Apple throws out the rulebook for its unique next-gen Mac Pro

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  • Reply 101 of 1320
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tundraboy View Post





    You and I know the answer is: Every last sorry-assed one of them..


    I don't know about this.


     


    Look at how long it took Dell and the like to start excluding the optical drive. This is a bigger departure by far.

  • Reply 102 of 1320
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member
    jollypaul wrote: »

    The cost will be killer though. 5K to start, up to 10K/15K USD depending on setup? Way outside what I can afford, but some forward thinking professionals should be able to appreciate it.

    Hunh? You predict a doubling of the prices even though Apple has been pretty consistent with holding the line on the price points of all its other product lines when they upgrade them?
  • Reply 103 of 1320
    s.metcalfs.metcalf Posts: 972member


    The more I think about it, there more I like it and want it!  It's a damn sexy and powerful computer.  I think this should satisfy all those that have been demanding an xMac for so many years (since the G4 cube).


     


    However I probably won't be able to upgrade for another year or so because in addition to the new Mac Pro I'll have to buy an 802.11ac Airport Extreme and some high performance external storage to connect wirelessly, so it'll be quite an investment.


     


    I think Apple is on to a winner here.

  • Reply 104 of 1320
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    My desk is completely overgrown with power strips, wires, and cables... and the entire physical desk top is taken up with hard drives everywhere. The appeal *to me* of the Mac Pro was all those hard drive bays which would allow me a neat, clean, all-in-one tower with plenty of HDD space inside.

    ...and the appeal to someone else was the upgradeable RAM, and to another person flexibility on video cards. This solution simplifies appealing to everyone with a single product. Yes, you end up with expansion bays.

    BUT, your challenge doesn't change. You can do it the right way and get a desktop SAN, or you can cobble together a bunch of little bits and bobs.

    To be honest, I am most curious how Apple envisions marrying this with accessories. You can't put anything on top of it, and it isn't exactly an ideal format for things like hard drives. But, it is frigging TINY! If they can deal with 4k video, and daisy chain units for performance they have a HUGE winner! [update-- 3x4k displays supported internally!!!]

    Don't think I can justify one for myself, but I wish I could!
  • Reply 105 of 1320
    blackbook wrote: »
    Small error, but iOS 7 is compatible with the 4 and 4S...

    Absolute lies. Even the iPhone 4 runs iOS 7. Even the iPad 2 runs iOS 7. 

    <img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="26450" data-type="61" height="149" src="http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/26450/width/500/height/1000/flags/LL" style="; width: 500px; height: 149px;" width="500">


    Don't just SAY things.

    Interestingly, the 4th-gen iPod touch won't run it, even though it too has an A4. Apple discontinued it "just in time", it seems…
    Interestingly, the FIRST GEN IPAD CAN'T RUN IOS 6, EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE SAME HARDWARE AS THE IPHONE 4 with half the RAM.
    Yes it is interesting only devices with FaceTime cameras excluding the iPod 4th generation run it, however apple has had IOS run older on iPhones many times in the past, I guess it is they cost a whole lot more?


    They said it dropped it tower design, well I still consider this design a type of tower, do you?
  • Reply 106 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Ha Ha! There are many things that belong to past eras that are never appreciated by the new generation.


     


    Pros ask for a one ton 4x4 diesel truck and Apple delivers a solar powered hovercraft.  This Mac Pro was designed for modern hipsters, wanna be "Pros".



     


    How I picture mstone:


     


  • Reply 107 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DarkVader View Post


    The level of stupid at Apple these days is overwhelming.


     


    That has to be the worst possible design for a pro machine that I could imagine.  Pros don't want cutesy cylinders, they want EXPANSION.  Things like slots, lots of RAM slots, lots of PCI Express slots, and multiple hard drive bays, at least 4 of them.  Pros still need optical drives.  Pros want to be able to upgrade their graphics cards.  Pros want multiple processors.


