If the Mac Pro comes out in 2018, will you buy one?

[fourthtunz]

Just wondering, is it as some have said? The real pros have already moved away from Macs?
Either a hackintosh or a PC?
I love Macs but I wonder at this point if there will be anyone that wants a new Mac Pro in 2018?

 

[JesterJJZ]

If it's even slightly more modular and expandable than the nMP it'll be a no brainer. I will need a new machine by then.

 

[mcnallym]

Depends on whether it meets my needs, and if my 5,1 is upto scratch or not still.
IF my 5,1 wasn't unto scratch then with the price drop would probably be looking at the nMP now.

Same in 2018 when the new Mac Pro is supposedly out if meets my needs then would look at.

However until actually see what the product is then cannot say if would actually put money down or not.

 

[PieTunes]

It's way too early to say whether or not I'd buy something that no one has any idea about. Also, there may be some people in the community who have already invested a lot of money switching to Windows and don't want to do it again anytime soon in order to go back to the Mac Pro. There may also be a segment of people who at this point have given up on Apple completely after feeling they've been ignored for so long.

 

[aaronhead14]

If it's truly modular, with multiple PCI-e slots, expandable/upgradeable non-proprietary SSDs and RAM, M.2, NVIDIA Pascal graphics (also upgradeable), latest Intel CPUs, and plenty of room to add internal drives/SSDs, then ABSOLUTELY YES, I will buy it!

We video professionals don't care if the machine makes a bit of noise, or if it's less power-efficient than other computers; we need the POWER!

 

[flyinmac]

The problem for some, may be that Apple doesn't seem as committed to the Macintosh as they are to their financial statements.

In the end, it took bad financial statements to get them to consider that they'd better listen to what their customers were asking for.

A company should always be trying to gear products towards their customer base. Not just when numbers fall.

It would appear at this point that as soon as Apple doesn't need the Mac line, that it'll be dropped. And that's not a way to keep customers locked into an already niche market.

As for whether I'll buy it.... I've already transitioned 3/4 of the way over to Windows. I use my Mac for what it's always done. New jobs / tasks go to my Windows machines.

Those who have fully transitioned are not likely to come back until they feel that the Mac is going to be better at the job they need performed, and that Apple will support the Mac for many years to come.

In the corporate world, a Mac is becoming more like legacy equipment that's being phased out, similar to VGA display and parallel printer interfaces.

Perhaps some who haven't transitioned will buy it. I might. But if it doesn't exceed my expectations and meet every check box, I'll complete my transition to Windows.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Nope, my 2015 Mac Pro is happily chugging away, along with my 2009 Mac Pro. So I got everything I need.

 

[now i see it]

No

 

[JimGoshorn]

Nope. Running on a PC now so I won't even consider it until this machine is in need of replacement. Besides, that will give sufficient time to see how Apple handles future updates or if the mMP ends up in the same boat as the nMP.

 

[Yahooligan]

Nope, my 2015 Mac Pro is happily chugging away, along with my 2009 Mac Pro. So I got everything I need.

You mean your 2013?

For me, if it comes out in 2018 and provides for easy GPU upgrades that DON'T rely on proprietary Apple GPU cards but uses standard PCIe cards then I will be upgrading and either selling my nMP or finding some use for it around the house.

 

[mcnallym]

You mean your 2013?

For me, if it comes out in 2018 and provides for easy GPU upgrades that DON'T rely on proprietary Apple GPU cards but uses standard PCIe cards then I will be upgrading and either selling my nMP or finding some use for it around the house.

Would be surprised if Apple abandons it's own EFI in favour of using standard UEFI so that literally drop in a standard pci-e card. Even with the Mac Pro 1,1 through 5,1 then couldn't just throw any old card in.

