Apple Offers Sneak Peek of Completely Redesigned Mac Pro

[powerbook911]

I'm guessing people have already pointed out that the new Mac Pro looks similar to the sub that came with the 20th Anniversary Mac? I guess some designs will always find their way back! Note the sub looks most similar from viewed from the front because it wasn't completely round. Still, I immediately thought of the 20th Anniversary Mac when his was unveiled!

 

[brainzilla]

Did I miss the post about Ive being dead and buried next to Steve in a pyramid?

So PCI cards are finally dead for Mac?
And hard drive one can insert without voiding warranty or paying a 2 hour service fee plus top dollars for a crappy apple-OEM-HDD?

Ah right, I can get some TB-case that either costs triple of the fee or USB3 so that it's slow / unstable.

As someone noted before:
Who are you people?

 

[milo]

Ah right, I can get some TB-case that either costs triple of the fee or USB3 so that it's slow / unstable.

USB3 isn't slow, if you're using a regular hard drive as opposed to SSD, just use SSD.

 

[Moorepheus]

Being that I am a PC guy, I really like this small, out of the way, design. In fact, it might be my first MAC purchase ever.

However, here are the issues I have with it.

1. Power button looks like the only power button is on the back I/O panel, so every time I want to turn it on, I have to fumble through the wires on the I/O panel to turn it on. From what I could tell, I could not see any power button anywhere else, from what they showed us. Now, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just didn't see it, yet.

2. The Headphone and Mic Jack is on the back I/O panel, again forcing me to turn it access it.

3. No front USB ports, again forcing me to turn it to plug in.

4. Memory Card Readers, no sign of this either. Can you see a pattern here?

5. No expansion. But since I have never owned a MAC before, not sure I will need to expand outside what it already has.

6. Optical drive...no sign of it. Again, doesn't mean it is not there, just didn't see it. I know, plug it into either the USB or Thunderbolt



Now, with the 6 Thunderbolt 2.0, 4 USB 3.0 and 2 Ethernet, you can have a bunch of items connected to it and keep your desk just as cluttered as before.

But like I said, I love the design, just how functional will it be for those who have Mac Pros already???

 

[AidenShaw]

old legacy networking

It seems many are attacking this machine: some are against the new aesthetics, some against the lack of internal expandability, and some even against the purported build quality (it seems to be made of metal to me).

I'll go ahead and say that it's exactly the kind of machine I've been holding out for: legacy-free, maximum-performance components throughout, connected in a no-compromises way and crammed into a compact case.

Certainly, there is a lack of disk-drive bays, but platters of spinning rust will be phased out of core machine components because they simply cannot compete in terms of sheer performance against Flash-based solutions, particularly the PCIe-based solution Apple has adopted.

Drives, which will henceforth rightly be considered legacy devices, will be relegated to external assemblies and connected via ThunderBolt, which (particularly in it's new ThunderBolt 2 iteration) will offer plenty of bandwidth for most forms of expansion. Likewise almost everything else. It's already been noted that chassis exist to provide PCIe expansion potential: into these will go any cards that you might need, but increasingly producers will just release hardware with TB ports (as so long ago occurred with USB).

This is a Pro machine for those who (such as myself, I believe) require no-compromises performance at any cost. The externalisation of expansion is part of that cost.

As for the design, I personally find it lust-worthy. But that's down to individual preferences, is it not?

Will I be getting one? That depends on the price-tag they carry when they are released. I am currently using a year-old dual-hexacore Hackintosh. I probably won't be able to justify the expense for another year or so, which hopefully will let me coast along until the second revision of these machines are released sometime next year.

Why the old, slow Gigabit Ethernet, when some current systems have 10 Gbps Ethernet standard?

 

[tbrinkma]

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 ?

A triple 4k display setup certainly *isn't* common, even among pros. But that's beside the point.

A '4k' display is essentially Quad Full-HD, so the bandwidth is apparently available to handle 12 1080p displays. I couldn't tell you whether the GPU & it's driver will handle 12 distinct displays, but it has the bandwidth to do so.

Also, no, a 4K display on TB 2.0 doesn't require 2 cables, just one. So, even if you do run a triple-4K setup, you've got 60Gbps worth of PCI-e expansion bus to work with.

 

[milo]

Why the old, slow Gigabit Ethernet, when some current systems have 10 Gbps Ethernet standard?

Is it possible that it will have 10 gig and they just didn't mention that specifically? That was one thing that surprised me, seems like with the other next gen standards they'd want that.

 

[tbrinkma]

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

So, 'only' an approximate 2x increase in speed. A speed which is limited by the drives, not the bus.

 

[ChrisA]

I feel so disgusted by complaints i've read about the lack of optical drive. I can't conceive that there are people that can't handle progress! If you need an optical drive go buy an external one, buy ten i don't care. But please don't force the rest of us to have useless 80s' tech in our computers! I'm glad Apple ignores such ridiculous requests, even if i'm angry with Apple for other reasons!

