical is going to create space problems on desktops and other rectangular areas where Mac Pros currently set. Someone in Apple's industrial design department should have made this a little more "industrial". Granted, the Mac Pro user is *far* from Apple's demographic (which seems to like "thin is in") but you think they would have done a better job of designing something for the Pro users. Heck, I'd much rather they stuck with the old case. Pro users don't need something that would look good in a museum -- they need something practical. Cylindrical fails that. If this is an example of "can't innovate my ass", I'd prefer less innovation, thank you.
OTOH, the performance does look pretty damn good. Mac Pro users will be forced to upgrade on that point alone.
Does it not support RAID externally?
How does it create space problems? It's a fraction of the size and easily fits within the existing footprint.
I can't think of a reason why a cylinder would even be an advantageous shape.
What is wrong with the case?
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
The machine is a great machine for a specific market segment and is highly expensive.
Just saying...
Yes, Game Development, Engineering Design, Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Compositing, Multimedia Production, Biosciences, Physics, etc.,
It has a broad market of professional uses if it isn't just fixed with Workstation CAD/CAM only GPGPUs. More to the point, by the time this machine comes out, AMD 9000 cards will be out. And by the end of 2014 AMD is moving to Excavator with AMD 9000/10000 GPGPUs via SoC. Meanwhile, this Mac Pro is fixed on its GPGPU capabilities and upgrades.
It's truly a static, fixed market device that does not integrate with pre-existing equipment unless these Pros spend a lot on third party connectivity to interoperate with this new product.
I don't expect this design to last for the next ten years. It'll be modified and the size will expand over time.
Your comment says more about you than the product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlandd
I can't think of a reason why a cylinder would even be an advantageous shape.
It's not. The heat dissipation options are at the top and one isn't going to expect much convective heat transfer across the system as the design looks like its a fuel cell.
Originally Posted by benanderson89
…upgrade the graphics cards…
HA HA HA HA HA GET A LOAD OF THIS GUY HE ACTUALLY WANTS TO UPGRADE HIS GRAPHICS HA HA HA HA HA
Seriously, I'm really upset. Now I have to waste $600 on a GTX 680, and it will be the last GPU I can ever get for my model.
Originally Posted by OldCodger73
No word as to when except later this year?
Fall, so before December 21.
Originally Posted by Root Beer
I hope this comes with a hose and attachments.
Dyson may be suing soon for design infringement...
Just leave, please.
Originally Posted by jlandd
Did they put the ports so close to each other that you can't use two adjacent ones?
The ports look further apart than any ports on any other Mac. And since all the plugs for every single one of these type of ports is so small, you're manufacturing an "issue" where there has never been one for any Mac.
Originally Posted by Mike Fix
Apple once again proving they hate professionals.
You, once again proving that Apple has done something completely correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benanderson89
The specs of the machine are brilliant. FirePro graphics card are nothing to sneer at on any level.
Doesn't matter when there are known driver issues with the FirePro and some pro apps that AMD is aware of and haven't fixed (ArcGIS, Autodesk, even some issues in CS) but work perfectly fine on the Quadro. And anyone that does CUDA is also now screwed.
How can you call it scaled down when it is offering well over twice the performance? I really don't understand the big box mentality this machine will significantly out perform the old one and probably in some ways more well more than 2 times. How is that anything less than professional?
Final judgement will have to wait for the actual shipping model but this machine just look very impressive as seen from this over view.
[B]"Can't innovate anymore, MY ASS!!!"[/B]
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlandd
I can't think of a reason why a cylinder would even be an advantageous shape.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
It's not. The heat dissipation options are at the top and one isn't going to expect much convective heat transfer across the system as the design looks like its a fuel cell.
Seems to me that a cylinder, with air intake at the bottom and venting at the top, would have better convection cooling potential with fewer fans. Kinda like one of those charcoal chimneys when you're getting ready to barbeque.
It's a Mac Pro and hibachi in one!
Yeah but that's gonna get stuck under the desk to make room for those multiple 4K monitors anyway.... that's why they added the lights to the ports, it's dark under there.
Apple has historically been trying to keep people from tinkering inside its machines, so by releasing basically a badass Mac Mini with a way to add on externally what you previously would have internally... well that's about par for the course.
You can't tinker with the insides, but you can add on more powerful attachments so it's flexible. Fine by me as long as I'm right on this. I have a videocard that would never fit into that little case.
You most likely can't. Upgradeable GPUs will quickly become a thing of the past anyways, I wouldn't get too worked up over it.
Look at the new info on Apple's site. It answers a lot of your questions.
I suspect he mis spoke on that one. This is why it is common to have a bit of a delay in the posting of videos to the net, it gives companies a chance to edit for mistakes.
Kind of looks like a Warp Core to me! But seriously, it will be nice to see a teardown and evaluation of this cool looking (my opinion) machine.