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I would take one at half the size for $2999 if it spec'd out as the following:
8x DIMM slots max of 1TB RAM
2x GPU slots
2x Full-Length PCI Express Ten 3 slots
1x 512GB Apple SSD module base
4x Thunderbolt 3 ports
2x 10Gb Ethernet ports
I’d take an iPhone 12 mini for $400 but that’s not going to happen either. Your spec cuts what, maybe $20-30 in BOM cost?
 
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I feel bad for the people that dropped over 50K for one of the Intel models.
Dont worry, those that "needs" Mac Pro for their work will be Happy, and many are likely rushing to buy their last x86 Mac Pro. May be waiting for one more x86 Mac Pro update before they make the jump.

These things easily last 5 - 6 years.
 
And I thought I read somewhere recently that W series were bound for Macs. Did you see that?
I looked that up (you replied before I had added in the reference for other other letters). "W" means Workstation and it is used in PCs as well. Though as far as the Skylake series is concerned by Apple's it might as well be stand for "Wonked" :p
 
I did a quick google search and here is what I got (What are the Meanings of Intel Processor Suffixes? How-To-Geek):
  • C – Desktop processor based on the LGA 1150 package with high performance graphics
  • H – High performance graphics
  • K – Unlocked
  • M – Mobile
  • Q – Quad-core
  • R – Desktop processor based on BGA1364 (mobile) package with high performance graphics
  • S – Performance-optimized lifestyle
  • T – Power-optimized lifestyle
  • U – Ultra-low power
  • X – Extreme edition
  • Y – Extremely low power
So "M" does not mean memory but mobile (which I suspected as I seem to remember reading this was the case for graphics like NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1 GB which is aimed at a "medium sized notebook")
The Xeon M suffix parts are the ones that max out at 2TB RAM, compared to the non-M version which maxes out at 1TB. Intel has more Xeon offerings than the two W-series used in the iMac Pro and Mac Pro, which are targeted at workstations.

For Xeon here are the suffix meanings:
  • No letter = Normal Memory Support (1.0 TB)
  • M = Medium Memory Support (2.0 TB)
  • L = Large Memory Support (4.5 TB)
  • Y = Speed Select Models
  • N = Networking/NFV Specialized
  • V = Virtual Machine Density Value Optimized
  • T = Long Life Cycle / Thermal
  • S = Search Optimized

Those are the cores I was more referring to - not the low end 8 cores, which you're pretty insane to buy if you're going to bother with a Mac Pro imho.

For what it's worth I'd guess they're not using the M part as IIRC that's for bigger memory support beyond 1 TB...
No, they are using the M suffix parts, that’s how they can support 1.5TB in the 24/28-core machines.

There’s a reason those are $6k/7k upgrades, though most around here probably just assume Apple’s being greedy 🤷‍♂️
 
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Has anyone with a margin of knowledge in CPU architecture actually stopped to analyse what’s technically possible from one of Apple’s ARM CPU’s?

Assuming a new Mac Pro would have vastly advantageous thermal flexibility, let’s ignore the heat aspect for a moment.

How far can the Axx chips be pushed? A larger die will allow more cores. But does the architecture scale in the same way say, an Intel CPU does? What about clock speed and voltages? How high a frequency can each core reach before errors start leaking into the pipeline? What about all the underlying interconnects? Bus? Memory etc.

Can we extrapolate data based on the A14 in the new iPhones and iPad Air from the benchmarks vs the power consumption of the CPU and cross reference the performance improvements one would yield from an increase in power consumption?

if Apple can make a CPU(s) of equal or greater performance than the XEON with somewhat lower thermal and TDP requirements, then that’s a huge win, and would allow for the smaller footprint. This isn’t factoring in what they do with the GPU aspect. I can’t see Apple releasing a dGPU MPX module designed by them just yet. But they are known to surprise like with the afterburner card. So who knows. Maybe they can make a dGPU that uses up half the space and power?
 
Mac-Pro-Half.jpg
 
There is, also a market for a Cube type thing, a MacBook that’s essentially a thick portable desktop, and an X-Mac. However, the market for each of these are really tiny. Apple has historically felt that it’s not large enough to create products for.

Apple is supposed to be big and powerful (and courageous ?) enough to create a market but their focus is elsewhere, probably just in looks and money.

MacBook+Mac Mini+iMac+MacPro is not a line of products that can cover all needs and it certainly doesn't work for me, and, believe it or not, however weak/naive/sheepish the user and customer base is in this era, it won't work for Apple as well. They'd better undermine and limit macOS even more so that future users won't have any choice but using iPhones and consuming media.
 
I see this Mac being around the size of the Black Magic eGPU's, having the cheese grater look, and being priced at 2k to 3k maxing out at 6k to 7k.
 
I have to wonder what they'll sacrifice to make it half the size? Probably ditch the AMD GPUs. Maybe even several PCIe slots, as well. I fear we'll see another trash can Mac Pro, and then Apple will have to relearn that some people want modular computers.

Wow. Debbie Downer. Probably with AS, the Afterburner is no longer needed. Most of the volume for the CPU side of the interior would be gone. A redesign could move much of the airflow to where the PCIe slots are now, which is more or less half the entire volume of the existing MacPro.

WTF is it with folks who go from "Now" to "beleaguered" at the first sign of *ANY* change whatsoever?
 
