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Sitti

macrumors member
Apr 21, 2010
61
22
Base model is $4400 and comes with a quad core cpu, 16gb ram, 7200 rpm hdd, and a single 3gb quadro card… and people are complaining about the lower end mac pro's?

I know I know.. the HP is upgradable. And I see you can get a dual 12c for $10k, with 16gb ram, 240gb ssd and no video card. I understand the upgradability part, but the price… how is that better?

Edit: Sorry I see the base model is $2400, with 4gb ram ….

Price is not an issue. I spent over $15,000 on my z820. And instead of ordering online, if you call and order through sales representative you can ask for discount. They have me about 17% discount on total price.

New mac pro just isn't for me. Gpu is removable but uses proprietary connectors, which is a deal breaker for me. I swap Gpu too often. Now I don't have any work to do during holidays, I removed quadros and installed 2x gtx690 and turned my z into gaming machine. Also, I don't like not having internal space for additional drives....maybe I can live with it BUT proprietary GPU is big no.

I'm also happy with HP support. There was one time my z820 failed. They sent tech to my place next day and replaced motherboard on site.
 

yabot

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2013
177
3
Anyone know how it will be as a gaming machine? Might get it just for League of Legends and World of Warcraft. I only play at 200+ fps.
 

iLLucionist

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2008
101
30
The Netherlands
Expandability

Everybody keeps talking about "oh it's not expandable." And "I've invested so and so much on cards that will no longer fit."

Well, the upside is that if you buy a NEW mac pro after this one, say 2nd gen/3rd gen nMP, this problem is solved: just plug extern devices back into TB and you're ready to go.

Yes, pity for the cards you bought. But for the future it makes it a lot easier.

Or am I missing something?
 

Macist

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2009
783
458
Over the years I've worked at many sites where G5s/MacPros just sat there with nothing but the single stock hard drive. Perhaps some extra RAM would be thrown in at some point if that. After a certain period of time all-new machines would be brought in - in recent years increasingly iMacs and MacBooks instead of towers.

PC expandability's over rated. If you want a major CPU upgrade chances are you'll need a new MB, different RAM speed, etc. Tinkerers like scouring eBay for used parts to make and improve quick but frugal machines a couple of years behind bleeding edge. Most professionals do not do this.

The MacPro is a niche product for people that want ultimate speed in a product running Mac OS X officially. While they've made it look sexy to bag sales from trust funders and rich baby boomers, it's primarily a pro machine and more likely to be bought by businesses than freelances making a basic living.

I'd love one for the kicks but a decent MacBook Pro as a main machine does everything i need for print and digital design and photography. There's nothing about it that says, 'Aha! That would get me more business or higher-paying clients!'
 

iLLucionist

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2008
101
30
The Netherlands
Over the years I've worked at many sites where G5s/MacPros just sat there with nothing but the single stock hard drive. Perhaps some extra RAM would be thrown in at some point if that. After a certain period of time all-new machines would be brought in - in recent years increasingly iMacs and MacBooks instead of towers.

PC expandability's over rated. If you want a major CPU upgrade chances are you'll need a new MB, different RAM speed, etc. Tinkerers like scouring eBay for used parts to make and improve quick but frugal machines a couple of years behind bleeding edge. Most professionals do not do this.

The MacPro is a niche product for people that want ultimate speed in a product running Mac OS X officially. While they've made it look sexy to bag sales from trust funders and rich baby boomers, it's primarily a pro machine and more likely to be bought by businesses than freelances making a basic living.

I'd love one for the kicks but a decent MacBook Pro as a main machine does everything i need for print and digital design and photography. There's nothing about it that says, 'Aha! That would get me more business or higher-paying clients!'

My thought exactly.
 

MOFS

macrumors 65816
Feb 27, 2003
1,241
235
Durham, UK
Fantastic performance - I wonder if benchmarks will actually underestimate the real time speed of the Mac Pro due to the speed improvements made throughout the system with solid state drives, PCIe memory etc downplayed in the traditional tests. Interesting to see that there are some pretty impressive looking docks out that would suit many expansion needs like this one I found from Magma on a quick Google search.

EDIT: Just saw Paul Turpin beat me to the punch. Dang.
 

MacDav

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2004
1,031
0
"Upgradeable" assumes the parts to upgrade it will be available. The old Mac Pro technically had an upgradeable CPU board, but Apple never offered any upgrades for them!

Yeah the GPU boards and SSD board are removable but so is the GPU of an iMac. Would you call the GPU of an iMac "upgradeable"? No, because you can't get the parts!

This thing is designed so you have to buy a new one to upgrade it! That's the WHOLE POINT.

