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New Mac Pro

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Re: New Mac Pro

#71

Post by lostgame »

amiga-workbench wrote: post #40
e40 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide details? I don't see them on the product specs page.

Sorry, I don't mean the machine is loud audibly, I mean its garish visually.

Yeah, I, too, am personally not a fan. It honestly looks like something the Empire from Star Wars would put together. I'm looking at my 'Two Towers' (named after the Lord of the Rings, not the disaster!) - a Quad G5 with a 256GB SSD/1TB HDD, and 16GB of RAM I use for my music production, and a 6-core MacPro5,1, with 32GB of RAM and 2 512GB SSD's I use for video editing.

They're just beautiful, and they already do more than I could ever need them to do, as a music label manager. I don't see myself replacing them.

Re: New Mac Pro

#72

Post by chaostheory »

vbezhenar wrote: post #16
vesrah wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the Mac Mini not meet what you're asking for?

I want tower case, silent and performant. I want powerful GPU for few games I'm playing. I want ECC memory. I want to put one or two HDDs along with main SSD. Mac mini does not sound like something I would like to use. I don't need small size, I have enough room. I don't need portability, I work from one place.

> I don't need small size, I have enough room. I don't need portability, I work from one place.

It's like the previous generation of Apple computers were primarily designed for people in crowded metros like Tokyo. I still don't understand Apple designers' obsession with compactness for their desktops at the cost of everything else.

Re: New Mac Pro

#73

Post by martin_bech »

internobody wrote: post #35
dllu wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's competing against machines such as the Boxx dual-CPU workstations, which start at $8000 [1]. I can see movie studios and such shelling out the big bucks to buy these for their 3D modellers, but only the super rich would buy one for themselves. [1] https://www.boxx.com/systems/workstations/d-class

3D modelers want NVIDIA cards, not Radeon, as NVIDIA supports CUDA. This has been a longstanding issue with 3D folks; the old trashcan Mac Pro had NVIDIA GPUs even with otherwise-outdated internals. When rumblings came of new Mac Pros a few years ago there was excitement that they could get some fast machines again; alas this appears not to be the case.

The old Mac Pro has AMD FirePro GPUs. Not Nvidia

Re: New Mac Pro

#74

Post by saagarjha »

reaperducer wrote: post #37
ultrarunner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this can be controversial but I do all my work at home on a computer I built myself for ~900 running macOS. I had a Coffee Lake processor before you could get one straight from Apple. It's fast and with three monitors, plenty of ram, and NVME storage I noticed increased productivity over a laptop with an external display. With the T2 chip this may not be an option forever, and the initial setup means it may no…

I know this can be controversial but I do all my work at home on a computer I built myself for ~900 running macOS Awesome. It's great that you choose to do that. You're also not the target market for this product. This is a product for people and companies for whom increased performance equals increased revenue.

I’d like to think that the target market is people who want performance and a computer that is stable.

Re: New Mac Pro

#75

Post by kstrauser »

duskwuff wrote: post #51
Shivetya wrote: post #23

I know being expandable is important here but I am stunned by the fact that an iMac Pro actually comes with better SSD and Video Card for less money and you get a screen to boot! 256g SSD is shameful, I don't care what they were thinking. No Nvidia support mentioned so I know a few that just wrote it off for that oversight alone. They will probably hold out just to be sure but that was the hope for them and others. W…

The first step up from 256GB is 2x512GB, and there's configurations up to 2x2TB. My guess is that the 256GB configuration is meant for users that work primarily with data that's kept on network storage.

Right. If you're working with multi-terabyte files that live on a NAS or an external directly-attached storage, the local drive is basically a cache of the OS plus whatever you're physically working on at that moment.

Re: New Mac Pro

#76

Post by [deleted] »

duskwuff wrote: post #51
Shivetya wrote: post #23

I know being expandable is important here but I am stunned by the fact that an iMac Pro actually comes with better SSD and Video Card for less money and you get a screen to boot! 256g SSD is shameful, I don't care what they were thinking. No Nvidia support mentioned so I know a few that just wrote it off for that oversight alone. They will probably hold out just to be sure but that was the hope for them and others. W…

The first step up from 256GB is 2x512GB, and there's configurations up to 2x2TB. My guess is that the 256GB configuration is meant for users that work primarily with data that's kept on network storage.

[deleted]

Re: New Mac Pro

#77

Post by justinsaccount »

reaperducer wrote: post #42
justinsaccount wrote: post #24

> The starting point for Mac Pro, the stainless steel space frame Only apple could manage to call a bent piece of metal pipe a "space frame". edit: getting downvoted because a "space frame" is a real thing. However, those are very specifically designed to be a "Three-dimensional truss based on the rigidity of the triangle" and this is absolutely not that. This apple co-opting an existing term for something and applyi…

Only apple could manage to call a bent piece of metal pipe a "space frame". Or every architect and engineer in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_frame

So...

> In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure (3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with few interior supports. Like the truss, a space frame is strong because of the inherent rigidity of the triangle;

I don't see any triangles here.. All the examples on that wikipedia page show triangles. Does the frame they built actually count as a space frame or did they coopt the term?

Re: New Mac Pro

#78

Post by reaperducer »

slantyyz wrote: post #57
reaperducer wrote: post #27

Hopefully this will stop people from moaning that "Apple has abandoned the pro market!" Or probably not. They'll just redefine "pro" to meet their complaining needs.

Well, if the baseline for the Pro market was made up of people who could afford the last version, then one can make the argument that Apple is the one that has redefined "Pro".

It seems evident that Apple views the "pro" market as movie studios, large corporations, and media entities that need serious computing power.

On HN "pro" is three guys at a co-working space using coupons to buy coffee. It's these people who will complain the loudest about the new Mac Pro.

Re: New Mac Pro

#79

Post by glup »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #44
bluedino wrote: post #17

The thing the Mac Pro does is magically make the price of every other computer look that much better. $6000 for a computer? Johnson, that's insane. What about $4999 for an iMac Pro? It comes with a display. Great, order it! What about $2499 for a Mac Mini with 32GB and 1TB SSD? Great, order it! What about $2499 for a Macbook Pro? Great, order it!

The 1987 Mac II released at $5,498, $12,125 adjusted for inflation. Granted, that included a monitor. IMO these things are designed for companies like Pixar, Disney, and aerospace, the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" world.

“If you think the computer is expensive, you’re going to completely lose it when you find out the salary of the boffin who will put it to good use. Or, more mind-numbing yet, the cost of having neither.”

Re: New Mac Pro

#80

Post by justinsaccount »

h3throw wrote: post #55
reaperducer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only apple could manage to call a bent piece of metal pipe a "space frame". Or every architect and engineer in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_frame

Only Apple could get shat on for using appropriate but obscure terminology.

But is it appropriate here? from that wikipedia page:

> The simplest form of space frame is a horizontal slab of interlocking square pyramids and tetrahedra built from aluminium or tubular steel struts

Do you see anything that looks like that?

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