New Mac Pro is Quieter Than iMac Pro, Has Optional Wheels, and Was Kept in Top-Secret 'Stealth Enclosure'

[tallscot]

up to 4TB of storage? That's it? For a Pro Machine in 2019? My iMac in 2014 came with 3.1TB. For $6000 4TB should be standard, and at least 256GB RAM, but no that's how large storage is, lol!

System drive is different than "storage". Your system drive has the OS and apps. "Storage" has your projects, your video footage.

4 TB is huge for an SSD system drive based on the competition. All the Windows and Mac computers I have ever encountered have had 512 gig SSD system drive, MAX.

I have two 10 TB external RAID drives for "storage" on my 2013 Mac Pro. The OS and apps launch lightning quick on its 256 gig SSD system drive.

 

[GuruZac]

Yup. I always refer to this MacRumors thread to show you what the Mac Faithful always do,.

I guess all those bashing Tim Cook and praising Steve Jobs forgot they used to bash Steve Jobs too. Look at the people’s comments from that 18 year old thread in regards to Apple launching the iPod. Same story about Apple today with seemingly everything they announce. Negativity appears to have always been a part of MacRumors.

 

[compete12]

I'm so looking forward to this!!!!!
Normally, I wouldn't be able to afford it, but I happened to talk 12 friends into going splitsies with me.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I've always wondered how an x86 version of the old G4 Cube would sell today... One PCI slot where you can upgrade the graphics card, one processor slot, and upgradeable ram slot. Apple would never do it but the problem with this is they would probably need to sell it close to $1999 for them to make it worthwhile.

Even at $1500, on paper it's really no better than a Mac Mini performance wise. The only thing you gain is upgradeability, which on the low-end is really not that important. Apple makes their money on hardware, not software. They would also need to sell Apple-sanctioned upgrades to make it work out. Of course, that doesn't stop 3rd parties from cutting into that market. Selling commodity hardware is not what Apple does.

The problem with the mid-enthusiast market is that it's so fickle. No matter what price point you put it at, you can't please anyone. Make any sort of profit on the parts and you piss off the haters. It's a no-win solution no matter how you slice it.

People who want a "hackable" Mac already dabble in Hackintoshes and Apple turns a blind eye to this. The reality is it's not just the hardware but the tight integration with mac OS that makes the Mac what it is. Apple is still not in a position to even entertain the "clone" market.

The fact this product is so divisive tells me Apple has a winner. People who know what this is and what's it's capable of will buy it; those who don't feel a $6k workstation is their cup to tea are out. Instant qualification as to who is a pro and who isn't. Yet we still have people who think a semi-truck is the same thing as a F150.

Who thinks an F-15O is the same as a semi? Come on. Nobody’s that dumb.
[doublepost=1559786993][/doublepost]

System drive is different than "storage". Your system drive has the OS and apps. "Storage" has your projects, your video footage.

4 TB is huge for an SSD system drive based on the competition. All the Windows and Mac computers I have ever encountered have had 512 gig SSD system drive, MAX.

I have two 10 TB external RAID drives for "storage" on my 2013 Mac Pro. The OS and apps launch lightning quick on its 256 gig SSD system drive.

Dude, people who use this will have projects on externals or networked. Nobody editing 8K or whatever keeps the footage internal; that’s just crazy town.

 

[triptolemus]

A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks.

 

[AussieSimon]

I don't see a locking lever on the wheels, and I live in earthquake territory.

Come to think of it, so does Apple!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/apple-headquarters-earthquake-preparedness.html

 

[PickUrPoison]

I think the more powerful Mac mini was both a stopgap solution and a distraction. They mentioned a "modular" Mac Pro, and then released pro-level Mac minis that could be daisy-chained together. So one could surmise that was their interim solution to a pro solution.

I truly hope they rejig the Mac mini and bring the price down. It was a beautiful machine at $500-600, not the $999 that it currently costs for the base model in Canada.

Wow, $75 cheaper than in the US... I didn’t realize the mini’s price was lower in Canada. Nice!

The previous 8GB RAM/256GB SSD model was US749... with a much more powerful CPU and much greater I/O bandwidth, I think US799 is more than fair.

 

[citysnaps]

I guess all those bashing Tim Cook and praising Steve Jobs forgot they used to bash Steve Jobs too. Look at the people’s comments from that 18 year old thread in regards to Apple launching the iPod. Same story about Apple today with seemingly everything they announce. Negativity appears to have always been a part of MacRumors.

