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'Constant Negativity' From Pro Users Led Apple to Develop Modular Mac Pro, Which May Not Ship Until 2019

For the Mac Pro?

Make it boxy, call it the X Cube, outfit it with at least 5 PCIe slots and 8 ram slots, at least 4 STANDARD 2280 (M.2) NVMe slots, and you have a home run. If you go really crazy, you can have a few additional 2.5" drives in there. Go crazy; I and most others do not mind a little bit of junk in the trunk.

You absolutely need PCIe if you want to do anything video card related... You also absolutely need a power supply which has *GASP* a few loose power cables in there to power these cards. The fifth PCIe slot is for nice things like HBA cards, or blackmagic (even elgato godammit) capture cards and the like.

And no, thunderbolt 3 is not faster than x16 PCIe 3.0 . Quit drinking koolaid. You absolutely need the latter to leverage future video cards.

X16 + X16 + X8 or 5*X8, take your pick. 40 Lanes!

Remember, this is for your #Pro users, not for Joe Schmoe who has no idea WTF a video card is to begin with. All we want is something that, when (not if) you decide to forget us again, we can open up easily (Glue? Really? Really really?), throw some other chips in and keep chugging along.

Or, again, open up easily, throw in what I need to function, and keep chugging along. No need to be fleeced £7600 for a Lacie 12Big anymore when I can throw in a $100 LSI HBA and a $500 external enclosure, and fill it with drives at leisure; and still those who truly want to light their money on fire, can still do so.



Win win for everybody.
 
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redheeler said:
We all could have foreseen this, certainly you can't tell professionals to immediately jump to using exclusively USB-C and expect them to be happy. With past models there had pretty much always been a transition period when dropping even a single standard for a newer/better one (External SCSI → Firewire 400, Firewire 400 → 800, Firewire 800 → Thunderbolt), and never were 5 dropped at once.

The compromise on battery life and soldered-in SSD only made things worse, while the higher price made the discounted older models a better value as well.
Click to expand...


Yeah, but it's 2.5mm thinner than the previous model. Doesn't get more pro than that. smh
 
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They should rethink their naming of the current line-up. Rename the current macbook pro to macbook. Drop the current 15 inch macbook pro with touchbar model.
Offer rebates of $200 to current macbook pro with touchbar owners, and release the " stealth bomber" model they choose not to release as the new macbook pro in 13 and 15 inch with more advanced hw, option to 32gb , better gpu.

So what remains will be:
-drop the macbook air.
-macbook 12 inch without touchbar(entry level), do a hw refresh , newer gen intel and drop it with $100 to 1199
-macbook 13 inch with touchbar at the same price level as the current macbook pro13 without touchbar. From 1499
-macbook pro 13 inch, thicker, "stealth bomber" with touchbar, better gpu, 32gb ddr 4/5 support.
-macbook pro 15 inch, thicker, " stealth bomber" with touchbar, perhaps even with Xeon, etc.

Will be a pain to reverse, a lot of controversy but is what apple should have done in the first place.
 
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ValO said:
They should rethink their naming of the current line-up.
Click to expand...
Their laptop line is a mess imo.

They have
11" laptop
12" laptop
three 13" laptops (MBA and TB MBP and non-TB MBP)
15" MBP

I think they need to tighten the product offerings that is less confusing and simple imo.
 
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maflynn said:
Their laptop line is a mess imo.

They have
11" laptop
12" laptop
three 13" laptops (MBA and TB MBP and non-TB MBP)
15" MBP

I think they need to tighten the product offerings that is less confusing and simple imo.
Click to expand...

I imagine we'll see the clean up next year.

MB replaces the MBA completely, and non-touchbar MBP goes away all together.
 
maflynn said:
Their laptop line is a mess imo.

They have
11" laptop
12" laptop
three 13" laptops (MBA and TB MBP and non-TB MBP)
15" MBP

I think they need to tighten the product offerings that is less confusing and simple imo.
Click to expand...

