Apple Updates Mac Pro, Promises Commitment To Mac Desktops

[Guest]

Remember when the company was known more for the Mac than the iPhone?

Apple Updates Mac Pro, Promises Commitment To Mac Desktops : Read more

 

[falchard]

They went with Intel so they can charge an additional $500 Apple Tax.

 

[CelicaGT]

I don't think Pro means what Apple thinks it does. Whatever new hardware they come up with better be in touch with what folks in that field actually need, not that electronic codpiece pictured. Pro doesn't mean fancy, or even high end. Professionals need tools that are cost effective, perform exceptionally well at the task they were designed for, and reliable. These days "Pro" is just a marketing buzzword, Apple would do well to keep that particular department out of the design process if they want to salvage what little "Pro" market share they have left.

Disclaimer: Despite owning one Mac I have no horse in this race, just tired of seeing this form over function crap being vomited all over the market. Just got a papercut from my phone ffs.

 

[ajpaolello]

Honestly I just want them to go back to how they did the older Mac Pros. Allow for the ability to upgrade.

 

[IceMyth]

Apple in old days was like a welcoming company for their valuable customers, now a days Apple is like welcome bag of money (assuming ppl can still afford to buy their products anymore).

Moreover, their changes to their products is minimal and you should be very carfull to what you pick because you can't upgrade it later on which makes me think 100kkkkk times before buy any new MackBook Pro.

 

[shpankey]

Laughable hardware for a ridiculous price

 

[NightLight]

who are the idiots that are still buying this?

 

[Tech_TTT]

This is a Joke ..

I was expecting to see at least new Pascal cards (GTX 1080/1070/Quadros Options ) ... Apple what are you doing?

 

[captaincharisma]

coming soon from apple............... a trashcan that runs IOS

 

[bit_user]

Still, buying one of these updated models is made even more foolish by the fact that the company told journalists that another Mac Pro update will arrive.

Huh? No, they said the next full update to the Mac Pro will be in 2018 or later.

I think their mistake (besides going dual-GPU) was not to sell upgrade parts for the existing Pro. It is modular, even if it's not so user-friendly to upgrade. There are Apple stores practically everywhere (don't they have a repair section? I've only ever set foot in one, once... and quickly left), for those not comfortable doing the upgrade themselves. If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

I don't see myself buying a Mac Pro soon, if ever. In fact, I've never owned any sort of Apple product. But I don't hate them for building this thing. It's nice to see what you can accomplish, if you dispense with ATX legacy and start from a clean slate, with a big budget and a high MSRP.

 

[Tech_TTT]

Still, buying one of these updated models is made even more foolish by the fact that the company told journalists that another Mac Pro update will arrive.

Huh? No, they said the next full update to the Mac Pro will be in 2018 or later.

I think their mistake (besides going dual-GPU) was not to sell upgrade parts for the existing Pro. It is modular, even if it's not so user-friendly to upgrade. There are Apple stores practically everywhere (don't they have a repair section? I've only ever set foot in one, once... and quickly left), for those not comfortable doing the upgrade themselves. If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

I don't see myself buying a Mac Pro soon, if ever. In fact, I've never owned any sort of Apple product. But I don't hate them for building this thing. It's nice to see what you can accomplish, if you dispense with ATX legacy and start from a clean slate, with a big budget and a high MSRP.

What do you mean by designing it right ? those 2 GPU use PCI lanes from the CPU ...

With Notebook Grade GTX 1080/1070/Quadros around at the same Desktop level , Apple has no excuse not to replace those old AMD GPU with the new nvidia ones ...

sometimes I feel they want to kill the Mac Pro market .... which is very SAD .

I dont hate them for building this thing , I hate them because they never made new cards for 2 GPU generations.

 

[oneblackened]

I don't think Pro means what Apple thinks it does. Whatever new hardware they come up with better be in touch with what folks in that field actually need, not that electronic codpiece pictured. Pro doesn't mean fancy, or even high end. Professionals need tools that are cost effective, perform exceptionally well at the task they were designed for, and reliable. These days "Pro" is just a marketing buzzword, Apple would do well to keep that particular department out of the design process if they want to salvage what little "Pro" market share they have left.

Disclaimer: Despite owning one Mac I have no horse in this race, just tired of seeing this form over function crap being vomited all over the market. Just got a papercut from my phone ffs.

As it turns out, the Mac Pro is aimed at workstation users - people who need lots of processing power - e.g. audio engineers, video editors, photographers, the list goes on. It's meant for professional work, hence the name.

And for real - a lot of the professional creative market definitely does still use macs. Walk into nearly any recording studio (my area of expertise, as I am an audio engineer) and they'll most likely be running Pro Tools on, you guessed it - a Mac Pro. They have ridiculous uptime capabilities compared to most Windows computers.

