After reading several postings I'd like to post my opinion on what this "device" is used for. Previously, Macs contained everything required in one package (including keyboard and monitor). The new Mac Pro is a Lego(tm) piece. Pro users will now need to add everything except for the boot drive, RAM and video cards to complete their system. Some people like this and others don't. If I already had access to a NAS or Xsan or something similar, I'm practically ready to go. A 256GB boot drive might not be enough to handle extra large digital photos but them again, bulking up on internal RAM might be enough for fast processing using something similar to a fusion drive setup. Video professionals will need tons of storage, much more than will easily fit in a single CPU box, so it really shouldn't matter to them. Publishing professionals in large corporations should be using network storage anyway (my background for 30+ years) so they already have storage arrays or some kind. If they don't, they risk losing lots of billable work if the local computer dies (this does happen, especially when serviced by Windows-centric IT staff).
Nobody has said anything about using the Mac Pro as a server. It's overkill with the base graphics cards but maybe Apple will release a stripped server version with a simple graphics card, an integrated graphics card, or three CPU cards instead of the graphics cards for a very interesting server. Stack these cans in a specialized rack at an angle for access and proper airflow and you have the rebirth of an all-Mac computer center.
I like the way you think!
In re the fusion drive -- It's just staging files (percolate up and trickle down) between an SSD and an HDD. Who says that both need to be in the same enclosure? In fact, with Thunderbolt 2 you could have multiple levels of staging:
Mac Pro Internal SSD
Thunderbolt external SSD
Thunderbolt external HDD/RAID
NAS or Cloud
Hmm... I wonder... I have been running Mavericks since WWDC. It was very solid from the beginning and I had very few problems through DP 6. But starting with the GM and then the release, I am having problems with my Thunderbolt Pegasus RAIDS and I/O in general. One of the RAIDS will disappear, then take forever to comeback online, and the Finder or other Apple app will beach ball requiring a force quit or reboot???
I wonder if Apple is screwing with the drivers in anticipation of the Mac Pro. Specifically to implement a fusion drive using an external HDD.
Is the Sharp Thunderbolt or HDMI? Traditionally computer monitors have higher resolution than TVs. Apple already makes monitors, so there is a natural expectation that they will eventually make a retina version, perhaps even more than 4k. Personally I think around 30" is a good size display for computing. I certainly don't want a 50" screen on my desk.
Just to add some meat this thread. here's a video by Michael Cioni. His company, Light Iron, does Post, DI, etc for movies like 42, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Muppets... Michael is a talented creative, engaging speaker and has an amazing mind.
The entire video is a great watch, but at 13:42, Michael talks about the future of FCPX (I'd love to get his take on the Mac Pro).
FWIW, I am going to buy a Mac Pro!
Thanks for that link. Very interesting to see a pro's perspective on Final Cut Pro X. Drives me crazy that he doesn't pronounce it "ten" though.
The pros already hate this circular Mac. They prefer rectangular boxes that they can pack with all sorts of CrossFire goodies and optical drives. Apple is going to a place that no one else wants to go to. It's like trying to put a round peg into a square hole. As awesome a design as it is, I doubt the world is ready for it. You can't change professional's minds overnight. Their heads are too used to working with rectangular boxes. I'm sure the critics and pundits have already made the decision that this circular Mac Pro will be Apple's ultimate failure. It's too expensive and too radical design for anyone to understand.
I'd love to own a high-end Mac Pro, but although I can afford one I have absolutely no need for a computer this powerful. I know the entire computing industry is laughing at Apple for creating a circular desktop computer. Wall Street is ready to downgrade Apple because they're already sure Apple will lose a ton of money on this Mac Pro as it's too expensive for consumers. It looks like this Mac Pro will further increase the doom predictions for Apple.
Wall Street doesn't know shit about the future of pro computers or apple. And pros have not all decided to hate round computers. Doom predictions for apple are made by idiots. Apple's the most profitable company in the world, where is the doom????? The Mac Pro will sell very well and will change pro computing forever. Stop trying to fight it.
want = yes, need = not realy, I realy want to see it and read the experiences of real users, side by side tech stuff. 3k is a little steap to jump in blindly
What's funny about your statement is that for the longest time since personal computers came on the scene, $3,000 for a computer (without monitor/printer) was NORMAL. The original Mac 128 was $2,495 and you think that $3,000 is steep for this?
I think people have been spoiled by the prices of computers being so cheap.
WHere's all the WIRES?? I get the wireless keyboard and mouse but I didn't know the screen and macPro are wireless as well!
What are you talking about? The Thunderbolt ports are to connect to the monitors. It can handle up to 3 4K displays or up to 6 Thunderbolt displays and you also have a HDMI port as well.
