Developer secretly tested new Mac Pro for weeks inside Apple's 'Evil Lab'

1356789

Comments

  • Reply 41 of 180
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    You have to experience pan/zoom in 3D Flyover with a map filling the entire 27" display -- nothing compares!

    I notice, though, that changing angle in Flyover isn't possible yet. I also notice that three-finger swipe up and down aren't taken by the system or the app itself yet, so I figure that's what it will be given.
  • Reply 42 of 180
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member
    @rob55 This isn't a machine that I would except to get basement discount deals on. If you're in need of this machine, a low price is nowhere on your spec list.

    I can already see the chorus of boos from the peanut gallery complaining about the impending MSRP. And I'm sure 99% of those will be broke-ass college students wishing they could own one of these, not industry pros.
  • Reply 43 of 180
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    mr o wrote: »
    <span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">"Can't innovate anymore my ass. Like a boss! </span>
    <img alt="1smoking.gif" id="user_yui_3_10_0_1_1371217226984_1242" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies/1smoking.gif" style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:1.231;" name="user_yui_3_10_0_1_1371217226984_1242">
    "

    I wish he wouldn't have said that. He is not far off from Balmer. Really the bragging is a bit juvenile, very PC like and unlike the poetry of the mac. I did not at all enjoy the product presentations despite the products being jaw droppingly beautiful. Phil just blew it. Shame. Ive really need to stand up and present the products himself. We need someone with genuine passion.

    Come on boy grow up! Phil wasn't bragging in the least, he was directly dealing with the idiots that keep claiming that Apple is washed up and can't do anything new. Frankly it is about time these idiots where called on the carpet. This is nothing more than a measured response to the incredible negative snipping that has taken place relative to Apple.
  • Reply 44 of 180
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mr O View Post


    "Can't innovate anymore my ass. Like a boss! 1smoking.gif"


     


    I wish he wouldn't have said that. He is not far off from Balmer. Really the bragging is a bit juvenile, very PC like and unlike the poetry of the mac. I did not at all enjoy the product presentations despite the products being jaw droppingly beautiful. Phil just blew it. Shame. Ive really need to stand up and present the products himself. We need someone with genuine passion.



    Not far off from Balmer? image


     


    I didn't see any sweaty people from Apple, running around the stage like an insane crackhead, shouting and carrying on like a lunatic.


     


    As for Schiller's comment? Good for him! Is Apple not allowed to make a single comment at all about the huge amount of negativity and false statements that certain media, analysts and others have been making about Apple for a long time? Apple has been quiet all that time. So what if they make a single comment in a keynote?


     


    I want to see more of that from Apple, not less. I want Apple to be aggressive. 

  • Reply 45 of 180
    jmc54jmc54 Posts: 207member


    Do I need one? Hell no! Do I want one? Hell yes!

  • Reply 46 of 180
    londorlondor Posts: 258member


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    What makes you so sure?



     


    Duh!



     


  • Reply 47 of 180
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by TogetherWeStand View Post


     


    It's not like it's meant to be a mobile computer like an iPad or MacBook, it's designed as a desktop / work station.



    I read that there are video/audio professionals that move regularly their Mac Pro's out for work. I don't know how common it is but there are definitely cases like that. Such people will love the new Mac Pro.


     


    Quote:


    Originally Posted by TogetherWeStand View Post


     


    As for looking like a bin, see previous posts, I think it looks more like those eggs in the Alien films myself.



    It looks like whatever has everyone in his head, oops, mind. image

  • Reply 48 of 180
    jlanddjlandd Posts: 873member


      I don't agree with the argument that it costs x to make so they'll sell it for y.   With Apple there's always been a strong "what the market will bear" strategy and who the prospective buyer is.  I don't think them saving costs from any angle is going to result in a machine that retails for something that anyone except someone with serious needs can rationalize, and Apple knows these people have been waiting and will buy it whether it's $2,750 or $4,750, and the other people won't buy it whether it's $2,750 or $4,750.

  • Reply 49 of 180
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jmc54 View Post


    Do I need one? Hell no! Do I want one? Hell yes!





    So buy one. I am also considering this possibility, to have it as a home machine serving non-stop all family members, with whatever everyone has to throw at it. But it depends on price also.

