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The BTO upgrade prices aren't surprising, but the base price is almost a $1000 more than I remember my 2008 Mac Pro being. Perhaps this is related to American manufacturing versus Chinese, or costs associated with the new design, but it does seem to be more expensive.

Here in Norway, the base model is 25.000NOK now, my base model 2008 MP was 20.000NOK when I bought it. So it's a 25% increase in cost. I don't think the dollar has fluctuated that much against the Norwegian krone

Edit. These prices are included sales tax, a hefty 25% over here.
 
UM, seems people are forgetting not long ago before 2006 you could buy a PowerMac G5 workstation for $1999, and a 20", 23" or 30" CCFL LCD for less than a new moderately loaded Mac Pro. Granted, those were PPC days, yet they were powerful workstations at the time.

This? It's overkill. It's a heavily GPU dependent system with daisy chained external storage and a single core system* that limits RAM slots, not even more room for another boot drive. As others have stated, workstations should have more BTO options. Don't need heavy GPU's? Opt for a dual core system. Don't need Xeon server class processors? Grab an i7.

The processors exist, the hardware is there, the cooling system is there - the system is more than capable in handling non-server based CPU's for those who need a Mac more powerful than a Mac Mini that will work with any display they wish unlike the iMac.

This system creates an even larger gap between an iMac and pro-sumer mid-tower system many have been needing for work.

There is no sense in upgrading my Mac Pro5,1 6-Core with 256GB SSD boot for a comparable system unless I go all out for the 12-Core, dual GPU, loaded system I don't need (assuming the 12-Core has limited options). Yet I do need more power for HD editing as my 12 threads max out daily on projects. Even with my 25% off, and sale of my current Mac Pro, that's a lot to sink in that I would have to push to make back. God, Apple, wtf are you thinking? :mad:

Hackint0sh systems may be my only recourse, and after 15+ years as a Mac professional who praised Apple systems (before the iPhone killed the Mac), I'm a "Sad Mac".


*which may handle better than 2x Xeon systems in some instances*
 
These prices are very reasonable. My Dell workstation (T7610) cost my office $12,216 before tax, and with a HEAVY corporate discount.

$9,999 for a fully loaded MP is a steal. *sigh* I wish my company used Macs. I'd have one of those sitting on my desk instead of something the size of a house.

But it wouldn't cost $10,000 in Finland.
 
Got all excited and :(

I only want to know the d500 and the 512/1tb prices on the base 4core.

I shall have to be patient, after all i have still to sell my mac pro before i can plan the newbie.

Soon i guess :)
 
"If it's too expensive for me, then it's overpriced."

I have a late 2013 maxed out iMac, no bias here. However, this idea seems to be expressed by many of the members on the forum.

If your production company lands a $20,000 job every month, this nMP is chump change. Could it be useful for the prosumer? Sure. Is it intended or geared toward that market? Not necessarily. If it's not economical for you, don't buy it.

If you think this is expensive just go look at digital storms workstations.
 
"If it's too expensive for me, then it's overpriced."

I have a late 2013 maxed out iMac, no bias here. However, this idea seems to be expressed by many of the members on the forum.

If your production company lands a $20,000 job every month, this nMP is chump change. Could it be useful for the prosumer? Sure. Is it intended or geared toward that market? Not necessarily. If it's not economical for you, don't buy it.

If you think this is expensive just go look at digital storms workstations.

Yeah, but at least the current Mac Pro is priced and spec'd wide enough for pro-sumers and high end businesses. This model has created an even wider chasm between a loaded iMac and base nMP. The 4-Core base system, which isn't even that powerful compared to a current gen 5,1 model, is ludicrous.
 
Having seen the unit a bit in photos now it really seems it is way too shiny and glossy.

Even though that's a cosmetic thing it really demands too much attention from the eyes.

Bring on a matte black version, or aluminium look like the rest of the MB line-up. It just looks a bit out of place in the context of everything else.

Or heaven forbid they will bring out a range of colored cases for it >_<
 
Yeah, but at least the current Mac Pro is priced and spec'd wide enough for pro-sumers and high end businesses. This model has created an even wider chasm between a loaded iMac and base nMP. The 4-Core base system, which isn't even that powerful compared to a current gen 5,1 model, is ludicrous.