Putting an optical drive in the box is worse than "dumb" because it forces you to locate the box within arm's reach with the drive slot facing you. Even in the old Mac Pro this was stupid. Most Mac Pros end up under the desk and you have to get down on your knees with a flashlight to insert the disc. So I assume people are already using USB drives.

The monitor has a USB port to you'dplug in a slim line buss powered optical drive and put it under one of the monitors. Much better place for it then under the desk.

 

[ladeer]

I've been waiting silently to see what they've been teasing at for so long now. I thought for sure that with Steve gone, they'd finally release a modest, modular "xMac" after all these years.

Instead, they release a MacMini Pro.

For years, I've been hoping for a simple desktop from Apple that would grow with my needs. I've never needed a workstation, but occasionally I like to replace my graphics card, or throw in an extra hard drive. I've needed a Mac Pro Lite. Apple consistently refused to deliver.

I've tried hackintoshes for the past 8 years, but they're always too much work to maintain, and too unstable. Eventually I just gave up.

And I didn't end up settling for an iMac, a Mac Pro, or a Mac Mini.

After DECADES of being an Apple fanboy - believing in the company when no one else did (much to the ridicule of all my friends) - Apple has made a Windows user out of me.

I would've never believed it to be possible.

Hate on me all you want. You are no longer my people.

-Clive

Wow you buried your head in the sands? What you described was never remotely close to what apple does. It's like saying to Kate Hudson "I have been your fan all my life, thinking one day you would marry me. Instead, you didn't even reply to any of my emails. That's it I am leaving you." Cry me a river no one cares. They didn't make a Mac Pro for people like you who don't care much expandabilty, because if you cared, TB external will give you more expand ability than you could have with internal solution. You just care about price because you think you can upgrade just part of your computer without buying the whole thing. Well, you should know in Mac's ecosystem that's not what it is about. Form and function and performance all trump that. In fact, they care nothing about your agenda. Go to PC we don't care.

----------

Being that I am a PC guy, I really like this small, out of the way, design. In fact, it might be my first MAC purchase ever.

However, here are the issues I have with it.

1. Power button looks like the only power button is on the back I/O panel, so every time I want to turn it on, I have to fumble through the wires on the I/O panel to turn it on. From what I could tell, I could not see any power button anywhere else, from what they showed us. Now, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just didn't see it, yet.

2. The Headphone and Mic Jack is on the back I/O panel, again forcing me to turn it access it.

3. No front USB ports, again forcing me to turn it to plug in.

4. Memory Card Readers, no sign of this either. Can you see a pattern here?

5. No expansion. But since I have never owned a MAC before, not sure I will need to expand outside what it already has.

6. Optical drive...no sign of it. Again, doesn't mean it is not there, just didn't see it. I know, plug it into either the USB or Thunderbolt



Now, with the 6 Thunderbolt 2.0, 4 USB 3.0 and 2 Ethernet, you can have a bunch of items connected to it and keep your desk just as cluttered as before.

But like I said, I love the design, just how functional will it be for those who have Mac Pros already???

You are asking for a consumer desktop features like those on a dell. If you never used a Mac, we got this 27 inch Thunderbolt Display that's bring all the ports you mentioned and more to your desktop. (Except sd card)

 

[ChrisA]

Why the old, slow Gigabit Ethernet, when some current systems have 10 Gbps Ethernet standard?

My guess on this is that Apple is depending on their Flash based "fusion Drive" to make it fast enough you don't need 10Gbps all the way back to the NAS box.

And I assume they think you'd use TB if you really did need the speed. Either by using a TB "DAS" or placing a 10G NIC in some kind of chassis.

 

[Digital Skunk]

My guess on this is that Apple is depending on their Flash based "fusion Drive" to make it fast enough you don't need 10Gbps all the way back to the NAS box.

And I assume they think you'd use TB if you really did need the speed. Either by using a TB "DAS" or placing a 10G NIC in some kind of chassis.

There won't be fusion, just straight SSD which I think is welcomed IMHO . . . . save for the price that it might end up being.

While the device itself may be "thinking outside of the box" most folks suggestions are no where near that.

Here we have this cylinder that breaks away (badly) from the workstation model, but we are still living with the same Apple mantra that's existed since the early 2000s: "There's an adaptor or 3rd party solution that adds to the cost for that."

I doubt anyone wants to buy a NIC and TBolt PCI chassis just to get 10G. And if one is looking for a NAS, a shared DAS isn't coming even close to solving the problem.

 

[Eidorian]

There won't be fusion, just straight SSD which I think is welcomed IMHO . . . . save for the price that it might end up being.

While the device itself may be "thinking outside of the box" most folks suggestions are no where near that.

Here we have this cylinder that breaks away (badly) from the workstation model, but we are still living with the same Apple mantra that's existed since the early 2000s: "There's an adaptor or 3rd party solution that adds to the cost for that."

I doubt anyone wants to buy a NIC and TBolt PCI chassis just to get 10G. And if one is looking for a NAS, a shared DAS isn't coming even close to solving the problem.

