Apple to Release Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR on December 10

[Unregistered 4U]

I’d want a machine I’m paying £6k for to last more than a year! ...
Even if I got this Mac Pro I doubt half my plugins would work, I’ve so many developer emails wanting me not to upgrade to Catalina..

You’re in a pretty good position at this point. You’ve got systems that are up to 9 years old that does the work you need them to do, so you can wait out another year. Like you’ve said, there’s every indication that Apple’s doing... SOMETHING next year according to Intel, and it pays to find out what.

I DO think that, due to the fact that Apple has a much better handle on the develop/build/deploy tools, the ABILITY to support multiple chipsets side by side for an extended time is THERE. BUT, would that be easy enough for a developer to WANT to do? Big question.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Because many pros actually can’t afford or justify $12,000. Even if you are pro, you still have a budget.
And when you look at what performance you could get for maybe $4-5,000 Linux machine with 32 cores and multiple high end GPU’s, the $12,000 is just going to be a hard sell for people in my field, which uses little to no Mac-specific software.

By $12,000, you mean a system with an XDR display? You are comparing that to a system without one? If that is the case, you do not need an XDR display and it would be dumb to buy one. If you need one, your alternatives are all substantially more.

However, if your alternative is a Linux system, you are probably not a great candidate for a Mac Pro. If you are a Linux user, you probably get no value from the ecosystem, so you see no value from its added cost.

 

[smulji]

The very previous Mac Pro model kind of makes me wonder. How much they commit to keeping the Mac Pro more up-to-date than before depends in part on how well it sells. That's certainly true of MPX modules as well.

I'm not expecting yearly updates but at least expecting an update every two years is fair.

 

[chucker23n1]

I'm not expecting yearly updates but at least expecting an update every two years is fair.

Yeah, I hope so.

(Annual updates are unlikely anyway because Intel doesn't actually update its workstation CPUs that often.)

 

[Steve121178]

What like group policy and the Windows ducking registry?

You might as well claim brain surgery is “better” than setting a broken bone because it’s “more advanced”.

When the thing that needs to be managed is a cluster **** from the start, having complex tools to reduce the burden isn’t a positive it’s a way to reduce the negatives.

Group Policy is a very powerful tool as is system centre configuration manager (SCCM) for deployment, patching etc.

Not sure why you mentioned the registry. Any half-decent admin shouldn't need to touch it.

 

[smulji]

Yeah, I hope so.

(Annual updates are unlikely anyway because Intel doesn't actually update its workstation CPUs that often.)

Unless Apple decides to switch to AMD's Thread Ripper CPU based on the Zen 3 architecture which should be out early 2021

 

[chucker23n1]

Group Policy is a very powerful tool as is system centre configuration manager (SCCM) for deployment, patching etc.

It is, but MDMs in macOS and iOS keep getting better as well.

 

[diego]

I really wish they had released a smaller, less expensive monitor along the XDR. An update of the thunderbolt display would've been great.

 

[smulji]

So, there's a rack mount kit for it this time?

https://9to5mac.com/2019/12/09/the-new-mac-pro-hits-the-fcc-ahead-of-launch/

 

[FlyingDutch]

Butt ugly

No, it‘s not.
And it is irrelevant.

 

[RyanXM]

So, there's a rack mount kit for it this time?

It was in the original Keynote at WWDC...

 

[fabian9]

Sign me up for two stands to use as paper weights.

 

[Gasu E.]

i honestly hope that at some point they will release an "amateur" display for those of us who can't justify spending 5-6k on a display. i mean the "pro" add-on is a freakin' joke this year anyway - there is absolutely nothing pro about the new iphones nor the airpods.

Perhaps you overvalue the Apple logo. There are many fine displays available in all price ranges from other manufacturers. Apple no longer focuses on the display market, and offers only the occasional high end model when it sees a hole in the market.

 

[chucker23n1]

Perhaps you overvalue the Apple logo. There are many fine displays available in all price ranges from other manufacturers. Apple no longer focuses on the display market, and offers only the occasional high end model when it sees a hole in the market.

There are very few 220 ppi displays, unfortunately.

 

[Apples Apples Everywhere]

 

[randomplaydo]

I'm not understanding why people are so up in arms about this. I mean, yes I see the reasons, but I don't get the validity of them. Some people are upset that Apple is producing a modular/user upgradable tower PC but have priced it outside their economic range. But my question is, for most people (and Apple has all the use stats shared with it from the software phoning home regularly) I'd be willing to bet that there's no actual *need* for you to swap out drives or other things that go in slots. You may really really want to. And some of you may actually have that as a need. But I'd be wiling to guess that the number of people who have that NEED and are at the lower price point, is not high enough to justify an entire line of computers being built for them.