No, the current Mac Pro is priced similarly. If one is ok for the prosumer, so is the other.

----------

Having seen the unit a bit in photos now it really seems it is way too shiny and glossy.

Even though that's a cosmetic thing it really demands too much attention from the eyes.

Bring on a matte black version, or aluminium look like the rest of the MB line-up. It just looks a bit out of place in the context of everything else.

Or heaven forbid they will bring out a range of colored cases for it >_<

No. Make a RED one standard.
 
well now...

that was disappointing. I don't have any children left to sell for this. You can only claim "first born" so many times before people get suspicious.

Seriously though, thought for sure this would be much cheaper. Base prices are stupid high. I blame SSD price gouging as part of the problem. so....This purchase just got put on the back-burner. For now i'll just start saving for a new macbook pro with quad core i7. then maybe next year mac pro. I was soooo looking forward to working on a machine that wasnt always choking. I hate platter drives so much and my little mbair just isnt robust enough for the work.
 
They don't match up perfectly. They're also close to 7970s, which did have a 6GB version. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't thousands of dollars. As I mentioned it may be more of an issue of branding than anything here. If they were going to charge W9000 pricing, it would be called a W9000.
It it was a Radeon, they wouldn't call it FirePro. The thing is that D300/500/700 seem to be just Apple's markting names. There are no cards with these names, but there are cards with those specs. I guess we'll have to wait to find out what exactly they are (could even be the "Rx 200"-based successors to the current FireGL models, but I wouldn't bet on it).

However: Yes, a more reasonably priced machine with two 7970s (or equivalent GeForce GPUs) and an i7 instead of a Xeon is the machine many people want Apple to offer, but it's not the machine Apple built. Xeons are (mostly) more expensive than i7s and FirePros are more expensive than Radeons despite being based on the same chips. That's the market reality.

I often complain about the "Apple tax", but if the prices quoted in the news article are the real deal, it's more or less in line with other workstations and in terms of the GPUs, it might even be a good deal. Again: If you compare it to other workstation hardware, not the consumer versions – which are much cheaper at pretty much the same or in some cases even slightly better performance, but don't offer features like ECC for example.
 
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Glad I've updated my good old MacPro 4.1. I've paid around $2800 for it about 4 years ago and it's still running fast and without any problems.

These new prices are very high, especially here in Switzerland where the basic nMP costs around $3'827!!

And you will also need to buy some Thunderbold external cases in order to run the additional disks that costs maybe another $700 excluding fast disks that should be used with a machine like this.

The nMP is way cool and looks like a Borg vessel, but the price is too high.

Looking forward to the nMacMini...
 
Xeons are (mostly) more expensive than i7s

The Xeons used are the same price and the 6-core has a faster clockspeed than the i7, not to mention the 8 and 12 core models are obviously not available, and i7s would only allow 32GB of RAM.
 
The GPU prices(and the upgrade options in general) are actually not bad, but those CPUs cost as much as a decent used car. Goodness gracious. Then again, this isn't consumer level hardware. Even as an engineer, I don't think I'll ever need something as powerful as this, unless I start doing 3D stuff I guess.

If you ever need to finite element analysis then this machine would be fantastic if your using software that's utilising OpenCL ;) This may be a game changer and make GPU coding far more widespread. Here's hoping.
 
Wow, they are expensive. But then again, these are standard workstation parts that is always meant for 24/7 operations. I always hear people who say that their i7 processors and GTX 780s can destroy a Mac Pro for 1/4 the price. True story is, while I and most other people would not need this level of reliability, to those who need a reliable computer that cannot afford any errors and mistakes, these parts are well worth the extra 3/4 cost over an i7.

Lets be honest here, if a 3K iMac isn't reliable then Apple should not be selling them. I fully expect certain groups here to back whatever price Apple quotes, but lets not make stupid excuses for it.

They are charging what they know they can get away with. They will get a good number of business users who honestly need the machines and the expected number of the pretentious crowd who think it implies status by owning one. Each marketed group has its threshold, I am pretty sure Apple knows how to work each
 
I just want a computer that's faster than a Mac Mini and which has a video card that I can upgrade myself when faster ones come out. I don't need a $3K powerhouse.



