Anyone looking forward to the new Mac Pro?

C

Captain Kirk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
288
That machine looks like an utter beast. I think it'd work nicely to replace my aging 2010 Mac Mini. I've always been a primary Mac desktop user. I have my Mac Mini, my Windows gaming PC, and a Linux box for dev and VM hosting. If I had that little trash can ;) I could retire my Linux box, moving the VMs to the Pro. I could also shuffle my Mini into a media station with Plex somewhere in my house. So I think that's my current game plan. Start funding a savings account for the new Mac Pro. Unfortunately, this kind of puts my gaming PC into a neglected state. I feel like I could upgrade to at least an i7, but I feel the Pro will need all the savings I can get.

So what say you guys?
  • Are you excited for the Pro?
  • Is it worth throwing an SSD or another moderate upgrade into my gaming PC in the interim?
 
It looks very nice and is compact and has a unique cooling idea. However, drive space is going to be insanely expensive. Looks like small uncased almost ram looking SSD's that are custom. That can't be good. Looks almost un-upgradable. Expecting all upgrades to be externals is interesting. Very Mac-mini ish. I was looking forward to the new mac mini soon, but the Pro looks very sexy. Back to the affording it problem lol.
 
The Mac Pro's SSDs are PCI-E Flash, meaning they can achieve double the read/write speed that you can get from a SATA SSD like the Samsung 840 Pro.

Very good article on its inner workings at Ars Technica, in which they do echo your concerns about upgradability:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/a-critical-look-at-the-new-mac-pro/

There's no price info on the Mac Pro yet, but I'd guess it'll be 5 to 10 times that of a Mac Mini, so you should probably just get that SSD now.
 
evilsofa said:
There's no price info on the Mac Pro yet, but I'd guess it'll be 5 to 10 times that of a Mac Mini, so you should probably just get that SSD now.
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Oh, yeah. My guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of two to four grand. Probably settling somewhere in the mid threes.
 
I just find hard to understand why they would go this route with the pro.
 
Captain Kirk said:
Because they make more money that way? Apple doesn't really make as much with the post-sale upgrades.
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Well I mean I can see internal batteries, SSD, etc in the laptops. But this is the second questionable design choice I've had with Apple since following them.

The imac not having ports on the side and now this.
 
Well, they want to push thunderbolt in a big way, so they figured they would sell you a cylinder of cpu and gpu power, and make you buy everything else thunderbolt. It's a smart move on their part. I myself don't really have a problem with the setup.. its not like Mac has ever been great for upgrades anyways. My last Mac Pro I had a choice of like 3 video cards that I could swap. The rest you could do externally without any issues. I think people just want to find something to complain about. They complain that there's no space for hdd's or anything, but the last mac pro was like 10x the size of this thing. Even with a second pile of external drives or whatever, it's still going to be tiny compared to the last one
 
All I really need in the Pro that's external is a Superdrive and maybe a SD reader. I'm really disappointed that the cylinder didn't have either of these. My hope is that someone puts together an all-in-one Thunderbolt "media hub" of sorts.
 
All of the internal components look to be using some sort of socket, at least to my eyes. This at least holds out the possibility of upgrading the internal components at some point in the future... though that's a tertiary concern at best, given the extreme amount of Thunderbolt ports on this thing. Factor in Thunderbolt daisy chaining and there's no realistic end to the amount of upgrading you can do with this unit.

I would imagine actual professional users should be pretty happy with this machine. And if the thermal performance is any good, and if OEMs' "me too" history holds, we can probably expect to start seeing Windows PCs in this style.
 
I'm interested, but realistically, I only really need the power of the iMac/mini for the work that I do.
 
I'm more interested in the next generation of Apple Thunderbolt Display that will hopefully launch around the same time. Phil Schiller mentioned 4K displays multiple times when previewing the new Mac Pro, and I'm hoping he was setting the stage for a new 4K Thunderbolt display.
 
