Apple Envisioned New Mac Pro's 'Cheese Grater' Design Years Ago

[theluggage]

Look if you don't need a computer with a Xeon, and a reference monitor, just say so.

...and buy what? That's the problem.

As for price comparisons, as far as I can tell, the entry level system (we don't know the price of afterburner/Vega II/28 core stuff that they were bragging about at WWDC yet...) is swings/roundabout with the iMac Pro (which costs $1000 less and comes with $1000 of display.

Basically, what Apple is saying is, if you want a moderately powerful, general-purpose, desktop that isn't a thermally limited, non-expandable all-in-one or unnecessarily-small-form-factor Mac Mini - go fish unless price really is no object.

We'll sell you a Smart 4x4 or a Bugatti but nothing in between...

 

[mannyvel]

desktop that isn't a thermally limited.

The idea that anyone would actually notice a thermal limitation is ridiculous. Your machine spends 99% of it's time waiting for you to do something. The extra 5 minutes caused by thermal limiting will be unnoticeable.

It's the idea that you're being limited that's annoying, not the actual reality.
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The legs were designed to mount wheels, its a better solution than having it sit in a wheeled cart. Though I have a feeling that the additional wheel accessory will cost as much as a cart.

What would be completely hilarious is if someone made some aftermarket feet for it, so it'd be a combination of modern steel and empire animal feet...like this:

 

[jent]

That still doesn't explain why Apple didn't even spec bump the Mac Pro since its redesign five and a half years ago. As a pro machine, it should have at least been given minor boosts to the processor, RAM, hard drive, ports, et cetera every year or two.

 

[mytdave]

It's a very mediocre Pro machine. It's a one socket Intel Purley platform, which is about 2 years old now. It's equivalent to an HP Z6 G4, which Apple used as a comparison. However HPs are notoriously overpriced. You can get this same machine with an extra processor socket from Lenovo as a ThinkStation P920 with a starting price of $1279.

The huge thing though is all of the PC workstation manufacturers know many domains like scientific computing and machine learning need NVidia, not Apple's proprietary compute on mediocre AMD GPUs.

Unless you need MacOS for your pro application, PCs are simply more attractive.

The new Mac Pro is actually not mediocre, and HPs are not notoriously overpriced - you're getting better quality than most of the competition (you're not actually paying retail, are you?). HP also has a Z6 starting at about $1900, but once you configure it to match the new Mac Pro, you paying well into the $8K range. Same thing for any of the other brand workstations.

The new Mac Pro has standard PCIe slots. You can install whatever GPU you want. Whether it's supported in MacOS is a different story.

 

[code-m]

What would be completely hilarious is if someone made some aftermarket feet for it, so it'd be a combination of modern steel and empire animal feet...like this:

After market creativity, case customization

 

[MoreRumors?]

As much as some may loathe or make fun by referring to it as a cheese grater, I like the design and understand it will help keep the air flowing. The only critique I have is the the handles could be made smaller unless the Mac is hefty that requires its current size.

 

[nwcs]

That still doesn't explain why Apple didn't even spec bump the Mac Pro since its redesign five and a half years ago. As a pro machine, it should have at least been given minor boosts to the processor, RAM, hard drive, ports, et cetera every year or two.

Actually, they did a minor spec bump in 2017 after acknowledging the MacPro problem. https://www.imore.com/should-you-buy-or-upgrade-2017-mac-pro

 

[Mousse]

Apple really hate the Pro business. Pro's want something modular that can be easily be swapped out to minimize down time. If I were a graphics artist and my PM Pro crapped out in the middle of a job, I would want to be able to switch out a bad RAM or fail SSD/HDD (if it's a RAID) and back to work ASAP.

The PC side understands this with their business class machines. Everything (Processor, RAM, SSD/HDD, DVD) is easy to swap out. The down side is the business class PC is ugly as sin. The PowerMac G5 is the pinnacle of computer design. It had the easy of upgrade of a business class machine with the elegant good looks.

 

[cube]

Not China Speed

 

[az431]

still waiting on a keyboard with TouchID. Have to imagine there will be one when it launches right?

Will never happen. It's pretty clear Apple is moving on from TouchID.
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Apple really hate the Pro business. Pro's want something modular that can be easily be swapped out to minimize down time. If I were a graphics artist and my PM Pro crapped out in the middle of a job, I would want to be able to switch out a bad RAM or fail SSD/HDD (if it's a RAID) and back to work ASAP.

The PC side understands this with their business class machines. Everything (Processor, RAM, SSD/HDD, DVD) is easy to swap out. The down side is the business class PC is ugly as sin. The PowerMac G5 is the pinnacle of computer design. It had the easy of upgrade of a business class machine with the elegant good looks.

Did you mean to post this a year ago?

 

[cube]

The PC side understands this with their business class machines.

They are failing to understand that people want cases with external bays.

 

[guzhogi]

still waiting on a keyboard with TouchID. Have to imagine there will be one when it launches right?

If/when that happens, I could see them possibly adding the TouchBar as well. Not saying I'd like that, just saying I can see Apple doing it.

I would like to see a toned down, headless tower. Lower of the new Mac Pro: up to 14 core CPU, 6 RAM slots, 2 double-wide PCIe slots, 2 single-width slots, maybe 2-3 M.2 or U.2 drive bays.

