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Mac Pro Launching in December with Xeon Processors, Dual FirePro GPUs and PCIe Flash Storage

barkmonster said:
Read the Apple forums for the 5 minutes it takes to see all the problems people are having with the adapter using audio interfaces. Add the fact the only bus-powered external drives are USB 3.0 and then factor in the cost of compromising by using USB 3.0 or USB 3.0 to port multiplier adapters with multi-drive eSATA enclosures and you're still spending significant money compensating for leaving off 1 standard, widely used port and the missing internal expansion while still having issues with numerous audio interfaces.
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I agree, also doing audio work, I wish they added some firewire 800 ports.
It's going to be crazy expensive to move to Thunderbolt native solution.
But audio industry is moving slowly to Thunderbolt. Universal Audio, Apogee and Avid already have thunderbolt interface solutions, and i expect other Audio manufactures to follow suit by Winter NAMM.

For storage, thunderbolt native solutions are still rare and expensive, but wicked fast. I hope more prosumer solutions come soon. USB 3.0 is a valid solution in the interim, however. Just pop your old HDD drives out of your firewire enclsoure into some cheap USB 3.0 enclosures for now until more thunderbolt options become available.

A tough transition, but doable.
 
iBug2 said:
I can run world of warcraft on my rMBP with ease at 2560*1600, 60 fps. It's slightly slower than my 5870 on my Mac Pro, but the game is perfectly playable at high settings. So the newer one will be probably even better.
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Funny you should mention that, since my two heaviest uses are Photoshop/Lightroom with mega-huge RAW files (D800), and Warcraft.

I do wonder about pushing video to two dual external monitors from one of the new RMBPs.
 
what an expensive xmas present this will be...

It will do more than just make you happy, i'll break the bank too.
 
ChrisA said:
This new MP was designed to run Apple Pro Apps that make use of OpenCL.
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The problem with that argument is that 95% of the "pro" market doesn't use Apple Pro Apps. Probably even more than that.

Open CL is great, but for this machine to gain any real traction in these pro shops, then the software developers are going to have to play ball.
 
This is my first post here, but I've been entering the site everyday in the last 3.5 years, waiting for the next decent-worthy pro machine.

I am completely disappointed! 3,999$ for a machine with no space for expansion cards and extra hard drives? Are you nuts!?! And some people write here: "Duhh, you need an iPad! This is no gaming machine, this is the new pro!" Well "Duhh" yourself!

I got news for you: 3,999$ (and someone here wrote that the 12 core version might start at around 5,500$) for a workstation with one hard drive and with no space for your expansions is no pro - it's just bling!

I don't need bling. I need power, storage and connectivity. Apple expects me to buy chassis for this and chassis for that, with 100$ cables to connect between them.

They have another thing coming. They just shot themselves in the foot!
Thank you Apple, it's been a nice ride.

This is my first post here, and probably the last.
 
haravikk said:
It'd be an okay price except that for some reason in the UK Apple are expecting customers to pay an extra 12% on top of our 20% VAT; that's nearly £300 extra for no reason at all, which means they may have priced me out of it unless the education discount is particularly good, as I'd still need to get a couple of RAID enclosures and a new external sound card at the very least.

For a machine with a pair of 2gb professional graphics cards it's really well priced in the US, but I'm not very happy about their international pricing.

I may have to just get the more powerful of the Mac Mini lineup and look into external GPUs or save up to get a new Mac Pro further down the line.
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Australia has a similar problem. Apple charge more even for software downloads from the same online store.

All the tech companies screw Australia. It was cheaper to buy a return flight from Sydney to LA and purchase a copy of Adobe Creative Suite in the US, than to buy it from Adobe in Australia. It was the exact same software downloaded from the same online store, even with the same tech support.
 
orchardan said:
This is my first post here, but I've been entering the site everyday in the last 3.5 years, waiting for the next decent-worthy pro machine.

I am completely disappointed! 3,999$ for a machine with no space for expansion cards and extra hard drives? Are you nuts!?! And some people write here: "Duhh, you need an iPad! This is no gaming machine, this is the new pro!" Well "Duhh" yourself!

I got news for you: 3,999$ (and someone here wrote that the 12 core version might start at around 5,500$) for a workstation with one hard drive and with no space for your expansions is no pro - it's just bling!

I don't need bling. I need power, storage and connectivity. Apple expects me to buy chassis for this and chassis for that, with 100$ cables to connect between them.

They have another thing coming. They just shot themselves in the foot!
Thank you Apple, it's been a nice ride.

This is my first post here, and probably the last.
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I usually buy a hard drive or 2 per project. So it makes sense to have OS and applications running on internal quick flash drive and then buy a large capacity hard drive for each new job and plug them in via thunderbolt.
 
I like the Mac Pro but sort of expensive...

