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!
Interesting pro tip: psychological anchoring works on spouses (and even oneself) as well.
New Mac Pro
121–130 of 731 posts
Re: New Mac Pro
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
MacOS does not support vendor-supplied drivers which has been the bane to every graphics engineer's existence. Supporting mac for games as a result, is a completely inane task we avoid like the plague. To me, because of the GPU, this machine is a giant paperweight.
I’d argue this is good for users, because vendor-supplied drivers always seem to have crappy updater software running at all times and send pop-ups at all hours on Windows. Vendors really need to better support open-source drivers for user experience purposes, but they don’t because they want more control over their market.
Re: New Mac Pro
#123I don't really care about the specs because that's not really a concern one should have when buying an Apple product. It's more about being promised a solid experience, without having to be technologically conscious and do your own homework.
Re: New Mac Pro
#124 Blue and White Power Mac G3 (January 1999) -- $1,599 ($2,453 in 2019 dollars)
Graphite Power Mac G4 (December 1999) -- $1,599 ($2,453 in 2019 dollars)
2001 Power Mac G4 (January 2001) -- $1,699 ($2,453)
2001 Quicksilver Power Mac G4 (July 2001) -- $1,699 ($2,453)
2002 Mirrored Drive Door Power Mac G4 (August 2002) -- $1,699 ($2,413)
2003 Power Mac G5 (August 2003) -- $1,999 ($2,776), reduced to $1,799 ($2,499) in November 2003
2006 Mac Pro (August 2006) -- $2,199 ($2,787)
2010 Mac Pro (July 2010) -- $2,499 ($2,929)
2013 Mac Pro (December 2013) -- $2,999 ($3,289.83 in 2019 dollars, but you can still purchase an entry-level 2013 Mac Pro today from Apple for $2,999 in 2019 dollars).
I wouldn't have been surprised if Apple had announced a $3,299 or $3,499 entry-level Mac Pro model given how inflation-adjusted prices have crept upwards over the past 20 years, but $5,999 is a gigantic leap from $2,999 or even $3,499.There's no doubt that the 2019 Mac Pro has answered the needs of some classes of pro Mac users. For people in the movie and music industries as well as professionals working in certain engineering and architecture disciplines, they have clamored for user-serviceable, upgradeable Macs that are also very powerful, and are willing to pay top dollar for their equipment since time is money for them. The Mac Pro certainly delivers in these aspects, and I'm glad that Apple has recommitted itself to these users.
Unfortunately Apple has disappointed another class of Power Macintosh/Mac Pro user; those who want an affordable machine that is also user-serviceable. Apple used to provide entry-level Power Macintosh and Mac Pro models that catered to this group. Unfortunately the Mac lineup under Tim Cook has largely become unserviceable by users, complete with soldered RAM, soldered storage, and design decisions that make upgrading and repairs difficult to impossible. The 2019 Mac Pro is a tease, a kick in the face for this class of user. We finally have access to an expandable, upgradeable, user-serviceable Mac, but at unattainable prices. It's like being an Acura fan who clamored for the return for the Acura Integra or Acura RSX, which were affordable sports cars that would probably cost $30,000 brand new if they were sold today, but Acura points these fans to the Acura NSX, a $150,000+ supercar.
And, so, as a user of a 2013 Mac Pro, I have mixed feelings. I'm glad to see that Apple is committed to its pro users and to the longevity of macOS, but unfortunately Apple has doubled-down on its model of selling non-serviceable, non-upgradeable machines to all but the most wealthy of its customers.
Unfortunately I feel trapped as a Mac user. Windows 10 sucks and the Linux desktop is still not ready for prime time, but at least there are a wide variety of PCs out there that are user-serviceable, upgradeable, and affordable. macOS is the best operating system out there and is the only one in my opinion that is truly designed for users in mind, but unfortunately it is largely tied to hardware that is virtually closed off to repairs and upgrades unless you're willing to spend $6000+ on a computer, which is insanely expensive for a computer in 2019 unless you're in a field that absolutely needs the most powerful machine around.
Thankfully my 2013 Mac Pro provides ample power for my needs, and so I'll be using that for years to come. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a used 2019 Mac Pro for a more affordable price once my 2013 Mac Pro gets long in the tooth.
Re: New Mac Pro
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 580X is old, 2017 old Is it? This site claims it came out in March 2019 but I definitely can't keep the various graphics card lines separate in my head: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-pro-580x.c3398
Yes, 580X is old (it's the same hardware as RX 480 from 2016) In fact, everything in that machine is old: the Xeons they use are rocking the Skylake core form 2015, with all of the recently discovered side-channel vulnerabilities. The upcoming AMD Threadripper 3 CPUs with PCIe4 would be a much better Pro offering. Clock-for-clock they are beating Skylake now, rumored to have up to 64 cores. Also, PCIe4-based RAID 0 a…
Re: New Mac Pro
#126It looks cool to have little spheres cut in the inside of a metal block but that's it. If you were actually optimizing for airflow or density you would do something entirely different (or you would look at the effects the grill has on airflow and realize the effect is minimal regardless of what you do and then move on to other priorities.
On the other hand it looks like it would attract dust and be obnoxious to clean.
Apple has lost it's way with design.
Re: New Mac Pro
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
It runs macOS and those consumer grade computers don't. If the best colorist in the area is working on your film, you give them the tools they ask for.
The color graders here run 10-bit/color HDR monitors that have a wide gamut. Apple doesn't have monitors that support this. (The new one _might_ do the trick; we'll see.) Everyone here doing professional color work is on PCs supplied by Thinkmate. This is standard in Hollywood, too.
Re: New Mac Pro
#128I 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…
Still, I don't see this as a developer machine — I think an iMac Pro is a much better value proposition for developers, and in my case, where I really mostly care about single-threaded performance for interactive development in Clojure and ClojureScript, I'm looking at the iMac.
Re: New Mac Pro
#129Well it's better than the trashcan....but still not as good as the original alumINium box.
Re: New Mac Pro
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many Hollywood media makers are there? As an Apple shareholder should I be excited to learn that they made a specialty computer for this demographic?
How many Corvette owners are there? As a GM shareholder should I be excited they made a car just for mid-life crises?