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New Mac Pro Tech Specs

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Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#401

Post by acdha »

dev_dull wrote: post #214

> 802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking Surprised there's no 802.11ax/wifi 6. Why not use the same wifi chips as the iPhones?

Think about what you're asking: this thing uses a high-end server board with a bunch of exotic specs. Those things take time to design, validate, and test — don't forget that reliability under sustained load is a hard requirement in that market — so adding extra chips isn't done on a whim. Then you have to ask how many people are using this for something where the performance hit of using WiFi is acceptable — it has two 10Gb ethernet ports so you can get an idea for the kind of usage they're targeting.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#402

Post by acdha »

_ph_ wrote: post #341
rangibaby wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> on the downside, they doubled its price so for the non-Hollywood customer, there still isn't a desktop machine. Even 3k is much for a deskop machine I think there were more benefits to an ordinary user to getting a tower in the past then there are now. In the past even a hobby or prosumer photographer would see a big benefit from getting a Mac Pro. Nowadays an iMac or Macbook Pro with very normal specs can edit lar…

Internal storage is a huge thing. I have external storage attached to my 27" iMac, but it is not completely reliable (disks get ejected occasionally) and completely beats the purpose of an elegant desktop machine. So I really would like a machine with several drive spaces, especially if I can access them. I could have lived reasonably by upgrading the internal storage of my iMac, if there was any way for me to access…

> I have external storage attached to my 27" iMac, but it is not completely reliable (disks get ejected occasionally)

Check your cabling or hardware — this is not normal except when something is starting to fail.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#403

Post by overcast »

grecy wrote: post #375
overcast wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were people editing Marvel movies really waiting a decade for this though? Pretty confident they've moved on to PCs years ago. I struggle to find the target audience for this, now that they are alienating home users.

> Were people editing Marvel movies really waiting a decade for this though? Given the number of posts telling people in Hollywood not to restart their Trashcan mac Pros because of the Google Raven screw up, I would say that yes, in fact, plenty of people in Hollywood are using Mac Pros, and likely will buy this new one. > I struggle to find the target audience for this, now that they are alienating home users This m…

The base price has more than doubled from the original cheese grater we all fell in love with. I'd be willing to bet the home user MacPro community is much larger than Hollywood. People have been clamoring for an updated cheese grater for the better part of a decade. They are STILL actively developing hacks to keep their 2008/2009 models running. Shit, I just retired mine this year in favor of Hackintosh, because I'm not dumping $10,000 in a modular Mac.

I think this new MacPro is going to be a huge failure. Professionals are running PCs now, and home users won't spend the money.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#405

Post by acdha »

DoctorPenguin wrote: post #282

Please forgive my ignorance but the specs on this are just average in my opinion. Why would I choose this over a custom build pc with almost the same, if not better, components? My experience with all apple products at work has been quite bad so I might be a little biased.

Try to build a custom PC with equivalent specs, paying attention to the expansion options and I/O characteristics, and you'll end up with similar pricing. People who need professional workstations are in a different market than gamers or almost all software developers — the question is kind of like asking why anyone buys a semi-truck when your pickup can beat it off the light.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#406

Post by alluro2 »

swebs wrote: post #346
alluro2 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forgot to add - and you get a decent display, and it's portable, and it's still cheaper than MP.

What operating system does it come with?

I think Lenovo (together with other questionable actions that alienate their userbase) removed the option to choose Linux for workstations, so it comes only with Windows 10. But Thinkpads are traditionally very well supported on various Linux distributions.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#407

Post by headmelted »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #336

Still don't understand the justification for this machine, I waited years for a MacPro but when it became clear that Apple actually considered it a dead product and behind the scenes were building the iMac Pro to fill the niche I switched to windows and now run a dual 1080Ti workstation (Uses CUDA for 3D rendering path-tracing) for around half the price of a iMac Pro. Apple bloggers said time and time again the reaso…

I don't see the contradiction here honestly.

The only tangible market for a Mac Pro is professional Final Cut users in a professional setting, no?

If this is hogwash, tell me so, but it just seems that any other realistic scenario that requires this level of hardware (like research, rendering and AI) would be significantly cheaper and better supported outside of Apple's ecosystem.

Short of having a pretty device to sit in a studio, what other reason is there for this to exist? (And how much of that audience is more likely to just buy iMac Pros).

As regards development - Most development tasks won't significantly benefit from the performance offered here, and anyone who needs that performance is likely going to buy something significantly better value for money (as regards tech specs) than a Mac Pro.

I'm not aware of any significant tools for 3d modelling or video editing (besides FCP) that are OSX-exclusive, and that audience is surely better served by a much cheaper Windows/Linux machine.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#408

Post by acdha »

jasoneckert wrote: post #99
jasoneckert wrote: post #30

At the base configuration (single 8-core Xeon W) with 256GB SSD and 32GB RAM for $6000, it's about twice what it should be. I could build a faster dual Xeon Silver series with more cores, Nvidia graphics, much larger SSD and 32GB RAM in a nicer case for around $3000. So, that Apple logo and macOS are the other $3000.

I love how any post I make that is critical of something Apple always gets me some negative points here on Hacker News - I actually made a point of showing my tech class this social phenomenon a few weeks back and we had a good discussion that explored possible reasons why it happens.

You're getting downvoted for being incorrect and doing so in a way which has long been cliched. If you actually did your homework and made a spec sheet for an truly equivalent build you'd learn why some many people are tired of hearing lazy attacks repeated again and again.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#409

Post by PhasmaFelis »

sjagoe wrote: post #400
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple service is atrocious. Don't they make you book an appointment and turn up at their store just to get someone to look at it? I can't speak for anyone else, but the last time I had trouble with my MacBook (five years or more ago now, the touchpad had cracked, IIRC), I made an appointment in the morning to come in in the afternoon. Walked up, explained the problem, gave them the machine, and they called me back…

I've dealt with both Lenovo and Dell with on-site next day service. I thought it was a standard option across the industry for business PC warranty.

It may be. I was thinking of standard warranties, though. I'd expect a business warranty to be different.

Re: New Mac Pro Tech Specs

#410

Post by alluro2 »

killjoywashere wrote: post #299
alluro2 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forgot to add - and you get a decent display, and it's portable, and it's still cheaper than MP.

And, as an added bonus, you can have major shoulder problems for life from lugging that 17" behemoth around.

Hah, I agree...But, on the other hand, you can carry it when needed, and I do regret not buying one of those for work instead of Razer Blade, "because it's thin and light" - it gets overly hot and noisy when doing heavier work and is definitely not up to par to these...
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