CEpeep said:
I'm more interested in the next generation of Apple Thunderbolt Display that will hopefully launch around the same time. Phil Schiller mentioned 4K displays multiple times when previewing the new Mac Pro, and I'm hoping he was setting the stage for a new 4K Thunderbolt display.
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yeap

i plan on getting a new mac pro and retina thunderbolt display when they release.

end up selling my nice windows rig if need be along with my i7 macbook pro
 
Captain Kirk said:
So what say you guys?
  • Are you excited for the Pro?
  • Is it worth throwing an SSD or another moderate upgrade into my gaming PC in the interim?
Click to expand...

SSD is always a worthy upgrade IMO.

I really like the Central air-flow design with a single fan. Similar in concept to Xi3 machines.

I would be interested in a Single GPU version with a desktop CPU for a competitive price, but this is Apple, so with a $2500 minimum price likely, I have zero interest.

I hope this inspires more single fan windows PC designs.
 
Snowdog said:
I would be interested in a Single GPU version with a desktop CPU for a competitive price, but this is Apple, so with a $2500 minimum price likely, I have zero interest.
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At that point you have dropped down to the iMac range.
 
Interesting, yes, but the lack of a particularly rich, vibrant Thinderbolt ecosystem (outside of Apple-land) has me much less enthused about the design. I don't mind the idea of a GPU/CPU cylinder that you tie your own storage to, but in my opinion this is Intel's game now, not Apple's (really just a parts integrator here) and Intel just doesn't seem to care about Thunderbolt right now. In the pro desktop market, I don't care what Apple is hawking. I need Intel or AMD to be on the wagon, all-in, and I'm not seeing that.
 
The "big move" that Intel and Apple made together was DisplayPort 1.2. This was critical, because Apple sought to make 4k video streamable over Thunderbolt without delay.

I would say it's pretty clear that Apple and Intel both have continued to invest in Thunderbolt, but another thing I should also note is that at the professional level cost isn't what people complain about it's usefulness of the tools. With the purchase of a new Mac Pro and even an "outdated" Promise Pegasus R6, most serious professionals will have everything they need for a myriad of different jobs.

Like others have noted, the next step for Apple will more than likely be a 4K display. Whether they exceed that resolution I suppose is the big question. But needless to say, both organizations are looking toward the future and they are being very systematic and taking great care with each move they are making.
 
sphinx99 said:
Interesting, yes, but the lack of a particularly rich, vibrant Thinderbolt ecosystem (outside of Apple-land) has me much less enthused about the design. I don't mind the idea of a GPU/CPU cylinder that you tie your own storage to, but in my opinion this is Intel's game now, not Apple's (really just a parts integrator here) and Intel just doesn't seem to care about Thunderbolt right now. In the pro desktop market, I don't care what Apple is hawking. I need Intel or AMD to be on the wagon, all-in, and I'm not seeing that.
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I just want more power than a Mac Mini can offer. I have my KVM with my Linux, Windows, and (current) Mac Mini attached. I don't need to replace the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I do need to up the horse power on the Mini. An iMac would be great if I could use the monitor for the other two boxes...
 
sphinx99 said:
… the lack of a particularly rich, vibrant Thinderbolt ecosystem (outside of Apple-land)…
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Considering this is an Apple product, I don't see what you're objecting to. If there's a Thunderbolt ecosystem for Apple products, then the Mac Pro will be just fine. Moreover, you're not allowing for the fact that there will be new and greater Thunderbolt products to take advantage of a machine designed specifically for Thunderbolt expansion.

Apple's (really just a parts integrator here)
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What exactly about the Mac Pro's design comes across as "just" a parts integration? It's the opposite of that. A beige box is just parts integration.
 
From what I have read it simply has gigabit ethernet, no 10GbE. For that reason I won't be buying one!
 
