Apple Offers Developers a Closer Look at the New Mac Pro

[Deedlez]

This puts me in a dilemma. Was going to buy a new iMac, as although the now-old Mac Pro was just too big for my little office. But this new Mac-in-a-can is the size of a tubular iPad and has impressive performance. I'll need a monitor (or two) to go with it... Better get saving

 

[NoNothing]

It's a beautiful case and a beautiful machine, but saying "all exandability will be external" is really unfortunate.

For me, this is a god send. I do all storage external and portable. 100%. This has pushed me to the iMac but I miss the overall power of the Mac Pro. This design brings me back. BTW: I never have added or changed a card in my existing Mac Pro (Dual G5). I love the idea of a cr@p load of power in a small space.

 

[Terrin]

It's for sure a designer piece ... It will looks nice on my desk and I would have fun watching it; as a non-Pro.

But as soon you need to start enhancing it you have mainly/only TB. That means lots of cable around the desk. I think that will negative influence the design/appearance.

Ah, and no optical disk as it looks like (not a big surprise) just another cable

I don't see why people are getting worked up. Some things like RAM and hard drive will likely be upgradeable. For expand ability, I see a third party coming up with all encompassing enclosures to accommodate add ons.

 

[SBlue1]

Look! It's the Mac Pro X! Just what everyone wanted - a smaller, lighter stationary computer that is only expandable via an expensive cable that no one supports.

We need tools, not shiny cases. I need expandability, not a table cluttered in expensive cables that don't plug into anything. I don't need a smaller, lighter stationary computer. I need more places to put hard drives, video cards and ram as I can afford it. I need a disk drive. Apple is killing me. For what I needed, wanted and waited patiently for so long for - I got not one single thing I can use. I understand trying to be innovative if they've found a new way to make an old tool better - but changing things we've all come to know, love and need into something useless and unrecognizable just for the sake of change is exasperating (see; Final Cut X). Sure, it's pretty. It'll look great under a table every time I accidentally kick it or get my foot tangled up in one of the 20 cables laying in a rat's nest next to it. Looking forward to the clutter of hard drive caddies, a RedRocket card enclosure, the bare LG BluRay writer tethered via a USB cable, the adapter array full of FireWire ports to access cameras and drives containing legacy projects…oh, wait, never mind. It also just occurred to me - how am I going to mount that thing in a rack??? How is any of this going to attach to shared storage when I'm gonna have to wait 2 years for a 3rd party to invent an impossibly expensive Fibre channel adapter? Seriously, does anyone there actually use these products when they're designing them or listen to customers - or do they look at the suggestion cards and do the opposite???

Not that any of this really matters because without a working version of Final Cut, I don't need one anyway. So, thanks for saving me a bunch of money I guess? 3 - 4K monitors. For who??? The high school students using FCPX won't be able to afford it, nor will they need that much real-estate to edit YouTube videos.

God help Apple this is a disaster. They do know 'Pro' is short for 'professional' right?

I'm so depressed. I waited for 5 years to get nothing I can use or wanted.

This just reminds me when Apple ditched the floppy. Or when they turned away from serial ports to just USB.

 

[reden]

Where's my optical drive!?
I'm loving the new design, but removing pro-required features from the pro machine ? I'm not convinced.
I don't want a fragmented workspace, I prefer everything together in one unit.

Are you being serious right now about optical drives? We'll make sure you get a floppy drive too with Thunderbolt 2 connectivity for yah.

 

[azentropy]

Pretty system, but external expansion only pretty much defeats the reason I would want a Mac Pro. Especially if the thing ends up being at the same price point as the previous Mac Pro. Now if it is starting at $1500 that is a different story.

 

[MIZA]

Now that's a neat soda can! Starting at $3000!

Replace your home furnace!

And stove!!

 

[Sonicjay]

Forget iPhone cases, the Mac Pro skins market is about to take off!

 

[ArtMooney]

Between the Mac Pro X and Final Cut Pro X I'm beginning to think Apple is breaking up with me. The conversation between editors isn't 'what do you think about Final Cut X' it's 'did you switch to Avid or Premier?'. Now it's gonna be 'did you buy a Dell or Alienware to make you hackintosh?'.

I cannot begin to describe how angry the new Mac Pro makes me. Who is this thing for? I mean, didn't they talk to a single professional to get feedback? Which Avid guy said 'yeah, I need a locked up brick with proprietary ports that won't mount anywhere conveniently. I'd also like to mistake it for a trash can...which, it kinda will be.'

I'm sure it's pretty but what's it going to look like sitting behind a mountain of drive caddies of all shapes and sizes, expansion card enclosures, FireWire 400/800 adapters, power cables, power strips etc... does Oscar the Grouch pop out of it occasionally to mock the mess?

 

[cmanderson]

True, but most people will be comparing it to contemporary Dell and HP machines not 1983 machines

They'll also be comparing it based on the software it will run. If they're looking for Final Cut Pro or Logic, they're not looking at Dell and HP machines.

