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Concept Imagines What a Modular Mac Pro Might Look Like

The need for upgrading is much less today than a couple of decades ago, i.e the MBP I bought 2012 had 16 GB and 256 GB SSD, the same spec as the MBP I bought 2017. Movies, photos etc. are stored in the cloud and it's hard to find applications that really need more than 16 GB with RAM access speed, most of them are fine with swapping to an SSD. And with 3D XPoint around the corner the need for lots of RAM will be even less in the future.

The only thing worth upgrading for today is GPU/CPU.

So instead of making a modular Mac, make an external graphics card and an interface that both laptop and stationary computers can use.
 
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Apple has a long history of really nice "tower" cases. The cheese grater from the PMG5 onward, the G3 and G4 PowerMac. Hell, even back in the days of the Quadra, Centris and Performa the cases were easy to open with no tools and just laid out everything you wanted to access.
Take any of those older models and update with modern design materials and styling and you'd have a winner.
 
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elmaco said:
The need for upgrading is much less today than a couple of decades ago, i.e the MBP I bought 2012 had 16 GB and 256 GB SSD, the same spec as the MBP I bought 2017. Movies, photos etc. are stored in the cloud and it's hard to find applications that really need more than 16 GB with RAM access speed, most of them are fine with swapping to an SSD. And with 3D XPoint around the corner the need for lots of RAM will be even less in the future.

The only thing worth upgrading for today is GPU/CPU.

So instead of making a modular Mac, make an external graphics card and an interface that both laptop and stationary computers can use.
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I think this is what they mean when they said that the 2018 Mac Pro will be "modular."

The current Mac Pro (trashcan) is "modular" with thunderbolt. But, the bandwidth is limited for video. It's modular only in external drives. The custom GPU's are also "modular." But, of course, no third-party GPU's make one that fit it.

So, it's kinda tricky and ambiguous when they say that the new Mac Pro will be "modular."

So, logically, I think that what we can take from that "modular" statement is that the 2018 Mac Pro will be "more modular."

So, what does "more modular" mean?

I can think of TB3 and eGPU enclosure compatibility that will make it "more modular." Everything else, the trashcan Mac Pro, can be considered "modular." The RAM is "modular." The CPU is "modular." And, storage is "modular." The only thing not "modular" about the trashcan Mac Pro is the GPU.

A PC, a computer, is essentially made of "modular" parts.

So, Apple must be really trying to innovate the idea of "modular." Or, trying to make it really "modular."

But, even TB3, is limited in bandwidth and will choke modern GPU's. So, maybe, Apple is developing TB4 or a faster bandwidth way of modularizing things about PC's.

Thus, their foray into making their own GPU's. It might not be a "GPU." But, a way for GPU's to "talk" faster via modular means, like TB3, but faster.

Or, can a custom Apple GPU act as a thunderbolt-like chip to make current TB3 faster? IDK.

But, Apple is cooking something. And, their meaning of "modular," is not just making the new 2018 Mac Pro bigger, thus more modular, or putting back PCIE slots. I, mean, it's Apple, right? It can't just be putting PCIE slots back.

Am I close, Tim?
 
A rack-mountable tower with portability tolerance (locked down internal components, etc) would be my best hope. And thunderbolt cables need a locking screw - professionals don't like having external devices kicked off in the middle of a render because somebody bumped a cable. Put the R&D into making it the most powerful machine with the most stable OS and forget the gimmickry.
 
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Is it going to flap opened and closed like this? Guess it'll run cooler like that...

Kidding aside, it seems like a Mac mini knock-off. Industrial designers need to GET OVER this f***ing obnoxious "small form factor" obsession.

giphy.gif
 
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That thing is FUGLY!!!! 9 times out of 10, these people who make mockups are wrong and waste their time with this stupid process of making concepts/mockups. I have never liked mockups personally, though I have some buddies who love the creativity. It just never was for me. But this concept is something they'd NEVER DO. It's too much like a Mac Mini on steroids and doesn't distinguish itself as a unique machine. Again, my opinion is FUGLY.
 
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peterh988 said:
I always imagined a modular system to be like a series of Mac mini's, which would snap together, lego style, to give you the config you desire.

Start with a CPU unit, say 4 core, snap on another to give you 8, another makes 12, etc, stick a HD unit on that, or as many as you like, and so on.

OK I know it's simplistic and probably unworkable, but just thought that would be a way of giving people the ultimate range of choice.
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Yeah, we already had this from Apple.... and it was great:
1200px-Xserve_cluster_NASA.jpg
 
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Whoever designed this has no concept of engineering or how computers work at a basic level. They just imported a model of a GTX card and DRAM DIMMs into their video and more or less stuck them in completely randomly places. Graphics cards mounted vertically such that DVI ports are hitting the metal case and lead nowhere? Uh, sure. Memory DIMMs that you just slide into what look to be cubby holes? Er, fine as well.

But damn, they are very very proud of their idea to slide the chassis right and left. I think I counted something like 30+ times they did it throughout the video. Also ripping off the Nintendo Switch commercials a bit but with a louder and more annoying "transition" sound effect.
 
Interesting but... how exactly are you going to cool it?

It's my hope that this machine fully realizes the potential of Thunderbolt 3 (or faster). It'd be nice to have a very fast core that's basically just RAM and processors and Thunderbolt ports. Everything else connects through either Thunderbolt or some kind of PCIe expansions.