Terpfen said:
What exactly about the Mac Pro's design comes across as "just" a parts integration? It's the opposite of that. A beige box is just parts integration.
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Of course they're just a parts integrator. I don't see any Apple SoC, Apple storage or Apple chipset. This is a Mac Pro in a dark silver cylinder, instead of a Mac Pro in a light silver block. Who cares whether it's beige or not. So as far as Thunderbolt is concerned, I care less how many ports Apple put on their cylinder, or how pretty that cylinder is, and more about what Intel's roadmap for Thunderbolt is. So far Intel has not brought the feature into any of their chipsets, or even spec'd it as required for any particular platform (as far as I can tell).
 
sphinx99 said:
Of course they're just a parts integrator. I don't see any Apple SoC, Apple storage or Apple chipset.
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That's your definition? Then the problem is of unrealistic expectations.

So far Intel has not brought the feature into any of their chipsets, or even spec'd it as required for any particular platform (as far as I can tell).
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Completely and utterly irrelevant to the Mac Pro market. Thunderbolt exists there. It's irrelevant whether it exists on, say, Dell computers.
 
sphinx99 said:
Of course they're just a parts integrator. I don't see any Apple SoC, Apple storage or Apple chipset.
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You don't see the A5, A5X or A6? Why would you not "see" these SoCs?

You should see Apple SoCs in addition to Apple motherboards (logic boards), batteries and other components to system integration. Because those things all exist.

sphinx99 said:
So far Intel has not brought the feature into any of their chipsets, or even spec'd it as required for any particular platform (as far as I can tell).
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They, have, however, integrated it into some motherboards and NUCs.
 
sphinx99 said:
So far Intel has not brought the feature into any of their chipsets, or even spec'd it as required for any particular platform (as far as I can tell).
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Why does it need to be? USB3 started making traction and already had good market penetration before it ever became part of a core chipset, and it's only recently that it became "required" for any platform.

nry said:
From what I have read it simply has gigabit ethernet, no 10GbE. For that reason I won't be buying one!
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You can always get a 10GbE Thunderbolt adapter when the technology becomes accessible for a level other than enterprise servers. What environment are you in that has 10GbE infrastructure for you to connect to, anyway?
 
Captain Kirk said:
Can your LAN even support that? Or are you just looking to hook up a SAN?
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Got 10GbE between my NAS and two servers currently after picking up some cheap NICs on eBay.
Switch prices are becoming more affordable too

Know there is the ability to use a TB to PCIe adapter, but why have they made an very powerful machine which probably won't have much internal storage space, which can't connect to a enterprise network.

Surely companies who do video editing (or similar) would have a SAN over individual RAID arrays per each workstation?
 
Snowdog said:
SSD is always a worthy upgrade IMO.

I really like the Central air-flow design with a single fan. Similar in concept to Xi3 machines.

I would be interested in a Single GPU version with a desktop CPU for a competitive price, but this is Apple, so with a $2500 minimum price likely, I have zero interest.

I hope this inspires more single fan windows PC designs.
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I'm looking forward to the Mac Pro. Most likely will not get it, but will go check it out.

Any credible idea when the Xi3 machines are coming out?
 
Looks awesome. Glad a new Mac Pro's coming out. I can't afford one, nor do I need the power, but I've always admired the design of these things. :)
 
Liver said:
I'm looking forward to the Mac Pro. Most likely will not get it, but will go check it out.

Any credible idea when the Xi3 machines are coming out?
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No idea. I think the X5A looks like an older model that is still available:

This shows in stock.
http://www./xi3-corporation/pe/XI3_9020004001/

And on Xi3 page all other models say pre-order, the X5A has an "add to cart".

Either way, you pay an awful lot for what you get with an Xi3. It would be better if these designs would inspire one of the big players to make something like this.
 
its so much money though. I can Take a insane set up and put it into a prodigy case or the likings no? Is hackintosh stable yet?
 
pliskin679 said:
Is hackintosh stable yet?
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Hackintoshes have been stable for years if you choose the right hardware and stay up-to-date on the developments by the community. There's work to maintain the machine and you'll likely have to do some tweaking every few updates, but the overall experience is stable and about as involved as running/maintaining a Linux system. It's a far cry from the "just works" aspect of an actual Mac, but the experience is suitable for everyday use if you know what you are doing.
 
