Apple Announces New Mac Pros With Up to 12 Cores, SSD Options

[res1233]

Who the hell needs 12 cores even if you are doing video processing? Surely 6 is more then enough unless this machine is going to be a server for many users?

Well, it depends on how much you do at once really. If you are doing some huge operation that's going to take awhile, and you have some free cores, then you can feel free to go do something else to increase your productivity. It's pretty sweet.
And then there's BOINC. But who gets a mac to run BOINC on it...

 

[PeterQVenkman]

"That pick up truck is so overpriced! I mean, who needs that big empty space in the back!! I'd buy one in a nano-second if it was cheaper!!! What a waste!!!!!!! I could make my own truck for half the price, starting with a shopping cart!!!! REaLly!"

hey, look at that black pickup truck at the dealer across the street! It's got more room, more horsepower, all wheel drive works on every road (not just some special roads!), runs on regular gas (i'm looking at you ECC), and it costs way less! The engine is even made by the same manufacturer, in the same manufacturing plant!

it just doesn't have an apple symbol on the hood.

Who the hell needs 12 cores even if you are doing video processing? Surely 6 is more then enough unless this machine is going to be a server for many users? Well at least they've exceeded the HP Pavilion 390t which only has the i7 6-core option.

3d rendering, my friend. Maxwell render, C4d, Mental Ray, they will eat all those cores in a good way.

 

[xBerserker]

I like the "cheese grater" case actually. I do wish the handles maybe flip down on the top so you can actually put more stuff up on top.

 

[res1233]

I like the "cheese grater" case actually. I do wish the handles maybe flip down on the top so you can actually put more stuff up on top.

OMG! Has anyone actually tried to grate cheese with a mac pro? Imagine some guy picking up their pro and rubbing the front of the case on the cheese. What an image. Yes, you could just pick up the cheese and grate it that way... But that isn't as much fun

 

[opeter]

12 cores is that enough?

12 physical cores + 12 virtual cores (because of HT) = 24 cores

 

[xBerserker]

That's what my friend calls it so I do as well, lol.

 

[AP_piano295]

Erm? Your now expecting me to answer a Windows versus Mac question then? Seeing as the i7 tower has to running Windows.
The quad Xeon does a better job cause it's a Mac otherwise how can I answer a Windows versus Windows when my argument is the Mac Pro versus a Windows i7 machine?
And if you want a i7 tower Mac, they don't make it, simple as. What's your point?

Ever herd of a hackintosh, for the price of a low end powermac you can easily build a machine that will make a mid range powermac look like a sniveling b*tch.

Apples tower pricing is so far out of line its looney.

 

[nickarmadillo]

I wish Apple would just split up the Mac Pro lineup in two (one for hardcore pros/businesses and one for the rest):

Proposed Mac Pro Lineup:
As-is except add in Bluray, USB 3, SATA 3, and professional grade graphics (Quadro) at the same pricepoints

Proposed Mac Lineup:

Entry-Level - $1100
*i5 750/4gig/1tb/DVD-RW/ATI 5770

High-End - $1500
*i7 930/4gig/1tb/BluRay/ATI 5850 (with option for 5870 or NVIDIA cards)

Most users have no use for the server-grade processors in the current Mac Pro and would be equally served by FAR faster and FAR less expensive models with i5/i7s

Yes, you could build a equivalent PC for hundreds less than the above prices, but I feel that these price-points account for the added value of the included software, OSX, and build quality/materials

 

[mBox]

Making the switch to Windows 7 is going to be easy.

Haha just dont touch that box, reminds me of my PS3.
The smudge king
LOL!

 

[Umbongo]

I need ECC, and there are many products that I don't buy because.... I don't need the features they have. Unlike the vast majority of posters here, and I'm including you, I don't go around and pollute the forums for those products by saying things like....

"That pick up truck is so overpriced! I mean, who needs that big empty space in the back!! I'd buy one in a nano-second if it was cheaper!!! What a waste!!!!!!! I could make my own truck for half the price, starting with a shopping cart!!!! REaLly!"

Unlike me? You'll find I'm a big advocate of ECC memory if you search my posts and I certainly understand why Apple offer it, and why they should continue to do so. I'm of the opinion that Apple should not use consumer hardware in the Mac Pro and that the Core i7 processors offer no benefit at all to Apple or users.