     


    Think about what they could have done with this in the existing case:  Dual 12 core processors.  Up to 128GB RAM.  2 solid state drives AND 4 hard drives.  And two Blu-Ray drives.  And 4 PCI Express slots.


     


    And the design is terrible too.  This thing looks like a black aluminum can.  Oh, wait, that's what it is.



     


    LOL. You forgot to include "kitchen sink."


     


    "Dual 12 core processors"??? You know there's no such thing. The Xeon chip maxes out at 8 cores. Tip for a more successful troll post: use real things when describing what Apple could have done.

  • Reply 108 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post





    To be honest, I am most curious how Apple envisions marrying this with accessories. You can't put anything on top of it, 


     


    It only takes up a small corner of your desk! Why worry about putting things on it? If you insist, you can put it on top of or next to other things.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post





    If they can deal with 4k video, and daisy chain units for performance they have a HUGE winner!


     


    Why daisy-chain?

  • Reply 109 of 1320
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DarkVader View Post


    The level of stupid at Apple these days is overwhelming.


     


    That has to be the worst possible design for a pro machine that I could imagine.  Pros don't want cutesy cylinders, they want EXPANSION.  Things like slots, lots of RAM slots, lots of PCI Express slots, and multiple hard drive bays, at least 4 of them.  Pros still need optical drives.  Pros want to be able to upgrade their graphics cards.  Pros want multiple processors.


     


    Think about what they could have done with this in the existing case:  Dual 12 core processors.  Up to 128GB RAM.  2 solid state drives AND 4 hard drives.  And two Blu-Ray drives.  And 4 PCI Express slots.


     


    And the design is terrible too.  This thing looks like a black aluminum can.  Oh, wait, that's what it is.



    I'm kind of in agreement with you for a portion of the high end pro market segment.  I think this would be cool for certain people that don't need PCi slots.  It can support 3 4K monitors without anything else, which should be enough for most people.  Memory? I wonder what density DIMMs will be available.    Think this would be great as a replacement for some people, but i agree that they should come out with a tower unit with at least 3 or 4 PCI slots, lots of space for memory, storage, etc..  Getting those Thunderbolt expansion chassis is probably what they are thinking of since people can get Sonnet or another brand external PCI expansion chassis.  But that's more crap to deal with and they are a little on the expensive side.  But for the Pro Tools users?  I think they should have come out with a tower that can also be rack mounted.


     


    For me, bought an iMac for my home computer, but would have bought one of these with a Thunderbolt monitor instead if the price wasn't too far out there, but I don't need PCI slots, etc. for my home system.


     


    I always thought Apple should come out with a MacMini Pro which would be a slightly wider version of the MacMini with the guts of a top end iMac and then a Mac Pro system that can be a tower or easily changed into a rack mounted system with PCI slots, lots of RAM, etc., etc.

  • Reply 110 of 1320
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SchnellFowVay View Post


    I also expect Apple to release some sort of RAID-capable external harddrive enclosure that will connect via Thunderbolt 2 to this thing -- perhaps an enclosure that somehow aesthetically complements the Mac Pro's body.  Regardless of silly arguments about optical drives, etc., it is undisputed that pros who use Macs for editing and creating large amounts of HD media absolutely NEED access to high-capacity disk-based harddrives.  Apple knows this, and that's why I predict a separate multi-harddrive enclosure.



    This enclosure you suggest could be essentially the same chassis and enclosure used for the Mac Pro.  It could come with extra GPUs or filled with SSD cards.  Connect via TB and voila!  And it matches.

  • Reply 111 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


     


    LOL. You forgot to include "kitchen sink."


     


    "Dual 12 core processors"??? You know there's no such thing. The Xeon chip maxes out at 8 cores. Tip for a more successful troll post: use real things when describing what Apple could have done.



    There are indeed 12-core processors. Tip for successfully busting a troll: make sure they are wrong first. :)

  • Reply 112 of 1320
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by s.metcalf View Post


    The more I think about it, there more I like it and want it!  It's a damn sexy and powerful computer.  I think this should satisfy all those that have been demanding an xMac for so many years (since the G4 cube).