  • Reply 50 of 180
    cincyteecincytee Posts: 404member
    I still question why this machine needs six Thunderbolt ports. Since devices can be daisy-chained, one would think attaching a single rack or cabinet would much better match the Apple design aesthetic than a tangle of cables out the back.
  • Reply 51 of 180
    This new Mac Pro is just so Sci-Fi. Wonder if they will do it in another color too, silver / aluminum? Not that I will get 1, I'm only a consumer to light office user.

    Pro users in other posts have commented about it not being expandable internally, but at 1/8th the size of the old tower designs does that matter in this day & age? It's not like it's meant to be a mobile computer like an iPad or MacBook, it's designed as a desktop / work station. I imagine this new Mac Pro can be expanded externally far & beyond the capabilities of the old Mac Pro. As for future internal upgradability, graphics etc, wait & see, it's still a work in progress & not out just yet.

    As for looking like a bin, see previous posts, I think it looks more like those eggs in the Alien films myself.

    How about this as an idea for a Sci-Fi look...

    Consider the the new Mac Pro sitting on, and contained in, a clear tube casing that extends up to become the single support for a clear glass table top...

    And, the table top, when turned on, is also a large multitouch retina display... Wish I had the artistic skills to create an image of this concept!


    Big-Assed [MS Surface] Table... Phil Schiller's ass!
  • Reply 52 of 180
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


     


    Unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure that I read that there won't be any dual CPU version.


     


    The 12 core is single CPU.



     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    AMD or Intel?



     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RedGeminiPA View Post


    Graphics are AMD. CPU is Intel, of course. 



     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    What makes you so sure? AMD has already released a 12 core Opteron, Intel has 8 cores right now AFAIK


     


    On second thought I suppose it has to be Intel to have Thunderbolt.



    It is very clear that the CPU (singular) is Intel, as the Apple website states that it is using a Xeon processor…

  • Reply 53 of 180

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    To me, this is the most interesting thing about this article. Some of us have been around long enough to remember the early days of personal computing where portions of apps were written in assembly and even simple apps required a great deal of machine-specific (and OS-specific) code. It's impressive to me that the market has developed to the point where code is not just portable - but portable in a form that it works WELL after a recompile to a different platform. This particular code is apparently quite efficient on OS X which suggests massive improvements not only in code portability but in compilers over the past couple of decades.




    And a counterpoint to this is EA's inability to get the new version of SimCity out on OS X on schedule

  • Reply 54 of 180
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    And a counterpoint to this is EA's inability to get the new version of SimCity out on OS X on schedule

    To be fair, they're dragging their feet because no one wants to play that buggy, worthless piece of crap anyway.
  • Reply 55 of 180
    woochiferwoochifer Posts: 385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    Come on boy grow up! Phil wasn't bragging in the least, he was directly dealing with the idiots that keep claiming that Apple is washed up and can't do anything new. Frankly it is about time these idiots where called on the carpet. This is nothing more than a measured response to the incredible negative snipping that has taken place relative to Apple.




    Funny thing about that "can't innovate anymore" crowd is that they draw their conclusions based on a seven month dearth of product announcements, and many of them also fall into the Apple "doesn't innovate, they just copy" crowd. Their constant droning about the superiority of competing platforms presumes that Apple is a sitting target and doesn't have anything new in the pipeline.  Do any of them check Apple's ever-escalating R&D budget, or even the company's product announcement history?


     


    Tech reviewers and bloggers in general are some of the most jaded and bored egomaniacs anywhere.  They hate the technology market because so much of it entails incremental improvements to existing products.  All they want is piles of new "features" with unpronounceable acronyms and exponential spec upticks.  If a company goes a quarter without new product announcements, then they're "doomed" and if a new product is an iterative improvement (or worse yet, a new product with a letter suffix rather than a new model number -- nee iPhone 4S) then that company is now incapable of innovation.  Yet, they will also proclaim any number of new technologies as "revolutionary" or "game changing" or "disruptive" even if those technologies or products lack even the most rudimentary use case for a majority of the market. 


