Apple Offers Sneak Peek of Completely Redesigned Mac Pro

Off1c3r said:
All the garbage can jokes aside.. I just don't see how something this small can contain the room for dual top tier CPUs, enterprise grade graphic cards and storage while still remaining thermally cool.

Also, some advanced editing suites require specific hardware that require back and or front panel access. Unless theres some kind of breakout box accessory that can be connected to this unit, I don't think this will replace all the functions of the existing Mac Pro.
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Go here, scroll down.
 
neuropsychguy said:
Steve Jobs very much would have approved - it's simple, minimalist, compact, looks like art, and is powerful. It also keeps fiddling around inside the case to a minimum, which is why expandability is mostly external. Jobs likely saw mock-ups of this model before he died and would have given his input. If Ive had a role in its design, Jobs would have approved.
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...and enough already with the "Steve Jobs wouldn't this" or "Steve Jobs is probably rolling over in his grave that" (wasn't he cremated?)


It's beyond ridiculous. Read his biography. This is not something that should even be brought up in 2013. It's a pointless exercise and wastes everyones energy thinking about it.

I could also not care less because the man is dead. If you want an opinion of a founder, as Steve Wozniak what he thinks, but again, don't put too much weight in the answer, if you get one.
 
This thing is stunningly beautiful. So small! Intrigued into how much they're going to ask for one of these though. Also seems odd creating a professional desktop with no way of upgrading. Still a gorgeously small and innovative product. How technology has moved on...
 
ChrisA said:
What Apple just did is built a computer no one else could have built.

The entire desktop PC world is still using a 1983 stile IBM PC that is standing on it's side. The last big inovation was the turn if over so the power supply on the top.

Apple is walked away from hard drives, from optical drives and card slots. What is left is just the "computer", the part that "computes".

Also I did not see a power supply. Did anyone notice. Is there som 8" cube that goes on the floor?
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The photos show a standard PC power plug so that means the power supply is internal. Your guess is as good as mine as to where they put it.
 
Rocketman said:
Stop with the tube criticism. This is an ode to the physics of cooling. It is smart design. In one end and out the other. Smart.
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Yes, I share your frustration, but keep in mind most of the naysayers just finished building a Radio Shack Crystal Radio kit.. AND IT WORKED! So they feel a bit entitled to tell Apple engineers that they don't know what they are doing. </sarc>
 
If I replaced my current Pro with that thing I'd have a fire hazard's worth of cables sprawling all across my already messy desk.

On the plus side I could turn it off by putting a book on top of it.
 
Off1c3r said:
All the garbage can jokes aside.. I just don't see how something this small can contain the room for dual top tier CPUs, enterprise grade graphic cards and storage while still remaining thermally cool.

Also, some advanced editing suites require specific hardware that require back and or front panel access. Unless theres some kind of breakout box accessory that can be connected to this unit, I don't think this will replace all the functions of the existing Mac Pro.
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It's "magic". :D
 
akis-k said:
Guys i don't know if it is mentioned here before, but as far concerns the argument of either dual or single cpu socket, I think that the case is a single socket cpu. If you search for Intel's plans for ivy bridge ep (which is propably the chip that the mac pro is going to have), you'll see that they are planning in releasing a 12 core single socket cpu..
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Smart decision since you will get better performance from a single CPU x 12 core then 2 x 6 core.
 
Can someone explain how monitor connections work ?

Background: my 2009 mac pro has 3x gt120 cards, and I have six displays running off of it. Easy.

With this system, I see that there are six thunderbolt ports, so ... I could attach six displays there, right ?

BUT, every mention of the graphics cards says "up to three 4k displays" ...

What does that mean ? Does that mean that a 4k display requires two TB connections ?

And if that is the case, doesn't that mean if I attach three primary displays at 4k, all I have left is the HDMI port, and then that's it - only four displays ?

Thanks.


EDIT: OH, and also, if 4k displays take up 2x TB, and since three displays is a very common setup, then you don't have any more TB ports, right ? So you have to choose between triple monitors or fast disk connection ?
 
alvindarkness said:
You realise Thunderbold 2 has twice the bandwidth of whats being talked about in that article. Considering the great internal GPU power, any external GPUs used by pros would be there for adding multiple-heads, or more OpenCL computational speed, for which 20GB/s (of thunderbolt 2) is ample.