    I also want one but I don't think it's an Xmac. The Xmac was something between an iMac and Mac Pro, but in some ways the new Mac Pro is even further to the pro end than the old one. I am thinking of dual pro graphics as standard which is an optional feature on Dell and HP workstations, and 1250Mbps internal storage.

  • Reply 113 of 1320
    owepowep Posts: 4member


    Great guts ! Stupid skin.

  • Reply 114 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post


     


    But Apple still has an entry level Mac Mini and a mid-level iMac that will cost less than the new Pro.



     


    Is that a complaint? Are you going to complain about having these other awesome choices?


    Yup, that's Apple. Damned if they do it, damned if they don't.

  • Reply 115 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post


    There are indeed 12-core processors. Tip for successfully busting a troll: make sure they are wrong first. :)



     


    Two six-core Xeons are not a "12-core processor."

  • Reply 116 of 1320
    vaporlandvaporland Posts: 358member
    interesting design. reminds me a little of the original Cray-I, obviously smaller, but unique.

    The Cray was round for two reasons: (1) limit length of wires to increase speed, (2) central cooling (which was a flouride compound and quite poisonous)

    A lot of people didn't believe that shorter wire lengths would make the system run faster, but it did!

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/26487/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

    what would really rock the dying post-PC world: Apple offering this at iMac price points...
  • Reply 117 of 1320
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Do you have any idea how powerful this machine is?

    Step back and take a serious look at this be Mac Pro, it is so forward thinking every edge bleeds.
    mstone wrote: »
    Ha Ha! There are many things that belong to past eras that are never appreciated by the new generation.

    Pros ask for a one ton 4x4 diesel truck and Apple delivers a solar powered hovercraft.  This Mac Pro was designed for modern hipsters, wanna be "Pros".
    It is more like an Indy car performance wise.
  • Reply 118 of 1320
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Who says this isn't cheap? Who says this isn't quiet? Why would there be a "Pro mini" when the iMac exists? Why would there be another mini anything when the Mac Mini exists?



     


     


    My thoughts is that when you have to bring in a computer for servicing, it's rarely the actual monitor.  So if they had a slightly larger (wider) version of the MacMini with the guts of an iMac, then you would only need to bring in the base unit and leave your monitor at home.  Much easier to transport.




    For the high end pros.  what PCI cards are people typically using?  Pro Tools cards are probably the most common as well as some video capture cards.  BUT, since Pro Tools came out with their native version of Pro Tools, this system may bypass the need to buy the more expensive Pro Tools cards, and just run the Native software which makes it far more attractive price wise if the new system performs equally or better than a comparable tower using the Pro Tools cards, which are VERY expensive.  It's getting to the point where PCI cards are not really needed anymore.  Logic doesn't use PCI cards, neither does Final Cut Pro.  I think we are in the middle of another form of "THINK DIFFERENT" paradigm shift.  The case for storage?  I think it's probably best just to use an external drive system as there are plenty to choose from and just use Thunderbolt or in this case Thunderbolt 2, which should get interesting.  

  • Reply 119 of 1320
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post



    Step back and take a serious look at this be Mac Pro, it is so forward thinking every edge bleeds.


    I agree. 2 years from now it will be "obvious" that a computer has two kinds of chip inside: RAM chips for temporary storage and Flash chips for permanent storage. The idea that you would need a little box with a motor and spinning platters to store data will seem very 20th century. The reason this computer doesn't have HD bays is because, like many of Apple's products, it's simply from the future.


     


    And I would just add, that having only Flash storage internally does not equate to your internal storage being unexpandable. You just expand it the way you always used to expand RAM, by taking out the old modules and putting bigger ones in.

  • Reply 120 of 1320

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


     


    Two six-core Xeons are not a "12-core processor."



    "Doubling" down on your error of omission? :)


     


    I don't see anyone (except you) specifying Xeons.

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