Yes, but that’s ONLY because you stopped when you got to Graphics cards.
Not likely any drama. It’s not like anyone’s going to beat them to the market with an Apple Silicon Mac Pro, they can take their time!
You’re right, it’s not.
The fact is that, if this were Family Feud and the question was “Name something that goes into a PCIe slot on a Mac”, 98 folks in the survey would say “GPU’s”. Which is why people think “Well, with the graphics being internal, there’s no need for PCIe in an Apple Silicon Mac Pro. PCIe has ALWAYS been for more than just GPU’s, people either forget or never knew. That page is informational for anyone that doesn’t know what PCI cards other than GPU’s are used in Macs and what “could”, if the companies deign to create drivers for, work in an Apple Silicon Mac Pro.I believe the last we heard them mention anything about the Mac Pro was at the Mac Studio announcement in March, 2022. They specifically said their transition would be over with the final product, the Mac Pro, but that announcement was for "another day."
Indeed, most Mac Pro users switched to Linux and Windows long ago anyways. No need to rush.
I imagine Apple strategy is to constantly throw out updated mac models as their AS processing evolves. If the time is right for another Mac Pro then the current intel model it will finally show up. Like the far fetched M2 extreme SoC rumor might not be as fictional as it's made out to be.
Fair enough, but I still think they're wrong. Here's some text from Apple's news release (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023...xt-generation-chips-for-next-level-workflows/), with boldface added by me:
Yeah, about that.....
Yes, but that’s ONLY because you stopped when you got to Graphics cards.
Apple I/O card
Third-party PCIe cards
You can install many different PCIe cards in your Mac Pro, such as fibre channel cards, fibre networking cards, and pro video and audio interface cards.
Afterburner
RAID cards
Working in this area I can say 100%, my issue is Apple left Nvidia, big mistake, the GPU is a major issue for Apple, its a real shame, as many Render engines need a Nvidia cards. (or multiple cards)
The OP wrote “I just don’t think Apple silicon is built in the way that makes it work in an upgradable tower (integrated graphics and RAM).” They, like many others, may not have been aware that PCIe slots have been used for other things in the past (and could potentially in the future) and that there’s actually more to upgrade for than just GPU and RAM. Vendors that are still shipping drivers for the 2019 MacPro are likely to provide drivers for whatever the next thing is Apple produces.
I think you may be right. My guess is they just don't sell many Pro's so it will never justify the investment in new silicon to make it fast enough for the market. This wasn't a problem on the Intel based Pro's because the processors already existed.
What render engine only works on nVidia; I am pretty sure all the major ones work just fine with AMD GPUs; and a lot of work is being done to optimize for Apple Silicon mainly because of the unified memory which offers more VRAM than even the best nVidia card. Check this thread out...
I can't speak for 3D rendering but I know that certain After Effects projects I've worked on do render faster on nvidia due to CUDA cores. But I believe that really depends on what plugins are being used in a particular project.
www.sonnettech.com
Don't quit your day job because Apple predictions is not your forte. Apple wouldn't have specifically mentioned the Mac Pro in the keynote last year as being the last Mac to transition to Apple Silicon if that was true. Sorry but you are 100% wrong with that prediction. I would say that would be possible if Apple didn't say anything, but since they did, that means they for sure will.
AE runs really good on my 2019 MacPro since I've upgraded the memory. Also a lot of AE plugins are being optimized for Apple Silicon also. It is a slow process. Good developers get stuff done; others lag lag lag.
They have now corrected the information on their compare and tech specs pages and the M2 Max does indeed have two encode/decode engines.
Hopefully, he doesn't order it with Apple Mac Pro Wheels. I know he hates them, LOLL.