We arent talking about buying a Titan to house externally for gaming here of course, this is a whole different market. And even if we were talking about that, it'll still do fine for most.
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Thunderbolt 2 is still fed by a 4xPCIe bus. It simply combines the 4 10Gbit channels into 2 20Gbit channels and tests by Intel on prototypes show only an increase from 800-900Mb/s to around 1,500Mb/s in SSD RAID sets:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7049/intel-thunderbolt-2-everything-you-need-to-know
 
raw911 said:
Ok. How does the 3 internal HD that I have inside of my MP gonna work in this tube? Guess all data on those 3 HDs are now useless?
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If you never move the data from those 3 HDs or ever attach the hds again, then sure, it would be useless. However, data transfer is something you might consider, or perhaps external case.
 
Looks very easy to steal!! A least the old Mac Pro was like picking up a safe - and it could easily be chained to something. I wouldn't fancy taking this on a location shoot or even just having one in a studio with lots of comings and goings!!
 
MacConvert said:
... and we all know how well the Nexus Q did. :(
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14288.jpg
 
Off1c3r said:
All the garbage can jokes aside.. I just don't see how something this small can contain the room for dual top tier CPUs, enterprise grade graphic cards and storage while still remaining thermally cool.
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Two words: TARDIS technology.

:p ;)
 
@Chupa Chupa

Well Johnny Ive once again took a design from Dieter Rahms and said to the engineers "Figure out how to put the electronics in there".

That's great work by the engineers... but what's the point?

I guess what I mean is.....what is Johnny Ive paid for?
 
mrxak said:
Ports. Expect to have to buy a lot of new hubs. Let's not forget that they're all in back of the thing, too, so forget about using thumb drives ever again. If Apple expects everyone to go external for everything, those few ports are going to be used up very quickly.

Storage. Now instead of sticking cheap drives into the thing you have to buy expensive Thunderbolt enclosures for everything. SSD is still very expensive, and I'm sure Apple's brand new custom-designed drives will be even more expensive.

Expansion. Instead of sticking off-the-shelf cards into your computer you have to go and get some expensive external PCI enclosures that will have less bandwidth than the much cheaper PCI slots of old.

While I'm sure that some pros still use optical media, the loss of that on the new computer Apple is making will not be a big deal. But of course you'd have to use up one of those very few USB ports to get optical media again, if that is a big deal for you. So more hubs.
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Good points. Four USB ports? Keyboard, iPhone, card reader, one printer. Done! Even my small-form Acer business computer at work has eight USB ports. Four of them are on the front. I don't even need to rotate it to plug in my iPhone or thumb drive. Such innovation!
 
Djreversal said:
all you guys talking about expanding are stuck on old technology, with Thunderbolt 2, all these companies will be releasing insane modules to expand this all you want. External Thunderbolt 2 RAID storage arrays will transfer at higher speeds then your current internal setups on the mac pros', external DSP cards etc..... you will be able to do all you want and more when the time comes. The 3 4k monitor setup is also very nice.


Just hope theres new of a new Logic Pro
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What the.... so you're saying we are "stuck on expanding" and then you talk about how we can use ThunderBolt for expanding? That's literally the worst case of a hypocritical argument I've ever seen on this forum.

Expanding inside your chassis is dynamically the better choice. The component is safe from liquid and shock damage. It's secured so it won't fly off your desk. Your workstation is one entire unit versus having a small workstation with ten cables and hubs sticking out of it. You also have less factors in your transfer loop. Thunderbolt, as fast as it is, still utilizes PCI-Express. In fact, the only way Thunderbolt will reach 64gb/s is when paired with PCI-Express 3.0.

The point is, thunderbolt is unnecessary in a desktop and not an efficient primary means of expansion. What happens if your Thunderbolt cable goes bad during a data transfer?

Manufacturers can save money by avoiding an unnecessary conversion from PCI-Express, to ThunderBolt back to PCI-Express! Plus by expanding inside your chassis, you avoid using one of your Thunderbolt ports for a necessary component. Basically, it's inaccurate for Apple to say the new Mac Pro has 4x Thunderbolt ports if one of them is always taken up by your external storage.
 
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