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Concept Imagines What a Modular Mac Pro Might Look Like
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The purpose of the buyer's guide recommendation is to help people avoid buyer's remorse by pointing out when something is likely to be updated.
No web site can tell you what is a good deal, or which device you should buy because that all depends on your specific situation.
The mac pro has been recently updated and there won't be a replacement for a significant amount of time.
So, if this machine makes sense for what you need it for, you should "Buy Now" instead of wait, because you'll be waiting a long time.
There has never been a time and will never be a time when the trash can mac pro makes sense for me, but that doesn't mean that the people who needed it when it was first released with a "Buy Now" recommendation shouldn't have bought it.
*********. The trash can has none of those expandability features. Did you even watch the video?
How about this for a modular mac-pro:
too big, all the today components are more efficient and small....that was a design for '90 componentsHow about this for a modular mac-pro:
I think they are done with "crazy" designs.
They have shotguns cocked and pointed at.
They had to say "sorry we eff'd up".
To the very least I expect full compatibility with two 250W full lenght dual slot pcie 16x GPUs.
For those familiar with the SFF scene, they could easily hit the Kimera Cerberus dimensions for a dual GPU case
(the smaller one on the left, next to a white bitfenix prodigy, once considered a compact case)
https://kimeraindustries.com/cerberus/
Just swap all the steel with aluminum, slap a custom PSU inside and work some apple magic in terms of design.
Ship it with a full size wired apple keyboard with both the physical function row and a longer touchbar above.
edit: I'll add this pic of a bitfenix prodigy next to an iMac to better show how small is the cerberus in the picture above
They have shotguns cocked and pointed at.
They had to say "sorry we eff'd up".
To the very least I expect full compatibility with two 250W full lenght dual slot pcie 16x GPUs.
For those familiar with the SFF scene, they could easily hit the Kimera Cerberus dimensions for a dual GPU case
(the smaller one on the left, next to a white bitfenix prodigy, once considered a compact case)
https://kimeraindustries.com/cerberus/
Just swap all the steel with aluminum, slap a custom PSU inside and work some apple magic in terms of design.
Ship it with a full size wired apple keyboard with both the physical function row and a longer touchbar above.
edit: I'll add this pic of a bitfenix prodigy next to an iMac to better show how small is the cerberus in the picture above
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I had a thought about how they might go in an unexpected direction based on one thing: touchID:
If you want TouchID in a Touch Bar, like you have on a new MacBook Pro, on a keyboard... but Secure Enclave considerations mean you can't have that touch-id separate from the actual core computer without compromising its security (which after all is the whole damn point of it)...
... then you might go back to an older form factor, where, essentially, the keyboard and the main computer are a single unit. A 'back to the future' in the sense that this is the old form-factor of things like the Apple II, the BBC Micro, Atari ST, Amiga, some Archimedes models, etc...
But translated to modern styles and technology - thinking that, for instance, the Macbook 12" Retina's main logic board is *tiny*, a little card lost amongst batteries that wouldn't be needed in a desktop box... you could practically fit such a thing inside a Magic Keyboard, with just some tbolt3/usb-c ports on the back for power/monitor/etc.
And more powerful variants *do* start to more resemble those older machines. In an intermediate sense, something that might look a bit like a MacBook Pro base, but without a screen, possibly without a trackpad which, in a desktop, you'd want to be separate...; and on to something that has a big enough rear-end to fit in proper CPU cooling, proper GPU expansions...
... just a thought... It would be a sharp left turn in terms of style,but if the touchID/secure-enclave thing forces it...
If you want TouchID in a Touch Bar, like you have on a new MacBook Pro, on a keyboard... but Secure Enclave considerations mean you can't have that touch-id separate from the actual core computer without compromising its security (which after all is the whole damn point of it)...
... then you might go back to an older form factor, where, essentially, the keyboard and the main computer are a single unit. A 'back to the future' in the sense that this is the old form-factor of things like the Apple II, the BBC Micro, Atari ST, Amiga, some Archimedes models, etc...
But translated to modern styles and technology - thinking that, for instance, the Macbook 12" Retina's main logic board is *tiny*, a little card lost amongst batteries that wouldn't be needed in a desktop box... you could practically fit such a thing inside a Magic Keyboard, with just some tbolt3/usb-c ports on the back for power/monitor/etc.
And more powerful variants *do* start to more resemble those older machines. In an intermediate sense, something that might look a bit like a MacBook Pro base, but without a screen, possibly without a trackpad which, in a desktop, you'd want to be separate...; and on to something that has a big enough rear-end to fit in proper CPU cooling, proper GPU expansions...
