2013 Mac Pro Announced at WWDC

[ccmdav]

Looks good, but I agree with most of the opinions that it doesn't really fit into the professional environment (video, audio, etc). It's more of a rich guys cool toy.

It's amazing how many people out there honestly think that Apple is so out of touch that they would completely ignore the needs of their professional users and design something solely to amuse themselves. I am convinced that they are concerned about longevity and making their users happy. I don't know, call me crazy, I just have more faith in people than this. As a creative professional, this box would fit into my work environment. I am heavily invested in software that runs best/exclusively on OSX, so Windows is not an option for me - and I simply prefer the Apple way of doing things.

And keep in mind, a similarly configured Windows machine is also very expensive. Yes, Apple's configuration costs more for the same hardware, but not so much so that it makes Apple's hardware out of reach for a certain application. And with the low cost of Apple's professional software, it ends up being less cumulatively in some scenarios.

 

[paulfitz82]

Steve Wozniak's Reaction

Thanks for figuring that video out so others can see, it's quite telling.

 

[paulfitz82]

Can't Lian Li make one of these that we can shoehorn a MiniITX board in, Core i7, low profile Nvidia card and quite fan and essential have something similar? Surely Apple could not patent the cylinder, although until the upcoming Supreme Court ruling, you will be able to patent anything you happen to find.

Perhaps Woz's look has much deeper meaning than first glance. True inventor's must just be livid with the current state of patent affairs.

 

[gorg]

There ARE proffesionals (mainly in the A/V industry) that use PCIe cards and they have a right to complain. There ARE people who could make use of 24cores, expensive SAS RAID cards. Yet the majority of people that make all the noise and negative remarks about the new MacPro are people with macbooks and macminis, or even worse, windows fanboys. Ideally Apple would have both a PCIe expandable SMP Mac Pro for the extreme videographer and a cheaper-cooler-smaller Mac Pro (mini) for users that want more GPU performance than a Mac Mini, more CPU performance than a MacBook Pro, ability to use good displays without having iMac bloody screen get in their way. Comparing the NG Mac Pro to a MacBook is just ridiculous.

Personally I could live with using e.g. Matrox external thunderbolt video solutions and I would be wise enough to have an external storage solution as well. And BTW, "proffesional" computing is NOT just 3D rendering or audio processing. There are web developers, science researchers, etc that need something better than iMac on their desk.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Deleted

 

[nobodynose]

In my opinion, Apple is *really* missing the mark (and has been for a long time) by not having a reasonably priced consumer-oriented Mac that is easily upgradeable. Besides the notebooks and all-in-ones, there's the Mac mini and the Mac Pro, and a wide void of nothingness in between (in the sense of both price and performance). When the new Mac Pro ships, that will not change.

The Hackintosh neatly fills that void.

 

[archelon]

Well, I'm torn on this one: I like the specs of the new Mac Pro, but I have two big concerns:

1. Can a prospective buyer get Nvidia instead of AMD? I've had consistently better experiences with Nvidia and would like to know if that'll be a choice when I go to an Apple Store (online or otherwise).
2. Thunderbolt is the only expandability? This is the only option for peripherals? And this is coming from someone that uses a Thunderbolt external drive (and likes it). I'm more of an enthusiast/gamer than a pro user, but if I ever find a peripheral I want/need that simply can't be plugged into whatever radically different/seemingly better computer I own, I'll be forced to conclude I've bought the wrong thing!

My Hackintosh plans have simply undergone re-evaluation in light of the Haswell hardware and the yet to be available new Mac Pro and OS X Mavericks.

 

[nobodynose]

Well, I'm torn on this one: I like the specs of the new Mac Pro, but I have two big concerns:1. Can a prospective buyer get Nvidia instead of AMD? I've had consistently better experiences with Nvidia and would like to know if that'll be a choice when I go to an Apple Store (online or otherwise).

It doesn't look that way, based on what has already been revealed. Apparently, it's the AMD FirePros for everyone, for better or worse. Now will it be possible to replace them with nVidia after purchasing? Who knows?

2. Thunderbolt is the only expandability? This is the only option for peripherals? And this is coming from someone that uses a Thunderbolt external drive (and likes it). I'm more of an enthusiast/gamer than a pro user, but if I ever find a peripheral I want/need that simply can't be plugged into whatever radically different/seemingly better computer I own, I'll be forced to conclude I've bought the wrong thing!

Not a concern; literally ANYTHING can be plugged into Thunderbolt, for a price. There are Thunderbolt docks and Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis galore available, but they're all pretty damn expensive.

 

[Jotokun]

Not a concern; literally ANYTHING can be plugged into Thunderbolt, for a price. There are Thunderbolt docks and Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis galore available, but they're all pretty damn expensive.

The problem is, most complaining about the lack of a PCIe slot are doing so because it likely means the GPU wont be easily or cheaply upgraded, if it even can. True, you can put one in an enclosure and connect it by Thunderbolt, but on paper TB2 doesn't have the bandwidth to properly drive one. For pro users who rely heavily on their GPUs, this is a huge step backwards.

 

[Fjordn]

Don't know if it's already been said, but my 2 cents on the matter:
I don't know why many people would buy this. The specs on it are great, but the price is going to be exorbitant. It's great that Apple is including some new hardware (better compatibility for future Hacks), but non-upgradeable, well, pretty much everything makes it a poor choice.
Not to mention the need for multitudes of Thunderbolt adapters, the single fan design (vacuums your work surface while you compute!), and the release of Mavericks (not entirely sold on that one).
That said, I don't dislike the looks of the thing.