I think they should make their product lines less confusing indeed.
But i think they should keep the touchbar in their midrange and high end line up.
So drop the 2 macbook air models, make the regular 12 inch macbook more affordable, and let it be the only macbook without touchbar, have one more expensive 13.3 inch macbook model with touchbar (rebadged macbook pro 13.3 inch at a cheaper price) , and offer a new macbook pro 13 inch and 15 inch based on the dropped thicker , prototype stealth bomber with touchbar and high end pro hardware.

So 4 models instead of 6. Less confusion, 2 regular models, 2 pro models.
 
dfelix said:
You absolutely need PCIe if you want to do anything video card related... You also absolutely need a power supply which has *GASP* a few loose power cables in there to power these cards.
Click to expand...

I really hope they either provide or allow for some decent GPU options. Back in the cMP days you had a select few to choose from, based on the drivers they released in the OS. Usually these were a generation behind at inflated prices.

Now that nvidia sort of supports OSX via the web drivers, it opens up a lot more possibilities. It would be great if AMD did the same, then you'd pretty much have as much choice as the PC, which would be fricken amazing!
 
Abazigal said:
Maybe they are waiting for the MacBook to get cheaper first before dropping the air altogether?
Click to expand...
That doesn't make sense, Apple sets the price, so they can make the MacBook cheaper if they wanted too.
 
maflynn said:
That doesn't make sense, Apple sets the price, so they can make the MacBook cheaper if they wanted too.
Click to expand...

Not at the expense of their margins.

The first MacBook Air was crazy expensive as well. It wasn't until 4-5 years later that it became cheap enough to be Apple's entry level laptop.

It may similarly take a few more years for the costs of manufacturing the MacBook and its component parts to drop to an acceptable level.
 
Queen6 said:
In all honestly I would pay for someone with the right skill set to mod the case. I also tend to agree a Hacintosh is an additional risk as a primary system. For me it's just a no go due to contactual obligations and licensing. In all likelihood If went down the road of desktop I would opt for a W10 custom build, duel booting Linux/Unix or one HP'S off the shelf Workstations. More likely the former as I don't currently need a "heavy lifter"

Q-6
Click to expand...

I've done 2 G5 mods as presents, 3 cases left in my garage waiting for the next free weekend. I don't find the dremel work to be hard, just a little tedious. Kits are available, PM for a link to my favorite supplier. Other than the rear panel cuts it's all small bolts. Give yourself a day, a few drinks and a dozen cutting wheels and you'll get it done. Mess up the case and you're only out $100 or so, there are still many available as they rotate out of use.

Getting the os setup properly tends to take me a lot longer than the case mod itself but it's getting easier as the community contributes. Also, you only have to do the mod once.

The only remotely interesting question about this process is what to do with the psu. I did one case with a psu mod in the original enclosure and one where I kept the psu intact and stuffed it in where the drive cage is located. Neither was particularly easy. Some have just velcro'd their psu to the bottom. What we are missing is someone to produce a psu in a similar form factor to the original, that would be a hit for this niche.
 
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PoppaKap said:
Why would it take 2 more years to develop a desktop?
Click to expand...
Because instead of a tower it will be a modular assembly of sealed aluminium boxes filled with proprietary components to prevent users from upgrading their Mac Pro.

Apple are now run by accountants and their slouch towards mediocrity is inevitable.
 
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daveeasa said:
I've done 2 G5 mods as presents, 3 cases left in my garage waiting for the next free weekend. I don't find the dremel work to be hard, just a little tedious. Kits are available, PM for a link to my favorite supplier. Other than the rear panel cuts it's all small bolts. Give yourself a day, a few drinks and a dozen cutting wheels and you'll get it done. Mess up the case and you're only out $100 or so, there are still many available as they rotate out of use.

Getting the os setup properly tends to take me a lot longer than the case mod itself but it's getting easier as the community contributes. Also, you only have to do the mod once.