I am not convinced by this airflow arrangement, the specs on this wee beastie call for ~470W maximum, now that's a lot of heat to dissipate from just one fan. My guess is that, once again, Apple will push the thermal envelope to it's very maximum, reducing the lifespan ultimately. Also don't expect the dB's to stay low on full throttle.
It's hard to know which Pro market this is aimed at, since it's really a steroid-enhanced Mac Mini. It's useless until you spend thousands of dollars on external storage, or new devices, like an Atto Thunderlink and a bunch of adapters, to connect to storage you already own. Add a video IO device like an Ultrastudio or IO XT, a non-matching keyboard and mousy thing and the designer desktop is crawling with plugs, wires, humming power bricks and multi boards, and the bank account is drained of dosh, with barely half heading for Apple. Whereas the bulky, cumbersome old school tower needed one plug, contained an SSD and 12TB on board, and sat under, not on, the desk.
So if you're running tiny apps on small jobs,fine, FCP X using AVCHD or 5D or something. At that level it's a bit prosumer, like cutting on an iMac . Let's hope it's insanely faster than anything else in a box, and runs Resolve using 5K RED media at full debayer quality via some Sonnet box, and that its pair of FirePros beats a Cubix stuffed with GTX680s. Who knows, it might beat a 12-core. Or next year's version might. If it can, I'll be its biggest fan.
It is interesting that Michael opines that a major advantage of FCPX is that it doesn't try to satisfy everyones needs in a single offering (like MS Office). Rather, through the FCPX APIs, thousands of 3rd-partiy developers can provide features and customizations. He even equates that to the app store for iPhones and iPads.
The premise is that technology changes faster than the software can be updated to exploit it. This is mitigated by allowing 3rd parties to provide extensions to FCPX . These efforts can be focused on the extension -- and need not concern themselves with maintaining, modifying, testing and releasing an update to the FCPX base code.
This might be Apple taking the the same approach with the Mac Pro.
Cars are a machine too, yet the #1 purchase differentiator is color.
If you really believe that the looks are not a major factor in purchasing, it's clearly yourself that has the "serious perception problem"
And the body style is important...... So is fit and finish. Each person puts importance on different factors when making a buying decision. Some put price as #1 most important, while others put reliability, ease of use, support, build quality, etc.
Everyone has their own laundry list and priority of each aspect that's considered.
I am not convinced by this airflow arrangement, the specs on this wee beastie call for ~470W maximum, now that's a lot of heat to dissipate from just one fan. My guess is that, once again, Apple will push the thermal envelope to it's very maximum, reducing the lifespan ultimately. Also don't expect the dB's to stay low on full throttle.
That's a nice upsell for AppleCare.
But since there's little room for expansion, it shouldn't heat up as much, right? Maybe adopt some type of Dyson technology to funnel up the hot air.
It's hard to know which Pro market this is aimed at, since it's really a steroid-enhanced Mac Mini. It's useless until you spend thousands of dollars on external storage, or new devices, like an Atto Thunderlink and a bunch of adapters, to connect to storage you already own.
So a $30 Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter won't work?
The pros already hate this circular Mac. They prefer rectangular boxes that they can pack with all sorts of CrossFire goodies and optical drives. Apple is going to a place that no one else wants to go to. It's like trying to put a round peg into a square hole. As awesome a design as it is, I doubt the world is ready for it. You can't change professional's minds overnight. Their heads are too used to working with rectangular boxes. I'm sure the critics and pundits have already made the decision that this circular Mac Pro will be Apple's ultimate failure. It's too expensive and too radical design for anyone to understand.
I'd love to own a high-end Mac Pro, but although I can afford one I have absolutely no need for a computer this powerful. I know the entire computing industry is laughing at Apple for creating a circular desktop computer. Wall Street is ready to downgrade Apple because they're already sure Apple will lose a ton of money on this Mac Pro as it's too expensive for consumers. It looks like this Mac Pro will further increase the doom predictions for Apple.
Comments
I like the way you think!
In re the fusion drive -- It's just staging files (percolate up and trickle down) between an SSD and an HDD. Who says that both need to be in the same enclosure? In fact, with Thunderbolt 2 you could have multiple levels of staging:
Hmm... I wonder... I have been running Mavericks since WWDC. It was very solid from the beginning and I had very few problems through DP 6. But starting with the GM and then the release, I am having problems with my Thunderbolt Pegasus RAIDS and I/O in general. One of the RAIDS will disappear, then take forever to comeback online, and the Finder or other Apple app will beach ball requiring a force quit or reboot???