 

[Icaras]

I'd love for Apple to release a glossy white version of the new Mac Pro as well.

 

[Canaan]

Expect a third party transparent case. I know I wouldn't want to hide those beautiful internals.

Hopefully made out of Aluminium oxynitride, aka Transparent Aluminum.

 

[Terrin]

Yes it is, but not from Johnny Ive.

Johnny (as with everything else he ever did) just took it from Dieter Rahms.

Image

This picture shows how third parties can design cylindrical attachments.

 

[spacedcadet]

Hmm

Lloyd sums it up as usual...

http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2013/20130610_4-new-MacPro-expansion.html

I sort of initially like the case, but really, once real world usage is taken into consideration it's going to have a ridiculous mess of boxes and cables hanging out of the back.

Form over function.

 

[NStocks]

We all know Jonathan Ive is inspired my Dieter Rams (as am I)

http://table-lighters.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/braun-cylindric-t2-table-lighter-dieter.html

1968 design.

 

[MIZA]

R2D2 in the making!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I had a G4 Cube "back in the day," and that's the first thing that popped into my mind whilst watching the keynote today. I was planning to upgrade my '11 MBP next year; I think the Pro is the direction I'll head. I have a Thunderbolt display; the new Pro seems the obvious choice assuming it is priced at or below a high-spec retina MBP.

I guess we'll all wait and see!

Likewise. The Cube was an engineering tour de force. I still have mine. It looks like Apple is once again pushing the engineering envelope with the new Pro. Hope the results are more favorable.

 

[chumpy34]

Guys over at Black Magic have been testing one and love it. They say it just screams in power and is incredibly fast. I have never been one to use external storage but as a pro user, I will be putting up my 2009 Mac Pro for adoption soon and buying this new machine, very exciting and thank you Apple.

P.S. It's funny to see all the "hate" on here, if they had kept the original design of current model, everyone would be upset at a lack of innovation. Oh well My guess, is this could be the new form factor for computers if the cylinder form-factor works well in terms of power/speed and cooling.

 

[NStocks]

Yes it is, but not from Johnny Ive.

Johnny (as with everything else he ever did) just took it from Dieter Rahms.

Image

I just posted a object by Dieter Rams too!

http://table-lighters.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/braun-cylindric-t2-table-lighter-dieter.html

 

[Prof.]

Someone on here said it is plastic. According to a quick google search, it is indeed aluminum.

 

[tevion5]

but changing things we've all come to know, love

Industry standards have to change.

IDE became SATA.

Standard drives became SSD.

Floppy became CD/DVD's.

VGA became DVI became HDMI.

CRT became LCD.

Wifi B and G became N and now AC.

Serial cables and PS/1/2 ports became USB. Apple wants everything to be thunderbolt because it creates unity. It can carry any type of data. Imagine if audio video and data were all just one type of connection, nothing else. That would be amazing.

Things need to change for the better, and it's always Apple that gets attacked for leading such change.

Dropping optical drives for example. Discs are stupid like floppy disks. I'm sure the first computer not to have Floppy drives got a negative in it's review because of it.

Better technology will catch on, like always. Just wait. We can't use old tech just because it is widely supported and nothing else. This has expandable RAM and storage. PCIe is faster than SATA so that is good.

Embrace the future. My opinion.

 

[Blu Reel]

Guys over at Black Magic have been testing one and love it. They say it just screams in power and is incredibly fast. I have never been one to use external storage but as a pro user, I will be putting up my 2009 Mac Pro for adoption soon and buying this new machine, very exciting and thank you Apple.

I wish I was part of a team testing it

 

[coolfactor]

Look! It's the Mac Pro X! Just what everyone wanted - a smaller, lighter stationary computer that is only expandable via an expensive cable that no one supports.

...

I'm so depressed. I waited for 5 years to get nothing I can use or wanted.

1. It's not Apple's fault that you waited. They offer a very powerful Mac Pro today that you obviously skipped over by your own choice.

2. This design creates a market for innovative expansion options. Imagine a "boxy" base that sits underneath this thing and provides the expansion slots that you so dearly want. A Thunderbolt connection to an external "expansion box" provides more than enough bandwidth for anything you can throw at it.

3. Those that never add expansion cards to a Mac no longer need to pay for the unused features. They can now add this functionality in the future as needed.

You're judging this prematurely. It's not even out yet. Watch what happens in the next few months. I'm confident you'll be happy when this beast becomes available.

 

[skippymac]

After the keynote, WWDC attendees were able to get a closer look at the Mac Pro

This changed from "we" between me reading the article and coming here to post so may answer my question, but I'm curious. Is anyone from MR actually at WWDC? If so why don't they have a camera?

 

[IJ Reilly]

See, it's aluminum. Happy now, people who don't read the description before posting?

This thing is really cool. I'm not a pro user, but Apple really innovated on this one. I'm still not seeing how this looks like a trash can.

You're always going to get that kind of crap on these boards. Because, you know, Apple doesn't know a thing about industrial design and they usually get it totally wrong.