The only remotely interesting question about this process is what to do with the psu. I did one case with a psu mod in the original enclosure and one where I kept the psu intact and stuffed it in where the drive cage is located. Neither was particularly easy. Some have just velcro'd their psu to the bottom. What we are missing is someone to produce a psu in a similar form factor to the original, that would be a hit for this niche.
Click to expand...

Thx that's solid info, as I really like the idea of the concept.

Q-6
 
anewman143 said:
That said, I wouldn't do "mission critical" work on the Mac side of a hackintosh - that seems potentially dangerous without a really good backup option in case in craps out
Click to expand...

Actually, you CAN do such work on a Hack, in fact I've been doing this for over three years now - without any bigger problems at all. So, IF you get everything to run well, it runs as good and stable as a "real" Mac. With my setup, not a single bit has to be altered on my installation to make it run with my hack (everything hack specific is done in the clover ESP). I even have SIP fully enabled. Only things that may not run (havent actually checked) is iMessage and Facetime, but I wont use that anyways.

However, you have to carefully select your components, and it may take a while and some tinkering to make it run really well, and the biggest problem that still remains is updates - not so much the security updates, but the bigger ones.

But frankly, on a production system I would not recommend anyone to switch to a next macOS iteration from day one, not even on a real Mac. Apple QA has gone down the drain as well, so imho its best to wait for at least two or three incremental updates. In that timeframe, hack specific problems are usually solved as well. And think twice before going to Sierra, its bad (imho) and had problems on my "real" Macs as well.

But having said that, I still would prefer to have the same upcoming MP everybody is dreaming about, with "modular" meaning that it is just some nice "classic box" and no proprietary Apple BS. And I am not sure if they REALLY got the message. Fact is, with Hackintosh you don't save that much money, i.e. all you save is eaten up by having to use additional time to get it working right. And I would prefer doing real work instead of tinkering with SSDTs. On the other hand, I learned a lot of things about macOS and computers in general while doing that. Still, it was not my deliberate choice, I rather was forced to do it bc the nMP simply was unacceptable. Apple should thank the hackintosh community, bc I think that actually kept a lot of users in the Apple Eco System (like me). If it hadn't that option, I might have being forced to switch to Windows (horror ...).

I am mildly optimistic, but we have to see ...
 
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JamieLannister said:
xlMBfkc.jpg

can't innovate my .ass (PhilSchiller)
Click to expand...

I like that!

I also needed a new trash bin ;)
 
Question: let's say I want to drop an email to Apple, and clearly express what I - and seemingly nearly everyone - REALLY wants. I think that is still necessary because I somewhat doubt Apple really "got it", and this is really their last chance. If they mess it up again, it's game over.

Of course there should be a realistic chance that _anyone_ who is important enough actually reads that - and no, I do not want to use that feedback form on their website.

What do you think, to which adress should I send this email?

PS: on a side note, we should not forget that hardware is only one part of the equation. I am also very concerned about the state of macOS, especially when it comes to "pro" support.
 
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HJM.NL said:
What really worries me is this:

https://petapixel.com/2017/04/08/5660-mac-pro-crushed-photoshop-test-1530-pc-amd-ryzen/

Apple should respond. This is really outrageous. How low can Apple go?
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Not that it will have a huge detrimental effect on the Mac Pro's performance in this case, but did you notice (in the video) that this dunz has mounted his trash can
- in a brace under the table
- horizontally (!)

Considering how warm air behaves, and the nMP's thermal design, I would not be surprised if the mounting would have some effect on the Mac Pro's thermal performance.

RGDS,
 
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KPOM said:
They ignored every single legacy port with the 1998 iMac.
Click to expand...

yup. first machine with RJ-11 modem port, RJ-45 Ethernet port, 1/8 inch audio in, 1/8 inch audio out...
[doublepost=1491953450][/doublepost]
Michael Scrip said:
True.

But I think some people just want Apple to go to Newegg and pick components... assemble them in a standard tower case... and certify MacOS for said parts.

:D
Click to expand...

that would be a start. that would be something. something that would take less than a year and would let us all get to work now.
 
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