"The old Mac Pro technically had an upgradeable CPU board, but Apple never offered any upgrades for them! "

Why would Apple offer upgrades for the CPU when they are made by Intel? All the MacPro's since at least 2008 have had upgradable CPU's.
Also, pretty sure the graphics on iMacs are built in to the main board and don't have a separate GPU. Before you go on an anti Apple rant at least know what you're talking about. ;)
 

kushari

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2009
31
0
Impressive. It really is a neato machine, but unfortunately the lack of expandability in the long tern ruins it for me.


But I wouldn't say no if someone were to buy it me. I could use it as an ashtray too.

That's why it has Thunderbolt 2.0. In the future you'll just be able to expand using external thunderbolt products as it's just like an external PCI E bus.
 

simonmet

Cancelled
Sep 9, 2012
2,666
3,663
Sydney
I'd love to know what the PSU is rated as and how many Watts this thing would pull when maxing out CPU AND GPUs!

Any ideas?
 

Spinland

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2011
320
1
Utica, NY, USA
Professionals working as freelancers from home do NOT want to spend time tinkering with their computer - they want to buy one and work!

...

So your suggestion is aimed only for enthusiasts which have time or desire to "play" with their hardware and see what it can do. Neither of those are customers for the nMP as the customers that are the target won't be doing any of that as they will be busy making money with the machine.

I can only speak for myself, but this fits my case. I consider every minute I spend doing IT chores to be wasted, unproductive time. One of the primary reasons I switched to Macs was to get into an environment where to the greatest degree possible the tools "just work" out of the box and I can focus on doing productive (revenue generating) stuff.

I have no intentions of researching better and better components nor of opening up this machine and tweaking it. I expect the life of the rig to consist of the time it can, as is, remain effective and productive for me. When it no longer fits that bill, I will look to replace it, as in the case of my seeking to replace my existing workstation with the nMP.
 

Ezlivin

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2010
42
1
People keep acting like being able to edit 4K video is impressive. Sorry to break it to you, but my 4-year old Windows PC which only cost $2000 to build easily handles 6 layers of 5K RED RAW (native, not transcoded) with 3D motion, color correction, and effects simultaneously in Premiere Pro without breaking a sweat.

Great! Now let's see your video of this on YouTube.
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
You are so misinformed that its actually painful!
If you make money with your computer by writing books, magazines etc. then a computer you bought 3 years ago will be as fast now as it was then. Writing text never gets intensive so why do you need to put newer hardware to "expand the life of your machine"? For you even mac mini is overkill so why are you here bashing mac pro when you clearly have no need or even understanding for it?

Ugh. I never said I needed power. I just like customization and the ability to tinker. Y'all need to get over it already. My opinion doesn't make the Mac Pro any less of a machine to them who use them. I actually LIKE the Mac Pro but just can't justify spending the money on one with its limitations taken into consideration. I'm unsure how that makes me misinformed one bit.

I also do occasional studio work with audio and video and I also love to game on my PCs. What defines a 'pro' in this day an age is irreverent since a 'pro' is dependent on what they actually do. A 'pro' could do work on an iPad if it suited them and worked fine.
 

Freida

Suspended
Oct 22, 2010
4,077
5,868
I can only speak for myself, but this fits my case. I consider every minute I spend doing IT chores to be wasted, unproductive time. One of the primary reasons I switched to Macs was to get into an environment where to the greatest degree possible the tools "just work" out of the box and I can focus on doing productive (revenue generating) stuff.

I have no intentions of researching better and better components nor of opening up this machine and tweaking it. I expect the life of the rig to consist of the time it can, as is, remain effective and productive for me. When it no longer fits that bill, I will look to replace it, as in the case of my seeking to replace my existing workstation with the nMP.

And that is exactly what most people bashing this or that don't get. Most professionals want to buy the machine that is great for the job and then don't want nor they will spend any time "playing" with this or that. Those people don't have time for that and most of them are on a deadline. They might upgrade ram or maybe even the ssd but thats about it. I don't know anyone out of movie, music field that would even want to do such a thing. So yeah, perhaps the nMP has some limitation for some but for others its perfect.

I do a lot of rendering so I would rather have 2x CPU as the benefit would give me almost 2x performance but now I just have to hope that Maya, Vray etc. will take advantage of this new beast.

SO yeah, I agree with your point above too. Shame the others that "whine" don't! And I bet you that it is those that don't even buy one regardless what it has or had. :)
 

Spinland

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2011
320
1
Utica, NY, USA
And that is exactly what most people bashing this or that don't get.

I try to stay out of the more emotionally-charged responses here because if someone is that worked up then I expect they aren't in a position to listen to something that disagrees with them, even if couched reasonably.

The main thing I feel some people "don't get" is that their individual wants or needs are not eligible to be generalized over the population at large. It's okay to feel this product or that doesn't suit your specific needs or desires, but to take the leap from there to declaring the product is a bad one is, IMNSDHO, just poor judgement.

