Mac Pro teardown finds easy disassembly, great potential for repairs & upgrades

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 81
    inkling wrote: »
    Ah, but I'm not advocating that Apple add more stuff to a MBA. I'm simply pointing out that stuff could be more intelligently placed and attached. And I agree that Apple's has put a lot of effort into products like the MBA. They are beautifully designed. I'm merely suggesting that they add a new item to their overall checklist: improving the upgradability and repairability. Getting a 2 or a 3 on that from iFixit ought to be as unacceptable as having a 2 or 3 hour battery life.

    In fact, about three years ago I was suggesting (perhaps a bit too loudly) that, if Apple got their laptop battery life above about 10-12 hours, it'd essentially be a forever battery, since few people can work longer than that without enough sleep to recharge the battery. Then, there were critics who equated a long battery life with thick and clunky. Now they equate repairability with thick and clunky. 

    Not so, I say.

    --Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien

    I think we're going to disagree on everything today. :D I think a 10-12 hour battery is only the beginning of a decent — not great — battery life. Now compared to the competition the MBA has phenomenal battery life but I won't be satisfied with power efficiency and battery density until it can last a week with regular use.
  • Reply 22 of 81
    I want them to take apart the red one...
  • Reply 23 of 81
    Is that a circular board that I see?

    This Mac Pro looks so futuristic.

    The Google Nexus Q looks even more futuristic in that regard.

    1000
  • Reply 24 of 81
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by marubeni View Post

     

     

    iFixit is quoting MacRumors on this, who, in turn, is hedging its bets ("if not blocked by firmware")


    In that case, I wish for a resourceful someone to tests it out. Appleinsider maybe? ;)

  • Reply 25 of 81

    I'm so jealous of people for whom this is an appropriate computer. It is just totally wrong for my needs (I need lots of CPU power, not lots of GPU power), but man is it a beautiful and elegant design! 

     

    I know this will probably never happen, but if I'd love it if they sold a computer with a similar design, but with, say, 64 cyclone cores each running at 2 GHz, 64 GB of RAM, and a midrange GPU. 

  • Reply 26 of 81
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    The Google Nexus Q looks even more futuristic in that regard.




    Those components, are so 80's 

  • Reply 27 of 81
    vaporland wrote: »
    I want them to take apart the red one...

    I still want to know the specs of the RED model. Whoever bought it paid a lot but if it's a 4-core with the slower GPUs, smallest SSD and least amount or RAM it's a $10K(?) difference than the 12-core with the fastest GPUs, 1TB SSD and 64GB RAM. I'd expect to be the latter but no where did I see it mentioned so I wonder why wouldn't that be noted as I'd think it would help with the sale if its pre-auction value is much higher than what one might assume.
  • Reply 28 of 81
    appexappex Posts: 687member
    Apple should bring these to match the Mac Pro:

    - Thunderbolt 2 matte display (24-inch) 4K and 3D with USB 3 and SD card reader.
    - Wired extended keyboard with USB 3 hub built-in.
  • Reply 29 of 81
    appex wrote: »
    Apple should bring these to match the Mac Pro:

    - Thunderbolt 2 matte display (24-inch) 4K and 3D with USB 3 and SD card reader.
    - Wired extended keyboard with USB 3 hub built-in.

    I guess 4K 3D is possible for playback since we're talking about app roc. 30fps x2, right? How are Hollywood 3D movies made? Would a Mac Pro even be used.
  • Reply 30 of 81
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post

    I think we're going to disagree on everything today. image I think a 10-12 hour battery is only the beginning of a decent — not great — battery life. Now compared to the competition the MBA has phenomenal battery life but I won't be satisfied with power efficiency and battery density until it can last a week with regular use.

    I am sure battery life will continue to improve but to me the hoy grail would seem to be reduction of charge time. If a battery, any battery, could be charged in a matter of seconds it would have major impact on everything from smart phones to plug-in cars. 

     

    Links to articles from 2011:

    http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2011/11/batteries-energy-kung.html

    http://www.techhive.com/article/243399/new_tech_can_reduce_battery_charging_time_to_mere_seconds.html

  • Reply 31 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    inkling wrote: »
    An iFixtt score of 8. That is impressive. It confirms my hunch that Apple has designers smart enough to design modular, easy to repair or upgrade hardware. All they need is an incentive. If they'd do the same for the MacBook Air, I might finally upgrade--and so would many others.
    This statement wouldn't have been that bad until you mentioned the MBA. The MBA is exactly what you get when you engineer a compact high performance computer.
    It wouldn't be that hard to create a MBA whose back is held on by Torx screws.
    Possibly but why the obsession with screws. I remember the days when people cried like little babies over Torx screws.
    Remove them and everything likely to need repair or upgrading would be visible. Even the battery could be held in place by Velcro rather than glue. I hate glue.
    Glue adds significant mechanical advantages.
  • Reply 32 of 81
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Stef View Post



    After a month of tech bloggers whining, whining, whining about how closed the Pro will be, it isn't. Surprise. Cue Leo Laporte.

     

    Laporte has become a regular iHating troll on his MacBreak Weekly podcast. He is constantly making snide comments and taking backhanded swipes at Apple products. Rene Ritchie and Alex Lindsay regularly have to bitch slap him down.

