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exoticSpice

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Jan 9, 2022
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After seeing Intel 13th gen and RTX 4090 the PC market is again thrashing Apple. Is there reason to buy a Mac Pro anymore?
We can always emulate/VM macOS and with RAID 0 SSDs and powerful GPU and CPU it will be smooth.
 
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Depends on whether Apple starts fixing bugs in the OS. At the moment I have no intention of giving Apple another cent.
One of my biggest issue with Apple OS. Microsoft has a wonderful change/bugfix log and they autually fix bugs on monthly basis or at least quarterly if minor.

Apple nada, looking at the state of macOS Ventura its very buggy and old bugs still exist. Memory leaks are still present in Monterey as of 12.6.

I never had a memoery leak on Windows 11 and I am using it on an unsupported machine.
 
The wool fell off my eyes back when they tried to pass the Trashcan off as a Mac Pro.

I can't see myself replacing my MP31 when it finally packs it in; apart from with another vintage model perhaps, as I suppose I quite enjoy keeping them going. Basically only good for a hobby now.
 
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The wool fell off my eyes back when they tried to pass the Trashcan off as a Mac Pro.
The Mac lineup was bad then. Like since 2013-2019. Horrible. The only Mac's I like now are the MacBooks. Love them.
 
I don't have a huge amount of confidence in the new Mac Pro whenever its eventually is available.
My 4090 rocks and am using it now - unlike the mythical new Mac Pro as I can't plan anything business wise.
 
I don't have a huge amount of confidence in the new Mac Pro whenever its eventually is available.
My 4090 rocks and am using it now - unlike the mythical new Mac Pro as I can't plan anything business wise.
yeah the 4090 is a beast. congrats on getting it early.
 
One of my biggest issue with Apple OS. Microsoft has a wonderful change/bugfix log and they autually fix bugs on monthly basis or at least quarterly if minor.

Apple nada, looking at the state of macOS Ventura its very buggy and old bugs still exist. Memory leaks are still present in Monterey as of 12.6.

I never had a memoery leak on Windows 11 and I am using it on an unsupported machine.
Agreed but Apple does fix the bigger ones relatively fast. I also got tired of updates literally every week mostly in the form of security patches due to Windows being the mass OS and therefore constant exploit attempts. Let’s not kid ourselves either, Windows has a ton off issues as well and at this point I’ll always take Apple’s hardware over anything a Windows machine has out right now including the new Surface lineup. MacOS is whatever but at least I don’t have to deal with plastic laptops or crappy aluminum with huge keyboard flex, terrible trackpads, and battery life at like 4hrs because Windows and their hardware still can’t figure their stuff out. Why in 2022 do I have to change profiles from perf, balance, or battery saver?

As far as desktops, unless you’re a gamer or like building your own system there’s little benefit to owning a Windows platform especially if you have other Apple devices/accessories.
 
For a desktop I’ll probably pick up another Mac Mini and grab a Dell Latitude from Amazon, since I really only use a laptop for photo storage when I’m on a shoot.
 
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Agreed but Apple does fix the bigger ones relatively fast. I also got tired of updates literally every week mostly in the form of security patches due to Windows being the mass OS and therefore constant exploit attempts. Let’s not kid ourselves either, Windows has a ton off issues as well and at this point I’ll always take Apple’s hardware over anything a Windows machine has out right now including the new Surface lineup. MacOS is whatever but at least I don’t have to deal with plastic laptops or crappy aluminum with huge keyboard flex, terrible trackpads, and battery life at like 4hrs because Windows and their hardware still can’t figure their stuff out. Why in 2022 do I have to change profiles from perf, balance, or battery saver?

As far as desktops, unless you’re a gamer or like building your own system there’s little benefit to owning a Windows platform especially if you have other Apple devices/accessories.
The biggest annoyance in Mac OS for me is the damn extra click to activate a finder window or whatever program is open and you want to use.
Its fine if using a just using a couple of things but on a large monitor with a 5120 x 2160 resolution I work on (plus a second vertical monitor) I can have numerous windows, folders and applications all open at the same time that I switch between often.
Having to click every one to 'activate' it before using that folder/application really slows things things down and makes Windows feel much faster and snappier to use.
Whats worse is that I find one click often isn't enough to activate said app/folder so its now a habit to do 2 or 3 clicks to make its sure its active.
If Apple cut out this extra click, I would be 100% in Apple.
 
It depends on apple. If they release a Mac Pro without the ability to upgrade to 3rd party graphics cards, and if it does not have several slots, I'm out. And once I'm out, the odds of me shedding the rest of the eco system go up. And once I shed the eco system, the odds of everyone around me doing the same go up, because I am their de facto tech support.
 