Yeah, for sure on that... Bashing the original iPhone, too.

I get the whining and moaning part. It gives people a wee blip of power that's otherwise lacking in their lives. For a few minutes anyway. And then the cycle is repeats the following day.

What I don't understand though, is how/why people freely embarrass themselves on a public forum engaging in the above. A really sad situation for those that indulge day after day. For years. My guess is life apparently isn't working well for them.

 

[SpinThis!]

Who thinks an F-15O is the same as a semi? Come on. Nobody’s that dumb.

haha, don't get me started... it's an analogy but have you seen some comment sections? It's the same thing... people comparing their home-made core i9 (or god forbid Ryzen) gamer rigs to server grade boards and Xeons. It's funny this thing is not even benchmarked yet and people are crapping all over it.

This new Mac Pro is basically a semi... impractical for most but very useful to the people who need it. People are disappointed that Apple didn't create the equivalent F350 for them.

A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks.

Bingo.

 

[tallscot]

Who thinks an F-15O is the same as a semi? Come on. Nobody’s that dumb.
[doublepost=1559786993][/doublepost]
Dude, people who use this will have projects on externals or networked. Nobody editing 8K or whatever keeps the footage internal; that’s just crazy town.

Yep.
[doublepost=1559788856][/doublepost]

A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks.

How many "production studios" are shooting RAW 8K? Tell me, since you seem to know.

And then tell me how many production studios exist to justify a Mac being dedicated to them and not the consumer.

 

[wesk702]

No, that would be outrageous.

$1000 for a pack of 3...

Or individual wheel for $799

 

[cppguy]

A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks.

Back when the iMac Pro was announced, I was thinking to myself, on my, when the Mac Pro is finally coming, it'll be pricey! I didn't expect it to be a good value compared to the $3500 iMac, a mass-produced consumer machine, versus a video editing beast. Unless you're Linus Tech Tips or MKBHD, shooting with a Red, don't even worry about the Mac Pro.

I expected the Mac Pro to be $5000+, with about the same base config as the iMac Pro. It's more expensive, and even less powerful. But don't look at the base config, this only makes sense if you're going to load it up for video editing. It's a long-term machine that you can keep upgrading for a long time.

Something that was designed from day 1 for high-end studios will never have the necessary volume to be affordable. What's misleading is that in the past they've had semi-affordable (barely) Mac Pros, and now they seem to be out of reach. Apple probably hasn't communicated this clearly enough, but this is for pros who need 4 concurrent 8K RAW streams, and stuff like that.

Enthusiasts look at it, ouch, this is a grand more than what I expected, the base config is disappoint (yes it is). Apple probably should've introduced a $4500 edition with consumer-grade guts, but they're not that kind of company. They've already covered that audience with the iMac Pro.

The lack of an affordable modular system is disappointing, but if it existed, it wouldn't be cheaper than an iMac, and it wouldn't be cheaper than a Mac mini + eGPU.

 

[mikethemartian]

Or individual wheel for $799

Collect all 4.

 

[SpinThis!]

How many "production studios" are shooting RAW 8K? Tell me, since you seem to know.

And then tell me how many production studios exist to justify a Mac being dedicated to them and not the consumer.

it's not about how many production studios there are shooting 8K. It's about being as fast as possible, even if you're not editing 8K.

When people bill out $200/hour or doing client work, you want that butt in the seat to be as efficient as possible or you're going to be sitting there twiddling thumbs waiting for a progress bar. If you can save 30 hours of rendering time, which is easily possible even on modest workflows or Cinema 4D, you've easily made that $6K investment back.

The only thing we can't get back in this world is time. I can think of a lot worse ways to spend $6K on if you're a business owner.

 

[compete12]

Too expensive. Already started building my own.
Chassis is $79.99 at the Container Store "Silver Sunny Kitchen Trolley" (wheels included)

 

[Glockworkorange]

haha, don't get me started... it's an analogy but have you seen some comment sections? It's the same thing... people comparing their home-made core i9 (or god forbid Ryzen) gamer rigs to server grade boards and Xeons. It's funny this thing is not even benchmarked yet and people are crapping all over it.

This new Mac Pro is basically a semi... impractical for most but very useful to the people who need it. People are disappointed that Apple didn't create the equivalent F350 for them.


Bingo.

Xeons are a different animal. And I’m basically a moron with CPU’s and I even know that.