I however do feel that the argument of "The Mac Pro is overpriced to me because a Core i7 PC with the same performance is half the price" is a valid one from a consumer stand point. That the consumer system doesn't have ECC memory and won't be certified doesn't make it an invalid argument if those things don't matter, more so when the performance between them is on par because they use the same technology. The comparisons get worse with the Mac Pros because they are limited in features compared to consumer systems, as well as workstations from other companies yet cost a lot more.

 

[gctwnl]

Disappointed

Just some (very expensive) CPU speed bumps. Price did not come down, specs for the same price did hardly go up.

What is sorely missing is an intermediary machine between Mac mini and Mac Pro. Something like top i5 iMac without the screen.

 

[mBox]

My MacBook Pro does everything I need it to. It just doesn't do it fast enough. All the skills in the world (beyond basic render optimizations which you should do anyway) won't make Mental Ray render faster on your laptop.

as you can tell most "real" experienced folks dont complain about the speed but just the display options. Ive given up on OS X to render Maya/MR/Renderman years ago. its just not fast enough compared to what Im used too.
Ive gone from SGI O2, Onyx (I and II), Intergraph, Dell and now Boxx as far as killer Maya render machines.
However Ive gone thru 3 dozen variants of Mac with everything else.
Add the costs of the 3D against the rest and I tell yaaa, the Mac still beats em out

 

[Anuba]

Does Apple change a classic case design that is lights ahead of the current deliverings out there?

They most certainly do. When the cheese grater G5 was first released, the iMac still looked like a lampshade. That was 3 generations ago (aluminum slate I, aluminum slate II, white slate). They've also tweaked the PowerBook/MBP several times since then. They recently redesigned the Mini. And before the cheese grater G5 they kept tweaking their flagship case design like crazy. Blue, graphite, white...

Let's face it, it's not a matter of the Mac Pro case design being "timeless". It's a matter of defending Apple no matter what they do. If they ignore Blu-ray, Blu-ray is worthless. If they include Blu-ray, it's suddenly awesome. If they redesign the Mac Pro case once every six months, it's utter brilliance. If they leave it untouched for 7 years, that's also utterly brilliant. But deep down you know it's lazy and uninspired and that the reason why the leave it like that isn't that it's "timeless" but that they don't give a rat's @ss about that form factor anymore. Its only reason for existence as far as Apple is concerned is reluctant legacy support.

 

[lilo777]

To sum it up

Mac Pro remains under-specced and overpriced compared to PC counterparts. The troubling part is that the spec gap is growing.

 

[nickarmadillo]

Just some (very expensive) CPU speed bumps. Price did not come down, specs for the same price did hardly go up.

What is sorely missing is an intermediary machine between Mac mini and Mac Pro. Something like top i5 iMac without the screen.

headless i5 iMac + better video card + SATA/USB 3 + priced at about $1100 = win

 

[PerfSeeker]

Just some (very expensive) CPU speed bumps. Price did not come down, specs for the same price did hardly go up.

What is sorely missing is an intermediary machine between Mac mini and Mac Pro. Something like top i5 iMac without the screen.

Oh I've mentioned that, but Apple will never give us a headless iMac.

 

[milo]

So where's the SD slot?

Why would an SD slot require a redesign of the entire case?

Erm? Your now expecting me to answer a Windows versus Mac question then? Seeing as the i7 tower has to running Windows.
The quad Xeon does a better job cause it's a Mac otherwise how can I answer a Windows versus Windows when my argument is the Mac Pro versus a Windows i7 machine?
And if you want a i7 tower Mac, they don't make it, simple as. What's your point?

Way to dodge the question.

I'm asking you, with two macs with the same specs except for i7 in one and xeon in the other, what is the benefit to the user for the xeon?

My point is that you keep insisting that xeon is Better and Worth Spending More for. I'm asking you to specifically explain what benefit the user actually sees from having quad xeon instead of quad i7. And based on your response, I suspect you have no answer to that question.

Yep, identical - except that one is ECC, and the other isn't.
Max memory bandwidth of 32 vs 25.6 GB/s
Physical Address Extensions of 40bit vs 36bit
And a few other things, like thermal monitoring, etc.