If the next Mac Pro isn't a standard paradigm slotbox... I dunno, maybe a mac mini hooked up to a drive array as storage, so it can use time machine to handle versioned archiving (or a synology), as well as Intel-based VMs for old macOS software... then as a machine for doing work on *shrug* maybe go all in on a Windows machine to drive a high end VR headset like a Pimax 12k, or a Surface Studio desktop, given it has thunderbolt and can do eGPU for extra displays / processing, but at least has a usage paradigm that feels like it has an actual directed philosophy of advancing computing, not just a lowest-common denominator of making everything look like iOS and Electron, to cover up for how many top-tier 3rd party devs are abandoning native frameworks, the way macOS is.

Tablets... I need a 120hz screen for drawing, but iPadOS just can't cut it - on a Surface Pro, I can use a full perpetual licence desktop version of Capture One, not the cut down subscription-only iOS version... I can plug it into an eGPU and have multiple extra screens etc.

Apple just seems like everything's become janky, and their eye's off the ball - hell they're launching bank accounts as their new thing, like WTF "oh we're only small, we can't make every product for ever customer, but we're going to to be a bank" *facepalm*
 
Tablets... I need a 120hz screen for drawing, but iPadOS just can't cut it - on a Surface Pro, I can use a full perpetual licence desktop version of Capture One, not the cut down subscription-only iOS version... I can plug it into an eGPU and have multiple extra screens etc.
I hear the new Surface Pro is out. 12th gen chips and also its got a replaceable battery now. Alas, they took the headphone jack but nothing a 9 in 1 dongle can't fix.

I also want to get the Surface Pro but I like battery life for tablets so I am going wih the ARM version of it but for my laptop needs I will for the Surface Laptop 5 Intel version cause of Thunderbolt and hook up an eGPU to play games/work.


Apple has so much potentional they ruin it on purpose. Their iPads can be so wonderful if they supported macOS and eGPUs.
 
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I hear the new Surface Pro is out. 12th gen chips and also its got a replaceable battery now. Alas, they took the headphone jack but nothing a 9 in 1 dongle can't fix.

Upgradable SSD, as well. Assuming a TB -> headphone adaptor similar to Apple's lightning to headphone adaptor, the dongle can live on the end of the cable, and it's largely a moot point.

I also want to get the Surface Pro but I like battery life for tablets so I am going wih the ARM version of it but for my laptop needs I will for the Surface Laptop 5 Intel version cause of Thunderbolt and hook up an eGPU to play games/work.

Well, the Intel version is set for a claimed 15.5 hours battery life, My first iPad had a claimed battery life of around 10 hours, so if that was good enough then...

Apple has so much potentional they ruin it on purpose. Their iPads can be so wonderful if they supported macOS and eGPUs.

Well they have to hobble the iPad, so you'll buy a laptop or iMac to do the things the iPad won't.
 
With the way that everything is going right now on MacOS, I’m probably going to bag continuing on the Mac. I have my 2009 Mac Pro and 2014 MacBook Pro running Windows 11 and there’s no problem. I’m looking for good alternatives to bridge the gap between my iPad and my MacBook, so if anyone has any suggestions for 2-in-1s or tablets lmk. I’m probably going to part out my Mac Pro and use some parts that my friend is getting rid of to build my own desktop.

Sure, Apple Silicon is crazy good for what it achieves…but if I have to use anything past Catalina or Big Sur, I’d just rather not and relearn Windows.
 
PC.

Now that Bootcamp is on the endangered list (extinct here when my last Intel Mac conks), the NEED for a PC for select clients overrides the WANT for an all-Mac household. Just purchased the Studio Ultra this year to be the main work Mac for the next 5+ years. Adding a Mac Mini-like PC next to recreate full bootcamp the old fashioned way.

And no, Windows for ARM is not full Windows, so even if Bootcamp for ARM might eventually show up, that may or may not be enough to run anything & everything Windows-dominant clients need me to be able to run/use/open/save as/etc.

I'm about an Apple everything guy but when it comes down to work, NEED must trump WANT. The loss of bootcamp creates a true choice for some of us for the first time since Apple went Intel. Those who must have broad Windows compatibility just about MUST have a PC. Apple again becomes a WANT computer. For those who can afford only one, NEED likely trumps WANT (not by personal desire or which OS is better, but by simply needing to be able to run stuff made for only (full) Windows). I see no good way around that.

Incidentally, this also influenced choice of monitor. Studio monitor is a one-input monitor. If you NEED to use 2 computers now, you are either going to be back there swapping cables regularly and hoping the non-Apple Silicon PC can fully work with pretty-locked-down Studio OR you need a monitor with multiple inputs (or 2 monitors). So for the approx. $2K Apple could have gotten for their beautiful new monitor, I went with a Dell Ultrawide 40" 5K2K. Besides buying much more screen RE, it has a built in KVM-like HUB with multiple inputs to make dual computer (or even quad computer) setups work without cable swaps, hoping & praying. Since it is not solely thunderbolt ports, it can also directly connect with pretty much everything... and share a single keyboard and mouse to use with BOTH computers.