... just a thought... It would be a sharp left turn in terms of style,but if the touchID/secure-enclave thing forces it...
Why are these even being shared? Nothing looks realistic from the massive oversized apple logos to a stand for that psychically would be unable to not fall over unless bolted to the table. Eek.
Last week, Apple executives announced that the company is working on an updated Mac Pro that features a revamped modular design to accommodate regular component upgrades.
The launch of the new modular Mac Pro is at least a year away as development has just started, so we have no idea what the machine will look like when it's finished, but that hasn't stopped designers at CURVED/labs from dreaming up a conceptual design that includes a simple Mac mini-style box and a matching Apple-branded display.
The imagined Mac Pro features a design that's entirely upgradeable, with two slots for full-sized graphics cards, rotating housing sides, and easily accessible sections for the processor, RAM, and storage.
Holes on the top are designed to allow hot air to escape, and there are added features like a Touch ID power button, a Touch Bar for accessing information on included components, and USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI ports, along with a microphone and a headphone jack.
Accompanying the imagined Mac Pro is a revamped 27-inch Apple "Cinema Display" with ultra thin bezels, an iMac-style stand, and and USB-C ports at the back.
Again, this is in no way representative of what the finished Mac Pro might look like, but it does imagine features that are in line with what Apple executives have said about the Mac Pro so far. It's going to be a high-end high-throughput machine that will facilitate regular upgrades to meet the needs of Apple's pro user base. And given its modular nature, it will ship with an Apple-branded "pro" display.
Apple is in the process of "completely rethinking" the Mac Pro and execs say it will take "longer than this year" to finish. What that means is not entirely clear, but one rumor has suggested it might not launch until 2019. Apple has a dedicated team working on the machine, which will serve the company's "most demanding pro customers."
Article Link: Concept Imagines What a Modular Mac Pro Might Look Like
I mean, it could be downsized a bit, but you obviously have no idea how large today's pieces are. In fact, some components are even bigger in size (GPU's, certain MB's, etc.).
You must be crazy. The thermal footprint is maybe even greater today then back in the old days. Just have a look at the power consumption (=heat dissipation) of todays high-end GPUs (+ at least a pair of Xeons).
If you need a portable, just buy a portable. Have you ever tried to run a real intensive computation on the trashcan MP, or on an iMac? Well, if you want to fry something, it works!
Cool concept, but uh, how exactly are we cooling that with a Xeon and GTX 1080 in it? With a series of tiny 1-inch turboprops on the bottom blowing up through the middle? That'd be like, super loud.
Might work okay for a much less powerful modular Mac Mini, though.
Might work okay for a much less powerful modular Mac Mini, though.
If they want it to be upgradable really they should just make a damn ATX tower with thunderbolt ports to add on peripherals in the future. Kind of like the old mac pro form factor.
Right. But the concept is sound (minus the optical bays): plenty of PCI slots for your cards of choice, RAM slots, and an abundance of storage bays. Everything a pro user could ask for!
Someone should do a mock-up for a 2018 cheese-grater.
Oh hell no! I don't want to see this bull. I want big ass case with plenty of expandibility. Mac Pro should be the regular iMac/iPhone in reverse. Make it big and fat to gain the love of professional users. I have no problem in spending up to 50K on a workstation (not including the storage) but it needs to be a industrial strength workstation without any Apple silliness found on their consumer products. In reality I don't understand why Apple just doesn't redesign old Mac Pro tower and release it ASAP. Trying to introduce something gimmicky is way of (Apple) trash can.
since tb3 is the future and eGPU...the gpu is not a real problem now...so who really wants three cards etc they could go with egpu...so no need to be that big just for those 10% that uses 3 cards in it...i want something smaller where you can easily swap the gpu ram ssd like a dvd
The trouble with amateurish concepts like this one is that the laws of physics are completely ignored. Look at all those ports on the back, then tell me how in God’s name you would design a motherboard. And that big honking graphics card? How do you cool it? By keeping it submerged in liquid oxygen?
You mean something like this, only with the original cheese-grater design?
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/workstations/z840.html
Dual 22-core Xeons, 1 TB RAM, here we go
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Uh, no thanks. That was fine for the early-mid 2000s. Technology has greatly advanced since then. My 2009-ish MacPro has two optical drives, a huge bay for huge memory sticks, 4 slots, 4 bays for spinning hard disks, with a huge power supply and fans to run it all.
It could easily be half that size today, with modern TB3 and USB-C ports, and be a screamer. No need to be stuck in the past.