Roundup: First-Look Impressions of the New Mac Pro

[RickB73]

So In agreement over this. What happens with the designers that work from home... that are barely making it in the gig economy. They are limited to un un-upgradeable MacBook Pro or iMac. Apple could have easily made a system for half this price with very robust specs... apple is pricing itself into the elite. Forgetting that what saved it back in the 90s was the iMac... the $999 imac. And then the iPhone. The 400 dollar iPhone.

It saddens me and reminded me of the royals. The house of Windsor. And even they are so loved they are still so out of touch with reality.

I love the fact Apple made this Mac Pro. I just wish they had a cheaper entry level option at $3/4K price with 1TB/64GB RAM.
The prices are just too insane high.
The display is incredible, but $7k with stand and nano tech is ridiculous. They could have an option @ 5K display at $2500 with stand/nano.

Around $13k to get a MP/Display combo is not a feasible option for most Pro's.

 

[ImaxGuy]

And when adjusting for inflation, it's half the price of a Mac II (another pro workstation, back in 1987, that finally gave people slots etc. instead of all-in-one systems).

I do remember that but still wish the base price was more akin to the trashcan or cheesegrater of yore.

 

[jjvdhoef]

Mac Pro 2019, is a potentially super-workstation at a stellar final price. Start price at not a modest 6,000 $ for a modest configuration: intel Xeon 8-cores processor, a modest AMD graphic card, only 32GB of RAM and a misery 256GB SSD, the same as MacBook 12 (total expansion only 2 SSDs!). And a stellar 32” display at 4,999 start price but the final price rises to about 7,000 $ (inclunding Pro Stand and anti-glare matte glass option). In other words, a minimal Pro configuration (Xeon 16-cores, AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Dual, 256GB of RAM and 2 4TB SSDs), the price rises at 25,000$ level. And last but not least, PCIe 3.0, USB 3.1 and DDR4 are all near EOL technologies.

Yeah no. The macbook comparison is ridiculous. Unless your macbook has a Xeon, fast ECC RAM, a pro desktop class videocard, and all the extra's and expandibility.

 

[norbinhouston]

Tim Cook needs to be reigned in. Even Phil Schiller couldn't justify this pricing! Probably why he wasn't invited to speak.

 

[Glockworkorange]

1. iMac (pro). If I work a whole day on a machine and I have two monitors connected, they need to be identical for ergonomical reasons. CPU has not enough power (nopro) or machine is overpriced (pro). Need of a lot of fast internal HD space (impossible), loud under load, etc... pp...
2. Mac mini, see iMac, except for the monitor part. CPU performance too low. Biggest CPU version is way overpriced anyway.
3. MacBook Pro, see iMac. I know you can connect two monitors while the lid is closed, but the thing gets hot then and is still loud under CPU load (fans). I have to work in a studio environment and this is a no go. CPU performance too low anyway..

So there we go... zero.

You can hook to LG 5k’s to the iMac Pro.

Other than that, I guess it’s Windows for you, although to be frank, you sound really, really picky.

 

[ImaxGuy]

Did you hear the crowd at wwdc gasp at that price?

As did I. Almost like being there

 

[cpnotebook80]

Is there a release date? sorry didnt catch it

 

[gugy]

So In agreement over this. What happens with the designers that work from home... that are barely making it in the gig economy. They are limited to un un-upgradeable MacBook Pro or iMac. Apple could have easily made a system for half this price with very robust specs... apple is pricing itself into the elite. Forgetting that what saved it back in the 90s was the iMac... the $999 imac. And then the iPhone. The 400 dollar iPhone.

It saddens me and reminded me of the royals. The house of Windsor. And even they are so loved they are still so out of touch with reality.

Not just freelancers but most high-end studios that I freelance are not using hi-end tools for their staff. Everybody is budget conscious and want the best price/performance for their needs.
I don't see a huge market for a $13k base combo.

 

[Sabelonada]

Isn't that what the Mac Mini is for?

No, what I suspect he wants, what many of us want, is a high end desktop Mac with a modicum of expansion.

Take one, maybe two, of the SSD modules from this new Mac Pro, allow maybe even as few as 2 PCI slots, price it at $2499 for the i5 ($2799 for an i7) and it would probably sell like mad. Keep the RAM which can be upgraded.

Also, take the rack mountable aspect of both the Mac mini and Mac Pro into account and it may even see use in server farms.

 

[skinned66]

I used to think Apple computers were good value for money. Those were the days. Stay off my lawn.

I have a very well-to-do friend - like $200K cars wealthy - but he and his wife are independently self-made not trust fund babies so he has an idea what a buck is actually worth. I told him about this beast, the monitor and the stand because he was too busy to watch WWDC this week.

He said "Holy crap! Who is buying this stuff???" My response was "Californians."