 

[Xajel]

Finally they're putting their trash can design into trash.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to see Apple using Ryzen in any platform. there's a lot of confusion like Apple won't do it as they need TB3.. but there's no solid point to say that Intel is forcing an exclusivity of TB3 for their platform. just not having any AM4 motherboard with it does not prove the exclusivity.

 

[bit_user]

If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

What do you mean by designing it right ? those 2 GPU use PCI lanes from the CPU ...

I meant what I said. The CPU card should have PCIe 3.0 as its interface to the rest of the system. That way, you can just replace it with another CPU card, regardless of what socket it uses.

Yes, I'm aware of the nagging issue of DMI... Do you lock in DMI 2.0 and put the chipset off the CPU card, or do you put the chipset on the CPU card and bring out its integrated functions in any fashion? I guess I don't know enough about DMI 2.0 vs. 3.0 compatibility, but it's now a moot point anyway.

 

[memadmax]

Wow, unfreakinbelievable...

 

[ajpaolello]

It's almost like people did not read the article.

 

[gggplaya]

Why try to build the smallest desktop possible?? Just keep it mini ITX size which ends up being about the same size as an XBOX one with a standard graphics card. It's not like you're going to be movie it all the time.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Still, buying one of these updated models is made even more foolish by the fact that the company told journalists that another Mac Pro update will arrive.

Huh? No, they said the next full update to the Mac Pro will be in 2018 or later.

I think their mistake (besides going dual-GPU) was not to sell upgrade parts for the existing Pro. It is modular, even if it's not so user-friendly to upgrade. There are Apple stores practically everywhere (don't they have a repair section? I've only ever set foot in one, once... and quickly left), for those not comfortable doing the upgrade themselves. If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

I don't see myself buying a Mac Pro soon, if ever. In fact, I've never owned any sort of Apple product. But I don't hate them for building this thing. It's nice to see what you can accomplish, if you dispense with ATX legacy and start from a clean slate, with a big budget and a high MSRP.

What do you mean by designing it right ? those 2 GPU use PCI lanes from the CPU ...

With Notebook Grade GTX 1080/1070/Quadros around at the same Desktop level , Apple has no excuse not to replace those old AMD GPU with the new nvidia ones ...

sometimes I feel they want to kill the Mac Pro market .... which is very SAD .

I dont hate them for building this thing , I hate them because they never made new cards for 2 GPU generations.

WHEN will people get that Apple doesn't make anything.... they OUTSOURCE their designs and have them made in China FOR them.

 

[captaincharisma]

Still, buying one of these updated models is made even more foolish by the fact that the company told journalists that another Mac Pro update will arrive.

Huh? No, they said the next full update to the Mac Pro will be in 2018 or later.

I think their mistake (besides going dual-GPU) was not to sell upgrade parts for the existing Pro. It is modular, even if it's not so user-friendly to upgrade. There are Apple stores practically everywhere (don't they have a repair section? I've only ever set foot in one, once... and quickly left), for those not comfortable doing the upgrade themselves. If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

I don't see myself buying a Mac Pro soon, if ever. In fact, I've never owned any sort of Apple product. But I don't hate them for building this thing. It's nice to see what you can accomplish, if you dispense with ATX legacy and start from a clean slate, with a big budget and a high MSRP.

What do you mean by designing it right ? those 2 GPU use PCI lanes from the CPU ...

With Notebook Grade GTX 1080/1070/Quadros around at the same Desktop level , Apple has no excuse not to replace those old AMD GPU with the new nvidia ones ...

sometimes I feel they want to kill the Mac Pro market .... which is very SAD .

I dont hate them for building this thing , I hate them because they never made new cards for 2 GPU generations.

WHEN will people get that Apple doesn't make anything.... they OUTSOURCE their designs and have them made in China FOR them.

i guess you haven't owned or seen a box that an apple product comes in cause they have "designed by apple" not "made" printed on them

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Apple currently knows exactly what components the vast majority of macOS users have in their systems because A) opening up many of its products to swap out components is much harder than on competitive hardware and B) most upgrades over the last few years have been minor.

That could change with the new Mac Pro models, whenever they debut, and at least the iMac will get a bump later this year.

The Mac actually has been ignored because it isn't their current cash cow. While I'm glad to see them FINALLY pay some attention to their overpriced for the performance and quality PC, It's only because they have no other choice other than discontinue the product.

They know what hardware a user has because they've done everything possible to discourage user updates/upgrades. They use modified off the shelf parts to an extent as well to do this. Their updates has only been because some parts have become really obsolete. I assume their dual GPU upgrade is because they got a sweet deal on the obsolete GPUs they're using now. For $3K I could build a hackintosh that would outperform their $3K model and still use high quality parts.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Still, buying one of these updated models is made even more foolish by the fact that the company told journalists that another Mac Pro update will arrive.

