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Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

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Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#141

Post by cageface »

cbsmith wrote: post #102
icegreentea wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really doubt you can get the same performance out of a MacBook Pro. Professional media software (audio or video) takes a -lot- of power. Trying to run through a big multi-track synth setup would probably bring a MBP to it's knees. I mean for one thing, despite all the awesomeness that is Ivy-Bridge, I still do not think that Intel can cram in the same level of performance into a 35W chip that use to go into a 90W p…

> I really doubt you can get the same performance out of a MacBook Pro. Professional media software (audio or video) takes a -lot- of power. Trying to run through a big multi-track synth setup would probably bring a MBP to it's knees. With audio, it is seriously child's play. Compression is about as CPU intensive as you can get with audio outside of voice recognition, and it just isn't there. Video is mostly offloade…

With audio, it is seriously child's play. Compression is about as CPU intensive as you can get with audio outside of voice recognition, and it just isn't there.

Not true. Try running a really complicated Logic set with a lot of virtual instruments on a low-end machine and watch it grind to a halt. In the last year we've seen new virtual instruments that bring analog emulation to a new level but they can eat as much as half of my Macbook Air's CPU playing a single note. Extrapolate this to a professional mix with as many as a hundred tracks and you can see why some people still need a real computer.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#142

Post by brianpan »

moe wrote: post #109
brianpan wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's profit and there's profit . The margins are there but the units sold are not.

That could easily be fixed by bringing the price back down into reality (i.e. 30-50% more expensive than equivalent x86-hardware, but not 300% more expensive). Currently you'd have to be lobotomized to buy a MacPro at this price point. You can buy literally 2-3 "beige boxes" with similar specs for that money. The shiny case and OSX make up for a lot, but there's a limit to what people will bear.

Really? iPhones alone brought in $22 billion in revenue last quarter.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1166533/apple_nearly_doubles...

The entirety of worldwide PC shipments for a quarter is less than 100 million units. So, no, cutting prices is not going to help catch up to iOS revenues.

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1981717

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#143

Post by codex »

I suspect that Apple has delayed significant changes to the Mac Pro until desktop Retina displays are ready. Likely there was some snag, and the whole kit (including a Retina capable video subsystem) wasn't ready when originally planned. In that case, a small incremental update is the only option.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#145

Post by quanticle »

chao- wrote: post #113
beedogs wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say the future of desktop software is going to involve Linux, finally. Both Windows and OS X are becoming walled-garden tablet-centric shitfests.

As a Linux desktop user, I want to agree with you. As a Linux desktop user, I'm not sure that I can.

The real problem is that the most popular Linux distribution (Ubuntu) and one of the two most popular window managers (Gnome) are going in exactly the same direction as Apple and Windows. These two projects are so busy emulating what Apple and Windows do, they can't see that they're going to go right off the usability cliff for desktop users.

That, more than anything either Apple or Microsoft does is what worries me about desktop Linux. We have met the enemy and he is us.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#146

Post by reitzensteinm »

tedunangst wrote: post #140
ktizo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is perfectly possible. You buy them from companies that supply the professional CAD market and it is relatively easy to find 32 core, dual processor, twin graphics card systems for less than $5000.

I think you mean 12-core. Who's selling 16-core CPUs? Also worth pointing out that the Mac Pro is one such system as you just described.

AMD makes 16 core Opterons (codename Interlagos), however they're slower than the latest 8 core Xeons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opteron#Models

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#147

Post by wh-uws »

alaskamiller wrote: post #130
robomartin wrote: post #98

This illustrates the issue I highlighted in another thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097141 The fact that Apple keeps hardware and, increasingly, software, so tightly controlled leads to a situation like that of this "new" Mac Pro. If the Apple hardware ecosystem were open like that of Windows you'd have major companies all over the world evolving the platform in wonderful ways. Performance would go up an…

The irony of this post is so hilarious to me, this is Apple coming full circle from its clone wars days. Man, those were some shitty experiences. Apple is an hardware company. They make money off the nuts and bolts pieced together with premium markup, software is but icing on top. They practically give away the results of their development costs on OSX. You're encountering the cognitive dissonance as experienced in t…

I agree with all you said except the software being the icing on the top part.

Apple knows its the end to end experience (software to hardware).

Apple is just fortunate to be in the very small category (if not the singular player) of companies that have great depth of talent in both the hardware and software realms.

This and the market they cater too (those with the money to spend) allow them to pick either pushing the hardware or the software forward and make a killing not having to move on the other end.

I say this as a person who hasn't bought an Apple product in 10 years in protest of some of their business practices:

- draconian App Store developer policies,

- 1984- esq lockdown on their platform and employees,

- the ridiculous markup on their devices, etc.

but who isn't dumb enough to not pay attention to them because they are some of the sharpest folks in the industry.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#148

Post by kbuck »

alaskamiller wrote: post #130
robomartin wrote: post #98

This illustrates the issue I highlighted in another thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097141 The fact that Apple keeps hardware and, increasingly, software, so tightly controlled leads to a situation like that of this "new" Mac Pro. If the Apple hardware ecosystem were open like that of Windows you'd have major companies all over the world evolving the platform in wonderful ways. Performance would go up an…

The irony of this post is so hilarious to me, this is Apple coming full circle from its clone wars days. Man, those were some shitty experiences. Apple is an hardware company. They make money off the nuts and bolts pieced together with premium markup, software is but icing on top. They practically give away the results of their development costs on OSX. You're encountering the cognitive dissonance as experienced in t…

I disagree. Apple is both a hardware and software company, and I would argue that most of the decision to buy a Mac lies in software, not hardware. People don't say "I need this computer because it has an aluminum case"; they say "I need a Mac because it's easier to use."

Not charging for minor updates doesn't mean they're giving them away. It means they've already rolled the cost into the original sale price.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#149

Post by ktizo »

tedunangst wrote: post #140
ktizo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is perfectly possible. You buy them from companies that supply the professional CAD market and it is relatively easy to find 32 core, dual processor, twin graphics card systems for less than $5000.

I think you mean 12-core. Who's selling 16-core CPUs? Also worth pointing out that the Mac Pro is one such system as you just described.

I don't mean 12 core, I mean 32 core. AMD is selling 16 core CPUs. And the Mac Pro is not a dual CPU, 32 core, twin graphics card machine, which is what I described.

here is one company selling them - http://www.titanuscomputers.com

I priced up a 32 core AMD machine with two 2GB Nvidia GTX 680 cards and it comes to just under $5000.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#150

Post by ams6110 »

brianpan wrote: post #84
wmf wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could it not be? The engineering is all sunk and the margin is ~35%.

There's profit and there's profit . The margins are there but the units sold are not.

Exactly. Apple may be figuring that if they could divert the resources currently devoted to the Mac Pro line to other products, they would be making a greater return.

Or perhaps they have something in the pipe but not ready yet. They've never been a company to tip their hand early.

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