 

[Yahooligan]

Would be surprised if Apple abandons it's own EFI in favour of using standard UEFI so that literally drop in a standard pci-e card. Even with the Mac Pro 1,1 through 5,1 then couldn't just throw any old card in.

cMP 1,1-5,1 are standard PCIe cards with Apple EFI, even some cards with boot screens that aren't specifically Apple cards, and they aren't using proprietary cards and connectors like the D700 in my nMP. That's what I'm referring to. There are exactly zero 3rd-party GPU upgrades for the nMP because of this, unless you want to try a card in a TB enclosure.

As long as Apple goes back to using standard PCIe slots for GPUs then that leaves the door open for 3rd-party upgrades.

 

[flat five]

for me, maybe.

it would have to be something really cool (for lack of better word).

 

[SnoFlo]

2018/2019 will be around the time when it's right for me to upgrade my computer, so if Apple has a new Mac Pro available then I will assuredly take a look at it. More and more applications that I use are universal / cloud-based so I'm not completely locked-in to any platform, which is nice. I will also have to take a look at Mac OS X at that time as well: Windows has come on strong as a very good OS, and I'm not up with OS X developments of late. For me, things started going downhill for OS X with Steve Jobs and his 'back to the Mac' implementation of iOS stuff into OS X.

To get past users back from Windows (using Windows hardware) like me Apple needs to come good, and show sustained commitment to a Pro platform. We'll see how it goes.

 

[ctrlzone]

yes

 

[prowlmedia]

Yes.

You mean your 2013?

For me, if it comes out in 2018 and provides for easy GPU upgrades that DON'T rely on proprietary Apple GPU cards but uses standard PCIe cards then I will be upgrading and either selling my nMP or finding some use for it around the house.

I think that is more possible these days. GPUs used to be mess of ROMs and variations.
[doublepost=1491779534][/doublepost]As a Pretty Pro, Pro... I tend to take what I am given and work with it. Have done for 25 years... These things are tools. Sure it'd be nice to have a faster one... but is it const efficient? Does a Van driver immediately go out and buy a new Ford when one comes out?

Sure I could go and buy a 24 core Windows machine but what's the point if you have to contend with the massive shortcomings of windows - Awful memory management, Horrible interface with zero consistency. Components literally from 1998 NT.

So I use a 4 Year old nMP + a 2008 MP and 10000 core Renderfarm I've made over 280K using them... so can't complain... but yes I will buy a New one But they really need to get not he Nvidia waggon.

I do wish they had Given this Bumpdate a Slightly upgrade GPU even?

 

[AidenShaw]

Components literally from 1998 NT.

And how does that compare to Apple OSX with UNIX components from 1980?

If something was well designed, it doesn't matter when it was designed.

 

[kennyisalive]

Nope. I'm transitioning to a Custom Windows Workstation.

I don't have time to wait and, honestly, I don't think they'll launch a product that will be at a reasonable price. They will put a huge markup on the sticker price as always.

In the unprecedented case that they do launch the greatest Mac Pro Apple has ever made, then maybe I will consider switching back to Mac. But for now, it'll have to be Windows.

 

[Chancha]

It is too early to call. For one, if the MP comes soonish, say Late 2017, it will have to perform on par, if not slightly exceeds a "Hackintosh solution" out there which likely will cost only a fraction of what Apple charges. But judging by the timeline of their roadmap it seems they are aiming to put in something more extravagant towards being "modular", in that case I am expecting them to out-do everything on the conventional (gamer) PC boxes market right now to warrant an extra year or two of waiting on top of the 4-5 year stagnation.

I myself have an exclusively Adobe CC workflow which Adobe made very sure it is cross-platform, that means I can move away anytime I want, or even run two system concurrently during the transition. My 2D photographic / desktop publishing work don't frequently involve CUDA accelerated or even CPU cores aware tasks, but industry demands from me can change at any time and everything that Apple offers are limited in ways that keep me from quickly adopt to those.

 

[Thunderbird]

Nope, 2018/19 will be too late for me. I also fear it will be too expensive.

I am now pinning my hopes on the rumors about the iMac Pro.