 

[seclusion]

What a beast of a machine.
I would say only, that one nice thing about the older Mac Pro's 2007-2012 models were that you could move some of your hardware to the new machine. Helping in that upgrade cost, while holding onto say, your hard drives and monitor.
When I left my 2010 Mac Pro that needed a replacement motherboard for a 2017 iMac, I was pushed into using my sata ssd's into external drives. Getting a OWC Thunder 3 dock etc.
There was quite a cost to adding all those devices to work with USB C, but that’s all done now.
I totally get the cost of the new machine, it appears almost anything that is out there today would need to be made to work inside of this machine. I guess getting an add on for usbc inputs would be necessary for me.
We are so fortunate to have an option for an almost infinite headroom power machine all inside a box like that.
Looking forward to seeing what people do to max these out.
From an iPod to a maxed out Mac Pro.
Crazy.

 

[AndyDiamond]

lol @ the typical replies here.

Apple delivered an extreme, high-end pro machine.
It costs $$.

For professional companies who rely on the fastest tech to get the job done the new Mac Pro will be a beast.
If you have any idea what these companies spend on hardware and operators then these new machines are hardly 'expensive'.

Likewise with the monitor - for the target users its a dream and would fit into HW budgets.

If you don't need that power (and let's face it, average users don't) an iMac Pro or even the 2019 5K iMac is a a beast for most work.

Just for the record, the price of the new base model Mac Pro is comparable with other Macs of the past.
Here's a few examples:
• Mac Pro "Twelve Core" 3.06 (2012/Westmere) US$6199
• Macintosh SE/30 (1989) US$4,369 (equivalent to $8,831 in 2018)
• Macintosh IIfx (1990) US$8,969 (equivalent to $17,200 in 2018)
• Macintosh Quadra 950 (1992) US$7,200 (equivalent to $12,855 in 2018)
• Power Macintosh 8100 US$4,200 (equivalent to $7,100 in 2018)
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He said "Holy crap! Who is buying this stuff???" My response was "Californians."

oh - only film/TV production companies, design firms, special effects companies, recording studios - you know those people...

 

[ImaxGuy]

So I agree with what you're saying. My 2019 15 inch chugs a bit when pushing a 27 inch Dell 4 and the LG Ultra-fine 4K at the same time. I have not hooked it up to my LG UltraFine 5K, but will try that next.

Anway, I could have sworn she said the 13 inch MBP would run that beast over TB3. I will have to go back and re-watch, but I could have sworn she said it. I think a loaded 2017 iMac will drive it.

As for the price, buying it, etc. there was an outside chance I would have bought it, even at that price. I just can't justify another $1,000.00 for the stand on top and the monitor would not be in a position to be mounted.

My fully loaded 2016 15” MBP chugs a bit driving a 34” LG ultra wide, 27” LG 5K and a 27” 1080 monitor while running 512 voices with ProTools Ultimate 2019.5. I was hoping things would be better on a loaded 2019 MBP... dunno what i’m gonna do if it will still be a problem - portability is key for me. It seems all the thermal tests might not take into account ate additional heat a fully driven GPU will add to the the equation. It’s pretty obvious that this new Mac Pro is designed to have NO thermal constraints after the trashcan debacle.

 

[edgonzalez32]

I know it's not really meant for consumers but it's still hilarious to think that this, alongside the display, will probably push $60k lmfao.

Speaking of the display, they should have said "it's $1k off if you don't want the stand" rather than saying the stand $1k. I really hope someone winds up just ordering the stand and nothing else lmao.

 

[jlocker]

I love how we are 200 days until the end of Fall and people are worried about the Xeon processor. Apple can produce 350 iphones a minute that is half a million in a day. So if they wanted to wait until the last day of fall, it is fall and put the latest version of the Xeon into the Mac Pro they could. The processor is socketed so If Apple wants the latest and greatest from Intel they can afford to wait. The current Apple webpage is examples of the speed of what the new Mac can do. Intel sells 500 million processors a year so I don't think that they would have a problem providing an high yield in a just in time processing system that Apple uses so waiting for a high performance CPU is not hard. The Xeon processor can be made fast with the latest specs, if the market asks for it.

 

[subi257]

Seems like an awesome machine. It's everything people have been shouting about wanting, and now that, what was wanted has arrived, I hear people crying about the price. The price isn't bad in my opinion. If I made my green on computing power, it would be trivial even.

It's more than I personally need, but many ACTUAL PRO's do need this kind of power, and will gladly pay the price. Seriously, my MP51 cost me well over $3K in 2013 (Yes, I bought brand new, Mid-2012 MP51 in 2013) and it's been worth every penny to me. I've invested just as much or more in various upgrades over the years, with no regrets. If my current MP weren't up to the tasks I throw at it now, I'd have no qualms about buying the 7,1 base model (well, I might upgrade something on it, so it might not be EXACTLY base). Given the technology upgrades over the 5,1, and the potential upgrades over it's own base, it's a good deal (in my opinion).

If you need to upgrade your current machine, but don't want (or need) this much machine, there are other options. Let's face it. Apple is finally bringing a heavy-hitter up to bat, and if you want him on your team, you have to pay for his abilities.

