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.
I thought it was called the Affordable Care Act. Not sure why Obama's name is attached to it considering what was passed was actually the Republican plan. Obama ran on everybody getting the same insurance that Congress has and a public option. Republicans wanted all their rich insurance buddies to make more money, so they objected to Obama's plan, and pushed what we have. Nearly every aspect of the plan was supported by Republicans in previous years.
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 with the money I save by [not buying] ObamaChaos!
Yeah, me personally. And I have excellent Coverage with Kaiser Permanente (about 2 miles away) from home. But my daughter was told by her tax man that she'd need to pay for OC or a $7,000 penalty (single Mom with3 Teenagers).
BTW, do you plan to buy any Mac Pros for personal or company use?
Ok guys, as you all know, this is not a political forum. If you insist making it one, don't! You know where to take if if you really want to debate it.
i wonder... if you use boot camp on the new mac pro, can you use crossfire under windows for gaming?... yes, cost wise, it is a poor computer for gaming in windows, but can you...?
but it is an awesome computer, and people get work done on Apple computer, thus it really does not matter if it can "crossfire" under windows while gaming...
It might be possible, but no mention was made of it being possible. We all expect RAM to be upgradable, but in Apple's latest computers, the drive is extremely difficult to upgrade. I would hope it's possible.
Hmm, isn't it the other way round? I have a retina Macbook Pro and have changed the SSD for one of the OWC ones, which is a real screamer even compared to the standard one and you get a USB 3.0 case for the old Flash disc, which is also insanely fast. It was easier to get to then any other Mac before (except the first Aluminium Macbook maybe), and over the years I have changed the hard drive and other things in almost every Mac since around 2000. Its 8 screws and you're there.
Yet I cant upgrade RAM as it is soldered in, so I went for the max from the start. So at the moment it seems easier to change the disc than the RAM.
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!
Wow what a great video, thank you so much. I'm going to buy one.
Thunderbolt 2 is a pretty good replacement for PCI Express slots (the current Mac Pro has 4 PCI-E x16 slots). For this purpose, the new Mac Pro is an impressive computer.
I disagree. First, realize that Thunderbolt 2 has the same bandwidth as Thunderbolt, it just allows aggregation of the bandwidth into a single channel, equivalent to a x4 slot. The power is limited to 9.9 watts, so, for example, you need a power brick for a fiber channel adapter (like the Promise SANLink). Add a case, power brick and Thunderbolt cable, and the price goes up by $100 minimum for any expansion.
This is testing my Apple love. I can't see it as anything other than a waste paper bin designed for an office on the Death Star.
Sorry.
I'm sure that as form follows function this is excellent design, but I don't want a round shiny black thing on my desk or next to it.
I am willing to bet that the receptionists at many fashion houses, architects, law firms (and the like) will have this conspicuously displayed on an empty desktop except for an iPad to handle appointments, calendars, schedules...
It is way overpowered for those needs -- but it makes a compelling statement of style and taste!
Well, but that's the point. He first put up the slide about RAM being "User accessible" (which we know for a fact is user-replaceable) and then used the same terminology to refer to the flash storage. There's no other sensible conclusion. You can even see the simple screw that holds the storage in the socket, which is easily removed.
It might be possible, but no mention was made of it being possible. We all expect RAM to be upgradable, but in Apple's latest computers, the drive is extremely difficult to upgrade. I would hope it's possible.
Okay, I feel like you're being intentionally stubborn.
According to Macworld (I realize they're not Apple),
"How upgradeable is the new Mac Pro?
The new Mac Pro’s RAM is situated in four memory slots and can be upgraded easily—you just slide off the computer’s cylindrical, metal sleeve, pop out the old memory, and insert new DIMMs. The computer’s flash storage is also upgradeable, as it sits on a small card that connects to a socket on the motherboard (or in this case, it appears, a socket on one of the GPU boards). This means you can pop out that card and replace it with a new one." - Mac Pro hands on
And Apple reiterates the ease of replacement on their own Mac Pro page. Just scroll down to Memory and watch the animation as you move to Graphics. In the specs page they list both the RAM and flash storage as "user accessible" and I believe they are making it as simple and easy as possible.
Slick design and engineering don't make up for the fact that this machine is lacking in expansion and choice. Most workstation class machines offer more internal storage expansion, multiple graphics options, dual Xeon CPU's, and more memory. Also, conspicuously absent from Apple's latest announcements was a 4K display (several vendors have announced these). Again, I think this is a cool machine just with limited appeal...
I think people are failing to realize that Apple has revolutionized the pro computer.
The future is that the "desktop PC" is the brain, and you stick on attachments from the outside, with no loss of performance, as needed.
Why did you need that huge internal volume with all those slots? Because you needed a fast internal-bus to stick cards into. Connecting from the outside was too slow.
If there's no loss of performance to hang a drive or accessory on the outside, then you only buy what you need.
The machine is CHEAPER since you only buy the brain now, and whatever body-parts you need later. No performance loss.
People will get used to it and before they know it the old way will seem quaint.
I just received word from Apple on this "user replaceable" issue. If the SSD dies or you want to get a different size you, the user, simply orders a new Mac Pro to replace the one you currently have.
And why does the high end configuration on the Apple Store only have 256GB of Flash? Even the high end Macbook Pro configuration has 512GB. Surely the default configs should be designed to avoid as many people having to do CTO as possible.
Because for professional use the drive is only to hold the OS and apps, with very little data stored locally. Users will either be pulling files from a server or from external drives/drive arrays. We have half-a-dozen old style Mac Pros, all of which have been upgraded with 256GB SSDs. That capacity has proven to be the sweet spot. We could just about run with 128GB, but that tends to be tight; 512GB, which I have in my MBP, isn't necessary for fixed workstations.