  • Reply 33 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    The Mac Pro can be made larger and heavier with this sort of design without affecting usability. I don't think it's possible with a notebook, especially not the MBA. On top of the customers are very different, which isn't to say that Mac Pro buyers don't use notebooks but that the reasons one would buy a Mac Pro is not the same as one would buy a notebook. I really doubt you're going to see Mac notebooks become module designs that will get anywhere near an 8/10 repair rating.
    Totally agree here! Comparing a MBA to a Mac Pro repair wise is asinine. Beyond that Apples laptop machines have come a very very long ways repair ability wise since my early 2008 MBP. In fact I'd say they are vastly improved repairability wise.
  • Reply 34 of 81
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Looking at the two GPU logic boards I wonder if they are interchangeable. The connectors at least look the same. If they are, I wonder if one could use two of the same ones and have dual SSDs. I (peronsally) doubt this is the case but looking only at the connectors it doesn't look like Apple made a clear distinction in the HW connectors.

    I can see no reason why two of the Taiwan-made GPUs couldn't be used, both with SSDs can you? Meanwhile, after finally wresting my Mac Pro from the evil clutches of UPS who seemed determined I'd never get it, it is gorgeous!

    BTW: I can now explain to all those that asked ... 'how on earth you can rotate its case with wires in, to light up the rear panel?' It seems to have a motion detector . The slightest movement of the Mac Pro lights it up. You can't put your fingers in the fan. It is silent, it is tiny, it is totally portable, expansion is a breeze, it hardly gets warm and it is wickedly fast. The overwhelming emotion it engenders is love. :D
  • Reply 35 of 81
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    I still want to know the specs of the RED model. Whoever bought it paid a lot but if it's a 4-core with the slower GPUs, smallest SSD and least amount or RAM it's a $10K(?) difference than the 12-core with the fastest GPUs, 1TB SSD and 64GB RAM. I'd expect to be the latter but no where did I see it mentioned so I wonder why wouldn't that be noted as I'd think it would help with the sale if its pre-auction value is much higher than what one might assume.

    At that price I'd think Apple would agree to annually take off the red case and put it one whatever the latest version at the top of the line is at that time, be it 12 Core, 24 Core ... for the next decade at least!
  • Reply 36 of 81
    Quote:
    "Non-proprietary Torx screws"

    Since when are Torx screws proprietary. I've had a full set of Torx screw drivers and 3/8" sockets since the mid 70's. Enough already with this proprietary crap.
  • Reply 37 of 81
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member

    is it just me, or does the end of the Fan Unit (correction: Heat Sink) look remarkably similar to Darth Vader's triangular breathing mask?

    Just saying :P

  • Reply 38 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Maybe that's their goal here. It's finally only hit the market and Apple is notorious for starting small with manageable chunks an then building into more options and features after they have a solid foundation. I don't think it's unreasonable to think they could expand their card options in 2014.

    I'm not convinced one way or the other here. I'm pretty convinced that if Apple where to offer up a machine with a desktop GPU it would be in a different form factor. As for options, from Apples standpoint they already offer three options, why would they want to offer more custom cards for this machine.

    Even then I see little long term advantage to Apple offering a machine with a discrete GPU beyond the high performance Mac Pro. If you look at what AMD and Intel have coming APU wise next year, I suspect we will see a rapid death of the discrete midrange GPU card. The only thing holding both companies back is fast enough RAM. I've been a long time advocate of AMD APUs in the likes of a Mini simply due to the far better GPU support than has been available form Intel in the past. This advocacy is due directly to the GPU being far more important to the under experience than many realize. Obviously Intel has almost caught up to AMD with its integrated GPU, but we have yet to see a Haswell based Mini.

    In any event I ramble. The reality is there is little compelling reason for Apple to offer other GPU cards in the Mac Pro. I could see them offering both cards with SSD support but then again I wonder if they ran out of PCI Express lanes. In other words where is the advantage for Apple.
  • Reply 39 of 81
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post

     

    You might want to read Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. Among John Boyd's many accomplishments was slipping the nimble F-15 and F-16 fighters through a Pentagon bureaucracy that believed that to be powerful and long-ranged, a fighter plane had to be large and expensive.


     

    The F-15 is not a small aircraft, not even in comparison to the alternative designs which would have ended up looking much like the F-14.  It's not much smaller or lighter than the F-4 it replaced.  The fact is even accounting for the energy-manuerverability theory a powerful, long ranged fighter like the F-15 is always larger and far expensive in comparison to a light weight fighter like the F-16.

     

    Apple had a fighter like the F-15 in the old Mac Pro.  Now it has a very svelte light weight fighter like the F-16.  It may punch above it's weight class within it's domain but it lacks capabilities that other bigger workstations have.  

     

    /shrug  

     

    It's a nice machine well suited for many activities and reasonably priced for what it is.  There are many markets that Apple doesn't address.  Big expandable workstations are now among them.

  • Reply 40 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    I will be wanting to hear more about this machine - keep us posted.
    I can see no reason why two of the Taiwan-made GPUs couldn't be used, both with SSDs can you? Meanwhile, after finally wresting my Mac Pro from the evil clutches of UPS who seemed determined I'd never get it, it is gorgeous!
    This is a very good and interesting question. The first thing to clear up is the numbers of PCI lanes available in the second slot. Then we would need to know if there is a master slave relationship here. If nothing else it would be nice to know that the option is available in the future.
    BTW: I can now explain to all those that asked ... 'how on earth you can rotate its case with wires in, to light up the rear panel?' It seems to have a motion detector . The slightest movement of the Mac Pro lights it up. You can't put your fingers in the fan. It is silent, it is tiny, it is totally portable, expansion is a breeze, it hardly gets warm and it is wickedly fast. The overwhelming emotion it engenders is love. :D

    You are breaking my heart here.
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