Terpfen said:
Completely and utterly irrelevant to the Mac Pro market. Thunderbolt exists there. It's irrelevant whether it exists on, say, Dell computers.
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That's great, which is why I won't say the same things on the "Mac pro market" thread. But this is the "are you interested in the Mac Pro" thread and this Apple aficionado and "Pro" is stating that he is not interested because without a greater comfort level with Thunderbolt and its adoption.
 
wonderfield said:
You don't see the A5, A5X or A6? Why would you not "see" these SoCs?

You should see Apple SoCs in addition to Apple motherboards (logic boards), batteries and other components to system integration. Because those things all exist.
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I was reacting to the claim that the Mac Pro has been appreciably different from a "beige box" which by and large has been untrue. With the new model I see a neat chassis and some creative layout, but, uh, you guys do realize that's what an integrator does, right? The A6 is special, as are many of Apple's other products. But this Mac Pro, at least based on what we know about it, is a HP Z800 in a cylinder chassis with less storage and more Thunderbolt. That proves Apple's chops as an integrator, I agree, but its still x86 in a cylinder.
 
I kinda like the design in respect to the cooling setup. I don't like almost everything else about it. The lack of expansion sucks. Needs support for multiple drives without using expensive external options.

I really wish apple would make a mini tower system with a quad core i5 or i7 desktop cpu, 4 memory slots, support for at least 2 hard drives so raid 1 could be done, and two or three pci express slots.
 
swatbat said:
I really wish apple would make a mini tower system with a quad core i5 or i7 desktop cpu, 4 memory slots, support for at least 2 hard drives so raid 1 could be done, and two or three pci express slots.
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Why? You basically just described a Mac Mini with 2 extra slots for RAM. Apple doesn't make systems with PCI-e slots anymore, there's Thunderbolt for that.
 
sphinx99 said:
That's great, which is why I won't say the same things on the "Mac pro market" thread. But this is the "are you interested in the Mac Pro" thread and this Apple aficionado and "Pro" is stating that he is not interested because without a greater comfort level with Thunderbolt and its adoption.
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And this fellow poster is trying to discern why you think the Wintel space's Thunderbolt offerings are relevant to the Mac space's offerings.
 
I'm looking forward to the jokes and stories about the new Mac Pro. Just take a step back, forget it's a computer for a moment, and pretend your grandmother is getting up there in years and isn't quite as sharp as she once was...

It's a vase, and it's only a matter of time before someone adds water and flowers.

Hot air comes out of the top, and there's a depression about the right size for a mug. Obviously it's a heated coffee cup holder.

It's a nice design for a compact and powerful machine, but I really think they should have gone for horizontal airflow so it would be a little more accident resistant around children and people who might mistake it for a vase.

Other than that, I think they should do something like this with a single CPU system and continue offering machines in "traditional" desktop/workstation form factors. A full tower may be big and ugly by comparison, but it's a lot cleaner than a half dozen external hard drives and an assortment of other external devices that could have just been installed inside a normal case.
 
zandor said:
I'm looking forward to the jokes and stories about the new Mac Pro. Just take a step back, forget it's a computer for a moment, and pretend your grandmother is getting up there in years and isn't quite as sharp as she once was...

It's a vase, and it's only a matter of time before someone adds water and flowers.

Hot air comes out of the top, and there's a depression about the right size for a mug. Obviously it's a heated coffee cup holder.

It's a nice design for a compact and powerful machine, but I really think they should have gone for horizontal airflow so it would be a little more accident resistant around children and people who might mistake it for a vase.
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Which pro studios employ demented elderly and young children? This isn't exactly going in someone's kitchen.

A full tower may be big and ugly by comparison, but it's a lot cleaner than a half dozen external hard drives and an assortment of other external devices that could have just been installed inside a normal case.
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False premise. Someone needing that much expansion is not going to just drop it all over his workspace. Actually, the expansion would not take up more space than the current Mac Pro does; just swap out the tower for the smaller base station and stack your expansion devices behind it.

Alternatively, third party manufacturers will make expansion devices designed to stack with the Mac Pro the way that Mac Mini expansions currently stack. Non-problem solved.
 
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