Obviously to me, bootcamp was a BIG loss in my main Mac.
 
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For right now, my slightly modified MP5,1 will work just fine for my needs. I also still run a 2012 Mini, late 2015 MBP, GF has slightly older MBP that was my previous edition (she says it works just fine for the limited she needs). I still have a Windows laptop for the very few times I find the need to have Windows for anything. As of right now the only thing I need Windows for is the occasional remote access to .mil email, to which I can still utilize my 2015 MBP. I have thought about picking up a MP6,1, which would probably be the final purchase as far as Apple products for quite a while... but for right now, what I have works just fine for my uses. I do still have a Windows based PC for my media PC, only because I didn't want to mess with a Hackintosh setup at this time, while I continue working on my Masters degree.. Then maybe I'll rebuild it with some newer, better components, and look to Hack it..

I love the building of computers, and upgrading them. The only negative I have with a Windows based PC, is WINDOWS... After having two legally purchased (from Microsoft) Windows 7 PRO OS computers being locked out and not being able to utilize them online (unless I wanted to pay $100+ for two new keys)... I have since gone back to running Linux on most of my non Mac OS computers, I only have Windows 10 on the media PC right now because it came preloaded on the computer that I stripped down and installed into my HTPC case, otherwise it would be running Linux as the primary OS.
 
After seeing Intel 13th gen and RTX 4090 the PC market is again thrashing Apple. Is there reason to buy a Mac Pro anymore?

You have a really skewed imagination what consists "thrashing".

Yes, the RTX 4090, a standalone GPU which on its own already draws in excess of 400W (i.e., four times as much as a fully spec'd Mac Studio) and already costs more than two Mac minis is faster than the GPU on Apple's SoC. So what? It still has no support for mac OS' Metal API, nor does it have mac OS drivers, so for pretty much anyone using a Mac Pro to run mac OS applications is utterly useless. Besides, Apple is unlikely to remain stagnant, and you can be sure that its nex iteration of the AS GPU will come with a performance bump (and if that happens, will you come back here and tell us how Apple "trashed" the competition and how no-one ever needs to buy a PC any more?).

As to intel's 13th gen processors, they still run hot and suck power like there's no tomorrow, and while the performance numbers for the higher end models are impressive, the memory bandwidth is still lackluster (the horribly expensive Core i9-13900K is still stuck with a comparatively measly 89.6GB/s, compared with M1 Pro/Max which manage to do 200GB/s and 400GB/s; also the fact that AS uses UMA has some great advantages on itself when handling graphics data like large textures which no longer needs to move between RAM and GPU memory). Besides, not unlike the RTX 4090, there's little relevance for Mac users, as Apple has decided to end its investment into x86 and stick with Apple Silicon instead.

On top of the memory BW, Apple is also still efficiency king.

We can always emulate/VM macOS and with RAID 0 SSDs and powerful GPU and CPU it will be smooth.

Yeah, good luck with that with mac OS with intel support being on death row and AS the way designated way forward. You'll be missing out on an increased number of features and functionality even before x86 support is completely cut off. And good luck getting your powerful GPU do do much in mac OS anyways if there are no drivers.

Running an unlicensed (and in many jurisdictions) illegal copy of mac OS on a cluster**** of completely unsupported hardware may be a great hobbyist project, but for the market that's willing and able to spend upper four or five digit dollar amounts on a computer that's completely irrelevant.
 
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Surface Studio desktop, given it has thunderbolt and can do eGPU for extra displays / processing, but at least has a usage paradigm that feels like it has an actual directed philosophy of advancing computing, not just a lowest-common denominator of making everything look like iOS and Electron, to cover up for how many top-tier 3rd party devs are abandoning native frameworks, the way macOS is.
Thanks for reminding of the Surface Studio. I was really disappointed at Microsoft regarding this product not only does it start at $6600 AUD in Australia but it comes with a 11th gen Intel parts. I don't believe a touch screen stationary desktop is the future but it's a nice device.
Well, the Intel version is set for a claimed 15.5 hours battery life, My first iPad had a claimed battery life of around 10 hours, so if that was good enough then...
Nope, Intel's Alder Lake is rubbish at battery life compared to AMD and Apple's chips. I would not trust that 15.5hrs claim its probably tested at very low brightness.
Sure, Apple Silicon is crazy good for what it achieves…but if I have to use anything past Catalina or Big Sur, I’d just rather not and relearn Windows.
I don't mind the new macOS's just wish they were less buggy.
Obviously to me, bootcamp was a BIG loss in my main Mac.
Yep, Bootcamp was/is very helpful.
 
Neither one. Wont buy another PC and wont buy a Mac Pro either. Don't know at this point what Mac I will buy since my Studio is new and doing well.
 
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Either an 8,1 or a Studio, depending what the former offers over the latter, and for how much more. I'm not running Windows as a daily driver…
 
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