For regular video editing the now "vintage" Mac Pro would do, but for After Effects and 3D render like Cinema 4D is going to be a bless...
 
rei101 said:
I like the Mac Pro but sort of expensive...

For regular video editing the now "vintage" Mac Pro would do, but for After Effects and 3D render like Cinema 4D is going to be a bless...
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Maybe. It will be interesting to see what kind of benchmarks this gets.

Buy right now After Effects is much better suited using Nvidia CUDA and most 3D rendering is still CPU based. And considering the premium you'd pay for the 12-core, it seems like a PC workstation would give you more bang for your buck for the time being.
 
handsome pete said:
Maybe. It will be interesting to see what kind of benchmarks this gets.

Buy right now After Effects is much better suited using Nvidia CUDA and most 3D rendering is still CPU based. And considering the premium you'd pay for the 12-core, it seems like a PC workstation would give you more bang for your buck for the time being.
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Yes, I have a mac Pro and a 27" iMac, I do my renders in network. I would live to get the new mac pro but I do not have that much 3D jobs.

Still, you bet I will be at the apple store adding all the bells and whistles to see how much it would cost. Trust me... it will be over $10K easy the 12 core.
 
ChrisA said:
Do you really want an Apple 4K screen? You know they will use that glossy mirror-like screen coating. Buy one from anyone but Apple and you loose the glare and reflected images from in back of you.

I have to wonder if Apple really saves that much money by skipping the antireflective treatment. I'd be hapy to pay an extra $25 or whatever it costs

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(1) The MP is $3,000. What can run FCP X just as fast for $1,000?

(2) Yes the GPU is more importent than the PU is the job is media transcoding. The new MP is designed for Video. But if your task is to run a database then, yes GPU hardly matters


This new MP was designed to run Apple Pro Apps that make use of OpenCL.
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All perfect examples of my "Buy That Marketing" suggestion because:-

1. You could buy the 2.6Ghz Mac Mini, add 2 x SSDs in a RAID 0 config yourself for comparable MB/s to the PCIe Flash, 16Gb of 3rd party RAM and a USB 3.0 enclosure for the 1Tb HDD it came with for backup and still have change out of $1000 while maintaining nearly 88% of the raw CPU power of the entry level 4 core Mac Pro.

2 etc... Not everyone, in fact I'd go so far as to say, most people, don't just buy Apple systems to run Apple software. Not only that but few applications other than graphics are GPU dependent and you haven't even scratched the surface of those potential real world uses by lumping them all into a presumption that OpenCL is some kind of magic fix that all software automatically takes advantage of or that your examples of non-graphics software are exhaustive.
 
iBug2 said:
My prediction is that they won't be available this year. 4K displays are way too expensive and are a niche product at the moment. Even more niche than a Mac Pro. Apple stopped being a niche company years ago. When they are more affordable, Apple will be the first one to mass market them though I bet.
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Apple's displays have been niche displays since the first Apple Studio Display LCDs. The Mac Pro has been far more of a niche product than you give it credit for. And the Thunderbolts displays are the ultimate niche product.

Current 4K displays are at $3000+. I expect that Apple's will be at $3000 for the larger 5K display, $2000 for the smaller 4K display. But I expect the current Thunderbolt display will stick around at its current $1000.

Apple's first 1080p display, the 23-inch "Cinema HD Display", launched at $3500 in 2002. The first over-1080p display, the 30-inch Cinema Display, launched at $3300 in 2004. Apple has no qualms about launching ridiculously-expensive displays.
 
Grimace said:
It doesn't come with a keyboard and mouse for $3000?????
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Thank God! Our office is littered with worthless Apple mice. I used to say that Apple hasn't made a decent mouse since the "puck" mouse nightmare that began in 1996. The I realized I was wrong, since they were always 1-button mice before the pathetic "Mighty Mouse" so Apple has actually NEVER made a decent mouse. Maybe you have to give them the Lisa mouse since there were no other computer mice at the time so they won by default.

For all the things Apple has done right in hardware design, I can't figure out why they can't even begin to get the mouse right.
 
handsome pete said:
Maybe. It will be interesting to see what kind of benchmarks this gets.

Buy right now After Effects is much better suited using Nvidia CUDA and most 3D rendering is still CPU based. And considering the premium you'd pay for the 12-core, it seems like a PC workstation would give you more bang for your buck for the time being.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure a "name brand" PC workstation is going to save you much money over the Mac Pro (assuming the slightly different features will both work for you, i.e. Thunderbolt vs. PCI slots). I just tried to config a similar Lenovo Thinkstation S30 and it came out to $3600 (some things were guesses, like choosing a comparable pair of nVidia GPUs, but i chose ones that were about $400 each).

I'm sure you could get some kind of "desktop class" PC with similar benchmarks for much less though, since those Xeons "aint cheap" no matter where you get them. But then that argument could of course be used agains, say, HP or Lenovo's workstation class machines too.
 