 

[Chancha]

Nope, 2018/19 will be too late for me. I also fear it will be too expensive.

I am now pinning my hopes on the rumors about the iMac Pro.

The iMac Pro does indeed become a very important stop gap. If such a pullover doesn't exists, that the next iMac update is just the 2015 version with TB3 then it will suffer the same thermo throttling as previous models, which keeps it from being taken seriously as a short term Mac Pro replacement. Since Apple also decided that any extra update on the trashcan is not worth the effort, so even with the price cut it is still the same hardware, particularly still remains with the TB2 ports, it means for users like us in this thread will surely be looking to switch out if there is no stop gap until the mMP comes out which isn't even remotely close.

 

[shaunp]

It would have to be utterly amazing, and be launched along side an equally amazing MacBook Pro as I prefer to have the same end to end platform on desktop and mobile. There would have to be also a clear financial advantage to move from a PC to a Mac - I've just switched to a PC because of lack of credible hardware choices from Apple. It would take an awful lot for Apple to get my custom again.

 

[jeff7117]

If it has a standard PCI slot for a GPU, then yes. Otherwise, probably not.

 

[Miguel Cunha]

Just wondering, is it as some have said? The real pros have already moved away from Macs?
Either a hackintosh or a PC?
I love Macs but I wonder at this point if there will be anyone that wants a new Mac Pro in 2018?

Since I still have to raise the money, Im comfortable with 2018.
Of course, it largely depends on the machine released.

For me, the current form factor is fine, except for the inability of upgrades - Its compact design suits my needs.
But, I reckon that a more modular design has a lot of advantages. I just hope it's not bulky and messy.

Hence, for me, the new Mac Pro would have to be/have:

• Fully Customizable: I want to be able to configure my own machine from the ground up.
• Fully upgradeable: CPU, GPU, RAM, Storage.
• Easy to upgrade and repair: Full and easy access to all components. Cheaper BTO options.
• Focused on performance: I endorse power efficiency, but I need a lot of power, nevertheless.
• CPU: Single and dual processor configurations, 8 core minimum; support for DDR4, 2400.
• GPU: nVidia. Single chip minimum - 8 GB GDDR5X.
• RAM: up to 128 GB DDR4 EEC RAM.
• Storage: Several bays (4 minimum). SSD system disc.
• Expansion: Minimum 4 slots free.

Default configurations:

Single Processor

• CPU: 1 x Xeon E5 V4 1xxx
  • Cores: 8
  • Base frequency: 3.4 GHz
  • Cache: 20 MB
• GPU: 1 x nVidia
• RAM: 16 GB Minimum
• Storage: 1 SSD, 512 GB PCIe

Dual Processor

• CPU: 2x Xeon E5 V4 2xxx
  • Cores: 8
  • Base frequency: 3.2 GHz
  • Cache: 25 MB
• GPU: 1 or 2 x nVidia
• RAM: 16 GB Minimum
• Storage: 1 SSD, 512 GB PCIe.

Again, this my wishlist.
This is what I need, at a competitive price. Don't bother do it, to charge twice as much.

If Apple will do it, that's another story.
If they don't, I'll leave the Mac, after 22 years.
There are other reliable options around the corner.

 

[prowlmedia]

And how does that compare to Apple OSX with UNIX components from 1980?

If something was well designed, it doesn't matter when it was designed.

Ah I am talking about high end interface stuff which is not well designed... Notably the font handling. Not touched since NT - horribly slow and badly thought out - can't group fonts / can't disable singles or groups can't swap out fonts easily / you install and they just sit there - they write to registry and are never deleted even if you removed them They have at least skinned it for windows 10 now.

ALL the windows built in apps are shocking. Truely abysmal. The photos app is a joke. Mail pointless. PAINT!!!! literally the same since 95

And the clusterfudge that is the windows registry.

Memory management and error handling... terrible. Indecipherable error codes... even for geeks like me.