So, apple went with what works for MOST use cases - Mac mini for people who just want a desktop, iMac for people who need something more powerful, and iMac Pro for people who are pros but not $12,000 computer level pro work needs. Then, there's the top tier for people who are doing special fx and color grading n the billion dollar movies we watch in theaters, or magazines that are on newsstands, etc. Recording studios running 90 channels of audio with a suite of effects on each channel. That ain't the average person. That ain't the average person in this FORUM. An iMac Pro doesn't cut it for those folks and they need the pinnacle. But when they buy a dozen Mac pros at $25k a pop, they also need expandability so they last for the next six or seven years. Again, that ain't the average person, nor is it the average person in this forum. Hell, I don't need one but I WANT a pro display because of the design aesthetic, size, and specs. So I'll wait a few years and get one used for a couple thousand when it's time to upgrade my system again. But I'm not going to be mad at apple for not giving me what I want just because I want it because I want it.

 

[Stephen.R]

regarding Mac Pros the last 10 years we always had the latest and newest

... There's always something isn't there?

"History says they won't update it at all" - actually history shows literally one Mac Pro model has gone > 2 years without an update.

"Oh well the updates won't be enough/what I want" - well you can't please everybody.

"Well they should please me, I am a person on the internet, my opinion matters" - do you want a gold star?

 

[kaycrystal626]

Only the top 1% professional or studio can afford this.

 

[Stephen.R]

Group Policy is a very powerful tool as is system centre configuration manager (SCCM) for deployment, patching etc

Jaws of Life are also a very powerful tool.

They too exist purely to get people out of ****** situations.

Any half-decent admin shouldn't need to touch it.

Yeah ok, sure, if you say so. I dunno what your background is, but early in my career I managed windows PCs (some of them over ~64kbit ISDN lines I might add), and writing patches to set registry keys was absolutely a part of the job.

Unless Apple decides to switch to AMD's Thread Ripper CPU based on the Zen 3 architecture which should be out early 2021

So... 18 months after the previous ones.. Not sure how you expect 12 month updates with CPUs that don't change that often, regardless of the CPU vendor.
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That's interesting (I hadn't seen the slide of the rack mount version from the original announcement). I wonder how much it changes the layout of things. Clearly no top TB3 ports, and doesn't look like they're on the front either.
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Only the top 1% professional or studio can afford this.

You're joking right? Even if you take the ridiculously hyperbolic estimate of $16K for a "usable" system, over a 5 year period that's $66 a week, allowing 4 non productive weeks a year and ignoring the residual value at the end of 5 years. If a business has a need for this kind of computing power but can't budget $66 a week for hardware, it's not "outside the top 1%", it's more likely on the verge of ****ing bankruptcy.

 

[FlyingDutch]

https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...stom-connector-for-the-ssd-in-the-new-mac-pro

A proprietary connector itself doesn’t mean it won’t be replaceable.
OWC in the past sold MacBook Pro SSDs with Apple connector, for instance.

 

[Apples Apples Everywhere]

A proprietary connector itself doesn’t mean it won’t be replaceable.
OWC in the past sold MacBook Pro SSDs with Apple connector, for instance.

Agreed but I haven’t found the OWC parts to be incredibly cheap either. I’m just going to buy the real thing.

 

[Coyote2006]

I'm not expecting yearly updates but at least expecting an update every two years is fair.

Actually there is no need for a yearly update unless Apple provides a new motherboard. They just have to provide the GPUs, RAM and CPUs to the Store.

 

[smulji]

So... 18 months after the previous ones.. Not sure how you expect 12 month updates with CPUs that don't change that often, regardless of the CPU vendor.
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I don't expect updates every twelve months. I actually don't think that's realistic anymore at least for this class of product. A 24-month update cycle is more realistic which would be right in line for when AMD's Zen 3 architecture will be out (Assuming Apple is deciding to make the switch to AMD).

 

[leicaman]

Meh.

I can build my own using parts from Newegg for half the price and it’ll be twice as fast. /s

If you believe that, you're deluded.

 

[Ulfric]

Threadrippers doesn't support Registered ECC, which limits the memory to 256GB at maximum.

Asrock has an X399 motherboard that lists RDIMM support on their website.
No idea if it's in production yet (no one appears to have seen any), but specs and QVL are listed at AsRock Rack.

No idea if they will release a TRX40 mobo that will support RDIMM. At least ASRock TRX40 Creator or Taichi don't support RDIMM.

There is a rumor that AMD might release Two new chipsets (TRX80, WRX80) wtih 3990X. Those new Mobos will support 8 channel memory & might come with RDIMM and LRIDMM support.