Apple Begins Showing Mac Pro Teaser in Movie Theaters with 'Fall 2013' Announcement

[prowlmedia]

Even at 12 cores in 1 socket, that is not fast enough.

And speed is not the main criterion for something to be considered pro.

I am well aware about what's pro or not. This is a Pro workstation. There are very few applications that take advantage of massive multi-procs in actual use other than for rendering, even then they don't have the ram to back them up.

After effects for example require 2GB (3 ideally) per thread so a 24 thread 12 core machine. would need 48-72gb ram. Even then the overhead is exponential. Besides. The CPU in most visual applications which is what this is aimed at. A lot of the Processing will be handled by the GPU.

If you are talking about rendering say for 3d or video, a real pro setup, You would have all rendering ofloaded to bearbone servers while you carry on with your work and not have it locked up for hours on end.

Also they have shown us 1 spec. Do we KNOW that's the only version.

 

[SpectatorHere]

Almost no one is going to know what it is, and that's the point. It's meant to seem edgy and innovative since everything else coming out of Apple is seen as tired, boring and stale. ...Which btw, also explains all the attention to colors for the upcoming iPhone and iOS.

It's fine and all. I'm glad they're not afraid to take some chances, even if it is only in a tiny niche market. The more disturbing thing is that they apparently think this is really innovative...a new case. Where is the 14" iPad or the answer to Google Glass? They can't even seem to bring themselves to offer a normal sized phone.

 

[unibility]

Aside from the fact that it did nothing but look cool, I love this teaser.
And to anybody who thinks it looks like a trashcan: perhaps Apple could use this to their advantage:
Image

i get it and then again i don't get it. wouldn't you still need a monitor and keyboard?

 

[prowlmedia]

Meh.....

The only reason I am excited about the launch is that, once launched, specific kexts related to the CPU / speedstep / power management can be released into the wild and I can build my own Hack Pro the way I want.

I do understand why people want to do this kinda thing. Build PC's can be Geek fun, I've built a fair few PC( Not hackintosh's though) but I've always gone back to a stock mac as they do just work for the most part and I hardly have to do an maintenance and nothing goes wrong. I Get up, work, earn money, then turn it off and go do something else. My old PC days were nothing but issue when a new driver was installed or MS release a new security update, I lost count of the amount of times I had to do a complete reinstall.

But I suppose that's the point. For me a computer is just a tool to make money. Not a hobby.

 

[cube]

I am well aware about what's pro or not. This is a Pro workstation. There are very few applications that take advantage of massive multi-procs in actual use other than for rendering, even then they don't have the ram to back them up.

After effects for example require 2GB (3 ideally) per thread so a 24 thread 12 core machine. would need 48-72gb ram. Even then the overhead is exponential. Besides. The CPU in most visual applications which is what this is aimed at. A lot of the Processing will be handled by the GPU.

If you are talking about rendering say for 3d or video, a real pro setup, You would have all rendering ofloaded to bearbone servers while you carry on with your work and not have it locked up for hours on end.

Also they have shown us 1 spec. Do we KNOW that's the only version.

Workstation is not just about rendering in an enterprise environment.

 

[Eugene]

There are complementary reasons:

- Theatres are not mass advertising, and the Tube is not a mass product
- Visual professionals go to the cinema
- This is not a pro machine anyway.

* Theaters are targeted mass advertising, and cheap too.
* Everyone goes to the movies.
* At minimum this machine will have a $700-1000 CPU and two $700 video cards...add ECC RAM, SSDs, other controllers, PSU and you have a base model that starts at $3500-4000. It has 6 Thunderbolt 2.0 ports each with 20/20Gbps of dedicated bandwidth...

 

[prowlmedia]

Almost no one is going to know what it is, and that's the point. It's meant to seem edgy and innovative since everything else coming out of Apple is seen as tired, boring and stale. ...Which btw, also explains all the attention to colors for the upcoming iPhone and iOS.

It's fine and all. I'm glad they're not afraid to take some chances, even if it is only in a tiny niche market. The more disturbing thing is that they apparently think this is really innovative...a new case. Where is the 14" iPad or the answer to Google Glass? They can't even seem to bring themselves to offer a normal sized phone.

Seriously, can you troll much more? Did you have Bones for breakfast under your bridge?

The colours are an issue as nothing else is a known. The fingerprint sensor is sill not a given. Neither is anything else inside it. The C version is interesting as it's clearly aimed at a different market.