Blu Reel said:
And where do you get that statistic from?
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Oh, it's purely anecdotal. But Apple's pro apps consist of FCPX, Motion and Logic. Maybe Aperture? So that's 2 out of how many professional creative/design applications? And FCPX has had minimal adoption among studios, agencies, etc. So I don't think it's unrealistic to think they have that small of a foothold.

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blackcrayon said:
I'm not so sure a "name brand" PC workstation is going to save you much money over the Mac Pro (assuming the slightly different features will both work for you, i.e. Thunderbolt vs. PCI slots). I just tried to config a similar Lenovo Thinkstation S30 and it came out to $3600 (some things were guesses, like choosing a comparable pair of nVidia GPUs, but i chose ones that were about $400 each).

I'm sure you could get some kind of "desktop class" PC with similar benchmarks for much less though, since those Xeons "aint cheap" no matter where you get them. But then that argument could of course be used agains, say, HP or Lenovo's workstation class machines too.
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Yeah, you're probably right about the cost. I still think the PC might hav an advantage with, depending on the software you use, the ability to swap out GPUs.
 
iBug2 said:
Higher core CPU's also have the same drawbacks. They are slower for single core tasks, which to date still are most tasks, and only some plugins and processes utilise all cores. I use myself an 8 core Mac Pro and I'll probably get a 4 core one now, not an 8 core since other than a few things, nothing utilises 8 cores, let alone 16 threads on a 8 core machine. And I want more single core speed. If I was doing renderings or big compiles constantly, yes a 12 core would speed up my workflow a LOT. But nowadays 8 cores or threads are enough for me. Although I have no use for dual GPU's either.
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It looks like the new 8 core beats the new 4 core on virtually every benchmark, including the single core ones:
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/86294?baseline=123580
 
dwarg said:
Thank God! Our office is littered with worthless Apple mice. I used to say that Apple hasn't made a decent mouse since the "puck" mouse nightmare that began in 1996. The I realized I was wrong, since they were always 1-button mice before the pathetic "Mighty Mouse" so Apple has actually NEVER made a decent mouse. Maybe you have to give them the Lisa mouse since there were no other computer mice at the time so they won by default.

For all the things Apple has done right in hardware design, I can't figure out why they can't even begin to get the mouse right.
Click to expand...

If I understand your comment correctly, you're upset that Apple's "mice" lack more than one button until the "Mighty Mouse", which wasn't/isn't pathetic. It suffered from trackball issues due to "grime" from users' fingers desensitizing tracking forcing many to clean it with alcohol and a q-tip or such, yet offered 4 buttons with a good deal of customizable settings.

Otherwise, Apple has produced mice/trackpads that offer more versatility than most competitors.
 
barkmonster said:
Read the Apple forums for the 5 minutes it takes to see all the problems people are having with the adapter using audio interfaces. Add the fact the only bus-powered external drives are USB 3.0 and then factor in the cost of compromising by using USB 3.0 or USB 3.0 to port multiplier adapters with multi-drive eSATA enclosures and you're still spending significant money compensating for leaving off 1 standard, widely used port and the missing internal expansion while still having issues with numerous audio interfaces.
Click to expand...

ARe people using usb drives for audio?
 
Food for thought...

For anyone saying that they could build a comparable machine for less consider:

You either have to run Hackintosh (eww) or even worse ANY flavor of Windows.

I've been doing this over 17 years now and I can't even begin to tell you the amount of time and money spent trying to fix, repair, or "just make it work!" I've spent on Windows machines. The time and aggravation savings alone make Apple hardware and Mac software more then worth the added investment.

And please, if all you're doing is checking email, surfing the internet or WASTING time in a virtual world (I'm looking at YOU 'World of Warcraft' and 'Minecraft') stick to a Mac Mini.
 
I'm a bit torn. While I do work with HD All-I video and lots of RAW picture files, not to mention the occasional bit of 3D modeling for fun, I've never really felt the need for a high end workstation GPU, much less two. While I'm sure they'll help, the only times I've ever really strained my GPU has been in gaming, on any computer. CPU always seems to be the bottleneck in my workflows. I'm really hoping there's some "downgrade" gaming GPU configuration options to save some money when this thing ships for real. I know that workstation GPUs can work for gaming, and perhaps the benchmarks will bear that out, but this all makes me nervous since the first time this thing was revealed.

While I'm sure I'll eventually get a new trashcan Mac Pro, there's still so many unanswered questions about the hardware options here. Apple's official announcement was nothing more than yet another teaser. We've been waiting for details since June 2012, and waiting for a proper Mac Pro upgrade for much longer than that. It seems the only thing we can do is either abandon the platform (as many have done already), or wait until next year when the facts are finally out and make our decisions then.

The one bit of good news is that it seems this will be a lot cheaper than I expected.
 
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