I think Apple finally feels that with Thunderbolt they have solved all the problems of the original G4 Cube. I agree with that but Thunderbolt doesn't even come close to what PCIe 3.0 is capable of pushing. The G4 Cube was the computer of the future, today, but I see the same issues of this being the computer of the future and once more being stuck in today.

See you in 10 years Thunderbolt. Don't go the way of FireWire. I also don't think people that want the Mac Pro want it under "experimental" status.

 

[Zozo Calypso]

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?

Throw them in a thunderbolt NAS Server

 

[nitro912gr]

Complete rubbish. It will scream at most games.

Get your facts right... and be friend with google search, it will provide you enough info to help you realize what is true and what is not.

Pro grade GPUs will not play any game out there and if it manage to start the game, the performance will be extremely low.
That's because both the hardware and the drivers are optimized to handle more polygons than heavy textures.
Because those GPU have the same core with the consumer/gamer ones, it doesn't mean they are completely the same cards.

 

[tbrinkma]

I didn't say "that they have made" I said it would look like something Dell or Lenovo would make. If I had never seen it before and had no idea that Apple made it. The last company I would think to have made it would have been Apple, because it looks so unApple like.

Let me get this straight...

Something that doesn't look anything at all like anything Dell or Lenovo have *ever* made looks "like something Dell or Lenovo would make"?

 

[meatballs]

Shouldn't there be a foot pedal near the bottom that opens the lid??

 

[tbrinkma]

Jony Ive just doesn't get it. He thinks what's on his design pedestal is what goes on a user's desk.

Set this cylinder on a desk. Set a Drobo to one side, a PCIe expansion chassis to the other. Stand back and observe. The system takes up more space than the previous Mac Pro and it's a cluttered mess of mismatched boxes and cables.

Here's what you're missing.

That Drobo or external RAID array was already there, next to the old Mac Pro that's being replaced. The expansion chassis (if you need one) is significantly smaller than the other 7/8 of the space that the old Mac Pro used to take up, and adds a whopping 2 cables. One to the wall (for power-hungry cards), and one to the computer.

 

[InuNacho]

Now that is a new one: "...too many ports! I might use all the ports and not need a hub. Nooo Apple! Please give me fewer ports. Also cable ties and conduit will bust my budget, it might cost me another $20 to tie all those cable together."

My guess is most people will not use half of those ports, but even still I'd rather have more ports than fewer. My current MP has plenty of cables spewing from it. Never affected me a bit. You tie 'em up and slip them though conduit.

I keep all my stuff internal out of the way under my desk so I don't have to worry about cables like I had to with my MBP. My complaint was directed more towards the removal of internal slots anyhow, not ports.

 

[Capitalis]

waiting for the R2D2 skins

 

[nostromo77]

...goodbye expansion options, upgrade options, and keeping this going for as long as they've been doing with the current models... yeah, here we have a gorgeous design, technologically great, only it's giving NO option for any upgrade your hardware... that effectively kills it for me. Good machine, just not for me especially for the price they'll be wanting for it... and no I don't know the price but you don't have to be a time traveller to see into the future and know it's not going to be cheap at all....

 

[Digital Skunk]

I think Apple finally feels that with Thunderbolt they have solved all the problems of the original G4 Cube. I agree with that but Thunderbolt doesn't even come close to what PCIe 3.0 is capable of pushing. The G4 Cube was the computer of the future, today, but I see the same issues of this being the computer of the future and once more being stuck in today.

See you in 10 years Thunderbolt. Don't go the way of FireWire. I also don't think people that want the Mac Pro want it under "experimental" status.

Totally agree. Even if we excuse the Rev A of this new design, and new model of Mac Pro that Apple has you are so very right about the . . . . "tower" being something of a decade early and $1000 too much.

I am interested in the machine, but don't want to pay a premium for a tower that I'll undoubtedly have to kick out another $1500 or so for the periphs to use it as more than just a really fast box.

And that additional $1500 starts to shrink the more the machine pushes into workstation class price territory. This "box" . . . . cylinder priced at $2000 base (6 core) makes a better argument. At $1799 base (4 core) it's almost . . . . almost worth the price for that headless power house many have asked for . . . . even without the expansion.

If it costs $2500 and up, one might as well get a much more versatile HP or Dell workstation if one doesn't need Mac only software.

 

[E.Lizardo]

From http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ : "Machined Aluminum Enclosure". EOD.

That's even better.

 

[dpalme]

...you have to get down on your knees with a flashlight to insert the disc.

Really? I' ve never had to get down on my knees with a flashlight to insert a disc.....wow, you might either be extremely tall or sit in a chair that puts your head even with the ceiling.

 

[milo]

Really? I' ve never had to get down on my knees with a flashlight to insert a disc.....wow, you might either be extremely tall or sit in a chair that puts your head even with the ceiling.

Sure, if it's just sitting in the middle of the floor. Under a desk, I have to crawl around to get to mine. I had never thought of it before, but a USB optical drive would be much more convenient if I needed to use it much.