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

[prowlmedia]

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.

Apple does have more than 100 billion dollars on accounts in offshore tax saving models. They can not use this money in the USA nor Europe without adequately taxing it.

As Tim Cook knows this will look bad on the sheets (as it is a 2-digit billion number of taxes, Apple has to pay) this money sits there in an account rotting.

That's why Apple is lobbying for a tax amnesty. So please stop that myth of that giant cash reserve. Apple does have the money but they can't use it - because they resist paying taxes for it.

Of course they have that cash reserve. doesn't matter where it is. They can use it overseas and even if they did repatriate it at 30% it's looks like the they will have $170B by year end - so still way above $100b

Thats because the offshore tax repatriation is incredibly high. Would you bring money back into the country if you didn't need to?

In what way do you think it's rotting. do you not think it in constant use by their investment arm.

Apple did NOT lobby for an amnesty. Cook was invited to go talk about the problems with the current system and offered an example of a fair tax to bring it back in. I am british and I know more about your company tax laws than you seem to.

 

[12dylan34]

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.

I understand your point about offloading renders to servers, but that's not always how it works. I work on 3D in a small studio, and anything that'll take less than 2 hours on our single machine we just render locally, because there's a lot of set up involved for a network render.

Besides that, all of the computers in the office usually contribute to the renders anyway, so faster they are, the better.

Local renders don't really slow macs down as much as you think as well. I can have something using 100% CPU and still do everything on the machine, including working with another 3D scene and preparing my next render. At one point for a big project, we were all rendering 2 scenes in the background of Cinema 4D while working on a third and compositing in After Effects.

 

[prowlmedia]

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

People who made the movie... who also go to... a lot of movies.

 

[cube]

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.

It is a similar design to the Cube. It's not new.

I said "-based" and I said "logic board", meaning that they could contract ASUS for a design that adds PCIe 3.0 to AM3+, in the same way Intel designed logic boards for Apple.

It can be powerful enough for most people, but not expandable for the majority of professionals.

This is not about getting any 16 to 64-core system. It's about getting a Mac, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

 

[prowlmedia]

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

You can keep saying this and you are still wrong. Pixar will be using these. Who is more professional. Who are these professionals you keep talking about!?

If it's someone at home that does some 3d stuff etc, they are in fact prosumers.

 

[kenosecon]

I want a white one. Apple in black don't look so good. also the cm is not as great as it should be. they should show the interior of the computer.

as for the price I think it will be very cheap, they are dropping one processor and also some upgrade options, so in my opinion the entry model will be less than 2.000$.

and they have 2 videocards but they only buy the chip and connect it to the cooling system dropping the price of the video cards

 

[cube]

You can keep saying this and you are still wrong. Pixar will be using these. Who is more professional. Who are these professionals you keep talking about!?

If it's someone at home that does some 3d stuff etc, they are in fact prosumers.

Professionals who are not rendering or not in an enterprise environment, I already said it.

 

[prowlmedia]

It is a similar design to the Cube. It's not new.

I said "-based" and I said "logic board", meaning that they could contract ASUS for a design that adds PCIe 3.0 to AM3+, in the same way Intel designed logic boards for Apple.

It can be powerful enough for most people, but not expandable for the majority of professionals.

This is not about getting any 16 to 64-core system. It's about getting a Mac, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

You are on a roll. In no way is the same as the Cube.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Power+Mac+G4+Cube+Teardown/1424/1

It had a passive heatsink setup, which was it's main problem and was a stack arrangement. Utterly different. might as well say well a Retina Macbook is the same as a Dell 15" Inspiron. Well it's go the same screen hasn't it?

Professionals who are not rendering or not in an enterprise environment, I already said it.

And what do these professionals do? Lawyers? Doctors?

 

[cube]

You are on a roll. In no way is the same as the Cube.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Power+Mac+G4+Cube+Teardown/1424/1

It had a passive heatsink setup, which was it's main problem and was a stack arrangement. Utterly different. might as well say well a Retina Macbook is the same as a Dell 15" Inspiron. Well it's go the same screen hasn't it?




And what do these professionals do? Lawyers? Doctors?

It had a thermal core, and a slot for an optional fan at the bottom, used when upgrading, otherwise it was just convection cooling.

Do you think that the only heavy computation is VFX?

 

[WardC]

You can keep saying this and you are still wrong. Pixar will be using these. Who is more professional. Who are these professionals you keep talking about!?

If it's someone at home that does some 3d stuff etc, they are in fact prosumers.

Some folks do projects out of their home, render stuff in FinalCut, work on music...and want a machine that is beefier and faster than an iMac.

Others just want the machine...want the power machine....but do very little taxing work....maybe sometimes, but mostly use their machine as a media computer, web browsing, iTunes music, and movie playback.

Either way...this whole "pro" and "who is pro?" does not matter, the Pro label just means you are getting a more powerful computer than their lower priced offerings...it does not mean that is is targeted and meant for PROFESSIONALS. Heck, a professional could use a ChromeBook or a Cray supercomputer and still be a professional. Having a Mac Pro does not convey that you are a PROFESSIONAL, it just means that you have a more powerful computer than the standard offerings, that is all. The "Pro" just means it is their POWER line, not their STANDARD line.

 

[kenosecon]

It had a thermal core, and a slot for an optional fan at the bottom, used when upgrading, otherwise it was just convection cooling.

