Buy a New Mac Pro now?

[dobro03]

I've been waiting a l-o-n-g time for the updated Mac Pro and I now need to move forward with something. Is there any reason NOT to buy a new Mac Pro at this time? I am a composer/musician and do only audio though I do need to render video to send my music 'roughs' with film clips for the producers/director to see/hear. I was thinking of just going with the latest iMac 5k but I am worried about the machine heating up and also the possible noise.

The newest Mac Pro will be fine for my audio needs I believe, so what will the 'updated' Mac Pro have that I will regret not waiting for?

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

 

[thefredelement]

If you need it, get it, especially if it makes you money.

No one can say for sure what the next Mac Pro will be but I'd think it would be faster, have updated graphics components and updated throughput (ranging from Thunderbolt to how the SSD interfaces). No one knows when it will come out so like I said, if the available version will get your work done better than what you have now and that makes you money then go for it. I did over a month ago and no regrets, the thing is a computational beast, if you need OS X performance it's the way to go.

If your software runs on other platforms you may be able to get other workstations that are faster and cheaper.

 

[Daisy81]

Seeing as you intend to use the machine for work I would go ahead and buy what you need now. If it isn't working out you can always return it.

 

[rawweb]

I've been waiting a l-o-n-g time for the updated Mac Pro and I now need to move forward with something. Is there any reason NOT to buy a new Mac Pro at this time? I am a composer/musician and do only audio though I do need to render video to send my music 'roughs' with film clips for the producers/director to see/hear. I was thinking of just going with the latest iMac 5k but I am worried about the machine heating up and also the possible noise.

The newest Mac Pro will be fine for my audio needs I believe, so what will the 'updated' Mac Pro have that I will regret not waiting for?

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

If you're an audio wizard, you're going to love the 6,1. Spec out a 6-core with the largest PCIe drive you can afford so you don't have to run loud external drives when you're recording or mixing (you can always archive/dump at a non critical time, or wire it to a different location like a server room). Guarantee you will never hear the thing run when you need it to be quiet most. It was built for folks like you.

We can speculate until the cows come home. If Apple refreshes the computer you'll probably see some processor and ram speed boosts and thunderbolt 3/usb-c. I don't think those are enough to warrant waiting for something that may or may not be announced. Heck, it might not happen until late 2016! Plus, you could save a lot of cash if you picked up a certified refurbished unit from Apple. It will be a very long time until a refreshed theoretical 7,1 is on the refurb site.

5k is nice, but I've never met a quiet iMac under stress.

 

[Since1987]

No one can say for sure what the next Mac Pro will be but ...

No one can say for sure there will BE a new MacPro. So i sure can't buy in at that price with that uncertainty.
Apple knows this. Schiller announced the MacPro before it was ready, very unusual for Apple. But they had to do it to calm the marketplace. They had to signal there was a future for MacPro.

1. It would have taken a week for Apple engineers to slap a new CPU and GPU into the trash can.
2. It would have taken NO time for Schiller or Cook to say. We aren't announcing updates for our Desktop models today, but they are very important to us and there is going to be a big announcement in January.

Their TOTAL silence now indicates it's over.

 

[thefredelement]

No one can say for sure there will BE a new MacPro. So i sure can't buy in at that price with that uncertainty.
Apple knows this. Schiller announced the MacPro before it was ready, very unusual for Apple. But they had to do it to calm the marketplace. They had to signal there was a future for MacPro.

1. It would have taken a week for Apple engineers to slap a new CPU and GPU into the trash can.
2. It would have taken NO time for Schiller or Cook to say. We aren't announcing updates for our Desktop models today, but they are very important to us and there is going to be a big announcement in January.

Their TOTAL silence now indicates it's over.

This is a pretty old thread but I'll play..

I don't think the Mac Pro is EOL, maybe it is in it's current incarnation but for Apple to make iOS & MacOS, WatchOS, etc. they'll still need pro level computers to crunch code. The amount of testing needed on a code base for something like an Xcode or Final Cut would be massive and surely throttling for any other class of Mac in the lineup.

I haven't followed workstation class GPUs from AMD or Nvidia and would think someone around here has a better idea, but is there something available openCL wise in a workstation configuration that can be 'slapped in' ?

I don't know about their silence, they may not just not be ready and aren't sure when they'll do it.

I hope it's worth at least one more go round with updated GPUs, faster storage, Thunderbolt3, etc. I hope they do too!

The 2013 nMP still makes me money on a daily basis, it's still fast, I haven't wanted for anything in my day to day computing life.