Clearly you don't know what is inside it the Main drive is Magnitudes faster than an SSD even. The GPU is incredible. Connectivity and sharable components is the Future. Not locking up Drives in a case.

"Boring and stale"
You mean the Incredible Retina laptops.
The Best AIO computers out there

WTF want's a 14" iPad.
Who want's a bigger phone! Not me. It's a freaking phone I don't want it to be 6"

Google glass in lovely tech but only has one real use I have seen so far. For partially sighed people to read food cans. I wouldn't even talk to someone wearing one in day to day life as you would know if they were recording you. They'll only cancel the project in a year anyway.

----------

Workstation is not just about rendering in an enterprise environment.

I know. I am not in a enterprise environment.

I run Cinema 4D so I can render, single shots, in the background leaving 2/12 cores free and carry on working

I now have a 6 mac mini's as a mini render farm to test sequences leaving me completely free to carry on.

When I need to do the final render I send to a render farm, where I can get the entire job done by 1000 machines in one go. The last job I did would have taken 8 days on my setup running 24/7 - I got it back from the farm in 4 hours. It actually took longer to download than it did to render. Now that's Pro.

 

[jfx94]

I think this is a marketing scheme to promote Apple as innovative and coming out with something new. Whether lots of people buy it isn't as important as people having renewed energy for the brand that is coming up with 'cool new stuff.'

 

[cube]

* At minimum this machine will have a $700-1000 CPU and two $700 video cards...add ECC RAM, SSDs, other controllers, PSU and you have a base model that starts at $3500-4000. It has 6 Thunderbolt 2.0 ports each with 20/20Gbps of dedicated bandwidth...

The Tube is about fashion, not professionalism.

It can be a relatively inexpensive prosumer machine, the Cube successor, and not a Mac Pro replacement, by doing the following:

- ASUS Sabertooth-based AM3+ logic board with PCIe 3.0, so that it can be considered prosumer by having ECC RAM with the proper desktop CPU.

- Consumer graphics card (only one for base model)

Then it could be acceptable as an illogical fashion statement.

----------

I know. I am not in a enterprise environment.

I run Cinema 4D so I can render, single shots, in the background leaving 2/12 cores free and carry on working

I now have a 6 mac mini's as a mini render farm to test sequences leaving me completely free to carry on.

When I need to do the final render I send to a render farm, where I can get the entire job done by 1000 machines in one go. The last job I did would have taken 8 days on my setup running 24/7 - I got it back from the farm in 4 hours. It actually took longer to download than it did to render. Now that's Pro.

It was 2 statements in one. It is not just about rendering. Period.

 

[Westyfield2]

The people Apple should be targeting a Pro machine at is those who made the movie, not those watching the movie!

 

[cube]

The people Apple should be targeting a Pro machine at is those who made the movie, not those watching the movie!

It is not a pro machine, and the people making movies go to the movies.

 

[ValSalva]

I think this is a marketing scheme to promote Apple as innovative and coming out with something new. Whether lots of people buy it isn't as important as people having renewed energy for the brand that is coming up with 'cool new stuff.'

I agree. This is Apple's Dodge Viper or Corvette. Most of us buy pedestrian iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads that are the equivalent of Darts and Malibus. But the implication is that the lessons learned from these cutting edge expensive projects trickle down to the mass market products.

 

[cocacolakid]

Lame. Thats not a good advertisement.

That's not the advertisement. That's the clip from the last WWDC unveiling.

 

[driphone]

If it can handle email and surfing...I'm buying one

 

[igazza]

why would they advertise in movie theaters

The film industry buy most of the mac pros.

 

[Macist]

I look forward to a new Mac Pro (finally!) but why is no one talking about a new display to go with it? Surely Apple will offer a 4K display with aesthetics to match the Mac Pro. And maybe a return to something larger than 27"?

Myabe. But the old Cinema Displays were killed by many pros using LaCies, Eizos, even Dell screens. Towards the end the few that bought the 30" model found their screens had been manufactured two years before.

Talking generally, though. This ad shows that the Mac Pro has been designed as much for rich consumers as actual pros.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Same reason why car companies like Audi market the R8 in cinemas and on TV. Yeah 99.9% of the people watching aren't going to be able to afford it, but it gets the brand out there as a power house, at the forefront of their respective industry.