 

[Architect4122]

As a designer, this new Mac Pro is quite elegant and clever:

Sometimes the hardest designs are those that are seemingly iterative. Having a frame that allows access to all sides of the internals is beautiful. The entire chassis acting as a heat sink is clever ... but more so, is their implementation/inspiration borrowed from Erwin Hauer (look him up, beautiful stuff).

So while there are clear similarities between the old (loved) Mac Pro, and yesterday's reveal, it actually takes quite a bit of reworking, rethinking, and process, to create something as accessible, multi-functional, and downright beautiful as the new Mac Pro.

At first glance it's easy to respond/compare ... but digging into the attention to detail at every level: build, function, material, finish, concept ... this is a whole new machine.

Now ... is this machine for me? Probably not (not right now at least), but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it for the design. [/2cents]

 

[az431]

I do like the design but I feel that Apple have once again designed another extremely over engineered and absurdly expensive machine that will disappoint a lot of its traditional users.

If you find it to be over engineered and absurdly priced then you're not the target market and have no need for it. As the name implies, it is intended for professional users (people who earn a living creating special effects, editing film, etc).

 

[Thunderbird]

I can certainly see how the new Mac Pro would come in handy when you get hungry and can't find your cheese grater after rummaging through your kitchen drawer.




If you actually grated cheese on it, would that void the warranty?

 

[jlocker]

Three words only!!!!! "Apple Feedback page" https://www.apple.com/feedback/macmini.html

 

[SSDGUY]

If I were Apple I would have tried to pilfer employees from Fractal and Phanteks. People that actually know good computer case design.

Yeah, something in which you can also grow plants. Lovely stuff.

 

[konqerror]

The new Mac Pro is actually not mediocre, and HPs are not notoriously overpriced - you're getting better quality than most of the competition (you're not actually paying retail, are you?). HP also has a Z6 starting at about $1900, but once you configure it to match the new Mac Pro, you paying well into the $8K range. Same thing for any of the other brand workstations.

Nope. You're arguing with somebody who recently was responsible for buying a bunch of dual-socket workstations for work. HP wanted 40% more than Lenovo.

And you really haven't figured out how desktops are made, including Apple: Intel comes out with a reference design, which we call Purley in this generation. The usual Taiwanese ODMs modify this design with the logos, Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Foxconn, then do the manufacturing. There is very little difference in quality in major brands since they're made by the same people.

 

[BriSpe]

Yeah but why just this High-high-high-high-end display though? The percentage of people who need a reference monitor is so tiny. At least give us a super colour accurate display for photographers as well to be competition for Eizo.
Everyone was screaming that they abandoned the pro market and what did Apple do? They went into a extreme niche market where just a few pro can afford this stuff or where large companies can buy these for their employees.

 

[PlayUltimate]

It's actually not bad except they could've made the legs more elegant. Feels like they spent all their time on the rest of the case then rushed the legs.

Had to have removable legs in order to attach the optional wheels.

 

[VictorTango777]

I can certainly see how the new Mac Pro would come in handy when you get hungry and can't find your cheese grater after rummaging through your kitchen drawer.




If you actually grated cheese on it, would that void the warranty?

Refrigerators with toasters?

 

[citysnaps]

As much as some may loathe or make fun by referring to it as a cheese grater, I like the design and understand it will help keep the air flowing. The only critique I have is the the handles could be made smaller unless the Mac is hefty that requires its current size.

The new MP weighs 18kg, about 40 pounds.

 

[cube]

Refrigerators with toasters?

I chose a toaster that can also cook eggs and sausages.

 

[jlocker]

Yeah, something in which you can also grow plants. Lovely stuff.

Ohh i love to watch color LED lights flashing along with my lighted spinner hub caps on my car!!!!!!

 

[baryon]

I think it's great that Apple is making a cheaper yet better reference monitor, it will allow lower end studios to use higher end monitors than before.

However. I do wish Apple also made a regular old display for us regular old people. Like they used to: you know, like the display in the iMac, but separate. It was called the Thunderbolt display but it wasn't a reference monitor for pros, it was a regular but still great display for regular people, to connect to a Mac Mini or a MacBook, among others. Yes, it was overpriced, as it cost as much as an iMac, but they could have just lowered the price? No, instead, they just made a display totally not targeted at the people who would have bought any of their previous displays.

Nothing wrong with their new Apple Retina HDR Super Mega XQHDFQ display, but that is not who their target audience used to be. Apple used to make consumer products that were so good that even pros would use them. Now they want to make pro products that only compete with stuff that 99% of people would never even dream of. That would be fine if they also cared about their usual high-end consumers who have more money and higher needs than the average person but aren't that rich either.

The Mac Pro, the new display, the iMac Pro, and even the MacBook Pro or iMac with a decent video card simply costs more than a high-end consumer machine should. These simply used to cost less, and people aren't making that much more money since then.

Even if you're just better off than the average person, you can only afford Apple's "low end" computers (which by the way are also "premium" products, like the MacBook and MacBook Air – rather than cheaper, yet decently powerful ones like the plastic MacBook used to be.

 

[Rogifan]

It may look better but it is an extremely uncomfortable carry. Also new grater seems to have better thermals which is a better priority!

When Apple appears to be prioritizing form people complain about function. When Apple does the reverse people still complain. And most of the people complaining about this machine will never own one.