Bad guess, they will not use this chassis for a new Mac mini. That's the most ridiculous thing I've read all day.
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.
Graphics Cards in New Mac Pro May Be User Replaceable
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Bad guess, they will not use this chassis for a new Mac mini. That's the most ridiculous thing I've read all day.
The new Mac Mini will probably look something like this....
If Apple were to go just a little bigger than that, they could throw a sizable SSD in there alongside an Iris Pro 5200.
Wow, you still don't get the point. Maybe it's just time to let it go and move on.
Since I'm home sick today I decided to flip back through your last few posts. You didn't actually *make* a direct point in regards to what I was complaining about outside of simply, basically, saying that anyone annoyed about more potential clutter is wrong. Perhaps you'd like to take the time to do so?
If your point is that there's plenty of clutter with the current machines you're quite right, but it sits under my bloody desk and doesn't eat workspace. My points were that a)this will *add* clutter and b)once I'm done replacing things I get as part of the package on a standard workstation it doesn't have a price advantage either. Now not everyone needs those things, and some that do already use externals, and that's great, but the userbase of the mac pro isn't all that big to begin with, so alienating large chunks of them with the change isn't good for the future of the line. Remember, when the cube existed the towers did too.
If your point was that "pros will pay, so money's no object in terms of replacing peripherals" you haven't met something called a budget yet, have you? I *can* work on Debian, I prefer OSX. There's a good chance my next workstation will be a Dell or HP of comparable price to the 6core MPs and running Deb, simply because it's more in line with what I want, and I won't be alone. Apple's still king for me on laptops, but this move alienates me on towers. I waited an extra year to upgrade to see what Apple would do, but now it's time and unless this thing puts numbers out of the ballpark of what I expect , prices on enclosures drop, and I free up some desk space it's not for me.
Is that a set of points you can understand, or am I still "missing the point"?
I don't expect it either, but it would be an interesting way to amalgamate the dev costs of the enclosure. Doesn't really serve the tiny PC/HTPC role they have for the mini though
Last edited:
I'm surprised more people aren't excited about the sheer portability of this thing. Throw it in a Pelican Case with a bluetooth keyboard and wireless mouse, along with a small display, and for around 20 pounds in one case, I have a monster video editing workstation ready for travel.
Get well. Cheers.
The big question in this case is whether Apple will sell the replacement part, or if any third parties will make it, since it's a new form factor.
But internal expansions are things from the past now because we're leading to solid slate computer. In a long run, internal expansions won't bring any real benefit, so it's just useless to keep them.
In 5, 10 or 15 years from now, we will the same (or more) power than the current top of the line Mac Pro in a box with the size of the Apple TV. And the more technologies progress, the less average users (including prosumers) will need something more powerful, big towers, etc... Even server farms are now using rack-mounted MacMinis.
It's already the case for some previous heavy duty "Pro users", that can get the job done now with a simple iMac or MBP (sometimes even with an iPad already). 20 years ago we needed the top of the line Desktop computer to run simple application such word, excel, internet browser, etc... something even a smartphone can do now.
There's no doubt, the progress won't stop there and the type of work we currently do on a Mac Pro (and need a high-end Mac Pro for), such 4K video editing, could surely be done on a "non-Pro" device few years from now.
So, it's more interesting to have external connectivity to expansion your system depending your needs... which is something the new Mac Pro has. I even heard about some test done with a computer using 2km fiber optics between CPU and Memory and Graphic card. So, it's just a matter of time before we start to see some external high-end video card.
This is why Apple knows _exactly_ what they're doing and where they're going with the new Mac Pro (a vision that did start with the Apple II, reinforced with the iMac, the Cube, the Mac Mini, the iMac and now the Mac Pro).
I'm even sure that if they could get rid of any connectors and only keep wireless system, they'd do it. That's pretty much what they did with the iPod, iPhone and iPad...
So now, think about that. And if you think you know better than them, just start your own company and we will see who's right 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now
That's very nice! Thanks for sharing, never heard of it before
----------
Not just for gaming. I'm kind of tired of the compiling time in my 2009 white mbp... I bet these beauties would compile my code in milliseconds
I'm kinda scared about what Apple is doing with this Pro line
The Notebook I get if they're locked down. The Desktop? Come on, and no space for anything? I'm happy without optical drives, I'm even happy attaching external storage for just about everything, but making it impossible to - for example - put a Titan Z into it, is just ridiculous.
This needs fixing, I don't want to have to build a hackintosh or worse use Windows.
This needs fixing, I don't want to have to build a hackintosh or worse use Windows.
The ship has already sailed- I don't see Apple changing the Mac Pro back to a design with PCIe slots.
Thunderbolt GPUs are already possible and in the works. Though they have some bandwidth limitations vs fast PCI slots, a lot of the distance will be made up as (hopefully) Thunderbolt increases in speed. For now, you'd just have to get the dual D700's and hope that's good enough. It's also possible of course someone could make aftermarket video boards- if you're willing to pay Titan Z prices you shouldn't mind the price premium
What would be interesting to me is if someone could take a future Thunderbolt (when it's available) and pair it with a GPU "peripheral" the size of a shoe box that could never fit into a traditional PC case, with its own cooling, power, etc, and then see what's possible for gaming graphics.
I'm sorry, but no
Seeing as both of the cards don't have a pci express interface on the completely proprietary PCB, the user will not be able to swap out the graphics card. If you want to upgrade in the future, just build a hackintosh. Linustechtips has an excellent guide on how to do so.
Seeing as both of the cards don't have a pci express interface on the completely proprietary PCB, the user will not be able to swap out the graphics card. If you want to upgrade in the future, just build a hackintosh. Linustechtips has an excellent guide on how to do so.
You wouldn't swap them with PCIe cards, you'd swap with different cards in the same form factor, either from Apple or a third party if someone makes them at some point.
The article simply says that swapping the cards is something the user can do, fairly easily. And that has proven to be true.