Apple is not perfect, but nor is it run by idiots. The people who designed the nMP likely spent insane levels of effort narrowing down what their target market was going to be and then how best to serve it. This is what they came up with and, unless you were so highly qualified that they invited you to be a part of the process, I doubt you are really in a position to judge--except in the very narrow case of how it applies to you, personally.

I feel fortunate in that my particular use case is going to match almost exactly what it appears Apple had in mind when they made this thing. That means, for my very narrow point of view, this thing is great. Is it great for you? Maybe not, but don't in turn presume to declare it stinks for me. I'll try to do my part by not being too smug. :cool:
 

mk_in_mke

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2003
198
21
Milwaukee, WI
Cos its the truth*. I wanna replace my hardware. Its a shame you can no longer do this in Apple hardware. But the Mac Pro is a really lovely machine none the less.


*In my humble option.

Then stop peeing on our parade and go get yourself a PC. If you do not know which one to buy, do not worry, plenty of I-pee-on-your-parade people like you claimed they were able to build an equivalent machine, err … sorry, better machine, with parts thy bought at radio Shack or NewEgg…

So, do us a favor, stop whining…

When you bought your car, did you go to the manufacturer and complained about the upgradability of the vehicle?
 

mk_in_mke

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2003
198
21
Milwaukee, WI
Keep playing with FCPX, but when you really need to edit something do it on a real editing software (Avid Media Composer anyone?)

Apple are trying to convince us that the Mac Pro is a Pro, although we all know it's just a Mac...

Enlighten us: what do the capabilities of this machine have to do with the software / application you would pick to edit movies?

Again, like many others on this forum, you demonstrate your inability to have a rational approach and your inability to focus on what is being discussed…

All these nay-sayers, you would give them the Sahara, and after 5 years they would have to buy sand from China!
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
Then stop peeing on our parade and go get yourself a PC. If you do not know which one to buy, do not worry, plenty of I-pee-on-your-parade people like you claimed they were able to build an equivalent machine, err … sorry, better machine, with parts thy bought at radio Shack or NewEgg…

So, do us a favor, stop whining…

When you bought your car, did you go to the manufacturer and complained about the upgradability of the vehicle?

Sorry. I must have mistaken this for an Apple Forum. Where I post my opinions on articles of Apple news and discuss it with the rest of the user base. But after my comments (comments that aren't even negative and are just expressing my opinion) have been shot down time after time by everybody, I can clearly see this must be an Apple forum where you're only allowed to post praise.

Oh wait, IT ISN'T! Get off my back. The majority of users are clearly enthusiastic about Apple products here and that is great as so am I. But most of you need to learn that there is such thing as an opinion, which is something that differs from person to person. Just because I don't want to buy a new gen Mac Pro (something that I was seriously considering before its unveiling and price details), doesn't mean I'm whining or bashing Apple. Its just my opinion. Never before have I had to deal with such ******** because I made a comment that it isn't internally expandable.

So sorry to piss on your parade, but for as long as my opinions differ from yours it seems like I'm going to continue doing it. Get used to it. You're likely to meet other people in life who don't agree with you and most likely it'll be over something a little less trivial than a cylinder shaped computer with a ****ing Apple logo on it. Don't like my posts? Add me to your blacklist and you'll never have to see me piss on your parade ever again.
 

paulsdenton

macrumors 6502
Oct 9, 2010
474
38
Barton, Vermont USA
I could have probably made do with an iMac but I ordered a new Mac Pro anyway.

Why not have the best?

Mostly I use the computer for CS6 and it will probably help a little. Sure wish there was a new 4K monitor to go with it though!
 

mk_in_mke

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2003
198
21
Milwaukee, WI
Sorry. I must have mistaken this for an Apple Forum. Where I post my opinions on articles of Apple news and discuss it with the rest of the user base. But after my comments (comments that aren't even negative and are just expressing my opinion) have been shot down time after time by everybody, I can clearly see this must be an Apple forum where you're only allowed to post praise.

... ever again.

I shorten your quote because it was pure BS… I do have respect, a lot, for others' opinion… when they make sense, are built on facts and are worth debating. I totally forgot one of the golden rules of effective argumentation: when the person you are arguing with makes no sense, is irrational, leave the discussion…

And I will not put you on my black list… Life's too short and boring sometimes: i will read your future posting for amusement only… Since having a fact based discussion with you is not an option.
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
I totally forgot one of the golden rules of effective argumentation: when the person you are arguing with makes no sense, is irrational, leave the discussion…

And what is not to understand about the fact that it costs too much for me and I'd much prefer a machine with internal expansion? Apparently saying that is pissing on your parade and whining and I should 'do you a favour' and stop. Now you're telling me I'm the irrational one that isn't making sense because I defended my right to post my opinions on a public forum?

Well... whatever. You quoted me first.
 
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