I wonder if Apple is screwing with the drivers in anticipation of the Mac Pro. Specifically to implement a fusion drive using an external HDD.
Here's a link to info on Dell's 32" 4K display.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/23/dell-ultrasharp-32/
It interfaces via DisplayPort and/or HDMI.
Why wouldn't Apple introduce their own 4K Monitor? My guess is that they have one in the works, but since it will use Thunderbolt 2 it's not ready.
In the meantime, 4K displays from Sharp, Dell, and others *should* work fine with the new Mac Pro...
Thanks for that link. Very interesting to see a pro's perspective on Final Cut Pro X. Drives me crazy that he doesn't pronounce it "ten" though.
With the iMac, and Mac Pro, laptops, and Thunderbolt display and Mac Mini all being black (or silver-and-black at least) now?
Long past time to make the external keyboards match the laptop keyboards. In silver-and-black.
want = yes, need = not realy, I realy want to see it and read the experiences of real users, side by side tech stuff. 3k is a little steap to jump in blindly
What's funny about your statement is that for the longest time since personal computers came on the scene, $3,000 for a computer (without monitor/printer) was NORMAL. The original Mac 128 was $2,495 and you think that $3,000 is steep for this?
I think people have been spoiled by the prices of computers being so cheap.
WHere's all the WIRES?? I get the wireless keyboard and mouse but I didn't know the screen and macPro are wireless as well!
What are you talking about? The Thunderbolt ports are to connect to the monitors. It can handle up to 3 4K displays or up to 6 Thunderbolt displays and you also have a HDMI port as well.
You have a serious oerception problem. This is a machine. It really hardly matters what it looks like,
Cars are a machine too, yet the #1 purchase differentiator is color.
If you really believe that the looks are not a major factor in purchasing, it's clearly yourself that has the "serious perception problem"
That screen from the keynote is talking only about the PCIe SSD storage. The stick is user-replaceable.
Also,
“That’s no desktop… that’s a workstation.”
“It’s too small to be a workstation…”
Can't wait to see the keyboard for this thing...if it looks like the keys on Vader's chest.
at least with this baby, you can stuff one (or two!) in your suitcase coming back from that DisneyWorld trip....
Not possible. The 7 display outputs (6 Thunderbolt + HDMI) requires two GPUs.
Then optionally don't put display on one of the sets of Tbolt outputs.
Have you seen this:
http://www.fcp.co/hardware-and-software/pro/1265-the-big-mac-pro-video-roundup-including-a-short-glimpse-of-the-future-of-fcpx-with-multicam-4k
It is from some real hands on the Mac Pro after the preso.
It shows multicam editing of 16 4K angles!
Also view the Michael Cioni video @13:42 in:
It is interesting that Michael opines that a major advantage of FCPX is that it doesn't try to satisfy everyones needs in a single offering (like MS Office). Rather, through the FCPX APIs, thousands of 3rd-partiy developers can provide features and customizations. He even equates that to the app store for iPhones and iPads.
The premise is that technology changes faster than the software can be updated to exploit it. This is mitigated by allowing 3rd parties to provide extensions to FCPX . These efforts can be focused on the extension -- and need not concern themselves with maintaining, modifying, testing and releasing an update to the FCPX base code.
This might be Apple taking the the same approach with the Mac Pro.
Cars are a machine too, yet the #1 purchase differentiator is color.
If you really believe that the looks are not a major factor in purchasing, it's clearly yourself that has the "serious perception problem"
And the body style is important...... So is fit and finish. Each person puts importance on different factors when making a buying decision. Some put price as #1 most important, while others put reliability, ease of use, support, build quality, etc.
Everyone has their own laundry list and priority of each aspect that's considered.
How is this hands-on?
You call this "hands on"!?!? LOL!
Well, their hands were totally on the keyboard when they wrote this.
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
I am not convinced by this airflow arrangement, the specs on this wee beastie call for ~470W maximum, now that's a lot of heat to dissipate from just one fan. My guess is that, once again, Apple will push the thermal envelope to it's very maximum, reducing the lifespan ultimately. Also don't expect the dB's to stay low on full throttle.
That's a nice upsell for AppleCare.
But since there's little room for expansion, it shouldn't heat up as much, right? Maybe adopt some type of Dyson technology to funnel up the hot air.
It's hard to know which Pro market this is aimed at, since it's really a steroid-enhanced Mac Mini. It's useless until you spend thousands of dollars on external storage, or new devices, like an Atto Thunderlink and a bunch of adapters, to connect to storage you already own.
So a $30 Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter won't work?
Switch to decaf for a bit.
Apple is domed™