     


    So many of them don't understand Apple because Apple doesn't play that game of constant churn.  And because the tech press is so blindered by features features features and specs specs specs, they forgot how people who buy technology products actually use them for many things other than benchmark testing.  With that mentality, they can't recognize true innovation (which does not happen all the time).  Remember how many tech bloggers slammed a truly game changing product like the iPhone because it didn't have a keyboard or 3G?  Or how the iPad was just a big iPod touch without a camera?  Yeah, that's the crowd that Schiller was talking to. 

  • Reply 56 of 180
    You have to experience pan/zoom in 3D Flyover with a map filling the entire 27" display -- nothing compares!

    I notice, though, that changing angle in Flyover isn't possible yet. I also notice that three-finger swipe up and down aren't taken by the system or the app itself yet, so I figure that's what it will be given.

    Hold down the Option key and drag up/down to change angle (if you are not over a 3D area, you get only a minor change in angle). Drag right to pivot around the cursor location. Option Double Click zooms out...

    You can also use the compass icon in the lower right corner as a joystick.


    The Mavericks Maps app appears more robust than the iOS version -- zoom way out to the globe and it shows darkness and lights form the earth (no cloud layer yet). When in 3D you can tilt and zoom so that you can see the mountains and horizon in the background. And you can display a scale legend!

    Have a 3D Flyover look at Jungfraujoch, Luna Park, Sidney, Rose Bowl, Griffith Observatory, Tivoli Gardens...
  • Reply 57 of 180
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by allenbf View Post





    But assembled in the US. So that negates any savings in your examples.



    Amazing machine from the look/sound of it. I have no need for it but it makes me drool.




    Any reason for that? I don't think they would have moved it to the US if it didn't make sense. It may make far more sense for a smaller product line. This kind of thing has been covered many times. I don't think they're doing it solely for PR reasons, although they could factor in.

  • Reply 58 of 180
    Duplicate
  • Reply 59 of 180

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


     


    Unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure that I read that there won't be any dual CPU version.


     


    The 12 core is single CPU.



     


    I think Apple is very correct to offer this in a single CPU configuration. If I remember my history, most Mac Pro users have been clamoring for better and faster GPU options rather than more CPUs. I will speculate that the majority of Mac Pro sales have been of the single CPU variety, and with the monster power of these dual GPUs (7 teraflops of compute power?) they can surely be utilized to assist the CPU when needed.


     


    Apple's pro market is primarily animators, photographers, artists and designers. Their pro market is not data centers that need to rack mount, they are not broadcast networks that need tons of CPU or GPU cores for transcoding video on the fly. The customer who is going to buy this machine doesn't need a ton of expansion options, but does need a lot of storage and video options - which this Mac Pro has in droves.


     


    Apple has hit a home run with the new Mac Pro, judging by the number of non-creative "pros" who are crying about the new design. As a photographer I've wanted a powerful Mac that would let me edit my photos at the highest resolution and with the smoothest experience. I don't need PCI slots or dual CPUs. 

  • Reply 60 of 180
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member

    And a counterpoint to this is EA's inability to get the new version of SimCity out on OS X on schedule

    You can lead a horse to water - you can't make him drink.

    Intuit is another example. The tools are clearly available (which was my point). There are still plenty of idiots in software companies who refuse to use the available tools.
    mr o wrote: »
    <span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">"Can't innovate anymore my ass. Like a boss! </span>
    <img alt="1smoking.gif" id="user_yui_3_10_0_1_1371217226984_1242" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies/1smoking.gif" style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:1.231;" name="user_yui_3_10_0_1_1371217226984_1242">
    "

    I wish he wouldn't have said that. He is not far off from Balmer. Really the bragging is a bit juvenile, very PC like and unlike the poetry of the mac. I did not at all enjoy the product presentations despite the products being jaw droppingly beautiful. Phil just blew it. Shame. Ive really need to stand up and present the products himself. We need someone with genuine passion.

    Nonsense. Apple spends billions of dollars developing industry-leading products. That comment does not replace innovation, but rather highlights the importance of innovation. In Ballmer's case, he seems to think that the words replace the need for actually doing something.

    It was a nice comment and about time. There are far too many know-nothing idiots running around claiming that Apple can't innovate any more and that simple slap was all they deserved.
Sign In or Register to comment.