Mac Pro gets half-assed “update” • Hacker News Board

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#21

Post by zobzu » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:50 PM UTC

ary wrote: post #6

robert_nsu wrote: post #2

I don't get it. Why don't they just discontinue the Mac Pro?

Because there are audio/video professionals who want a Mac that has hardware expandability similar to a PC. The market becomes more niche by the day, but it's there.

That being said the vast majority just have a laptop Its fast enough and support high rez external monitors.

That's probably the reason. When the niche for desktops is too small, it will eventually die. Because Apple only produce stuff that makes a pretty good amount of money. If it doesn't, it's removed.

It make sense, even if it's annoying.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#22

Post by jmelloy » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

joshAg wrote: post #20

wmf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PCIe cards. Multiple matte 30" monitors. Anything really CPU intensive.

I think he meant, why wouldn't a windows/unix/linux machine with similar hardware work just as well?

Because it doesn't run OS X?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#23

Post by chrissnell » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

The Mac Pro isn't just for those in the A/V industry. It's for anyone who wants a Mac with more than four cores. No other Mac can do 6+ cores.

The Mac Pro hasn't seen a case update in at least six years. What other Apple product has been neglected like this?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#24

Post by dasil003 » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

tar wrote: post #4

I do not understand. What is the appropriate use case for a Mac Pro where something equivalent and much cheaper cannot be used?

Final Cut Pro?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#25

Post by mortenjorck » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:55 PM UTC

Let's say I'm running a post shop and I want to render from After Effects as fast as possible. In normal use, just how much faster will one of these dated Xeons render my comps than the quad-core i7 in a top-of-the-line iMac?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#26

Post by sphilipakis » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:56 PM UTC

tar wrote: post #4

I do not understand. What is the appropriate use case for a Mac Pro where something equivalent and much cheaper cannot be used?

IOS + OSX developers (edited out my not really interesting comment about XCode)

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#27

Post by chrissnell » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:56 PM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #25

Let's say I'm running a post shop and I want to render from After Effects as fast as possible. In normal use, just how much faster will one of these dated Xeons render my comps than the quad-core i7 in a top-of-the-line iMac?

Depends on how heavily After Effects leverages threads. With up to twelve cores on a Mac Pro, it could potentially be much faster.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#28

Post by AndrewNoNumbers » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:56 PM UTC

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #13

The Mac Pro clearly isn't on their radar. That said, a Hackintosh can save you a lot of money if you're looking at the Mac Pro line. It's a crappy solution, for sure. Apple would never bless such a thing, but they don't seem to try and stop it.

Ditto to Hackintosh. The Mac Pro never was a good buy.

Half the reason one buys an Apple product is because of the terrific build quality and design. That's extremely important in a notebook computer, something you'll carry around day in day out and have to depend on to not fail when you're in the field.

There's far less incentive in buying a terrifically sturdy and pretty machine that will sit under your desk and not be moved for years on end.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#29

Post by forrestthewoods » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:56 PM UTC

Our sound guy is PISSED at the lack of update. Seriously, incredibly pissed. I've honestly never seen him this angry before. He'd been counting down the days till WWDC and a long overdue update. There are three major pieces of software he uses on his Mac that he swears by. It sounds like they have all just released or are about to release Windows versions.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is a trend? Apple is clearly focused on iOS and consumer/prosumer and not professional. I certainly don't blame them. Is the future of professionals going to be Windows? Even for lifelong Mac die hards? It seems plausible imo.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#30

Post by ghshephard » Mon, Jun 11, 2012, 10:58 PM UTC

seanica wrote: post #17

marquis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac OSX is still solidly used in many industries, such as media and publishing. Recording studios need the Pro to install expansion cards, video production houses the same. I've seen close to riots because a production house wanted to move all their staff to Windows, and as much as you think it might save costs, you don't have to worry about Anti-Virus and Firewall software management, admin permissions etc on top of…

"you don't have to worry about Anti-Virus and Firewall software management, admin permissions" Are you sure about that? "Flashback" is just one example. Apple has also approached an av vendor to help harden OSX.

Flashback is the exception that proves the rule. As much as I like to disagree with people who suggest that the OS X is "fundamentally more secure than windows" (it really, really isn't) - it does tend to have many fewer active exploits than Windows Platforms do - and your average OS X system is much less likely to be loaded up with malware than your average Windows XP system.