Worth repeating among the clutter and shallow comments in this post. Thanks for trying to explain how advertising isn't always tightly targeted to a specific demographic & that the goal is sometimes more aspirational brand positioning than pushing a specific product.

Unfortunately, not sure it's a concept some can grasp here as they continue on repeating the same trite posts.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

That "Can't innovate anymore my ass" comment seems poised to join other self praising statements in history. I cringed the first time hearing it, and continue to do so.

It makes me recall comments made by Steve Ballmer years ago about the iPhone. Confidently predicting how it would never get any significant market share. Oddly enough, Ballmer also made a comment about how Microsoft was not out of innovation, too.

 

[Jesla]

I'll be getting one…..don't need it. The price will be right, for my model,
about $2000-$2300. Yes it's going to have about a $1995 entry price. Get
over it already, Jesus, you'd think people would be trilled at paying less.

No, it's primary target is no longer the high end Pro market though they will
have a model sufficient to satisfy them. The Prosumer market is the juiciest
segment and the one Apple will be seeking. So happens, I'm in the Prosumer
segment.

I'll be so happy when Apple releases the prices so when can move on.

The "Pro's" will just have to suck it up because 'we' Prosumers have crashed
the party.

Sources? This Forum……….

 

[jayducharme]

you see this before along with the ads for new movies? That's really weird.

I wonder if Apple did that to tie the Mac Pro in with professional movie production. That makes Apple appear to be making some serious technology for serious people -- but that technology also trickles down to the general public in the form of iMacs and MacBooks. Edit: I just saw tann's similar thoughts.

And I'm not sure why so many people keep insisting the new Mac Pro will be priced even more expensively than the current line. I doubt Apple would do that; their recent history (with MacBooks, iMacs and their pro software) suggests that they'll price it less expensively.

 

[Kwill]

Wait what? It's showing as a teaser in movie theaters... as in you go to watch Star Trek, and you see this before along with the ads for new movies? That's really weird.

Not really. It's a similar demographic -- geeks and nerds.

 

[RonDMC]

Completely off topic but I hate reading this fanboy myth over and over again. No, Apple does not have >100 billion $ in their cash reserve. So please stop that myth of that giant cash reserve.

What myth? AAPL at last earnings had $147 billion in cash but lets round that up as it would be $150 billion by now, the corporate tax rate in the US is 35% so even if they brought that cash back right now under the current rate they would have 97.5 billion after taxes, they would be stupid to bring it back though who wants to piss away 50 billion in taxes? but they could if they wanted and they would still have very close to 100 billion, point is there is no myth and they certainly have 100 billion available to them right now.

 

[Plutonius]

movie theaters?

if this thing is going to be monstrously expensive why would they market it to the masses like that?

I'm not saying that the high end won't be outside the realm of a car, but I do believe Apple will have an entry model within reasonable reach.

They don't expect people at the theater to actually get one. They are just showing off the Apple name and the newest Apple product.

 

[prowlmedia]

The Tube is about fashion, not professionalism.

It can be a relatively inexpensive prosumer machine, the Cube successor, and not a Mac Pro replacement, by doing the following:

- ASUS Sabertooth-based AM3+ logic board with PCIe 3.0, so that it can be considered prosumer by having ECC RAM with the proper desktop CPU.

- Consumer graphics card (only one for base model)

Then it could be acceptable as an illogical fashion statement.

Utterly wrong and misleading. It's about power efficiency and engineering

If you had remotely looked at the specs and the reasoning for new form factor you'd know that the CPU and GPU are arranged around a central aircooled heatsink with a Low RPM silent fan. It's a very efficient engineering solution. It means much less power is used.

The fact is for 95% of professional users this will be a powerhouse. There are of course some aspects that won't be perfect for every user. Hell you could go get one of these if you want.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/featured/8-Processors-32-Cores-56

So you are listing an off the shelf MoBo as a replacement. Back in your cave.

 

[kazmac]

it would be great

I wonder if this may be indicative of pricing. I can't imagine a professional system costing $3000+ would be advertised in a theatre of general consumers. The hardware specs suggest a hefty price tag, but I don't understand why Apple would target this audience (no pun intended).

Thoughts?

If the pricing is below the $2499 of the soon-to-be gone Mac Pro, but I would not be surprised if it is, as others have noted, more expensive. The MP has always geared toward the high end professionals. We'll see.