Comments
I'm not so sure about that. I do hope it's replaceable though.
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.
Why? It’s literally RIGHT on the slide. There’s an image of the PCIe SSD right there, not the RAM at all, and it says “user accessible”.
Ok guys, as you all know, this is not a political forum. If you insist making it one, don't! You know where to take if if you really want to debate it.
but it is an awesome computer, and people get work done on Apple computer, thus it really does not matter if it can "crossfire" under windows while gaming...
It might be possible, but no mention was made of it being possible. We all expect RAM to be upgradable, but in Apple's latest computers, the drive is extremely difficult to upgrade. I would hope it's possible.
Hmm, isn't it the other way round? I have a retina Macbook Pro and have changed the SSD for one of the OWC ones, which is a real screamer even compared to the standard one and you get a USB 3.0 case for the old Flash disc, which is also insanely fast. It was easier to get to then any other Mac before (except the first Aluminium Macbook maybe), and over the years I have changed the hard drive and other things in almost every Mac since around 2000. Its 8 screws and you're there.
Yet I cant upgrade RAM as it is soldered in, so I went for the max from the start. So at the moment it seems easier to change the disc than the RAM.
Wow what a great video, thank you so much. I'm going to buy one.
Thunderbolt 2 is a pretty good replacement for PCI Express slots (the current Mac Pro has 4 PCI-E x16 slots). For this purpose, the new Mac Pro is an impressive computer.
I disagree. First, realize that Thunderbolt 2 has the same bandwidth as Thunderbolt, it just allows aggregation of the bandwidth into a single channel, equivalent to a x4 slot. The power is limited to 9.9 watts, so, for example, you need a power brick for a fiber channel adapter (like the Promise SANLink). Add a case, power brick and Thunderbolt cable, and the price goes up by $100 minimum for any expansion.
I am willing to bet that the receptionists at many fashion houses, architects, law firms (and the like) will have this conspicuously displayed on an empty desktop except for an iPad to handle appointments, calendars, schedules...
It is way overpowered for those needs -- but it makes a compelling statement of style and taste!
Well, but that's the point. He first put up the slide about RAM being "User accessible" (which we know for a fact is user-replaceable) and then used the same terminology to refer to the flash storage. There's no other sensible conclusion. You can even see the simple screw that holds the storage in the socket, which is easily removed.
It might be possible, but no mention was made of it being possible. We all expect RAM to be upgradable, but in Apple's latest computers, the drive is extremely difficult to upgrade. I would hope it's possible.
Okay, I feel like you're being intentionally stubborn.
According to Macworld (I realize they're not Apple),
"How upgradeable is the new Mac Pro?
The new Mac Pro’s RAM is situated in four memory slots and can be upgraded easily—you just slide off the computer’s cylindrical, metal sleeve, pop out the old memory, and insert new DIMMs. The computer’s flash storage is also upgradeable, as it sits on a small card that connects to a socket on the motherboard (or in this case, it appears, a socket on one of the GPU boards). This means you can pop out that card and replace it with a new one." - Mac Pro hands on
And Apple reiterates the ease of replacement on their own Mac Pro page. Just scroll down to Memory and watch the animation as you move to Graphics. In the specs page they list both the RAM and flash storage as "user accessible" and I believe they are making it as simple and easy as possible.
Slick design and engineering don't make up for the fact that this machine is lacking in expansion and choice. Most workstation class machines offer more internal storage expansion, multiple graphics options, dual Xeon CPU's, and more memory. Also, conspicuously absent from Apple's latest announcements was a 4K display (several vendors have announced these). Again, I think this is a cool machine just with limited appeal...
I think people are failing to realize that Apple has revolutionized the pro computer.
The future is that the "desktop PC" is the brain, and you stick on attachments from the outside, with no loss of performance, as needed.
Why did you need that huge internal volume with all those slots? Because you needed a fast internal-bus to stick cards into. Connecting from the outside was too slow.
If there's no loss of performance to hang a drive or accessory on the outside, then you only buy what you need.
The machine is CHEAPER since you only buy the brain now, and whatever body-parts you need later. No performance loss.
People will get used to it and before they know it the old way will seem quaint.
Simple. Visionary. So-Forward-Looking-that-people-don't-even-recognize-what-it-is.
Apple.
3.5" floppy drive not included. Stand by for Surface 3 with a Parrallel Port.
I'm not so sure about that. I do hope it's replaceable though.
It's "replacable" in that it comes out, but it's not exactly an off-the-shelf part. Not sure if it's the same chip that OWC sells for the MBA.
I'm not so sure about that. I do hope it's replaceable though.
It's "replacable" in that it comes out, but it's not exactly an off-the-shelf part. Not sure if it's the same chip that OWC sells for the MBA.
I'm sure OWC will have a part for it in no time.
But I have no need for a second one, and I'm not willing to pay for it.
As the cards are now entirely custom, it's unlikely there will be any availability of replacements, so we're stuck with what Apple gives us.
Every aspect of the new machine targets the needs of creative Mac professionals.
That is a factually incorrect statement.
-kpluck
And why does the high end configuration on the Apple Store only have 256GB of Flash? Even the high end Macbook Pro configuration has 512GB. Surely the default configs should be designed to avoid as many people having to do CTO as possible.
Because for professional use the drive is only to hold the OS and apps, with very little data stored locally. Users will either be pulling files from a server or from external drives/drive arrays. We have half-a-dozen old style Mac Pros, all of which have been upgraded with 256GB SSDs. That capacity has proven to be the sweet spot. We could just about run with 128GB, but that tends to be tight; 512GB, which I have in my MBP, isn't necessary for fixed workstations.
If they allow customization with a single GPU I might consider buying one.
Not possible. The 7 display outputs (6 Thunderbolt + HDMI) requires two GPUs.