As someone who used to be in charge of EDA at AMD, I +1 this.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Working on Redesigned Mac Pro With Smaller Form Factor and Apple Silicon Chip
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As someone who used to be in charge of EDA at AMD, I +1 this.
Someone made the following comment on a (Houdini) SideFx Tech forum:
"Somewhat surprisingly, Apple silicon will support both OpenGL and OpenCL, so I'd expect Houdini to run fine on Apple silicon devices as a “translated” app, without SideFX having to do anything on their end if they choose not to."
Does anyone know if that's accurate?
Would these new machines mean that there will be a good 3D option for Macs? Or would it mean waiting for software developers to decide if they want to optimise their product for Apple chips?
I think one of the other main complaints about the Mac Pro from 3D artists (besides the price) was that the limited choice of processors didn't include ones that prioritised the viewport and active-work speed. I'm guessing the M1 would be a big improvement in that area. Any idea what they would be comparable to? (Intel i9? AMD Threadripper?)
"Somewhat surprisingly, Apple silicon will support both OpenGL and OpenCL, so I'd expect Houdini to run fine on Apple silicon devices as a “translated” app, without SideFX having to do anything on their end if they choose not to."
Does anyone know if that's accurate?
Would these new machines mean that there will be a good 3D option for Macs? Or would it mean waiting for software developers to decide if they want to optimise their product for Apple chips?
I think one of the other main complaints about the Mac Pro from 3D artists (besides the price) was that the limited choice of processors didn't include ones that prioritised the viewport and active-work speed. I'm guessing the M1 would be a big improvement in that area. Any idea what they would be comparable to? (Intel i9? AMD Threadripper?)
I was a big fan of Maya, when it first came out & was still an Alias|wavefront (SGI) product, not so much after the Autodesk acquisition...
I am a big fan of Cinema 4D, Houdini, & Octane; and excited to see what Octane X will do with forthcoming M-series chips...
But I would love, Love, LOVE to see Apple fork Blender & integrate it all with the FCP & Logic suites; kinda like DaVinci Resolve for video production, but with an added focus on Digital Content Creation...!
With the homogeneous approach towards compute that the M-series chips have, Apple could (if they really tried) probably make a pretty stellar DCC software suite that could become the "Indie+" standard...?
Last edited:
From here:
Porting your macOS apps to Apple silicon | Apple Developer Documentation
Create a version of your macOS app that runs on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers.
So, it’s “Supported”, but support could be yanked in the future. If they’re targeting Apple Silicon, they should be using Metal. It’s rewrite now or rewrite later. (AND a pretty big “gotcha” related to OpenCL.)Apple said:
The future of computing: a conversation with John Hennessy (Google I/O '18) indicates our very concept of how memory works will likely change very quickly.
Last edited:
If anyone is following:
medium.com
Get Ready for the Mac mini Pro
A high-end Mac mini makes more sense than a small Mac Pro.
It’s nothing that hasn’t been posted here, though. And, some of the posts here go further into the details than this one does.If anyone is following:
Get Ready for the Mac mini Pro
A high-end Mac mini makes more sense than a small Mac Pro.
I could see a Mac mini Pro...
2x+ as tall, the + being whatever the current spacing is between Mac minis a co-location sites around the world...
This way, the businesses that depend on the Mac mini, and its specific size, can still use the new Mac mini Pro on existing racks...?
And with a substantially larger chassis, the Mac mini Pro can have a much more performant variant of the new Apple Silicon...!
24 Performance cores
4 Efficiency cores
24 GPU cores
16 Neural Engine cores
16GB RAM (up to 64GB RAM options available)
512GB SSD (up to 4TB SSD options available)
Four USB4 / TB4 ports
One HDMI 2.1 port
Two USB-A ports
One Gigabit Ethernet port (10Gb Ethernet option available)
US$1,799 (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, & Gigabit Ethernet)
US$2,999 (64GB RAM, 4TB SSD, & 10Gb Ethernet)
Apple Low-Profile Mechanical Keyboard & Apple 3D Mouse sold separately (US$250 for the pair)
Apple-branded LG 40" UltraWide 5K2K curved IPS monitor sold separately (US$2,499)
2x+ as tall, the + being whatever the current spacing is between Mac minis a co-location sites around the world...
This way, the businesses that depend on the Mac mini, and its specific size, can still use the new Mac mini Pro on existing racks...?
And with a substantially larger chassis, the Mac mini Pro can have a much more performant variant of the new Apple Silicon...!
24 Performance cores
4 Efficiency cores
24 GPU cores
16 Neural Engine cores
16GB RAM (up to 64GB RAM options available)
512GB SSD (up to 4TB SSD options available)
Four USB4 / TB4 ports
One HDMI 2.1 port
Two USB-A ports
One Gigabit Ethernet port (10Gb Ethernet option available)
US$1,799 (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, & Gigabit Ethernet)
US$2,999 (64GB RAM, 4TB SSD, & 10Gb Ethernet)
Apple Low-Profile Mechanical Keyboard & Apple 3D Mouse sold separately (US$250 for the pair)
Apple-branded LG 40" UltraWide 5K2K curved IPS monitor sold separately (US$2,499)
Opinions, wishfull thinking, speculations, crystal ball gazing,.............And oh what a deception when a
"new" redesigned mac pro comes out.😙🤫🤔😷
"new" redesigned mac pro comes out.😙🤫🤔😷
What dimension is this guy in that a "reasonably-configured" Mac Pro costs you $20K? $10K gets you a 16-core, 96GB, W5700X, and 1TB SKU.If anyone is following:
Get Ready for the Mac mini Pro
A high-end Mac mini makes more sense than a small Mac Pro.
No doubt the Mac Pro is an expensive product, especially if you don't need the niceties (hence the clamoring for the xMac after all these years.) But I don't think the idea if Apple makes a "Mac mini pro" is that it's gonna cost $10K to get a decent configuration.
I would agree that there's a hole in the lineup (especially if Apple doesn't replace the "pro" Intel Mac mini and the M1 Mac mini is a reversion to the mean) where you could slot in this theoretical machine. But if it's just a more powerful Mac mini, that doesn't necessarily cover a lot of the people who, again, want a headless iMac, or a cheaper version of the Mac Pro slotbox.
Especially as Apple was willing to get rid of the Mac Pro entirely as a niche product not long ago, and then created a high-end workstation instead of replacing the mid-range models they had previously made, I don't really see the aim with where Apple is planning on going with this stuff in the ARM future.
From the outside, it's equal parts exciting and baffling, especially when you try and consider if this "they'll bring back the MagSafe and more ports" stuff is true rather than just wish casting. Did Jony and his faction really have that much sway at Apple?