I see a lot of comments about a "traditional" machine, but if it takes another year to release a tower... that would be beyond asinine.

Expansion and upgradability aren't somehow only the realm of the tower. It's time to embrace things like eGPUs and move forward. What's more, it allows everything available to the Mac Pro to be available to the MacBook Pro.

SLI plus eGPU would be quite interesting.
 
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fokmik said:
too big, all the today components are more efficient and small....that was a design for '90 components
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Sorry, nope. You're thinking of those disposable entertainment/lifestyle products.

A form factor like should be able to accommodate a minimum of 8 internal SSD's in those old HD slots, but at full bandwidth capacity so that you could RAID them in pairs, etc., and you would have a choice between SATA6 and SAS connectors. Bootdrive would be an M2. 6 PCI slots for up to 4 GPUs. MDISC BluRay writer built in, and the secondary optical "area" would be a slot for an ejectable SSD or two, for DIT/media ingest from professional cameras.
Dual ethernet, optional 10GB ethernet card, optional hardware RAID either built-in or as a PCI card. Those PCI slots need to be able to handle the size of the fattest, fastest video cards, and the Intel Optane, and the Avid stuff.
6 Thunderbolt 3, 4 Thunderbolt 2, 4 USB 3, 6 USB C, WiFi and Bluetooth as an option. No IR card/port. Starts with 32GB ECC RAM, up to 128GB or more.

Single or Dual Xeons, socketed for upgrades. Give it cutting edge (no pun intended) heat sinkery and a fan to make it quiet like the 2013, and make it a 6-space rack-mountable unit. It should weigh at least 30 pounds. No ROHS greenwashing. Lead solder throughout so that it won't be disposable like most of everything else in our lives.

A "professional-version" OS X option for the non-installation of silly, time wasting things like Emoji, Facetime, Garageband, Game Center, Suggestions, and all of those little things that waste CPU/GPU and probably contribute to the overall lack of stability. If this is going to be a workstation that is preferable over a Boxx or an HPZ840, and not a playstation then what I have described is what will work. Otherwise it'll just be a glorified pad-pod-thinboy-emojibox.

10 year full-replacement warranty, or the design, components, ad manufacturing must obviously suck.
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peter2 said:
Yeah, we already had this from Apple.... and it was great:View attachment 695950
Click to expand...

That's a workstation. No emoji-design going on here...
 
Yeah, no. It'll probably be similar in size to the old Mac Pro tower. What a gorgeous and timeless case that was. They'd actually be stupid not to adapt it, they already have experience in manufacturing it and such, a few adaptations to a loved icon would be amazing. Nobody ever complained that their editing machine was too big, no idea why they made the trashcan.
 
iTuna said:
The Mac Pros from 2006 until 2013 were arguably the best pro machines Apple ever built, at least from an expandability/service standpoint. The optical drives slide out easily, the primary fans are on tracks and slide out after removing only two screws, the drives slide out with on pull, and even the heat sink covers are cleverly held on with magnets and pull off very easily. It will be difficult to replicate this in a small package like the concept shown.
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Agreed, I have a 2012 and love it. Its ideal in every way.
 
Do people actually look at these concepts before they publish them. Not only are they hideous, but they're also impractical.
 
module mac would be vertically stackable. ie. multiple mini like mac could be stacked vertically.

ie. cpu, gpu, memory, storage, and ports, are packed in individual module, customer could choose different configuration for each module, even could add more than 1 module in same type.

the connection between modules is key challenge, it could be ThunderBolt 4, multiple TB4 ports. I guess.
software testing would be another challenge for Apple, because the quality of Apply software dropped a lot after SJ left.
 
Just scanned all the "too small" comments on the first page and I can't help but think people are missing the point of the word "modular". It doesn't in any way imply "stuff everything in one huge box". Nor does it mean "separate display". The Mac Mini isn't referred to as modular by Apple.

I can't help but think Apple should have replaced the Mac Pro and Xserve lines with a single product that could cover all the use cases for both, instead of a non-upgradable trashcan and a PDF file about using Mac Minis.

If they weren't selling enough units, then halving the engineering required and combining the unit sales should have been sufficient no?
Anyway, here is what I'd like to see:

Something like a large Mac Mini physically. 2U high, 19" or less wide, much shallower than the Xserve used to be. In that box goes CPUs (maybe up to 4?), a big stack of fast RAM, a bottom of the line integrated GPU and the fans to cool it all quietly. It needs USB-C and bluetooth for keyboard and mouse, wifi, SSD for the OS, plenty of thunderbolt as fast as possible and a couple of ethernet ports with LOM.

I rather like having the touchable on the front.

This box can be rack or desk mounted. Touch bar works as a server status display when rack mounted. Same as the one on MacBook Pro when on the desk I guess.
Then there is a range of other Apple and 3rd party add-on enclosures. Some for the desk, some for the rack.
One for GPU(s). A single badass card for video guys, a mini rack of a dozen for building a computational cluster node using CUDA or whatever.
One for SAN/Storage. Like an Xserve RAID. Outsource it to Promise if needs be.
This new modular format means you can build a single CPU box with lots of storage to be a high capacity file server with redundancy, a scalable SAN node or a multi CPU, high horsepower supercomputer node. In short, perfect workstation or cloud infrastructure and anything in between.
 
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What's the point of writing about such amateurish and unrealistic design?
Mac mini standing on its side.
 
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