We purchased our cMP 5,1s in 2011 and they were over $10K....2.93 12 core, 96GB RAM, 5870 GPU 4 1TB HDs. It's just a matter of buying what you need.

 

[jlocker]

So the G5 for 1800$ in 2003 wich would be roughly 2500$ inflation adjusted was not a pro workstation?
Look people are rightfully disappointed they hoped for a pickup truck and they get a Caterpillar D7.

But the G5 would only last 5 years before it needed to be upgraded where my 2009 Mac Pro went 10 years. So it is the same price as the G5 but giving you 5 more years of service.

 

[AndyDiamond]

I know it's not really meant for consumers but it's still hilarious to think that this, alongside the display, will probably push $60k lmfao.

A $60k machine makes you "lmfao" when you are working on million dollar plus projects?

 

[Dozer_Zaibatsu]

And people like you don't seem to understand, that there is a pro market beside all this shiny video and photo editing you are talking about. That has nothing to do with prosumers. There are people who need a tower design for customising and expandability reasons, but don't need a Color-proofed high-end monitor for editing photos or videos. There are people who need a lot of CPU power, but ECC memory and XEON processors are not necessary (and too expensive). And exactly for those people (who are many more than the few hyper pros doing 8k video editing in real time) there is nothing in the Apple line-up since years. The old MacPro until 2013 (cheese crater) was all that. It had a moderate entry level price and could be tailored with standard parts to the business needs by the owner himself. Now I get a "pretty" enclosure and a Xeon 8-core CPU for 6k (256GB HD and 32GB RAM don't count, peanuts). And no, a Mac mini or an iMac are no options. I find this attitude extremely arrogant, to be honest.

Well, I speak from experience. My wife is using an Intel NUC with 6th gen i5 and iris graphics right now. She does custom web sites and logo design. She's in Adobe CC all day. And she also does audio recording on the machine with Reaper as she's creating demos for a music project. (Not amateur, she does literally get paid to perform.) We don't have _great_ monitors, but I do have a not-cheap NEC monitor I chose because of its color accuracy.

In other words, this is the low-end of prosumer use. Yes, it's a NUC because, well, Apple is very disappointing to me competing on the low end with their Mac Minis. It was a matter of a cheap computer where I essentially put together a better computer** than an equivalent Mini for about 5/8 the price.

She still uses a Macbook Air and iPad for other uses.

I hear your complaint. But the iMac 5K and the iMac Pro are capable of high-end, polished work. I set up 27" iMacs years ago for studios making commercials for fashion lines. They are not nothin' as far as prosumer work goes.

I think the MacPro is a great machine with a limited, high-end purpose. I think the problem still remains that Apple deliberately hobbles the MacMini, and they should not be rewarded by people buying it.

**Yes, the MacMini, like any Mac, is better technically for music than Windows is. No doubt. But, it's a matter of a marginal difference and the price of a few configuration headaches which is beans-on-toast for someone who works in IT.

 

[skinned66]

But the G5 would only last 5 years before it needed to be upgraded where my 2009 Mac Pro went 10 years. So it is the same price as the G5 but giving you 5 more years of service.

I'm still using my MacPro grater. It still does what I need it to. I'll probably build my own soon though. The performance per watt is so much better in newer stuff these days.

 

[RogerWilco]

Oh come on man! I've seen you been critical A LOT on these forums and often it was justified. But now?! This thing looks freaking cool, but more importantly it's crazy impressive. With this machine, it's not even about the looks, it's about getting serious work done. But Apple still did great and designed something that can get any computing task done, looks awesome, has great cooling AND is super practical, letting users upgrade parts.

So this time, it really wouldn't hurt you to give them a 'attaboy'.

I owned the previous “cheese grater” and IMO this new modular design is a travesty. It looks like a damned heated towel rack or radiator. The internals are fantastic, but Ive and his team screwed the pooch with the case ID on this one.

 

[JetTester]

Holy guacamole! Fantastic machine with no apparent caveats. But this is likely to only be affordable by large corporations. But $999 for a monitor stand? Really?

 

[smirking]

I found a receipt from 2009 for 4GB 667MHZ FB-DIMM (2x2gGb). Total price $999.00.

You paid $999 for 2 sticks of RAM?!? In 2009, I was using a cheese grater MP. I remember the RAM costing a premium, but I didn't pay anything even remotely close to that much!

 

[tcphoto1]

I think that Sir Ives has over designed it and will find the target customer group to be quite small. As a freelancer, I would never consider an $11K computer setup especially when you consider the updates in the next couple of years. Now, if it were $5K I may have thought about it.

 

[subi257]

Real work? Like browsing MacRumors? Just kidding, everyone needs a break sometimes. The numbers do drop after 30, life happens. Even so, they are missing out on a big market. Probably 2 interns could design a simple Mac for gaming. Apple 1 was done with just 2 people.

So, what these people are asking for is a "semipro" machine called a"pro" machine. Where I work, this is exactly what we were waiting for, so I am happy.