Do you think that the only heavy computation is VFX?

let's see...
3d something pros
video, effects, pros
biology, chemistry pros,
servers networking pros,
2d digital something pros,
astronormers or something pros,
videogame business pros,
architects,
engineers,
etc...

 

[fastlanephil]

I want a white one. Apple in black don't look so good. also the cm is not as great as it should be. they should show the interior of the computer.

as for the price I think it will be very cheap, they are dropping one processor and also some upgrade options, so in my opinion the entry model will be less than 2000$.

and they have 2 videocards but they only buy the chip and connect it to the cooling system dropping the price of the video cards

I agree. If you add $900 for a display and maybe $300 for a cheap HD box it will still be way above the 27" iMac $1999 base price.

 

[HenryDJP]

why would they advertise in movie theaters for what will likely be a $5000 desktop computer? They need to be targeting people who need these machines not the general public

Right, because people that use a computer like this don't have personal lives and go out on the town to see a movie ever.

 

[jclardy]

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?

This is what I was thinking. But the problem is I just don't see how they can pack the immense specs they have plus being made in America in anything below $2500. And even $2500 would be a deal.

Although looking at their current lineup, they have:
Mac Mini - $599 $799 $999
iMac 21" - $1299 $1499
iMac 27" - $1799 $1999

Around a $500 jump between the base models of each line. My guess is they somehow get this out there for $2299. Still doesn't make sense if they have dual firepro cards in every machine (Suspected to be the W9000 which run at $3k each...)

But then we are back to the beginning, why are they advertising a niche, expensive, pro product in a movie theater?

 

[somethingelsefl]

No no no! Apple is becoming a mess. This makes NO sense at all.

 

[HenryDJP]

Unless people follow Apple rumors or saw/read about WWDC (which the majority of people don't), they'd have no idea this is a computer. Just a black cylinder with an Apple logo. "Oooh look how pretty it is." "What is it?" "I have no idea." "Eh... whatevs." It might pique some movie-goers' interests, but for the majority of people, it will probably just cause eye-rolls.

If it has an Apple logo people KNOW it's something computer related. If anything is causing an "eye roll" it's what you posted. Wake up dude!

 

[cube]

But then we are back to the beginning, why are they advertising a niche, expensive, pro product in a movie theater?

Even if this were the case, advertising in a theater is inexpensive.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

This ad is designed to show something cool and different with an Apple logo to the masses - not to sell them a Mac Pro. This ad reinvigorates interest in Apple. Doesn't anybody here understand marketing? LOL

 

[topper24hours]

What professional would want such a gawdy computer? Like the specs, the size, the change to black, but the design is silly. I would be more embarrassed to show this off than a gaming rig with disco lights flashing inside of it.

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder... and you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I don't know what the HELL you are talking about! I've never seen a sleeker, clean, understated, classy, elegant pc in my life. Lol, it doesn't have bedazzles on it. I seriously don't get where you're coming up with "gaudy" as a descriptor.

 

[paulsdenton]

why would they advertise in movie theaters for what will likely be a $5000 desktop computer? They need to be targeting people who need these machines not the general public

I'm not so sure about that; I bet they sell hundreds of thousands of these to people who don't really need them because of the "hipness" factor. It's new, it's different, etc.

For better or worse. No one really needs a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini or Ferrari for transportation but they sell thousands of them every year...

 

[tripleg]

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.

Let's hope the TB external expansion units offer low RPM silent fans as well. Still waiting for a RAID unit that doesn't have cheap noisy cooling fans.

 

[76ShovelHead]

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.

I'm hoping they close the gap between the mini and the pro by introducing a desktop quad core i5 or i7 version of the pro, and it shouldn't cost anymore than a mid range iMac.

 

[handsome pete]

Pixar will be using these.

Where are you getting that from? Because of the Mari demo? Unlikely. Despite one of their artist's compliments they're not going to upend their current infrastructure. They use custom Linux boxes.

Very good! I want to know if we are going to get multiple CPU options, ....

No, single CPU only unless you're talking about multiple core/clock options. That will most definitely be the case.

$2700 entry, well-equipped. Bet me.

And, believe me Junior, Pro users will have no problem with the price of entry. Only posers will bitch.

What do you consider well-equipped? If you're talking a 4 or 6 core CPU and 2gb GPUs, then that seems possible. Anything more and the price of the CPU alone goes up quickly.

Why? Do 'professionals' never go to the cinema then? Or perhaps you mean Apple are not allowed to use their flagship product in an advert to drive up sales?

I think your comment is rather 'unprofessional'.

Its like saying, how dare Omega watches advertise on national TV, because their market is so small?

No, but these ads are not geared towards the high end user. Anyone in this business is already well aware of the professional marketplace.

 

[Technarchy]

this is beside the point. of course they do go to the movies but the vast majority of the people sitting in a movie theater on any given night will be regular folk who don't need a Mac pro, can't afford one and won't be swayed by an ad, no matter how sleek, for a machine costing north of 5k. So it makes very little sense for Apple to run such an ad in movie theaters targeting perhaps 5% of the audience instead of running an iphone or an ipad ad targeting everybody. Don't know why they bothered with this.

I swear people will complain about anything.

Maybe Apple wants the Pro in a few living rooms across America? Clue?

 

[hugodrax]

why would they advertise in movie theaters for what will likely be a $5000 desktop computer? They need to be targeting people who need these machines not the general public

They are targeting those who want luxury goods to impress. ie: Rolex style advertising.

Big profits selling to the "Aspirational rich".