Mac Pro Now on Sale But Current Ship Date is February
Apple first unveiled its Mac Pro earlier this summer, at WWDC in June. Now, six months later, the desktop computer is finally available for order online. Apple today opened up Mac Pro orders via its online store. Unfortunately, though the device is now on sale, your new computer won't arrive before the holidays are over. Tim Cook announced on Wednesday that his company would start accepting orders for the Mac Pro today, December 19. Right now, the website states orders won't ship until February 2014.
Earlier today, the order date was listed as December 30, and then January. So it looks like first day orders are pushing the ship date considerably. Assembled in the United States, the Mac Pro features a 3.7 GHz quad-core Xeon from Intel. This is teamed with two AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, 12 GB of 1866 MHz DDR3 RAM, 256 GB of PCIe flash storage (read/write speeds of 1.2 GBps/1 GBps) and up to six Thunderbolt 2 ports. Customers can configure their Mac Pro with as much as 64 GB of RAM and 1 TB of flash storage, so while pricing starts at $2,999, you can expect that baseline price to rise if you make changes to the specs.
One of the most notable things about the Mac Pro is the design, which is completely different to the last generation of Mac Pro desktops. For this generation, Cupertino has opted for a sleek, cylindrical design with a cooling solution called the 'thermal core.' This thermal core is a three-sided heatsink that cools the entire length of each PCB, and a single large fan pulls the hot air up and out.
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Before reading article, I was thinking "watch this, it's going to be $1700 or more" -- whoops was I wrong.
Here is the HP lineup that competes with this machine.
http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewStandardCatalog-Browse?CatalogCategoryID=x.IQ7habXDwAAAFCulgtkXzC&jumpid=cp_r163_us/en/pc_comm/workstations/wsfamily/buynow
However, if you actually want dual high performance GPUs that are in the W7000 level, you are looking at $3000. I just priced the options out on Dell's site. In fact, it could come in costing more for a Dell or HP box depending on the options you pick. Considering that they are much larger devices, this Mac Pro is in fact not such a terrible thing.
Yes, the lack of upgradability may seem like a big minus, but this thing is not being marketed to the PC enthusiast / hobbyist crowd. It is targeting the same users as other workstation class products, but it looks pretty so I think that people get confused.
All in all, I would say that this thing, while unconventional in appearance, is definitely not BAD. It isn't exactly world-shaking innovation, but it is pretty neat and not really all that absurd in its price. $3k is what a workstation machine, Apple or otherwise, will cost a company that wants these specs.
Because of this I expect Tom's posters to be tech literate, but after reading this thread I'm disappointed. I would think people know the difference between workstation or server class machines from what Mose people have at home. Or the difference between a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU.
Because of this I expect Tom's posters to be tech literate, but after reading this thread I'm disappointed. I would think people know the difference between workstation or server class machines from what Mose people have at home. Or the difference between a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU.
This isn't the same Tom's Hardware as it was 10 years ago... The site and the audience are both quite different now.
Be that as it may, I can build a workstation (with ECC rated parts) for way less and even install OSX if I wanted to. However, that doesn't change the fact that Apple designed workstation that doubles as a place to put your dirty tissues.
This isn't the same Tom's Hardware as it was 10 years ago... The site and the audience are both quite different now.
Be that as it may, I can build a workstation (with ECC rated parts) for way less and even install OSX if I wanted to. However, that doesn't change the fact that Apple designed workstation that doubles as a place to put your dirty tissues.
Please spec out your server parts and prices and show us.
Make sure you're listing comparable hardware. Can't add any 256 SSD, need to add one with comparable speed. Also, make sure it fits in the same size as the Mac Pro, or lets see what you can create and the dimensions and lets compare.
Also, you want to put OS X on it? Yah, great job, lets tell companies to put together a bunch of parts throw OS X, with no official support and see how willing they're gonna go for that.
Also, you mock Apple's design, please do show us what amazing design you're cheaper workstation will be really interested in the unique, innovative design you're going to come up with.