And how specifically do those benefit the user?

Who the hell needs 12 cores even if you are doing video processing? Surely 6 is more then enough unless this machine is going to be a server for many users?

That's a bizarre question. Why don't you just ask, "Who the hell needs to have your render done in five minutes? Surely having it done in ten is fast enough?"

 

[fat phil]

unlike computers, new shoes are important if you're running 10 miles a day.... however, in either, expensive shoes aren't important.

I was a big iron guy for 30 years... often squeezing all the computing power out of the thing, by getting down into the object code and tweaking the bits. I now have a Mac Mini (and I really $200 24" dell monitor). I survive;-).

I have absolutely nothing against minimalism - I enjoy it myself, but it pretty much depends what you need to do. I can't run Side Effects Houdini on a Mini for example.

Computers are crazy powerful compared to what they used to be, but all that lovely high-end software we pay through the nose for has high demands - and a lot of companies (Autodesk for example) won't give you support if you don't use the gear they authorise (which means Quadros if you're a Max/Maya user for example...even ATI FireGL cards are only partially tested).

 

[you39]

What utter crap.

Dito!

Comparing a camera whose sole function is to take photographs, to a machine which is designed to multifunction and accommodate a variety of use platforms is asinine. Especially since Leica also make a contemporary design specifically aimed at high-end Nikon, Canon, etc. multi-use cameras. which looks exactly like a standard DSLR.

Not only that, when you buy a Leica, you buy their glass (which is worth more than the body) and their specific engineering. That's why the exterior is not relevant to the quality of the image or the purpose. If Apple made the processors and the rest of the hardware there might be a point in there, but they don't. It's off-the-shelf stuff.

If you want the design of the Pro to stay exactly the same because it's so perfect, then why not dial it back to the first iteration which had one USB port on the front and two on the back, one optical drive, two drive racks and heatsink the size of a toaster.

What a string of sophisms. Of course, who would mind a case change out of technical necessity? Given that a computer is not a camera, as you correctly outlined, I wouldn't expect a given computer design to last 60 years. It is an analogy! And it refers to the aesthetical part of the question of a redesign. The question is if a given design can maintain or even improve it's place in the framework of art and culture for 7 and more years - and my answer is yes, if Leicas can do it for 60 and more years.

 

[3282868]

Except that it's the iMac that is the sports car in any such analogy. Fast and sleek but the boot barely holds a shopping bag and it's useless for towing a trailer. We don't need tower computers for geeking out on speed, bells or whistles, we need them because we need workhorses. They're not sports cars, they're pickup trucks. They get you from A to B with whatever equipment you need for a job. Mac Pro is for the plummers and construction workers of the digital domain, iMac is for the Paris Hiltons.

This made me LOL. Cute.

But c'mon, while I agree (as a Mac Pro owner) for those who NEED the power it is essential, however the top of the line iMac with the quad core processor isn't something to shy away from. Yes, it lacks the upgradeability of the Mac Pro (I couldn't put my four internal bays into it and it would be counter productive to have them placed in external FireWire/USB shells), but for a graphics professional who doesn't do 3D rendering, it still can run Final Cut and other professional suites very well... for those Paris Hilton types .

 

[ob81]

Woah! Nice update. Price points are weird though.

 

[markm49uk]

Stop these trolls

honestly: total crap, im so dissapointed.
i olny moved to apple cause i thought this is a consumer friendly politic, but they let us wait for several month and come up with that kind of crap...
its the new old microsoft what apple became!

steven go ******* urself

Seriously MacRumors is suffering due to these continuous, cretinous posts - a site needs rules and guidelines and for those to be enforced. Come on Arn sort it out.

 

[you39]

Let's face it, it's not a matter of the Mac Pro case design being "timeless". It's a matter of defending Apple no matter what they do.

Not at all.

 

[milo]

fugly.......... truly no design sense........

So you really think it's worth paying $500 or so more so the box is prettier...for something that sits on the floor where you don't even see it?

Really?

 

[Kaiser Phoenix]

apple isn't computer company right?

I dont think they are. According to Bloomberg, 23% of revenues comes from Personal Audio Devices, 19% From Mobile Phone devices.

Desktops are 10% of their annual Revenue.