Huh? No, they said the next full update to the Mac Pro will be in 2018 or later.

I think their mistake (besides going dual-GPU) was not to sell upgrade parts for the existing Pro. It is modular, even if it's not so user-friendly to upgrade. There are Apple stores practically everywhere (don't they have a repair section? I've only ever set foot in one, once... and quickly left), for those not comfortable doing the upgrade themselves. If they designed it right, they could've made the CPU and GPU boards upgradable. The CPU board could've connected to the rest of the box via PCIe 3.0 and power. The GPU boards could've done the same. Seriously, you don't even need a PCIe switch, for this. Just expose all x40 lanes of the CPU, and put everything else on the other side.

I don't see myself buying a Mac Pro soon, if ever. In fact, I've never owned any sort of Apple product. But I don't hate them for building this thing. It's nice to see what you can accomplish, if you dispense with ATX legacy and start from a clean slate, with a big budget and a high MSRP.

What do you mean by designing it right ? those 2 GPU use PCI lanes from the CPU ...

With Notebook Grade GTX 1080/1070/Quadros around at the same Desktop level , Apple has no excuse not to replace those old AMD GPU with the new nvidia ones ...

sometimes I feel they want to kill the Mac Pro market .... which is very SAD .

I dont hate them for building this thing , I hate them because they never made new cards for 2 GPU generations.

WHEN will people get that Apple doesn't make anything.... they OUTSOURCE their designs and have them made in China FOR them.

i guess you haven't owned or seen a box that an apple product comes in cause they have "designed by apple" not "made" printed on them

Oh I've seen it.... but I see almost every time somebody refer to an Apple product as if Apple actually owned the chip fabs or other factories and did more than just slap their name on it after providing a design.

 

[spiketheaardvark]

My Friend works as a 3D artist, I've never heard him complain about what his computer looks like. They run semi custom builds that are replaced everytime processing advances enough to speed up their work flow. It's a box that sits under his desk and the only thing he cares about is how that box helps him get his work done.

The problem with the Mac pro was it sacrificed important things to solve a problem that didn't exist. So Apple was left with a design that they couldn't adapt. Instead of admitting their mistake and fixing the problem, they just left it there because iphones are the priority. Which means they didn't sell any because who wants a computer with an old processor, obsolete video cards and a limited amount of ram. All because they pushed form over function.

 

[ajpaolello]

My Friend works as a 3D artist, I've never heard him complain about what his computer looks like. They run semi custom builds that are replaced everytime processing advances enough to speed up their work flow. It's a box that sits under his desk and the only thing he cares about is how that box helps him get his work done.

The problem with the Mac pro was it sacrificed important things to solve a problem that didn't exist. So Apple was left with a design that they couldn't adapt. Instead of admitting their mistake and fixing the problem, they just left it there because iphones are the priority. Which means they didn't sell any because who wants a computer with an old processor, obsolete video cards and a limited amount of ram. All because they pushed form over function.

At least they finally acknowledged their mistake. Took them 4 years but they put the pieces together that they messed up. Hopefully the new Mac Pro will have some more classic roots in it when it comes to upgradeability.

 

[CelicaGT]

I don't think Pro means what Apple thinks it does. Whatever new hardware they come up with better be in touch with what folks in that field actually need, not that electronic codpiece pictured. Pro doesn't mean fancy, or even high end. Professionals need tools that are cost effective, perform exceptionally well at the task they were designed for, and reliable. These days "Pro" is just a marketing buzzword, Apple would do well to keep that particular department out of the design process if they want to salvage what little "Pro" market share they have left.

Disclaimer: Despite owning one Mac I have no horse in this race, just tired of seeing this form over function crap being vomited all over the market. Just got a papercut from my phone ffs.

As it turns out, the Mac Pro is aimed at workstation users - people who need lots of processing power - e.g. audio engineers, video editors, photographers, the list goes on. It's meant for professional work, hence the name.

And for real - a lot of the professional creative market definitely does still use macs. Walk into nearly any recording studio (my area of expertise, as I am an audio engineer) and they'll most likely be running Pro Tools on, you guessed it - a Mac Pro. They have ridiculous uptime capabilities compared to most Windows computers.

I'm not contesting the fact that many people and businesses still desire to use Macs. But this particular design is almost hostile to the customer due to the use of specialized parts that cannot be upgraded easily or cost effectively. It is a tool, nothing more nothing less. Standard parts in a nice case with a competitive price would have sufficed and couple that with Apples outstanding customer support they would not be in this position now.

 

[ajpaolello]

If Apple was smart, and I believe they are, they could capitalize on an upgradeable Mac Pro. I'm mostly thinking in the GPU department. If they could do the Mac Flashed GPUs and now charge them at an outlandish premium, unlike an ebay group that does this, they would still have a market even with an upgradeable Mac Pro. But they have to play smart and careful with the price.