That ROFLOL you are hearing over all the spit takes is all the laptop users. :p
You might have missed the point of my post.

We already know the ArMacs will be targeting laptops. That where their performance will be optimal and most improved, no doubt, over the Intel counterparts (where performance per watt is concerned). What we don't know is how this strategy will scale up to compete with a full workstation (what this post is actually about). That is, what will an unconstrained ArMac look like? That's an unanswered question which is why it's more interesting to me. For instance, if the performance ceiling is around where the MacBook Pro equivalent will be, then certain professional creative applications won't be able to be performative enough to remain on the platform.

Also, while Intel deserves the flak for their lack of innovation in the cpu side, Nvidia in particular is very aggressive with their gpu improvements. I would be very surprised to see Apple not offer full discrete GPUs in this enclosure, as they would be competing with a very large amount of configurations, price points, and TDP if they went just their own silicon for both CPU and GPU for everything from a MacBook Air all the way up to a MacBook Pro.
 
The 2019 Mac Pro is doomed to fail and cost 2x more than the previous generation. 👎🏻👎🏻
 
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Was it the size of this thing that people didn't like? I was under the impression that it was the price.

The people just aren't impressed with it and it's not exaggerated to say the hardware performance is almost obsolete out of the box.

Then, Apple attempt to overcharged the display with an outlandish price that costs 5x more which increase from $999 to $5000 and couldn't even include a monitor stand.
 
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Why? They'll still run for eons.
If you are a buy-one-new-computer-every-ten-years kind of guy, sure. But if you are a business that needs to regularly buy new computers (eg, you upgrade a third of your computers every two years or your business is growing and needs additional computers somewhat regularly), Apple's erratic product policy at the top end is going to seriously disrupt your purchasing options. And let's face it, very few individuals buy a $10'000+ computer, let alone a $50'000 one. Thus the higher-end configurations are targeted at businesses that can convert performance into income.

And that is before considering the availability and performance of software. Already the lack of regular upgrades to the 2013 Mac Pro disrupted your ability to profit from regular performance upgrades through hardware. This was compounded by the inability to upgrade internal components in it (TB2 had its limits, including in regard to external graphic card performance). Then look at things like the the afterburner card for the 2019 Mac Pro, software needs to be rewritten to really make use of it, which at least for quite a while only was true for Apple applications. Meaning, even before considering the Intel-to-ARM transition, significant changes in the availability of hardware components from CPU features Intel has been adding over graphic cards to dedicated hardware like the Afterburner card can significantly affect what performance you get and/or which software do you need to use to get the best performance out your hardware. Businesses don't like frequent changes in those aspects.
 
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I feel bad for the people that dropped over 50K for one of the Intel models.
I wouldn't feel bad for them, the type of pros who buy the top-spec Mac Pros are the type that charge a production company a few hundred bucks a day for it's use, on top of their daily rate (you know how much editors make in Hollywood?). Or, a production company who profits off it's use themselves with completed-and-aired shows purchased by a network. That's then purchased by you. It's a tool that'll pay for itself many times over. And they're also the types that will wait until a new technology is fully developed and adopted before transitioning, so they'll be years off.

If anyone purchased a 50K Mac Pro who isn't directly profiting off it is either crazy rich, in which case 50K isn't a concern, or are just simply crazy (in which case 50K isn't a concern for them either, nothing is).
 
Apple is supposed to be big and powerful (and courageous ?) enough to create a market but their focus is elsewhere, probably just in looks and money.

MacBook+Mac Mini+iMac+MacPro is not a line of products that can cover all needs and it certainly doesn't work for me, and, believe it or not, however weak/naive/sheepish the user and customer base is in this era, it won't work for Apple as well. They'd better undermine and limit macOS even more so that future users won't have any choice but using iPhones and consuming media.
I think their focus is on the iPad. Apple has never made products to cover ALL needs. They only need to cover the needs of enough of the computer buying market that makes it profitable for them. BUT, in focusing on the shifting requirements of that profitable chunk of people, they cut out a lot of folks that that used to be in that demographic. Apple sold a record number of laptop macs this year and not a single one can have their RAM or Storage upgraded. 15 years ago, that would have been insane, now, it’s what Apple’s target market finds acceptable.

Folks outgrew the Apple II, folks are outgrowing the Mac, and in the future, folks will be outgrowing whatever the iPad becomes.
 
I wouldn't feel bad for them, the type of pros who buy the top-spec Mac Pros are the type that charge a production company a few hundred bucks a day for it's use, on top of their daily rate (you know how much editors make in Hollywood?). Or, a production company who profits off it's use themselves with completed-and-aired shows purchased by a network. That's then purchased by you. It's a tool that'll pay for itself many times over. And they're also the types that will wait until a new technology is fully developed and adopted before transitioning, so they'll be years off.

If anyone purchased a 50K Mac Pro who isn't directly profiting off it is either crazy rich, in which case 50K isn't a concern, or are just simply crazy (in which case 50K isn't a concern for them either, nothing is).
See my post just above yours, what if a business needs another one of those $50'000 machines but Apple doesn't sell something similar anymore? Then they are screwed.
 
Apple ditched mac pro line once again, after 2013 fiasco. Two reasons
a) Price is 3x comparing to 2006-2012 models
b) Why spend up to €50.000 for machines with intel processors?
 
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