 

[felix1904]

Can it support the weight of a person riding it down the hallway like a horse?

Maybe this is the Apple Car finally coming

 

[tallscot]

it's not about how many production studios there are shooting 8K. It's about being as fast as possible, even if you're not editing 8K.

When people bill out $200/hour or doing client work, you want that butt in the seat to be as efficient as possible or you're going to be sitting there twiddling thumbs waiting for a progress bar. If you can save 30 hours of rendering time, which is easily possible even on modest workflows or Cinema 4D, you've easily made that $6K investment back.

The only thing we can't get back in this world is time. I can think of a lot worse ways to spend $6K on if you're a business owner.

I was replying to someone who said "A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks."

And then you came in and talked about 3D animation, which isn't editing video.

But, OK, you want to talk about Cinema 4D? Let's do that. Please tell me how a Radeon Vega GPU means anything to someone using Cinema 4D when Octane uses CUDA?
[doublepost=1559791607][/doublepost]

I was replying to someone who said "A few people seem unable to conceptualize the difference between a production studio and some schmuck editing video for their YouTube channel at Starbucks."

And then you came in and talked about 3D animation, which isn't editing video.

But, OK, you want to talk about Cinema 4D? Let's do that. Please tell me how a Radeon Vega GPU means anything to someone using Cinema 4D when Octane uses CUDA?

If you don't know what CUDA or Octane is, you shouldn't be talking about Cinema 4D.

The $6K 2019 Mac Pro has a Radeon Pro 580X. You can't even run Octane on this $6K Mac. A $2K PC with an nVidia GPU and Octane would blow away that $6K Mac.

Look at the Octane benchmarks with PCs that have a dozen GPUs:
https://render.otoy.com/octanebench/results.php?v=4.00&sort_by=avg&filter=&singleGPU=0

You don't have a clue what you are talking about.

 

[8281]

Why is it “absurd”? Pros won’t be keeping their Photos library on here. The system drive is for the OS and applications. All media will be kept on super fast raids, either local via TB3, or networked via 10-gig E or fiber. Applications and their necessary support files are not that big, maybe a couple gigabytes each.

So why is 256gb absurd exactly?

Because it’s a $5,000 machine? Isn’t that a good enough reason? It’s 2019. Solid state storage isn’t the premium it used to be. Between the system files and application files that space will run out quickly.
[doublepost=1559791964][/doublepost]

Kinda reminds me of people complaining how the base iPhone 6 started with 16 gb of storage. Nothing is stopping you from customising the specs you want.

People complain because it’s a transparent effort on Apple’s part to nickel and dime customers.

 

[Baymowe335]

Why? I never said such a thing.

Yeah, you did. You said it was $3,000 overpriced.

Just admit it...you were wrong and your post was nonsense.

If you really take a step back and look at it objectively, this is not overpriced. In fact, it’s quite competitively priced.

You can complain about the $999 stand if you want.

 

[TheRealDGD]

The wheels are nice so you can roll it out when the dust builds up internally with all those holes and give it an air blast. The noise level would seem insignificant when you are working, usually audio drowns it out or your office talk would make it background noise. I am more concerned with how much the AC bill goes up getting rid of all that heat in an enclosed office. Glad it has a tower form enclosure and seems to be a beast you can upgrade for the next 10 years at least, when I can afford to buy a used one on eBay in 5 years from now......

 

[Virinprew]

I don't see a locking lever on the wheels, and I live in earthquake territory.

Come to think of it, so does Apple!

May be it's in the accessory list. "Apple break" for just $999. You can also upgrade it to "Apple break ABS" for another $999.

 

[Gasu E.]

Why is it “absurd”? Pros won’t be keeping their Photos library on here. The system drive is for the OS and applications. All media will be kept on super fast raids, either local via TB3, or networked via 10-gig E or fiber. Applications and their necessary support files are not that big, maybe a couple gigabytes each.

So why is 256gb absurd exactly?

The people who complain about the entry-level specs clearly are not pros. Dead giveaway.

 

[Mr Staunton]

Reminds me of a shopping cart, just more flashy.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Was the $3,000 markup also kept top secret? Base model is really only worth about that much.

Linus Tech Tips already did the breakdown of the parts (Price starts at 11:10)

So yeah... it's a $3,000 markup.

Linus is wrong because so much of that product is parts that have no commercial, off the shelf equivalent with the same designs, starting with the actual CPU by Intel that is not for sale to anyone but Apple.