Also I don't want an iMac since I don't want to re-buy a monitor whenever I upgrade my computer.



Apparently I'm alone in this, since Apple offers no such computer.


You can use the iMac onlya as a monitor since 2009 late iMac's

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3924
 
However: Yes, a more reasonably priced machine with two 7970s (or equivalent GeForce GPUs) and an i7 instead of a Xeon is the machine many people want Apple to offer, but it's not the machine Apple built. Xeons are (mostly) more expensive than i7s and FirePros are more expensive than Radeons despite being based on the same chips. That's the market reality.

Xeons are not more expensive. There just aren't any 8+ core i7's nor can you dual processor i7's. The GPU's Apple is offering are cheap enough if they are really comparable to WX000 series. So the reason the machine becomes really expensive is due to high core count compared to i7's and PCIe Flash. Memory and GPU's are really comparable to consumer desktops. A Dual 7970 with 12 GB VRAM would set you back a 1400$ as well when that card was on sale.
 
According to the tech specs the basic 4-core model can be upgraded to 6 cores so that would indicate you can leave the GPUs at the D300 level. I'm hoping for that, at any rate, as my intended application doesn't need higher than the D300 level and I'd rather sink my hardware budget into RAM and storage.


Im with you.

6 core
D300
256gb more than enough for me all my media is external audio/video and stuff

I've bought in November a top iMac i7 3,5Ghz / 512SSD / 32gb and I've returned it.
Its a wonderful machine but for my type of work i need the MacPro.

My latest computer was a MacPro 2008, I've bought for 2300€ (2008) and 5 years later i sold it for 1500€.
Its was really reliable Machine.
 
ya, people have no idea about the component prices. You can't even buy two FirePro W9000 cards (same as D700) for less than $8000 so Apple is throwing in the Mac Pro for free.

http://www.amazon.com/AMD-FirePro-R...?ie=UTF8&qid=1387236595&sr=8-1&keywords=w9000

Uh - do professional users really buy from a consumer-oriented mass-delivery company without proper support? Don't think that an Amazon price is representative for the price level a professional buyer would receive from his supplier.

I often complain about the "Apple tax", but if the prices quoted in the news article are the real deal, it's more or less in line with other workstations and in terms of the GPUs, it might even be a good deal. Again: If you compare it to other workstation hardware, not the consumer versions – which are much cheaper at pretty much the same or in some cases even slightly better performance, but don't offer features like ECC for example.
I seriously doubt that the "other workstation hardware" would come with similarly restricted internal expansion options. Profound concepts for internal expansion are one of the key features that distinguish workstations from simple DIY towers.

If the nMP's price is indeed "in line with other workstations", it's _not_ a good deal. Just the other way round: Other offerings may be the good deal in comparison, if you can accept less stylish design and a bigger footprint (both of which are usually no problem for a professional user).
 
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I seriously doubt that the "other workstation hardware" would come with similarly restricted internal expansion options. Profound concepts for internal expansion are one of the key features that distinguish workstations from simple DYI towers.

If the nMP's price is indeed "in line with other workstations", it's _not_ a good deal. Just the other way round: Other offerings may be the good deal in comparison, if you can accept less stylish design and a bigger footprint (both of which are usually no problem for a professional user).
Your complaints are absolutely valid but that's a different discussion.
I'm not saying the Mac Pro is perfect or actually fits anyone's needs, just that the components are (interestingly enough) not as overpriced as some people here think.

I'm absolutely with you when it comes to the problem of storage and expansion.
 
CPU (Stock: 3.5GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5)
- 3.0GHz 8-core: +$1500
- 2.7GHz 12-core: +$3000

Graphics (Stock: Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5)
- Dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6 GB GDDR5: +$600

RAM (Stock: 16GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC - 4x4GB)
- 32GB (4x8GB): +$400
- 64GB (4x16GB): +$1600

Flash Storage (Stock: 256GB PCIe-based)
- 512GB: +$300
- 1TB: +$800

Wow somebody's been hitting the eggnog a little early.
No way that much, well ~20% of that.
 
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